Time Machine Local Snapshot - perhaps not enabled?

I've read that there is confusion about the Time Machine Snapshot function, but I am still not convinced mine is working.
Have just purchased my MacBook Pro (& loving it) and am doing my Time Machine backups to a 3rd party external HD via firewire 800. When away from my desk I can not get into Time Machine at all and am presented with the message Your Time Machine backup can't be found and when I look at the Time Machine Setup under System Preferences there is nothing at all there to indicate that local backups are enabled.
As I thought the whole purpose of the local snapshot was that files could be retrieved while on the road, I feel something is not right with my setup. Advice appreciated thanks

Perhaps these Links may be of assistance...
Time Machine Local Snapshots Laptops
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878
Time Machine...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

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Time machine local snapshots are taking up significant amount of hard drive space.

Hi there, my hard drive had become close to full and I got a warning message so I started a clean up. I have moved my iTunes media folder and my iPhoto picture folder to my Time Capsule external hard drive as well as deleting unnecessary apps and files. I was able to free up quite a bit of space but in looking at the hard drive in "About this Mac" the backups section is taking up 120.53 GB of my 250 GB hard drive. In my internet research it appears the "backups" section represents the Time Machine local snapshots when the designated drive is not available. Is there a way to decrease the space that the snapshots are taking up? 120 GB of my hard drive seems a bit excessive. Any advice is welcome, thanks!

what is confusing is why I would get a warning message that the disc was becoming full if there is 128GB worth of files that should have been automatically deleted?
You didn't get the warning because of that. You got it because of the files that you moved to another volume, and perhaps others. The local snapshots contain some of those files. They're available, for the time being, in case you need to restore them. Eventually they'll be deleted.

Time machine local snapshots bugs ?

Hi,
I started using time machine to backup select folders to an external HDD hooked up via USB.
I noticed that during preview, the created dates of files for local snapshots are always incorrect. They are all timestamped to the year 2000.
You can see from the screenshots. The first shows the file with the correct timestamp.
In this one, the created date is now incorrect.
In some cases, the file may change into a folder in the local snapshot and you will not be able to preview it anymore.
I cannot replicate the folder problem now, but I have had this happen to regular txt files.
Any ideas?
thanks
Matt

Hi,
I started using time machine to backup select folders to an external HDD hooked up via USB.
I noticed that during preview, the created dates of files for local snapshots are always incorrect. They are all timestamped to the year 2000.
You can see from the screenshots. The first shows the file with the correct timestamp.
In this one, the created date is now incorrect.
In some cases, the file may change into a folder in the local snapshot and you will not be able to preview it anymore.
I cannot replicate the folder problem now, but I have had this happen to regular txt files.
Any ideas?
thanks
Matt

Can't turn on Time machine local snapshots

I just found out about TM local snapshots feature - so I went into TM Prefs - and when I click "on" - it only comes up and says "select disk - other time machine capsule". There is no way to keep TM on, if I don't back it up to an external HD as well?

Local snapshot are enabled using command line.
If you open System Preferences, Time Machine, you'll read beneath the button Select Backup Disk
and when Local snapshot are disabled
Read for more details Pondini's page

Time Machine Local Snapshots are completely filling my hard drive

I have a MacBook Air and have been receiving errors about my hard drive being full. It turns out that Time Machine's Local Snapshots are filling up my hard drive completely (dangerously so). Obviously there must be something wrong with my machine as Local Snapshots are supposed to only occur if my hard drive is less than 80% full. Does anyone have any idea how I could fix this problem?
Cheers,
Greg

what is confusing is why I would get a warning message that the disc was becoming full if there is 128GB worth of files that should have been automatically deleted?
You didn't get the warning because of that. You got it because of the files that you moved to another volume, and perhaps others. The local snapshots contain some of those files. They're available, for the time being, in case you need to restore them. Eventually they'll be deleted.

Time machine local snapshot

I tried to use finder to browse /volumes/mobilebackups/Backups.pdb/Mabbook Pro.... and I found an empty folder.
Using terminal, I can see hourly backups
These backups doesn't appear in Time line
I have a MBP early-2011 running Lion with one user
How can I fix it?

Well, you can re-set the local backup (i.e. delete all of it and start over) by Turning Off Time Machine in System Preferences, wait a little while, then turn it back on again.

