Time machine doesn't show backups

So I my logic board died and I decided to reformat my computer after it was repaired just for a fresh start. My time machine has all the backups, however, when I tried to restore from it, i opened up time machine to see that NOTHING was there. I set the drive to be the same drive used before and the drive DOES actually contain all the backups. It's just when i open up time machine to restore nothing is there. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

Yes, sorry, I didn't read the initial post carefully enough.
If babolat is still at the restore stage, the best answer is to boot up from the Leopard install disk and choose Restore from a Time Machine Backup from the Utilities menu. This will get the system back where it was and may also associate the backup directory with the new hardware (not totally sure of the latter though).
The backed up data itself can be accessed using the Browse Other Time Machine Disks option in Time Machine. I believe the Migration Assistant approach will work to get the full user across, but will not associate the existing backup directory with the new hardware.

Similar Messages

  • Time machine has stopped showing backups

    Time machine used to show backups back to when the machine was new in November. Now it has suddenly begun to show only today/now.
    Regardless of which finder window I have opened, it always goes to 'computer' and shows the external hard drive, 'macintosh HD' and 'network' icons.
    If I close time machine and open up the backups on my external hard drive, all the time machine backups are there. What IS going on?!

    Does this fix help?
    +Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine backups are not visible+
    +http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306928+
    +Check your computer name in Sharing preferences. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from following set and is not blank (no matter which Mac OS X language version you are using):+
    0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
    If it doesn't make sure that the connections to your Time Machine disk are solid. You could also try resetting the PRAM.
    Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

  • Time Machine doesn't show any backups even though the data is being backed up

    Time Machine is set to backup my Mac regularly and it seems to be doing so since the backups are being written to my backup disk.
    However, when I enter Time Machine, none of the backups in the past show up on the Time Machine screen.
    Is there a way to have Time Machine recognize the data it has backed up?

    I restarted my Mac and all's well.   Odd.

  • Time Machine doesn't make backups

    Hi,
    I have problems with Time Machine. I deleted by error the backup file in Time Capsule, but now Time Machine doesn't create a new one, simply it doesn't work. External disks are recognized (Time Capsule or USB disk) but it doesn't make backups, only appears the "preparing" for one or two seconds and then nothing. It's the same if I try to make backups on a external USB disk.
    I can not enter to Time Machine to see the backups.
    Looking at "Console" for the last logs there many crash reported, for example:
    18/02/09 11:59:26 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3053] Backup requested by user
    18/02/09 11:59:26 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3053] Starting standard backup
    18/02/09 11:59:27 ReportCrash[3054] Formulating crash report for process backupd[3053]
    18/02/09 11:59:28 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[3053]) Exited abnormally: Trace/BPT trap
    18/02/09 11:59:28 ReportCrash[3054] Saved crashreport to /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/backupd2009-02-18-115926GK.crash using uid: 0 gid: 0, euid: 0 egid: 0
    Any one with a similar problem???
    Is it possible to reset Time Machine in order to restart the backups?
    I bought Time Capsule and I can't use Time Machine!!!!
    Thanks.

    magali mistral wrote:
    Hello!
    Thanks for your message. The Time Machine Buddy widget was helpful. Although I couldn't mark the text, copy and insert it here.
    You should be able to highlight them by dragging your mouse over them, then cmd-C to copy to the clipboard, then cmd-V to copy it here.
    Event store UUID don't match for Volume: Macintosh HD
    This means TM isn't sure whether the last changes to your internal HD got logged to OSX's File System Event Store, a log of all changes that TM can normally use to see what needs to be backed-up. Most commonly caused by an abnormal shutdown.
    Node requires deep traversal:/
    Reason: kFSEDBE even FlagMustScanSubDrs /kFSEDBE vent Flag Reason Deep Backup/
    Since it can't trust the Event Store, this means it has to examine every file and folder on your HD. Quite a lengthy procedure, of course.
    Then it said - I didn't copy that - something like "thinning out" isn't necessary because there was still 368 GB or so space left - 7 GB were backed up - but it did "thin out" some outdated file afterall, whatever that is - hope it didn't delete something I wanted to keep.
    All normal. TM automatically deletes it's hourly backups after 24 hours, except the first of the day, which is called a Daily backup. That is kept for a month, when a similar process converts the first of a week into a Weekly backup, and deletes the others.
    Only when the disk is near full (TM does need some workspace) will you see deletion of one or more of the oldest weeklies, instead of the first message.
    Then the next problem started. It wasn't possible to eject the external drive. I waited for quite some time but each time tried to eject it, a window opened saying that it was still in use and could not be ejected. Although it had defenitely finished doing the backup and the next one was to be done about half an hour later.
    Is there anything else on your external drive, besides TM backups? Could you have been looking at it via the Finder, when you tried to eject it?
    Try this: de-select the drive (chose the "none" icon) in TM's preferences, then quit System Preferences. Then go back and re-select it. Sometimes this resets TM's lock on the drive.
    If not, and it happens again, try turning TM off, then ejecting the TM drive. You shouldn't have to do this -- TM is supposed to let you eject it, then automatically do another backup whenever you re-connect it.
    Now that you have a good full backup, just keep an eye on it. Your incremental backups should be very, very quick under normal circumstances.
    There are a few things that may cause long backups, such as an abnormal shutdown, certain hardware repairs, not letting TM back up for several days (seems to be about 10, some say), and the use of certain apps. File Vault, Entourage, vmWare, running Windoze are a few. If you do see long backups, post the messages here in a new thread.

