Time machine has lost a year of backups

I have time machine set to write to a Seagate Free Agent hard drive. It has 574GB spare on it, so it's nowhere near full, but I have no backups before about a month ago.
Time machine preferences say that I have backups going back to September 2009, and the timescale when I enter Time machine says the same, but the windows are greyed out and unavailable.
I haven't had any problems that I know about.
Help please?

The grayed-out windows are the clue.
What you see in the "Star Wars" display depends on how you get there and how you navigate once you're there -- if you start with a Finder window showing a folder that's a month old, you'll see all the backups that include it normally; all prior backups will appear, but be grayed-out and not selectable.
The easiest thing to do is select your Computer in the Finder Sidebar (or press ShiftCmdC before entering Time Machine), navigate to the backup in question, then see what's there.
There's a sample of this in #15 of [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).

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine has lost all backups

    I have a time capsule that was reset on 15th April when I moved the home folder on our iMac to an external disk. It needed to be reset as there was not enough free space to keep the existing backups and continue with the new external. Time machine has been running since and backing up our files.
    Today I noticed that Time Machine was working hard doing a backup and when I check the status in the top bar it shows that time machine is backing up all or our data (approx 250Gb). I opened the time machine application and it only shows a backup from today - there is no history.
    What could have happened? It looks like the time capsule was wiped and time machine has started from scratch again. One other thing, I updated to the latest AirPort utility this morning, coincidence?
    Hope someone can help as I do not want this to happen again.
    All the best
    Andrew Wright.

    Thanks for the link, but the answers there did not really help explain why a full backup was done. None of the reasons in D3 were applicable. I did look at the system log and found the info below. This appears to show a 'normal' backup just before 2pm then the full backup just after 3pm. The question is still 'why would time machine want to backup everything when most files were already backed up'?
    Jun 17 13:55:24 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Starting standard backup
    Jun 17 13:55:24 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Time%20Capsule
    Jun 17 13:55:33 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Mounted network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Time%20Capsule
    Jun 17 13:55:37 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
    Jun 17 13:55:40 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Disk image /Volumes/Time Capsule/MyMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
    Jun 17 13:55:40 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
    Jun 17 13:56:02 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 841.0 MB requested (including padding), 149.65 GB available
    Jun 17 13:57:28 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Copied 1601 files (183.8 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Jun 17 13:57:28 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 592.4 MB requested (including padding), 149.65 GB available
    Jun 17 13:57:31 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Copied 7 files (93 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
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    Jun 17 13:58:02 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/MyMac/2011-05-18-162329: 149.65 GB now available
    Jun 17 13:58:02 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
    Jun 17 13:58:02 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Backup completed successfully.
    Jun 17 13:58:06 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
    Jun 17 13:58:06 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[746]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
    Jun 17 15:16:12 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Starting standard backup
    Jun 17 15:16:12 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Time%20Capsule
    Jun 17 15:16:21 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Mounted network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Time%20Capsule
    Jun 17 15:16:23 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
    Jun 17 15:16:26 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Disk image /Volumes/Time Capsule/MyMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
    Jun 17 15:16:26 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
    Jun 17 15:16:40 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Node requires deep traversal:/Volumes/Users reason:must scan subdirs|
    Jun 17 15:17:17 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Compacting storage: 297.87 GB requested (including padding), 149.65 GB available before compacting
    Jun 17 15:17:17 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Stopping backup.
    Jun 17 15:17:18 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Backup canceled.
    Jun 17 15:17:19 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
    Jun 17 15:17:19 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
    Jun 17 15:18:11 iMac-2 com.apple.backupd[425]: Completed backup disk image compaction

  • Time machine has deleted/hidden *all* my backups.

    At the moment I'm using two 1TB external hard drives connected to my mac, one as storage and one just for time machine. Yesterday the storage drive died on me, so I replaced it with another 1TB drive.
    Time machine has been backing up everything on the main computer and the storage drive for several months now so I thought it would be an easy fix, just restore what was lost from the storage drive and I'm set.
    After connecting and formatting the new external hard drive I tried restoring the lost data but couldn't figure out a way to have it restore from time machine directly to the new drive. Instead, I went into the Backups.backupdb folder on the time machine drive, found the most recent backup of the files I needed from Feb 9th and just dragged and dropped it into the new drive.
    It comprised of some 550GB of data, so I left it copying overnight. Checking on it this morning, it seems that a little less than half of the data has been copied across and what's worse - time machine no longer shows any backups made before this morning. Checking in the drive contents, it seems that the backup folders no longer exist either.
    Now, I don't actually think the data has gone missing since the time machine drive is still showing that it has some 700GB of data still on it, it's just not viewable for some reason.
    I've been through Disk Utility to see if the drive needs repairing, but I'm being told that there's no problem with it. I've also checked to see if the data has somehow found its way into the trash can, but it's not there either.
    Does anyone have any suggestions as to what happened and how to recover my lost backups?

