Time machine - Cant find files

Hello, I accidentally deleted some ical files from my preferences but now I can't find them on my Time Machine back up. I thought that Time machine backed up my entire hard drive? Can anyone help me or advise me how to finds these lost files?
Thanks in advance.

Read here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

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Time machine wont find files

i'm trying to go into my time machine to find some old screen recordings from about 6 months ago but whenever i search "screen recording" it gives me 0 items? it's happening with anything i search (i've searched "safari" "library" "itunes") all things i've had on my computer since i started it up and once i go past my current back up it just says 0 files found

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

How do you use time machine to find files you have deleted?

I have time machine set up with a USB drive. I have spotlight set up to index my backups.
If I go into the finder and type "order confirmation" it finds the PDF file with those words in it just fine.
If I delete that file from my desktop, it fails to find it. So then I enter Time Machine while still in the middle of the search, and press the back arrow to go back in time until spotlight can find it. It correctly goes back just one hour (my last backup had that file in it since I just deleted it) but it doesn't actually display that file.
So that's a simple test case of my having no idea how to get Spotlight and Time Machine to work together.
Am I doing it wrong?

Try the Time Machine Tutorial

My time machine cant find my back up disk

My Macbook air can back up noproblem but my iMac cant find the back up disk.

Please use Pondini's Time Machine Troubleshooting. You haven't provided any information so that's about the best we can offer at this point. Please complete your profile and be more descriptive when posting. Remember we aren't there to see your system, verison of OS X, or what you're doing so we rely on you for that info.
Good luck.

My time machine cant find my time capsule

I have set up my time capsule - it shows a green light and everything seems to be cool.
When I want to set up my time machine I choose>select backup disk and then I cant choose my time capsule, i can only choose 'set up time capsule'
- what is wrong?

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Be sure you followed all the steps in the Time Capsule Setup guide that came with the TC.
See #Q1 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down eliminate

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down menu with the gear box symbol to eliminate

I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots. Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
See Pondini's page for more explanation: What are Local Snapshots? http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.
The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library. Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots.

Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?

Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?
If so how do you locate them in the Time Machine interface?
If I go into Time Machine mode and type say "/usr/local" in the Time Machine search bar I get nothing although I can open a terminal application and cd to /usr/local and see bin, lib, include, etc.
Of course I can never see /usr/local in Finder either ... only at the command line.
Thanks.

John, another tech pro ("baltwo") suggests:
Run this in the Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1
OPTION-click and hold on Finder's Dock icon->Relaunch which reveals all hidden files. Then, look for that file and delete it. To hide all of those, use the same command, substituiting zero for the one, and relaunch the Finder.

How does Time Machine handle alias files on the backup volume?

I have been trying to find some info on how Time Machine handles alias files on the backup volume, but can't find anything on that topic. Neither here in this discussion or at the Apple support pages.
My concern is if an alias file on the backup volume is backed up »as is«, or if it is resolved and the original file is backed up? The last would be most annoying as this will make the size of the backup much larger.
Even though I do not know of folders having been renamed (which will cause that folder and all its content to be backed up again) Time Machine often backs up a surprisingly large amount of data, so I suspect that alias files could be resolved.
Any info on this will be appreciated.

Alias files are NOT followed, AFAIK.
For more info on how TM works, see this ars technica review.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: joshz

I want to use my 1TB Seagate Hard drive for time machine and transferring files from Mac to PC.

For about a year I've been using my 1TB external hard drive for only time machine. To be honest, it wasn't until today that I tried to connect my hard drive to a PC and realize it isn't compatible. I read about partitioning the hard drive so that it can work both for time machine and transferring files between pc and mac. I'm not what you would call tech savvy, so I was wondering if I can get some advice on how to do this.
Thanks in advance.

To do it, you have to partition the hard disk, so you will have one partition for Time Machine and another one to store files and use them in a PC and Mac. To create the partition, follow these steps > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html
In order to read and write in the external disk on the PC, you have to select "MS-DOS (FAT)" as "Format". If you choose any other option, the PC won't be able to read your external disk. Apart from that, note that you can't use files bigger than 4 GB with FAT. If you want to use the external disk with files bigger than 4 GB, you have to format your new partition in exFAT, and you have to do it on a PC

I uses Time Machine to transfer files and program from old to new MacBook Pro. Aperture doesn't work. Every time I open Aperture the computer need me to key in Serial number. How do I fix it.

