Time Machine permissions problem!! Help!

I have important data on my time machines backup and yesterday did a full reinstall of OSX after backing all my old stuff up on the time machine drive.
Now time machine wont let me restore my data due to access privileges!!
In the permissions it shows that I have read and write permissions but doesn't show the administrators account in there. When I try to put admin account in it it won't let me.
I haven't used a different user name nor have I changed the name of the HDD partition. Any idea how to recover my data?

skeoghman wrote:
This is chronic - anyone from Apple out there?
No. These are user-to-user forums. Apple techs do not monitor them.
If you have suggestions or complaints, here's the place: http://www.apple.com/feedback/
If you have a problem, contact AppleCare, your Apple store or authorized retailer/servicer, or these forums.
Running OSX 10.5.7 all my time machine back-ups now say I don't have privileges. The only solutions offered elsewhere online seem to require an extraordinary amount of technical skill and knowledge, not to mention nerve.
Then you've been looking in the wrong places.
What are you trying to do when you get this error, and exactly what does it say?
Be advised that if you're trying to use the FInder to access your TM backups, that's likely the problem. TM uses special "deny everybody everything" privileges to keep us mere mortals from changing, moving, or deleting the backups, since that can hopelessly corrupt them.
The way to browse or restore from TM backups is via the +Enter Time Machine+ option (the "Star Wars" display).
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions User Tip at the top of this forum.

Similar Messages

Macbook Pro clean install: Time machine permissions problem

So I just upgraded to Mavericks from Lion this weekend. I backed up my old files onto my 2TB external HD. Because my laptop was really slow I decided to do a clean install and then bring over my music, movies, pics, necessary files, etc. as I needed them. However, I have run into a problem: using my computer on a clean install has made it impossible to access files, music, etc. from my old administrative account. I get this error when I try to open folders with the "do not enter" sign:
The folder “Desktop” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.
How can I gain access to my old files without having to partition my hard drive, reinstall the OS from my time machine backup, copying the files to the hard drive and not using time machine (just dragging and dropping directly onto the HD)? Or is that my only option at this point to recover those old files?
Thanks guys!

First make sure you have read & write access to the folder you're trying to restore to. You should be able to see its contents in the Finder, and to move files in and out of it.
This is an exception to the rule that you should never make any changes to backup data. I've tested this procedure in OS X 10.8 only. It should work with later versions, but I don't know whether it works in earlier versions. Use this procedureonly for files that were backed up from your home folder, or a folder on another volume created by you, and would normally be writable by you. Do not touch backups of system or application files.
In the Finder (not in the time-travel view), navigate to the backup volume, then to the folder named "Backups.backupdb", and then to the snapshot you want to restore from. The snapshots are folders labeled with the date when they were created. Inside each of those folders is a file hierarchy like the one on the volume that was backed up. Descend through the hierarchy until you come to a folder named "Users," and inside that, a folder with your user name. The procedure will be different if you're trying to restore files on another volume.
Select the folder and open the Info dialog (command-I). Click the padlock icon in the lower right corner of the window and authenticate. In the Sharing & Permissions section, give your account Read & Write access. You may have to close the dialog and repeat this step in order for the change to show up. Then click the gear icon and select Apply to Enclosed Items from the popup menu.
Try the restore operation again, in the time-travel interface.

Time Machine Permissions Problem

I have just tried the following on a completely new system running Mountain Lion:
1. Installed a new Time Capsule.
2. Selected Time Machine and told it to complete a backup to that Time Capsule (using my user name, which has admin privlidges). The backup worked perfectly.
3. Selected one of my personal data files within Time Machine and attempted a restore.
4. It then said I cannot do that because I "don't have permission to access that file".
5. I checked the files (a) I have full read/write access to the file and (b) the permissions in the Time Machine version match the version in my file system.
So:
1. This is nuts and why is it so?
2. How do I fix this completely clean installation so that I can actually restore files with Time Machine?
Thanks :-)

David Cittadini wrote:
2. Selected Time Machine and told it to complete a backup to that Time Capsule (using my user name, which has admin privlidges).
Doesn't matter what user account you use to set it up, since Time Machine backups run as the "root" user (permission to everything) and backs up all user accounts, plus OSX, apps, etc.
3. Selected one of my personal data files within Time Machine and attempted a restore.
That's via the TM browser (the "Star Wars" display), right?
4. It then said I cannot do that because I "don't have permission to access that file".
Are you sure you were logged-on to the correct user account? If you have more than one, Time Machine enforces permissions -- so one user, even an Admin user, won't normally have access to another user's files.
If that's all correct, then yes, something is wrong somewhere. Try some other files, in other places -- see if it's limited to that one file. If you have more than one user account, try logging-on to one of them and restoring some of it's files.