Time machine local snapshot restoring hangs

Interested in others experiances with restoring form a local snapshot. Mine fail. They cause finder to stall at "preparing to copy". I have tested by clearing the local snapshot and then letting my Macbook pro create a new one. Then tried to restore from the new one and it still stalls at "preparing to copy". I am hoping someone might have an idea as to why?
Ran all the standard basic repairs like PRam reset, boot to recovery partition and ran Disk Permissions and repair disk. All passed and fine.
Thanks

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Time machine local snapshot broken?

Hello everyone,
I've done a clean install by going into restore mode and wiping my HDD and installing mavericks. I can confirm that localsnapshot is broken on my Macbook Pro retina 15" and MacBook Pro 13". I have this exact same problem : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5424793
I am just curious if localsnapshot functionality works for you all. Could you post your test case by trying to enter time machine when your external drive is disconnected on any macbook or macbook pro.
Thank you.

Thanks for the input. I really hope apple figures it out at some point and provide a fix for everyone.

Add notes to my Time Machine backup snapshots?

Hello.
Is there a way to add notes to my Mac OS X 10.8.5's Time Machine backup snapshots for references (e.g., "upgraded Firefox v33.1.1 to v34)?
Thank you in advance.

Yes, I've done all "the ususal suspects.." repaired permissions, zapped pram, "reintroduced Time Machine to the backup drive by turning it off and on... etc

Local snapshots are not taken any longer

Not that local snapshots are vital to me, but I found out that my MBP, once freshly installed Mavericks and Time Machine migration done, doesn't take any local snapshot.
It happened that I was searching for a file I deleted a day before, while a message said that TM backup disk was not connected: of course it wasn't connected, but I believed that a recent snapshot would have been saved onto my MBP hard drive.
On Lion and Mountain Lion this feature worked correctly (and used to eat free space!). I upgraded to Mavericks, then I changed the MBP hard drive, so I decided to install a new copy of Mavericks and to migrate my Time Machine content on it. Now local snapshots are not taken. In fact on the System Preferences->Time Machine I can't read about them, while I clearly remember that in ML there was a sentence written about this feature.
What could have happened?

Don't know why, but it resulted disabled. I had to execute a Terminal command to re-enable them, as read on other posts and on this Pondini's page.

Migrating content from an encrypted Time Machine external disk (will not easily work)

I recently purchased an SSHD to upgrade my Mac. I preferred not to completely restore from Time Machine, but rather to install a new copy of Mavericks on the new disk and then migrate my TM content afterwards. At the end of installation, Mavericks proposed the option to migrate data from a TM backup, which I chose.
It turns out that the Migration Assistant did not recognize any disk, perhaps because it was encrypted, nor displayed any way to select the volume and unlock it by entering its password. Despite what Pondini says the Time Machine backups disk was not seen by the Mac: as workaround I had to create a fictitious user, log in, unlock the disk (that was immediately recognized by the system) and then run the Migration Assistant from there (by the way, after 4 hours I finally logged into my migrated account and found out that apps were not imported at all!)
I find all this quite not…applish! I could have preferred to unencrypt the TM disk rather than
Is there anyone facing this same experience? Hope that this, if it's a bug, will be fixed, otherwise I'll have to make a TM backup on a secondary disk (which I don't own so big).

Well a google search would appear that disk utility will show you the disk regardless if it's mounted or unmounted. you're best bet would be to unmount the disk in finder, shut down the computer completely, unplug it from a power source, and then unplug the firewire...
I think this is your safest bet but then again, I'm not that worried about ejecting my disks.
you get no error messages when you right click and eject the disk in in disk utilty? you said you have a my disk, do you mean My Book by western digital? I know that they load software onto the machine for encryption purposes. have you tried ejecting the disk from there? I uninstalled said software so I can't tell you if there is an option for that or not.

I baught Seagate Backup plus 2T hard drive to use as my Backup time machine. But its not working when i connect to time machine its not coping files, it keep saying preparing files. Can someone help me please...

i baught Seagate Backup plus 2T hard drive to use as my Backup time machine. But its not working. when i connect to time machine its not coping files, it keep saying preparing files. Can someone help me please...

