Time machine backups present on disk but not seen

Hi. I just notice that on my macbookpro time machine is keeping creating the hourly backups, but I cannot see them anymore from the time machine interface.
All backup files seem to be on the disk, but whenever I enter the time machine I can only see the last one, as if I started the time machine for the first time.
Any idea why this is happening? And, more important, any idea on how to fix it?
I'm on a macbook pro with OS X 10.8.5; the time machine files are stored in an external USB disk.
Thank you for your support.

shuusaku wrote:
Hi. I just notice that on my macbookpro time machine is keeping creating the hourly backups, but I cannot see them anymore from the time machine interface.
All backup files seem to be on the disk, but whenever I enter the time machine I can only see the last one, as if I started the time machine for the first time.
Any idea why this is happening? And, more important, any idea on how to fix it?
I'm on a macbook pro with OS X 10.8.5; the time machine files are stored in an external USB disk.
Thank you for your support.
My TM did this after the upgrade to 10.9
When I first set it up, I just clicked to use the same drive I had been using, even though I'd just formatted it.
Apparently that causes the backups not to appear in the app.
So, here's what finally resolved it. I:
1. Opened Time Machine Preferences.
2. Turned Time Machine off.
3. Clicked "Select Disk...".
4. DELETED the TM disk I had previously selected.
5. Reformatted the TM disk once again.
6. Reopened Time Machine Preferences.
7. Reselected the newly formatted disk from the list.
8. Turned Time Machine back on, and let it begin backing up.
When I opened it the next morning, I had seven backups in the app to choose from.

Similar Messages

  • Movie in Time Machine backup plays in "quickview" but not Quicktime

    Hi,
    I trashed a Quicktime movie a few days ago, TM had backed it up beforehand. I found it on my TM backup of the desktop and it plays in quick view (select>spacebar) Having restored it to my current desktop it still does quick view but won't open in Quicktime and a "searching for file" pops up as if a dependency is missing. I let Quicktime search but it doesn't find anything and i have to abort.
    My question is: where is the wanted file likely to be then?

    You have a pretty simple problem: time machine does not allow you to backup two computers to the same hard drive or partitioin. the way to fix this is to repartition you WD drive into two partitions, one for each computer. if you already have other data (not from time machine), make three partitons: one for iMac, one for PowerBook, and one for Other. do not put any data other than time machine data on the iMac and PowerBook partitons, always put it in other. you can partiton a disk easily with disk utility, but wait:
    _CAUTION: THIS WILL CAUSE YOU TO LOOSE ALL THE DATA ALREADY ON THE EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!_
    to avoid this, first use disk utility to make a disk image of the external hard drive, and save it on your internal drive. if the image won't fit (your internal drive doesn't have enough capacity, then you can either erase all the data on already on the hard drive with the reformat, or buy another disk to use for the PowerBook) then, when the disk is partitioned correctly, mount the disk image and copy all the files on it back to the correct* partition of the external hard drive. *if the files on the external hard drive came from the iMac, then put them on the iMac partiton of the drive. if they came from the powerbook, put them in that partition, and if it is not from time machine, put it in othe
    Hope you followed all that!
    nate

  • HT1338 Error preparing Time Machine backup disc- size error usually not being multiples of 512, encryption

    Trying to encrypt Time Machine backup disc getting message  - Error preparing Time Machine backup disc- size error usually not being multiples of 512, encryption.

    I got the same problem.
    But I think it cannot be related to not being a multiple of 512.
    As when I devide the number of bytes 3.000.592.982.016 by 512 is equals 5860533168.
    3.000.592.982.016 / 512 = 5860533168.
    So what could be the real problem?
    With kind Regards

  • Disk Repair notified me it could not repair the HD.  Iam to reformat the disk and restore backed up files.  OS Utilities give me a "Restore From Time Machine Backup" option.  I have not reformatted the disk;  does this restore option do both?

    Disk Repair reported that it could not repair the HD Disk.  I am to reformat the disk and restore backed up files. OSX Utilities give me a choice of restoring from time machine backup (which I have on MyPassport) but no information on reformatting the disk, which I assume I have to do first.  How do I reformat the HD ...or does the restore from Time Machine do both things?