Time Machine Permissions Everyone is no access

Help. I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.8. and have incredibly difficult permissions scenario to solve on my Time Machine.
I was adding files to my iTunes Llbrary on an external harddrive which shares the same drive as my Time Machine backups.
When my automatic backup began it interrupted my file transfer and gave me an error saying Time Machine drive was no longer recognized, don't have permissions. This was never a problem before and I don't know what or when this would have changed.
So I changed permissions on one of my Admin accoungs to to read/Write access and ensured the other Admin account was the same.
I also changed the sharing permissions to the other two accounts so the would have read only permission.
Nevertheless, now neither of my admin accounts allows me to write to the drive or change backup settings. Even in unlocking the permissions section, options are still greyed out.
Subsequently, I realized that I changed the permissions for "Everyone" to No access. I thought this everyone referred to other users remotely getting into my computer. Now that it is changed I think this is where the error is.
The most horrible part of this is, I just realized that My time Machines has not been backing up for almost an entire year. My last retore point occurs for Aug 2011. So I can't restore to yesterday prior to these changes.
Is there a hack or a code I can enter into terminal to undo these new permission settings in my Time Machine?
Pleae help! Anything!!

Noondaywitch,
OK. Previous to this post I attempted the Repair through Disk Utility. An alert window popped up in the middle of the repair. I don't remember which. But I'm not going to attempt such again to prevent causing more trouble. Even still, the repari process seemed to complete giving me full repair status. However, my options for permission repair was greyed out, so I couldn't get any further at this level.
And unfortunately, I don't have another Mac available to me to try it out on.
Roam,
I pasted your code and sure enough received the following:
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk3
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Time Machine Backups    2.0 TB     disk3s2
So it seems were in luck. It is a GUID File system. But now what? Start over? Reboot?