  • Time Machine Doesn't Show Previous Back-Ups

    Hi,
    Just reconnected a TC after a 2 year hiatus. I can connect as a shared disk and see the the contents of the TC which includes a sparsebundle - so I know content is there. But when I launch Time Machine I dont see any previous content. I haven't performed a Time Machine back-up yet.
    What would be the best way to proceed? I dont want previous back ups to get wiped. Also, I take it connecting via wired Ethernet would speed up what initial back-up I might perform as much on my computer has changed in two years.

    mrhifi wrote:
    Hi,
    Just reconnected a TC after a 2 year hiatus. I can connect as a shared disk and see the the contents of the TC which includes a sparsebundle - so I know content is there. But when I launch Time Machine I dont see any previous content. I haven't performed a Time Machine back-up yet.
    What would be the best way to proceed?
    What's changed in those 2 years? Any hardware repairs, especially a new logic board?
    If not, try Repairing the backups, per #A5 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).
    If that doesn't help, try the Browse... option, per #E2 there.
    I dont want previous back ups to get wiped.
    2 year old backups? That makes me wonder if you deleted things from your Mac, counting on Time Machine to keep the backups indefinitely. If so, see #20 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 the +Time Machine+ forum).
    After that long, Time Machine will almost certainly do a new, full backup. That, of course, will take a lot of space, so if there isn't enough room on your TC, it will have to delete old backups, perhaps a LOT of them, to make room. Depending on the sizes, it may delete all but the most recent one, then fail because there still isn't enough room.
    See how much space is available on the TC. If that's less than 120% of the amount of data on your Mac (or the estimated size of a full backup under the exclusions box in +Time Machine Preferences > Options,+ backups will have to be deleted. How many is impossible to predict.
    Also, I take it connecting via wired Ethernet would speed up what initial back-up I might perform as much on my computer has changed in two years.
    Yes, absolutely!
    If old backups have to be deleted, that can be an excruciatingly slow process, even via Ethernet. Because of the way sparse bundles work, TM must mount it, delete the oldest backup, dismount it, compact it, then mount it again to see if that made enough space. If not, repeat, repeat, repeat . . .
    So, if it looks like a lot of old backups will have to go, and you really don't want that to happen, your best bet is to connect a USB or FireWire disk directly to your iMac and start backing-up to it. That's much faster and more reliable anyway. You should still be able to see and restore from the old backups via the Browse... option.
    By the way, please click +My Settings+ at the right of this page, and update your Mac and OSX specs. I'm assuming you're still on the iMac, but clearly not 10.4.5 )

  • Time machine doesn't show non-current drive.

    I had an external hard drive die.  I need to restore the files, but since the drive's not there anymore Time machine doesn't list it.  How do I access the files without manually finding them on the backup drive?

    See > http://pondini.org/TM/E3.html

  • Time Machine doesn't recognise backup

    I made a clean install of Maverick on my Macbook 15" and I have a Time Machine backup created on a Time Capsule and everything worked fine before. But now when I've done a clean install it doesn't recognize the backup. It recognizes the disk and I can connect it but if I look in a folder and opens up Time Machine there's no backups previous to today.
    So I'm guessing it believes it's a separate backup, how do I tell it that the backup is the right one for this computer?

    See B5 and B6 here.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    Let me suggest it is much better to start afresh.
    Archive off the existing backup.. do an erase of the TC and start a new clean TM backup.
    In the end you should preserve the existing backup anyway.. as using TM now will likely erase the entire existing backup anyway.

  • Time machine doesn't show older backups anymore after restoring one

    After restoring a backup, my older backups are not shown anymore in my Time Machine. Although it's said that the oldest one is from 2010.
    how ca i get them back?
    thank you for helping!