    Boot OS X Recovery and use Disk Utility.
    If Disk Utility reported the disk cannot be repaired though, you should replace it with a new one.

  • How to resolve errors (-50 and -8058) when moving Time Machine backups to new disk?

    I'm trying to move my Time Machine backups (about 600GB total) to a new external hard drive.  I started the process last night, but after an hour or so received two errors, each repeated multiple times:
    "The operation couldn't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8058)." 
    "The operation couldn't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)."
    I opted to cancel the file transfer.  I looked up the error codes but I'm still not sure what they mean.  I found an old support article about error code -50 (Mac OS X 10.1: "Error Code -50" Alert Appears When Copying Files From a Remote Disk) and an old support article about error code -8058 that doesn't appear to be entirely relevant to my issue (Mac OS X 10.4: Error -8058, unable to eject when trying to copy a disc in Finder).  I've also found a number of Support Community discussions, none of which are particularly helpful.
    Questions:
    What do these two error codes mean?  Are the files that cause these errors somehow corrupt?
    If I click "Okay" when the error dialog appears, are the files that are causing the errors transferred or are they omitted from the transfer?
    If I transfer the files and click "Okay" when the errors appear, or if I use Terminal and cp -R as suggested in Mac OS X 10.1: "Error Code -50" Alert Appears When Copying Files From a Remote Disk, will I have trouble recovering files from the new backup disk?
    Do I need to verify/repair permissions on the original Time Machine disk before attempting the transfer?
    Is there some other method I should use (e.g. Terminal instead of Finder) to transfer the backups?
    Details:
    MacBook Air
    Mac OS 10.8.5
    Both the old and new Time Machine disks are formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

    The two drives are handled as separate drives, even if they have the same name.
    In essence, the old backups are from a drive that's no longer connected; see #E3 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

  • Time Machine backup on new Mac - but too big?

    Hi,
    I am the current owner of a Macbook and i use 160GB of my harddrive. I am contemplating on buying a Macbook Air 11" with 128GB "HD", but I am hesitant, since I don't know how the computer would handle having to start up from a Time Machine-back up made from my Macbook, that would of course be larger than the Macbook Air has capacity for.
    Is it even possible?

    firemandan900 wrote:
    I just had to replace my 13" Macbook Pro through warranty. When I first turned it on I selected to restore the computer from my time machine backup and after several hours it finished successfully with the exception of Ilife which on the restore had to be updated before it would open the restored databases. The other issue I am having is that timemachine is no longer working. I would prefer to have timemachine backup to the existing archive structure it created on the old machine but right now it just says it can not find the volume. Is there a way to keep using the existing backup
    If there's room, TM can start a new set of backups for the new Mac on the same disk or Time Capsule. But it will make a new, full backup of the new Mac, so if your TM disk/partition isn't at well over twice the size of the data it's backing-up, your best bet will be to erase the drive with Disk Utility and let TM start over.
    There's a downside to that, though. TM on the new Mac won't delete the oldest backups from the old Mac when it needs room for new backups.
    Instead, it will delete the oldest backups from the new Mac, leaving the old backups "stranded." Without erasing the TM disk/partition, you'll have to delete the old backups one at a time, via the TM interface, which is quite tedious and time consuming. See the instructions in item #12 of the Frequently Asked Questions post at the top of this forum.
    or do I need to delate the archives and start a new archive?
    That's probably your best option.

  • Problems with Airport Extreme Firmware 7.6.1. and Time Machine Backups to USB Disks

    I found that when I upgraded to Firmware 7.6.1 my Airport Extreme was no longer able to maintain afp server connections to USB disks mounted to the APE. If I power cycled the APE it would work for a while and then fail again. This even applied for connectins on gigabit ethernet, not just wifi. Consequently my Time Machine backups became unusable. Rolling back to 7.6 fixed it, but I permanently fixed this by changing the IPv6 mode from "Automatic" to "Host". No problems since then.

    I hate to have to tell you this, but backing-up that way is unreliable and not supported by Apple.   See:  Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.