Kernel Panic, Restored System Using Time Machine but Problems Still Persis

SOS! Please, please, please help. I'm at a loss here. I have an 300 GB iMac with a 32 GB partition for Windows. I backup to an Iomega UltraMax 500 GB external hard drive. Let me know if more info is needed. I went through the checklists to resolve a kernel panic, and nothing has been working. Here's the background:
I recently encountered a kernel panic (I saw the screen discussed in the "What is a kernel panic?" article). It started when Firefox 3.2 beta was running. It froze and eventually the system froze. I repaired disk permissions, and I was able to boot up, but it took awhile to boot up. Some things weren't right once it was booted; I lost some keyboard functionality, system settings (screen saver, display settings, etc), etc. I attempted to repair the disk (using disk utility while booted from leopard install disc), but it failed (generated an error, said it couldn't repair disk). So I did the next thing and restored the system from Time Machine. Things seemed to be alright.
And about a couple days later, Time Machine starting encountering errors and failed to backup (it failed while attempting to backup 300 MB). The system also started to get slower, and it eventually froze. So I restored again from Time Machine. Seemed to be alright, but again it eventually slowed and started freezing.
I can't retrieve the panic log. I think it was erased with one of my system restores. I went into Time Machine to look for it, and it's nowhere to be found.
So, I tried to repair my disk permissions. That succeeded. But the disk repair failed again. I restored again from Time Machine. Same thing: things seem okay, but Time Machine isn't able to back-up (it's pretty much non-responsive, even after I told it to stop, it just says "stopping"), things are a bit slow and some applications are unstable (Firefox crashed for no apparent reason). I just found this under /Library/Logs/Crash Reporter:
Process: ReportCrash [467]
Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/ReportCrash
Identifier: ReportCrash
Version: ??? (???)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
Date/Time: 2009-03-12 11:05:40.590 -0400
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.6 (9G55)
Report Version: 6
Exception Type: EXCBADACCESS (SIGBUS)
Exception Codes: 0x000000000000000a, 0x0000000000366000
Crashed Thread: 1
Thread 0:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x946eb226 semaphoretimedwait_signaltrap + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9471d1ef pthread_condwait + 1244
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9471ea73 pthreadcond_timedwait_relativenp + 47
3 com.apple.Foundation 0x9417275c -[NSCondition waitUntilDate:] + 236
4 com.apple.Foundation 0x94172570 -[NSConditionLock lockWhenCondition:beforeDate:] + 144
5 com.apple.Foundation 0x941724d5 -[NSConditionLock lockWhenCondition:] + 69
6 ReportCrash 0x0000a3eb 0x1000 + 37867
7 ReportCrash 0x00002466 0x1000 + 5222
Thread 1 Crashed:
0 com.apple.Symbolication 0x0007d903 -[VMUMemoryView_Native uint32] + 245
1 com.apple.Symbolication 0x000765c8 +[VMUHeader headerWithUniverse:memory:name:path:timestamp:] + 147
2 com.apple.Symbolication 0x000763d4 +[VMUHeader extractMachOHeadersFromHeader:matchingArchitecture:considerArchives:] + 285
3 com.apple.Symbolication 0x0008acbb extractHeaderWithSignatureFromDisk + 397
4 com.apple.Symbolication 0x00085314 -[VMUSymbolicator faultLazySymbolOwnerAtIndex:] + 189
5 com.apple.Symbolication 0x00087b5a -[VMUSymbolicator forceFullSymbolExtraction] + 183
6 com.apple.Symbolication 0x0008749f -[VMUSymbolicator symbolOwners] + 39
7 ReportCrash 0x000041e3 0x1000 + 12771
8 ReportCrash 0x00002eef 0x1000 + 7919
9 ReportCrash 0x000094a2 0x1000 + 33954
10 ReportCrash 0x0000b5d4 0x1000 + 42452
11 ReportCrash 0x0000b121 0x1000 + 41249
12 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9474803b machmsg_serveronce + 416
13 ReportCrash 0x0000a828 0x1000 + 38952
14 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9471c095 pthreadstart + 321
15 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9471bf52 thread_start + 34
Thread 2:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x946eb1c6 machmsgtrap + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x946f29bc mach_msg + 72
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94747fd9 machmsg_serveronce + 318
3 ReportCrash 0x0000a828 0x1000 + 38952
4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9471c095 pthreadstart + 321
5 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9471bf52 thread_start + 34
Thread 1 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit):
eax: 0x00366000 ebx: 0x0007d832 ecx: 0x00000000 edx: 0x00000004
edi: 0x00000000 esi: 0x001b28d0 ebp: 0xb00807d8 esp: 0xb0080780
ss: 0x0000001f efl: 0x00010297 eip: 0x0007d903 cs: 0x00000017
ds: 0x0000001f es: 0x0000001f fs: 0x0000001f gs: 0x00000037
cr2: 0x00366000
Binary Images:
0x1000 - 0xdfff ReportCrash ??? (???) <e97e4b832cee3d343e3ff627defb41d3> /System/Library/CoreServices/ReportCrash
0x6f000 - 0xb3ffb com.apple.Symbolication 1.0 (35) <70dc2274da04c58fe0cd09dee25b5507> /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Symbolication.framework/Versions/A/Symbolicat ion
0x8fe00000 - 0x8fe2db43 dyld 97.1 (???) <100d362e03410f181a34e04e94189ae5> /usr/lib/dyld
0x901cd000 - 0x9039bff3 com.apple.security 5.0.4 (34102) <55dda7486df4e8e1d61505be16f83a1c> /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
0x904ee000 - 0x907c8ff3 com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 786.11 (786.11) <f06fe5d92d56ac5aa52d1ba182745924> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CarbonC ore.framework/Versions/A/CarbonCore