Hi There,
I purchased a new MacBook Pro Retina 15". Since I am using MacBook Pro and I uses Time Machine for backup files and program. Store saleman tell me I can retore my existing program and files from old MacBook Pro to new MacBook Pro computer. After files transfer it seem to be OK. But only Aperture has a problem when every time I open Aperture to edit photos, MacBook Pro ask me to key in the Aperture Serial Number that made me so inconvinent. Did any one have meet this problem and can someone teach me how to fix it, Thanks.
Nelson

Either the license files were not transferred or it has to be relicensed.
Remove and then re-install aperture. On an rMBP this should take only a couple of minutes.

Deleting Time Machine Back-up Files - HELP!

I tried to delete a time machine back-up file from my external drive (to clear space), I dragged it into the trash ... when I tried to empty trash it looked like there were 1000s of files being deleted. That scared me so I stopped the trash from emptying. Now I can't get the file out of the trash. I try to drag it out and it just copies. So two questions: 1) how do I get this file out of the trash? 2) how do I delete all of these back-up files - well, I don't need to delete all of them but there are so many? Do I really need all of these time machine back-ups? If I do delete them - what am I actually deleting? Are they just copies of my harddrive or is it a problem to delete them (when I look in the file that is in my trash it seems like it is my whole system ...). Sorry for all of the questions but I am in a bit of a panic. Also, I did try to delete the files by going into time machine, clicking on the gear icon, selecting a file and clicking on delete, nothing happened. Any thoughts, suggestions, advice most welcome!

wcaroliner wrote:
So two questions: 1) how do I get this file out of the trash?
See #E6 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
2) how do I delete all of these back-up files - well, I don't need to delete all of them but there are so many? Do I really need all of these time machine back-ups? If I do delete them - what am I actually deleting? Are they just copies of my harddrive or is it a problem to delete them (when I look in the file that is in my trash it seems like it is my whole system
You shouldn't have to delete old backups. Time Machine will do that automatically when it needs space for new ones, unless you have the +Warn when old backups are deleted+ box checked in +Time Machine Preferences > Options.+ Just remove the check.
If you have other data on your Time Machine drive, in the same partition, that's not a good idea. It needs to be moved elsewhere, so Time Machine has it's own, exclusive space. See #3 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
The backups have a complex and somewhat unusual structure; there's a bit of "smoke and mirrors" going on there, where it appears that every backup is a full copy of your system, and it is, in a way, but isn't in another. Seems contradictory, I know. See [How Time Machine works its Magic|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Works.html] for an explanation.
I did try to delete the files by going into time machine, clicking on the gear icon, selecting a file and clicking on delete, nothing happened.
You should have gotten a confirmation prompt, then one for your Admin password. If you didn't, the backups may be damaged/corrupted. Repair them, per #A5 in Troubleshooting.

Hallo. My time machine cant do the backup. It cant make the folder for the safety-backup. How do I solve this?

Hallo. My time machine cant do the backup. It cant make the folder for the safety-backup. How do I solve this?

Have a look at Pondini's Time Machine information pages: http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Access Time Machine´s hidden files in Windows

Does anyone know how to access Time Machine´s hidden files in Windows? I tried using MacDrive v7... but in its help files... it says that the app itself (MacDrive) will not show files on a Mac-formatted drive, partion, volume, etc. if MAC OS X itself intentionally hides certain files. Confused?
If MAC OS X hides files in the Time Machine hard drive, MacDrive will hide them too.
I want to access some of my documents that are on my Time Machine external hard drive on my Windows computer.
Why? I took my Time Machine hard drive with me out of the country.

Are you anywhere near a place that sells Macs? If so, you might see if they will copy the files for you. A university might be another place to check to see if they have any Macs or anything running Unix and would be willing to help you out.

HT201250 Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is found. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. I'm on the latest version of Snow Leopard. Thank you!

Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is listed. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. Any suggestions

Does the disk appear in Disk Utility?

Time machine and hidden files

Hi all
Apples old Backup software didnt backup hidden files (which i think really *****), but the question is does Time Machine backup hidden files as well?

The best way I have found to restore hidden files using Time Machine is to download the "HiddenFiles" widget from the widgets downloads here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/developer/hiddenfiles.html
Once you have hidden files enabled, then they also show up in Time Machine, and appear to restore just as easily as normal files
Steve
(a recent switcher feeling somewhat chuffed at his findings)
Message was edited by: stevesant

Time machine - Cant find files

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