    pheadlessg wrote:
    Thanks for that. It's backing up again now but the old backups are still missing.
    I have no idea what went wrong with the drag and drop. It should have copied your data (likely with a zillion permission problems), but shouldn't have affected the TM data. There might be something in your logs, but that probably won't help now.
    Your old backups are probably hosed (pardon the technical term <grin>).
    You might be able to give yourself read rights to the .Trashes folder, and see if there's anything in it, but I doubt you'll see anything.
    To do so, select it, then +Get Info.+
    Click the padlock at the bottom of the pane, then enter your Administrator's password.
    Then click the plus sign at the bottom; you should get a selection screen for yourself. Click it.
    That should give you read rights.
    A very long shot, but worth a try.
    Most likely, you're going to end up erasing the drive/partition and starting over.

  • It seems as if my time machine has lost some backups.

    I have had my time machine for over six months.  I lost a video a couple of months ago and needed it replaced and was able to do so without a problem. For some reason that video is gone again and I went back into the time machine to get it.  This time however the time machine only shows a couple of months of backups and I cant go far enough back to find the file I need.  It is a 2T time machine and I have pleanty of space so I know it never got full. 
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    There is a likely chance that shortly after you installed Lion on your computer, that Time Machine sent you a message indicating that it needed to start a new set of backups.
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    If by some chance the "old" backups are still on the Time Capsule, you can try the following:
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    Another thought......did you delete the file from your computer at any time, thinking that it would stay on the Time Capsule? 

  • Time Machine has lost the link with its old backup files

    This has got me a bit puzzled.
    I recently obtained a nice new iMac to use in conjunction with my trusty MacBook Pro. Previously the MBP was my main machine and I habitually plugged it into an external HDD for Time Machine to use. No problem there.
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    I realise I can erase the HDD and tell TM to start backing up from scratch but I'm hesitant to do so. I have months of incremental backups on there already and I'm not keen to lose them. Is there anything I can do to pick up from where TM left off before I changed my cables around? It seems such a pity to throw months of backup out the window.

    Have you thought about re-connecting your HDD directly back to your MBP - as you had it before. Provided the MBP's name has not changed, TM should pick-up from where it left off. Bear in mind that TM will only back up one mac at a time, and as I understand it, you would need Time Capsule or other networkable HD to back up both macs to. Considering the reasonable cost of external HD, you might be better off to get another one for your iMac.
    The macs can still be connected over the network and you could still use ChronoSync for syncing etc.
    Joe

  • Time Machine Has Never Performed a Full Backup that Can Be Restored From

    I've been backing up my system via time machine to a time capsule. I'm using the same time capsule for both my mac and my wife's. My wife's mac is backing up fine with numerous full backups that can be restored from. However, when I recently booted into recovery mode, I discovered there were no full backups of my mac that I could restore from. I've been using this time capsule for about a year now so I'm concerned as to why there are no full backups. I can enter time machine and see my docs and files...just no full backups. Thanks for your help.

    There was a bug in Mountain Lion that caused TM to fail to backup system files.
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    Honestly if you want a reliable full backup get CCC or other clone type backup and do a disk image to a USB drive that you can then test boot from. Then use TM for incrementals..
    What the change to Maverick will bring I am not sure.. ??
    We went from big cats to card sharps in Westerns..
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maverick_(TV_series)

  • I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years.  Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system.  Any ideas?

    I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years.  Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system.  Any ideas?
    Has Apple recently up-dated my OS (Lion) such that every time the screen saver starts it disables Time Machine.  I have to switch-off the computer and re-start in order to undertake  a back-up.  I have now switched of all screen savers.

    Please read this whole message before doing anything.
    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
    The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
    Be sure your Mac is shut down.
    Press the power button.
    Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
    Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
    Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
    The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
    Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
    After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)

  • Time machine has deleted all old backups

    Hi, I'm desperate! time machine has all the old backups deleted on my time capsule, only today's early still a backup available. It was still 1TB space on the hard disk. What did I do wrong? There was no warning!

    Time Machine will not delete your old backups unless it starts to run out of space on the hard drive......or.....your backups have become corrupted and Time Machine cannot repair them.
    In the latter case, a message like this will appear on your screen:
    Do you recall seeing this message recently?

  • Time Machine has deleted all backups except one..?

    (Snow Leopard 10.6.8) Mac Pro.
    I've been backing up for at least 2 years using Time Machine on an internal 500Gb drive. Today I get a message saying the drive is full and when I check all backups over the last 8 months (approx) have gone. The only backup surviving is the one it did just before the message popped up. Have tried Repair disk and Disk Warrior, but they're still gone. Is this most likely to be a failing drive issue? And is there any chance I can recover them?