  • Time Machine Backups of Encrypted Disk Images, Part 2

    Hi:
    If Time Machine is backing up a hard drive that contains a subset encrypted disk image as part of its contents, and this encrypted disk image is mounted (in an unencrypted state) where the enclosed data has been changed/manipulated in any fashion, what and when does Time Machine backup?
    In other words, does the data in the encrypted disk image only change when the encrypted disk image is unmounted? Or is it somehow backed up real time even when the encrypted disk image is mounted on the desktop in an unencrypted state while Time Machine is working?
    Sorry I can't explain this very well, but hopefully the gist is clear.
    Thanks!
    (OS 10.8.2)

    Time Machine doesn't back up a disk image file while it's mounted, whether encrypted or not.

  • Moving time machine backups to another disk

    I'm trying to move my time machine backups one external drive to another.  I'm getting an error that says "The backup can’t be copied because the backup volume doesn’t have ownership enabled."
    I was told I had to check off Ignore Permissions for this disk but I have no idea where to do that. it is not in GET INFO. I am using Snow Leopard.
    Any ideas how I can copy the time machine files from one disk to another?
    Thanks.

    I recommend doing as I suggested. Cloning is the only correct way to backup a Time Machine backup drive. If you have data on the other drive you don't wish to lose then create a new partition on that drive. See the following:
    To resize the drive do the following:
    1. Open Disk Utility and select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list.
    2. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
    3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.  (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
    4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
    You should now have a new volume on the drive.
    It would be wise to have a backup of your current system as resizing is not necessarily free of risk for data loss.  Your drive must have sufficient contiguous free space for this process to work.

  • Incremental backup from time capsule (time machine backup) to external disk

    I have two questions regarding backing up a time capsule backup.
    I would like to backup the time machine backup of my Macs from a time capsule to an external hard disk. The time capsule is a first geneneration one with 500 GB. The external hard disk has 500 GB as well with USB and firewire ports..
    First question: What is the best way to connect these two hard drives - I am using a MacBook Air with two USB ports ?
    Second question: What backup software could I use to do incremental backups - I tried ChronoSync but it is not picking up the changes of the sparcebundles ?
    Thank you for every valuable advice
    Regards

    CAAN wrote:
    I have two questions regarding backing up a time capsule backup.
    I would like to backup the time machine backup of my Macs from a time capsule to an external hard disk.
    Backing-up your backups is generally not a good idea. If there's a problem with the original backup, it will be copied to, and perhaps magnified on, the copy.
    You'd be much better off making "secondary" backups separately. See #27 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum), for some suggestions.
    About the only alternative is to "archive" the TC's contents to a USB drive connected to it, but that's not incremental, and has other downsides as well. See #Q6 in [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

  • Time Machine backup on a new Mypassport not working

    Can anyone help?  I am using a Mac My Pass Port 1T to try to back up my Mac Book Pro in order to use Boot Camp to put Windows on my machine.  (diretions say back up first).
    The only thing I've done on this passport is dump pictures and videos onto it last summer/fall and there's tons of space on it.  Problem is, I forget how to do all this stuff!  I plugged it in and Time Machine opened and began backing up.  Then, my whole computer froze and I had to push and hold the power button to reboot it.
    Can someone walk me through this process? 
    Thank you!!!!
    Christine

    Oscar Rodriguez wrote:
    My MacBook Pro's display died and I'm having the machine replaced by Apple under warranty. I backed up the information using Time Machine before I sent it to Apple for repair. Question is whether restoring the information on my new replacement MacBook (soon as I get it) will be as simple as plugging in to the external drive, where all my backups are, as soon as I power it on for the first time
    Almost. See #19, especially the green box, in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
    By the way, you've posted in the +Time Capsule+ forum -- a Time Capsule is apple hardware combining a wireless router and hard drive. It's one of the possible destinations for Time Machine backups.
    If you have more questions, or problems with that, feel free to post back here.
    But if you have other problems with Time Machine, not involving a Time Capsule, please post in the +Snow Leopard > Time Machine+ forum at: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1342