    Try right-click on the Time Machine "clock" icon on the dock
    Click Browse Other Time Machine Disks
    See if your old backups are there

  • Time Machine doesn't open backup screen

    I have problems opening the time machine backups.
    I use both a TC and a Synology disk station with TM, both seem to run well and TM makes backups every hour. No errors are reported and TM shows new backups are made successfully.
    However when I try to open TM it stalls. Normally you get the "purple space background" layering your backups in time. I now only get one finder screen, the background goes black.....and then nothing.
    I somehow hoped it would go away with Yosemite, but it stayed.
    Who can help?

    Question: If you make a new back-up and open it, could it also take a (very long) while to open as it is indexing? Or is "indexing" something it only does when using older bach-up sets after problems/ new setup?
    The new backup should open practically instantly. You have no history and a clean simple new backup should be index and checked as part of making it.
    Second thing I now remember is the problems started after using the TC back-up after a HD crash. My internal HD failed and I used the TC back-up to restore; with perfect result. But that probably has been the moment, TM wasn't functioning.
    Yes, I think this is where the problem comes from. And you are now in a bit of a mess.. if you upgraded to Yosemite.. then whatever problems were there are multiplied. You cannot go backwards. So I think you might need to look at something major.
    You cannot reinstall TM.. it is integrated into the OS. You really do need to do a clean install and import (using migrate your apps and files).
    Before doing that I would use a software like Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable clone of your existing disk. And boot from it to check it is working.
    Do a verify of the current install.. you will need to do this by booting to recovery area.. run disk utility and/or hardware tests.
    OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
    Using Apple Hardware Test - Apple Support
    In the end.. using CCC is a good replacement to TM.. it is simpler and seems to not get as messed up.. so you can continue using the install as is, but with CCC as your backup.. at the same time I think it is good to be planning for a completely clean install.. painful as that is.. and you will not be able to recover .. you can migrate your personal files.. but it would be best to reinstall the applications..
    Sorry I had a drop out on my internet.. adsl and it is raining.. so it all goes to pot.
    Double post and I cannot fix the top one.

  • Time Machine doesn't find Backup-Volume

    Hi guys!
    I am going crazy... i use a time capsule and a iMac, both 6 months old.
    So, we have moved into a new appartment and i had to reinstall the wlan. Of course, the timecapsule had to to be resetted and the new wlan settings had to be done with the airport programm. now, everything is ok, the airport programm finds the TC and the light is green.
    Now i want to make the first backup, in the time machine programm i can chose my TC.
    But, if i start the backup, time machine starts to search the Backup-Volume and doesn't end.
    Even after 14 hours, still searching the Backup-Volume. And i have done it twice...
    Does anybody can help?
    Thanks a lot

    Are you actually using Lion??
    Did you update to 10.7.5 early in the piece as there was a supplement to fix slow TM backups ironically.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599
    If your revision is already the latest .. ie the patched revision to update.. if you can follow all that.. (something is smelling in the testing division these days).
    Then I would do full reset to TM.
    A4 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    As well as full verify to both the local disk and the old backups.. A5
    And load the widget so you know what the heck TM is doing. A1
    After you do all that.. erase the old backup and start again.. often the only fix.
    Or get a USB drive and use that instead of TC.
    Or download Superduper and use that.. it is far less featured.. and has far less issues. The two being closely linked.

  • Time Machine doesn't see backup disk

    My wife has a late '06 macbook running 10.6.5. We are trying to setup time machine for wireless backups through our airport extreme and our iomega 500gb hard drive. When opening time machine from system preferences and clicking on "select backup disk..." there are no disks that appear in the selection window. I have a macbook pro that is currently using the same iomega in time machine so yes, the external is formatted for mac and it is working great with my pro. I have shut off and powered back up the external, restarted my wife's macbook, and searched forum after forum and cannot seem to get this to work. The external does not show up in disk utility on her's but does on mine. She just recently had a new hard drive installed at our mac retailer because her original one just up and crashed...no warning or anything so we really want to start doing backups to avoid loosing anymore data. Anymore help would be much appreciated.

