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

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HT203177 Time machine doesn't recognize my hard drive archive

I have time machine archive on a hard drive (not time capsule). It recently stopped backing up. On checking, time machine recognizes the hard drive (in preferences it is listed as the back up drive.) The files appear to be present on looking into the drive, but Time Machine doesn't recognize that there are backup files there, it wants to complete another full backup. Meaning - it says for latest backup: "none".
I am afraid if I do another full backup, I will lose the ability to access the older backups.
When I try to access older files through time machine, it predictably cannot find them.
How do I tell Time Machine that the files on that hard drive are the backup files?

Update:
1) Right click on TM icon - Menu choice "Browse other TM disks" allows me to see the data - i.e. it is a valid TM archive, not corrupted.
2) Looking at TM preferences immediately after showed the proper disk was targeted, but still Latest backup: None.
3) Shut down, anomalous shut down -required power button hit. (AHH - the problem??)
4) restart using command - R works - i.e recognizes the disk and emergency recovery system software
5) Restart - Still shows latest backup: None
6) trying to access data through standard TM startup shows data now.
7) go back to preferences - still no backup shown.
Aside - I can't recall what the purple vs white dates on right side of the screen signify, and can't find it in the documentation right now. Anybody know?

Time machine doesn't recognize external hard drive

Recently I went to the apple store to get help to switch from Mavericks to Mountain Lion (I had some problems with Mavericks). They used time machine to bring back my applications (from my external hard drive, LaCie) on the Mountain Liion software. They said my time machine/external hard drive should work the same when I got home. Now, when I go to back up my computer, time machine doesn't recognize that I've backed up my files before. In the past, when time machine was working, every time I plugged in my hard drive the icon for it would turn blue, time machine recognized it, and it would back up my files. Now, the icon for the hard drive shows up, but time machine doesn't recognize it.
Some other things:
- when I open my external hard drive on finder, it shows all of my previous back ups
- I used disk utility to check my hard drive and macintosh HD - both are OK
How can I use time machine to continue backing up files? Or am I going to have to partition or erase the hard drive and start a new back up?
Thank you in advance

nevermind! time machine suddenly recognized the disk after half an hour. sorry, I don't know how to delete this post!

Time machine doesn't see external hard drive on network

I have a pair of external hard drives connected to my iMac, which is connected to my 2WIRE modem/router via Ethernet. I'm using one of them as a Time Machine drive. For the past couple years, I've been backing up the laptops in the house to that Time Machine drive without fail.
Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) won't see either external drive connected to the iMac, even though the iMac has file sharing turned on (as it always has) and both laptops are connected to the iMac via the Finder. Both laptops can see the iMac and the external drives connected to it via the Finder, but in Time Machine, when I try to select my Time Machine drive, nothing appears in the window.
I was having a problem with the Time Machine drive and had to wipe and reformat it, but I don't understand why Time Machine won't see the other external drive either, even if there is a problem with the TM drive. I recall Time Machine picking up all available hard drives as possible backup destinations, as long as they're also seen in the Finder.
The iMac has been having some OS X issues. The Finder will crash sometimes, and I have no choice but to hold down the power button to shut it down and then start it up. When it starts, it takes longer than it normally does, I assume because it's checking and/or fixing some things. However, those issues have been going on for a long time (I think I need to reinstall OS X in it, since Disk Utility finds nothing wrong; also, the hard drive in the iMac crashed about 2 months ago and I put a new one in; I then restored the TM backup to it, and the OS X issues have persisted, which tells me it's software-related, not the drive).
Also, the iMac backs up to the Time Machine drive just fine. Of course, the TM drive is connected to it locally, whereas the laptops have to get to that drive via wireless file sharing.
I did try plugging one of the external hard drives on the iMac into my MacBook, and Time Machine saw it immediately, so my guess is the issue must lie with my router and/or the iMac, but I don't know what to check next. I've restarted the iMac, I've restarted the laptops, I've turned TM on and off on the laptops, and I've turned file sharing on and off on the iMac; none of those things reestablished the connection.
I suppose I could just go with external hard drives for the laptops, but my wife moves her iBook all over the house, so I know hers won't get backed up regularly. That was the nice thing about the system I had in place, which I realize wasn't as elegant as a Time Capsule.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

That should say "Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) will see either external drive..." I hate typos.
Anyway, after rereading my post, I'm starting to think I just need to reinstall OS X on the iMac, given the other issues it's experiencing. Any advice for doing that would be appreciated, if that's indeed the solution. Thanks.

Time Machine doesn't backup my esata drive

Hi,
I have a MacBookPro with an esata express card and a HD attached. I have a USB drive that Time Machine uses to backup my HD and (I thought) my esata drive. The esata drive is not excluded in Time Machine. Despite this the esata drive is not backed up by Time Machine.
I have tried setting up Time MAchine "from scratch" but it still won't backup the esata drive.
I'm out of ideas, perhaps someone out there can help?
Regards
Jesper

JsPr wrote:
I have tried setting up Time MAchine "from scratch" but it still won't backup the esata drive.
I'm out of ideas, perhaps someone out there can help?
That's correct; Time Machine will only back-up USB or FireWire externals. See this Apple article: Disks that can be used with Time Machine.