    Time Machine will not delete your old backups unless it starts to run out of space on the hard drive......or.....your backups have become corrupted and Time Machine cannot repair them.
    In the latter case, a message like this will appear on your screen:
    Do you recall seeing this message recently?

  • Time Machine has stopped making backups

    Time Machine has worked fine for me fore many months, the backup disk being a 1 TB external firewire drive.
    But now Time Machine will not make a backup. I keep getting the same error message: "Time Machine Error. This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 88.7 GB but only 58.5 are available."
    I thought Time Machine just deleted the oldest files on the drive to make the room it needs for continued backups. So why isn't it doing that now? How do I get it to go back to doing that?
    Thanks for any help!
    Tom

    Tom Baker1 wrote:
    My Time Machine backup disk is an external 1 TB firewire drive with only one partition, dedicated entirely to TM, and it backs up the two internal drives in my G5. One of these two internal drives has about 600 GB of data on it and the other about 400, so together they would be enough to fill the external Time Machine backup drive.
    Yes, that's too small. Our "rule of thumb" is, TM needs 2-3 times the space of the data it's backing up. See #1 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
    Now I have discovered that there is something wrong with the Time Machine backups as well. I decided to go into TM to see just how far back in time the backups go, but it will only allow me to go back as far as yesterday. It acts as though there are no backups older than yesterday afternoon.
    That's probably correct; your TM disk is too small, and there's just not room for more. Here's the situation: A full backup has nearly filled the disk; something fairly large has been added or changed, and there just isn't room for it, in addition to the full backup.
    The 88.7 GB it's requesting means it's trying to back up about 74 GB (it adds 20% for workspace, etc., on the TM disk).
    This is getting stranger all the time. At this point should I just give up trying to fix the situation, erase the backup drive, and start all over again?
    That probably won't help much, if at all. To confirm what's going on, Click here to download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Navigate to the last backup attempt, then copy and post all the messages for that run here.
    You need to do one of the following:
    Get a larger drive, at least 2 TB.
    Get an additional drive; use one for TM backups of one of your internal HDs, the other for a different app to back-up the other internal HD.
    Exclude a lot of stuff from Time Machine (at least 300 GB).
    Use a different app, such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to back up your internals to separate partitions on the 1 TB drive. These will be exact copies only; no previous copies of things you've changed or deleted.

  • Time machine has hidden past backup files

    I recently did a restore using Time Machine.
    1) Time Machine created a new backup folder.
    2) the old backup folders are still on the drive but no longer visible or excessible.
    3) the files are still there because the backup hard drive is almost full.
    4) is there a way to bring back the backup files Time Machine has hidden or possibly overwritten

    Thank you Pondini for jumping in on this one.
    I use Time Machine to backup on an external hard for my FCP video files to another external HD. I do not use TM for my iMac. (Snow Leopard).
    On Wednesday my FCP hard drive had a failure of some sort and would not allow to be written on, so I formatted the FCP hard drive and then "restored" the latest files from the backup hard drive. But, during the the process of restoring the auto backup kicked in and started to backup the FCP hard drive onto the backup HD at the same time I was restoring the FCP drive.
    When all was said and done... the backup drive no longer showed the past three months of FCP files, but instead only shows Wednesday's last folder. The files are still on the backup drive because I am now getting a "failure" due to lack of hard drive space. I believe it's because the three months of files are still on the hard drive but Time Machine is no longer recoginizing the old folders. The current backup folder reads:
    Backups.backupdb - with the folder inside: Admin's iMac (2) - with another folder inside:  2012-12-23-193009 -  followed by a "Latest" folder that has only 4KB Alias in the Size and Kind columns.
    Are you running Snow Leopard?  YES
    It did that when you ran a new backup after the restore, right? YES but Time Machine created a new backup folder.
    Did you do a "full system restore," starting up from your Snow Leopard Install disc? YES, but after 5 hours the backup stopped with the "failure" due to not enough disk space to contine. This is not possible because the backup HD is 4T and reading 1.8T available.
    I am trying to find a way to revive the original Time Machine folders that go back to November without having to reformat the entire backup drive.

  • HT201250 After Time Machine has backed up my files, can I delete my originals from my Mac and do something in Time Machine to ensure it will never automatically delete them from the backup in the future?