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 the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login 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?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Not sure if Time Machine is stalled or not

I'm backing up with Time Machine for the first time; I just upgraded to Snow Leopard a couple of weeks ago from 10.4 (on a Macbook Pro), and been having problems, so the Genius at the Apple Store recommended backing up with TM, erasing my disk and reinstalling 10.6. The disk I'm backing up to is connected via firewire, and although I've been using it for some time I reformatted before this, GUID, Extended Journaling. The first couple times the MBP crashed in the middle of the backup. Then I got an automatic "software updates available" message, so I updated with the hope that that would help. The system has not crashed yet, but I noticed that the progress bar is not showing ANY progress...I don't mean slow, but none in the last 25 minutes. The blue in the bar is still cycling but it's been reading that it's backed up 27.53GB for the last 25 minutes. I've read in other posts about some wonky progress bar issues with Time Machine; anyone have a guess as to whether this is crashed, or merely pig slow?

cfdoyle wrote:
I had actually just downloaded carbon copy cloner yesterday, and the mac crashed 7 hours into backing up.
That's not good. Did the system crash, or did CCC crash and cause it? You should be able to restart and have it do an "update," so it doesn't have to start over. What kind of drive were you backing-up to? 7 hours sounds terribly slow, unless you have a very large system.
The Genius at the Apple Store said one of the advantages of Time machine is that I can wipe the drive, reinstall the operating system, and then reload not only the files from my backup but also the applications, with all of their system files. It would easily take a day for me to reinstall all my software from CDs, not to mention how much software I've downloaded and don't have disks for.
That's correct (see #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum), but you can do the same with a clone.
One of Time Machine's advantages is the quick hourly incremental backups of changes; you have an excellent chance to recover a previous version of something that was changed or deleted in error, or somehow came up corrupted.
As I said, I'm a fan of TM. But it's not perfect, and for this particular one-time use, CCC or SD will be more reliable, since you can test it.
Like many folks here, I do both: full Time Machine backups and a CCC clone on a separate HD. No app is perfect, and all hardware fails, sooner or later. I would never erase my boot drive without two full backups.
The Genius also said that my hard drive could be getting close to failure (3 years old with heavy use) even though it passes all the tests...which is one reason why I am concerned about getting a solid backup ASAP.
Oh, yes, absolutely.
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine Features
and perhaps browse the rest of the FAQ Tip.

How do I Restore my iPhoto library from my time machine if it does not give me the restore option?

How do I Restore my iPhoto library from my time machine if it does not give me the restore option?
When I go into my backups and click on the iPhoto library it does not come up with an option to restore it just says open and of course then won't let me open it because it is a back up in time machine? I need these photo very important.

Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support
For detailes TM support post in the forum for your OS rather than the iphoto forum
LN

Due to NAS issues, when I started a new time machine backup it did not have the old backups available. My question is do I need to delete them or will time machine automatically reclaim the space? Only one Sparse Bundle, same name.

Due to NAS issues, when I started a new time machine backup it did not have the old backups available. My question is do I need to delete them or will time machine automatically reclaim the space? There is only one sparse bundle but when I enter time machine I don't see my historic backups. I use a synology DS212 for my time machine. Started a new backup which is 218gb but it says 618 gb is occupied therefore it looks like 2 or 3 backups are still on the disk. Before my NAS issues the last backup was in 2014. As you can see there is a second sparse bundle from 2012. Not sure what that is.

This is an old message now, but what happened to me similarly was:
I had a major computer crash and through complicated pathways ended up reinstalling (Mavericks) as a new user (long story).
At least I had good Time Machine backups on an NAS drive (Synology DS212j), or so I thought - when I started Time Machine up again, the old backup file was gone, replaced by a new one using my "new computer" name. The old file was gone both by directly mounting the NAS drive and by clicking "Enter Time Machine".
It's like I had {OldShareName}.sparsebundle and then it was replaced by {NewShareName}.sparsebundle, all of the old info vanished.
(I have spent a week finding old files elsewhere and have completed a satisfactory self-restore. It pays to "archive" [my own variation of] as well as "back-up".)
My belief is that if this were a wired-netword-drive, e.g. plugged right into my iMac with a USB cable, then the old file would have remained.
But this is an NAS drive, connected directly to my Airport wireless router, and I don't know the significance of the fact that it stores its Time Machine backups as "sparsebundle" files rather than simply as plain(er) files.
As usual when things get complicated with computers (not just Apple computers) there was never a warning message. Something like "YOU'RE ABOUT TO DELETE A TIME MACHINE BACK-UP FILE!!!" would have made my life a lot simpler.
BTW, I did try a "restore from Time Machine" option the first thing I had my "new computer" (old hardware, 2009 iMac) up and running, using Migration Assistant, and it ran for many hours and then failed in the wee hours - what that has to do with anything I'm not sure.
I'm not sure that I have a question about this other than "why do these things happen to me?", but it's a warning. Apart from that I've been very happy with the stability and reliability (but not the cost or set-up complexity) of NAS vs. directly-cabled external drives.
Charles

Time Machine Local Snapshot - perhaps not enabled?

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