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 recognize my hard drive

I have a MBP (early 2011) 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3.
I have been running Lion and backing up using time machine to an external HD. Took machine to Apple to check on a problem which I presumed to be a RAM issue. They ran diagnostics and determined that one of my RAM chips needed to be replace. Also suggested that I upgrade to Mavericks. I agreed to let them do the install, making sure to do a time machine backup just before leaving the machine. They wiped the HD and did a clean install of Mavericks v 10.9.4.
The migration from TM did not work. On phone for hours with Apple while they walked me through manually reinstalling everything from TM to reformatted HD. (what a pain!). Now, I want to back up the HD using the same external HD (plenty of space still available). Plugged in external HD via USB, as always. Went to system preferences - turned on TM. My internal HD is not there. Only finds the external drive.
How do I resolve this problem?

John Galt wrote:
... Are you unable to select the external HD as a backup device?
pres92 wrote:
that's the problem -- my hard drive ("startup disk) is not listed, so I can't select it.
The reason is that the startup volume is not a valid selection for its own Time Machine backup.
The only drive listed is the Time Machine external drive. Obviously, I don't want to back up the time machine drive.
By default, a Time Machine backup volume is excluded from being backed up.
The appearance you describe is correct, otherwise I'm completely misunderstanding your problem.

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.

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 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 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 Backups Only Show One, Current Back-Up, Cant go back in time!

So, Ive been doing backups for a while now and recently opened time machine to look for something, and only one backup was visible, Today's. I can't go back in time no others are listed. How can I fix this, I dont mind if I have to create a new one I just want to be able to go back in time in the near future.. Thanks

Try mounting the SparseBundle as an image and search through your Backups for a quick fix.
Or try leaving it when you enter the application for a few minutes to load all the latest backups, this will allow you to "go back in time" or try connecting via RG45 cable to allow this to happen quicker.
Try checking to see if you have deleted old backups, or your settings indicate to delete old backups
Hope this helps
Thanks
Hutchy
www.thickskinnedband.com

Removing Time Machine backups for (missing) external hard drive

My Time Machine was backing up everything, including external hard drives.
One of the external drives (ORIGDRIVE) started hardware failures. I added a new external drive (NEWDRIVE) and used Finder to copy files over (some via RAID and some from the Time Machine copy a month before the problems cropped up).
Then I ejected and unplugged ORIGDRIVE and shipped it back to the manufacturer.
The problem is that the Time Machine still has all those copies from ORIGDRIVE eating up disk space, but I want to keep a year's worth of monthlies for all the other drives (just in case another drive fails soon).
Since ORIGDRIVE is not mounted, Time Machine doesn't show me those files so I can use the "Delete All Backups of" option within the GUI.
If I try renaming NEWDRIVE to ORIGDRIVE, what I get instead is ORIGDRIVE 1 .
We're talking dozens of TB here, so reformatting the Time Machine volume and starting over maxes out the system and leaves me flying without a complete backup for most of a week, something I'd rather avoid.
Suggestions?

My Time Machine was backing up everything, including external hard drives.
One of the external drives (ORIGDRIVE) started hardware failures. I added a new external drive (NEWDRIVE) and used Finder to copy files over (some via RAID and some from the Time Machine copy a month before the problems cropped up).
Then I ejected and unplugged ORIGDRIVE and shipped it back to the manufacturer.
The problem is that the Time Machine still has all those copies from ORIGDRIVE eating up disk space, but I want to keep a year's worth of monthlies for all the other drives (just in case another drive fails soon).
Since ORIGDRIVE is not mounted, Time Machine doesn't show me those files so I can use the "Delete All Backups of" option within the GUI.
If I try renaming NEWDRIVE to ORIGDRIVE, what I get instead is ORIGDRIVE 1 .
We're talking dozens of TB here, so reformatting the Time Machine volume and starting over maxes out the system and leaves me flying without a complete backup for most of a week, something I'd rather avoid.
Suggestions?

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.

I have a power pc (g5) computer that I will soon be replacing with a current i5 or i7 mini. How do I transfer the Time Machine files from the internal hard drive on the G5 to an external drive that I will later use with the Mini?

I have a Power PC G5 computer that I will soon be replacing with a current i5 or i7 Mini. How do I transfer the Time Machine files from the internal hard drive on the G5 to an external drive that I will later use with the Mini?

Hi, likely the easiest is to just poll the drive & get something like this...
Get MacScan...
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/macscan.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/
But if you have a good external drive already, just clone it.
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/

Time machine doesn't show non-current drive.

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