  • I can't clone (Duplicate) my Time Machine backup properly via Disk Utility

    I have an ext. HDD Time Machine backup sitting beside my 10.8 MBP.
    I want to create an identical ext. HDD Time Machine backup, because it's safe to have 2 identical HDDs backing up my system.
    But when I follow this apple guideline, a problem occurs:
    Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive
    URL: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5096
    The problem is I get a strange path even if I drop "Backups.backupdb" of 3TB1 (The source HDD) onto the root level of 3TB2, the destination HDD (I mean there's nothing in there so I just drag & drop onto the HDD).  And the result is my new ext. HDD eating up about 60GB more space.
    I have attached pictures of the paths for both Source HDD and Destination HDD, please look.
    Why does it alter my file hiearchy like this?
    Please help some high-level Mac guy thanks!

    Why not just use TM to back up to 2 external drives. TM will alternate between the two when it backs up.
    Alternately, you could have a 2 back up strategy like others have using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Both are excellent 3rd party apps to clone your internal drive(s) and both have schedulers.

  • Time Machine backup mirrors Hard Drive, but doesn't back up

    I noticed a few days ago that my external hard drive, on which I store my Time Machine backups, only mirrors the content of my Hard Drive instead of actually backing up. I don't know if it has anything to do with that fact that I finally recently upgraded from OS Snow Leopard to OS Lion, which is the last OS upgrade my late 2007 model MacBook will accept. I'm using 10.7.5, build 11G63
    I can drag files from my Time Machine backup folders going back to Feb. 22, 2013 on to my desktop, but they do not copy. Instead, they move out onto the desk top from the Time Machine folders and the same files disappear from the equivalent hard drive file folders, as if they had been dragged to the desk top. Likewise, any file I drag from any hard drive folder to the desk top disappears from the equivalent Time Machine folder. Conversely, files moved from the desk top to either a Time Machine folder or its hard drive equivalent show up in the other.
    I don't know the significance of the Feb. 22 date, since I upgraded to OS Lion sometime after that.
    Any suggestions?

    I solved this myself. I found that, after upgrading to Mac OS Lion from Snow Leopard, some of the aliased folders in my Time Machine backup hard drive are not locked, but the regular folders are locked. Apparently this is new in Lion. (As I mentioned above, my MacBook is too old to upgrade to Mountain Lion.) I had based my query above on my ability to delete things from some aliased folders on my backup hard drive. Fortunately, they are locked in the equivalent non-aliased folders.

  • How do I restore from time machine backup onto unmounted disk drive "disk0s2?"  :-(

    In trying to restore my MacBook Pro after a strange freeze, I seemed to have unmounted the main disk drive. So, I have no drive on which to restore my computer using my time machine backup. What do I do now???

    Give this a try:
    Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Lion/Mountain Lion
    Boot to the Recovery HD:
    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    Repair
    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
    See if you are able to get the partition to mount. If not select the Terminal from the Utiilities menu. At the prompt enter:
    sudo mount disk0s1
    Press RETURN and authenticate. Your password will not be echoed. Press RETURN again. I'm assuming you have a disk with one partition. If that's not correct, then do not use the above command.

  • Time Machine backup fails because "volume could not be found".

    I just had my logic board replaced in my Macbook Pro and went to do a backup (yeah, I didn't do this right before it crashed) and now Time Machine backup fails with the message "volume could not be found"  Under Time Machine/Choose Disk, it appears that the drive is the one selected.  The computer "sees" the drive and I can read files on it.  The only other thing that has happened in the meantime is that a friend helped pull a file off the hard drive that I needed for a project.  No apparent issues there.  Any suggestions?

    You might try going to /Library/Preferences, then drag the file com.apple.TimeMachine.plist to the Desktop.  Reboot your Mac, then try declaring the backup disk for Time Machine.  It might help if you mount the backup disk first.
    Are you using Time Machine to write its backups to the disk of a Time Capsule?  If not, since this discussion section is for Apple's Time Capsule AirPort base station, a discussion involving Time Machine should be held on the discussion section for whatever version of OSX that you're using.

Maybe you are looking for