    Your suggestion to Connect to Server led me down what seems to have been the right path.
    I first tried restarting the whole network in order, and that made no difference: Time Machine still did not see the external drive partition.
    I used Connect to Server to get to the external drive. That made no difference: Time Machine still did not see the external drive partition.
    I mounted the external drive partition that holds the sparsebundle. That made the difference: the partition was then visible to Time Machine, so I selected it. A dialog box popped up asking for the TC’s password so Time Machine could access the TC. I entered it, and the partition was successfully selected as the backup disk.
    I then tried to backup, but that failed, saying that the backup on PartitionName-1 was in use. I tried it again and looked at /Volumes while it was trying, and saw both PartitionName (presumably mounted by Finder) and both PartitionName-1 (presumably in a futile attempt to be mounted by Time Machine). I cancelled that backup and told Finder to dismount the partition, which caused Finder to dismount the whole Time Capsule. I reconnected to the Time Capsule but did not mount the partition, and tried to backup. That, finally, worked.
    So here’s what I needed to do:
    In Finder, use Connect to Server to connect to the Time Capsule.
    In Finder, open the partition on the Time Capsule’s external drive.
    In Time Machine Preferences, select the partition as the backup disk.
    Enter the Time Capsule password when it’s prompted for.
    In Finder, dismount the partition.
    (Possibly unnecessary: In Finder, use Connect to Server to connect to the Time Capsule.)
    In Time Machine, Back Up Now.

  • Time Machine doesn't see backup!

    Hi. My laptop crashed. I couldn't launch it. However, I was able to open it as a drive from my desktop while holding down the T button. I ran Time Machine and backed up the Laptop. However, the root of the backup is called by my desktop name, since it was backing it up as a hard-drive connected to my desktop. I erased the laptop disk and reinstalled OSX. It offered me an option to transfer my files from a backup (I attached my desktop to the laptop as a hard drive.) I said yes, but then it said that the backup is running a newer version of OSX! So I wasn't able to transfer anything. I restarted the laptop and did a software update. Then I open up Time Machine and it takes me to that horribly ******** galaxy screen and  it doesn't see the backup that exists on my desktop (which is connected as a hard drive to the laptop). How can I make it see that backup? Please help!!!!

    Hello, mp1lcri. 
    Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
    Try the steps in the articles below as they may help with the Time Machine issue you are experiencing.
    Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3275
    OS X Mavericks: Time Machine problems
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14187
    Cheers,
    Jason H.

  • Time Machine doesn't show my second hard disk

    I recently updated my G4 from Tiger to OSX 10.5 Leopard. My G4 has two internal hard disks, one (Mac HD) containing the system & most documents, the other (Music & Pics) containing my iPhoto & iTunes libraries. I thought I had set TM to backup both disks as after I got it running I checked the backups and am sure I saw the icons of both Mac HD and Music & Pics in the TM "Star Wars" window.
    Now I have just had a failure of the Music & Pics disk and am trying to recover the iPhoto & iTunes libraries to Mac HD. However when I look at all the TM backups, there is no sign of Music & Pics!
    Is this because TM can't see the Music & Pics drive any more, so assumes I only want to see the files backed up from Mac HD? Do I need to install a new drive and name it Music & Pics to see the backups, or is there another way?

    brianbron wrote:
    I recently updated my G4 from Tiger to OSX 10.5 Leopard. My G4 has two internal hard disks, one (Mac HD) containing the system & most documents, the other (Music & Pics) containing my iPhoto & iTunes libraries. I thought I had set TM to backup both disks as after I got it running I checked the backups and am sure I saw the icons of both Mac HD and Music & Pics in the TM "Star Wars" window.
    Now I have just had a failure of the Music & Pics disk and am trying to recover the iPhoto & iTunes libraries to Mac HD. However when I look at all the TM backups, there is no sign of Music & Pics!
    Is this because TM can't see the Music & Pics drive any more, so assumes I only want to see the files backed up from Mac HD? Do I need to install a new drive and name it Music & Pics to see the backups, or is there another way?
    Are you trying to do this by booting from your Leopard Install disk and doing a full system restore? If so, that procedure only restores OSX drives. Use the normal "Star Wars" display to restore a data-only drive.
    Since the failed drive is no longer connected, see #E3 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

  • Time Machine doesn't list Time Capsule as backup option

    I'm trying to restart Time Machine, but Time Machine doesn't show Time Capsule as a backup option even though I'm connected to it wirelessly on our network. I was successfully backing up to my Time Capsule until I changed its name. Any ideas on how to fix this.
    Thanks

    Sounds like the drive is dead.
    Take it to your local Apple Store or Authorized Repair location.

  • Time machine's pretty little interface doesn't show backups

    I've had time machine turned on since october 28th. I needed to restore a corrupt itunes library yesterday but when I launched time machine it only showed me "today" as a recovery option. I actually found the file I needed by clicking down through folders on the drive I selected for backup. So, time machine is backing up just not allowing me to restore from the application directly. Anyone else had this problem? Anyone find a fix?
    thx

    Try the things in #E4 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

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