    I'm new to using Time Machine - I'm making my first backup right now - and I have a few concerns.
    So let's say my precious photos are taking up most of my Mac's hard drive space. I back them up with Time Machine on an external hard drive. After that, I want to delete my photos from my Mac because I want more space and my photos are now stored in the external hard drive. I have a few questions about that.
    First, does Time Machine's backup system follow the same concept as having extra storage (so would this be a reasonable decision to make)?
    Second, if it does, then could I access/open these photos from Time Machine's backup anytime I want?
    Third, would I need to use the restore backup function of Time Machine every time I want to open my photos are there alternative ways of accessing my photos, like through opening directory paths to the photos?
    Lastly, when the external hard drive becomes full and Time Machine wants to delete my oldest backup files, what can I do to ensure that these photos will never get deleted unless I manually do it? Like, is there a way to lock and secure these files? Or, is it like if these photos are the only copies saved in the backup, I can rest assure that Time Machine will never delete them?
    Thanks

    NeuroBrain wrote:
    Since my new external hard drive is have a lot of space, I'm thinking of splitting it for Time Machine and external storage.
    This is a common mistake and I highly advise against it.
    1: TimeMachine saves states of changes and thus requires more room on the TM drive than the boot drive it's backing up.
    2: Something happens to the TM drive, loss, theft, dropped, power surge, etc., you lose both backups.
    3: The storage drive might become a portable need, with it being on the TM drive, now your increasing the risk to the TM backup that something could happen to it along with the storage drive, due to increased movement.
    Seriously, have a read,
    Most commonly used backup methods
    it's ASC User Tip that saves us regulars all the trouble of having to repeat ourselves over and over again in the posts, because we tend to forget things too, or not here sometimes etc.
    "Plan for the worst and the good will take care of itself" - Donald Trump

  • Time Machine has left me in the past!

    I recently had a mac genius re-install my OS due to poor performance and too many glitches to name them all. I was confident in my time machine back-ups since I could see the clock moving everyday on my tool bar. After my OS was re-installed, I connected to my external hard drive and can only see files from November. Nothing else. Am I just ******** or is there something I'm doing wrong? I have only had a few hiccups in my 10+ years using a mac but they have been huge ones. Does anyone out there have a solution to this or has it happened to anyone else? Time machine has left me in the past, November 07 to be exact and I need to be in May 08! Someone please help!!!!

    Double-click the drive icon, then double click the "Backups.backupdb" folder. Double-click your old computer's name, and scroll down to the bottom, and look at the most recent date. That most recent date is the most recent TM has.
    Good luck!
    P.S. Welcome to Discussions!

  • Time Machine asked to delete all my backups

    Periodically, time machine tells me it's going to delete all my backups and create a new one. There is no way out of it. All I can say is "OK". But I'm wondering "Why?". Why is it doing that? Months of backup are gone with a single click.
    When my backup drive gets full, it warns me that it is going to delete my oldest backups. That's okay. That's expected. But twice now it has told me that it is going to delete my entire backup set and start over. Why? Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening.
    Time machine has worked well for me for years. But suddenly, it's kind of useless.

    Start with C13 in the 1st linked article.
    Time Machine Troubleshooting
    Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

  • Time machine has stopped backing up to my Western Digital Network Drive

    I have a WD 1TB World Edition drive which pretty much worked plug 'n' play when I bought it in early Jan backing up with with Time Machine instead of the bundled software. I've had a few troubles backing up, but largely due to router problems. Time machine has worked great with the drive, as promised.
    Until a few days ago, when it stopped backing up altogether. The usual backup icon stopped appearing on the desktop and it came up with error message saying the backup file cannot mount or something like that. Strangely, the shared folders on the drive still show up and I can access all the mp3 files, etc I have loaded up. So, I checked the router, cabling to the drive, rebooted the drive, resetted the drive and checked the settings using MyBookWorld. This stopped the error message showing when I tried to backup and the backup icon now shows on the desktop again. But it won't backup !!! It just stalls and in Time Machine says its configuring without doing anything. I have tried hooking up to the drive directly, still no joy.
    I'm now at the end of my tether. Does anyone have any ideas? I have asked WD support and they were next to useless. Thanks !

    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    Time Machine does not back up reliably, if at all, to most network drives, except Time Capsules or a shared drive on another Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard on the same local network.
    Here's the criteria they must meet: Disks that can be used with Time Machine. And be careful here: just because some 3rd-party hardware claims to support Time Machine doesn't necessarily mean that Apple supports it, or that it will work in all circumstances.
    We've seen a number of problems reported with that drive. Have you downloaded the firmware update that's supposed to make it work?
    with error message saying the backup file cannot mount or something like that.
    The exact message might help.
    Time Machine says its configuring
    Is the word "configuring" or is it "Calculating changes"? "Configuring" sounds more like a message from WD, or perhaps your router, than one coming from Time Machine.
    Click here to download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Navigate to the backup in question, then copy and post all the messages for that run here.
    You might also try to Repair the backups. I don't know exactly how you'd get to them on a NAS, but try the procedure for a Time Capsule in #A5 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

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