0x909a5000 - 0x90a2cff7 libsqlite3.0.dylib ??? (???) <6978bbcca4277d6ae9f042beff643f7d> /usr/lib/libsqlite3.0.dylib
0x910d0000 - 0x9114fff5 com.apple.SearchKit 1.2.1 (1.2.1) <3140a605db2abf56b237fa156a08b28b> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/SearchK it.framework/Versions/A/SearchKit
0x914d0000 - 0x914d2fff com.apple.CrashReporterSupport 10.5.5 (159) <4ca9b6643fcbafd76424a46d162363eb> /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Versions/A/Cra shReporterSupport
0x91656000 - 0x91789fff com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.5.5 (476.17) <4a70c8dbb582118e31412c53dc1f407f> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation
0x9178a000 - 0x917e7ffb libstdc++.6.dylib ??? (???) <04b812dcec670daa8b7d2852ab14be60> /usr/lib/libstdc++.6.dylib
0x923d2000 - 0x923e8fff com.apple.DictionaryServices 1.0.0 (1.0.0) <ad0aa0252e3323d182e17f50defe56fc> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Diction aryServices.framework/Versions/A/DictionaryServices
0x92a28000 - 0x92ae2fe3 com.apple.CoreServices.OSServices 226.5 (226.5) <2a135d4fb16f4954290f7b72b4111aa3> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/OSServi ces.framework/Versions/A/OSServices
0x93184000 - 0x93264fff libobjc.A.dylib ??? (???) <7b92613fdf804fd9a0a3733a0674c30b> /usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib
0x93352000 - 0x9348aff7 libicucore.A.dylib ??? (???) <18098dcf431603fe47ee027a60006c85> /usr/lib/libicucore.A.dylib
0x934d1000 - 0x934fcfe7 libauto.dylib ??? (???) <42d8422dc23a18071869fdf7b5d8fab5> /usr/lib/libauto.dylib
0x9389b000 - 0x93938fe4 com.apple.CFNetwork 422.15.2 (422.15.2) <80851410a5592b7c3b149b2ff849bcc1> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CFNetwo rk.framework/Versions/A/CFNetwork
0x939b4000 - 0x939e3fe3 com.apple.AE 402.3 (402.3) <4cb9ef65cf116d6dd424f0ce98c2d015> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/AE.fram ework/Versions/A/AE
0x94122000 - 0x9439dfe7 com.apple.Foundation 6.5.7 (677.22) <8fe77b5d15ecdae1240b4cb604fc6d0b> /System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation
0x943d6000 - 0x944b7ff7 libxml2.2.dylib ??? (???) <d69560099d9eb32ba7f8a17baa65a28d> /usr/lib/libxml2.2.dylib
0x946ea000 - 0x94851ff3 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <d68880dfb1f8becdbdac6928db1510fb> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
0x94852000 - 0x94859ffe libbsm.dylib ??? (???) <d25c63378a5029648ffd4b4669be31bf> /usr/lib/libbsm.dylib
0x94ab1000 - 0x94b3dff7 com.apple.LaunchServices 290.3 (290.3) <6f9629f4ed1ba3bb313548e6838b2888> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchS ervices.framework/Versions/A/LaunchServices
0x94c36000 - 0x94c7ffef com.apple.Metadata 10.5.2 (398.25) <e0572f20350523116f23000676122a8d> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadat a.framework/Versions/A/Metadata
0x94cef000 - 0x94cf3fff libmathCommon.A.dylib ??? (???) /usr/lib/system/libmathCommon.A.dylib
0x962da000 - 0x962e2fff com.apple.DiskArbitration 2.2.1 (2.2.1) <75b0c8d8940a8a27816961dddcac8e0f> /System/Library/Frameworks/DiskArbitration.framework/Versions/A/DiskArbitration
0x96731000 - 0x967bcfff com.apple.framework.IOKit 1.5.1 (???) <f9f5f0d070e197a832d86751e1d44545> /System/Library/Frameworks/IOKit.framework/Versions/A/IOKit
0x967c5000 - 0x967e9fff libxslt.1.dylib ??? (???) <0a9778d6368ae668826f446878deb99b> /usr/lib/libxslt.1.dylib
0x967ea000 - 0x967f1fe9 libgcc_s.1.dylib ??? (???) <f53c808e87d1184c0f9df63aef53ce0b> /usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib
0x96802000 - 0x96810ffd libz.1.dylib ??? (???) <5ddd8539ae2ebfd8e7cc1c57525385c7> /usr/lib/libz.1.dylib
0x96c22000 - 0x96c59fff com.apple.SystemConfiguration 1.9.2 (1.9.2) <8b26ebf26a009a098484f1ed01ec499c> /System/Library/Frameworks/SystemConfiguration.framework/Versions/A/SystemConfi guration
0x96ea7000 - 0x96ea7ffa com.apple.CoreServices 32 (32) <2fcc8f3bd5bbfc000b476cad8e6a3dd2> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/CoreServices
0xfffe8000 - 0xfffebfff libobjc.A.dylib ??? (???) /usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib
0xffff0000 - 0xffff1780 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
Windows XP ran fine from my other partition at this point. I'm wondering if my Windows partition has something to do with it (I chose FAT32 instead of NTFS file system)?
Please help. Will erasing the drive, reinstalling from the leopard disc (10.5.4), and restoring select applications/folders/files help, instead of from a system restore from Time Machine?
Your help is immensely appreciated!

Thanks for responding.
So under the partition tab, I should reformat to one partition, reinstall Leopard, and see what happens from there? Selectively restore applications, music, pictures to my system once it's reinstalled and properly updated? Anything else I may need to do or restore?
Why not reformat under the erase tab, zero out the disk, and reinstall? Any difference?
Just a little worried and unsure is all. If it's a hardware thing, I can accept that and take it in to be serviced. But, if it is a software issue, I don't want to do any irreparable harm during the erase-and-reinstall process. Just want to make sure I get it right.
Message was edited by: Immolate

I recently changed from a Mac Pro to an iMac. A large chunk of emails have disappeared. Time Machine is no help. Any ideas as to how I can get them back?

I recently changed from a Mac Pro to an iMac. Despite using Migration Assistant, a large chunk of my recent emails and nearly all of my wife's emails have disappeared in transit. Strangely, emails from my distant past are still there. Time Machine is no help; the messages may be on my backup disc but they're behind an invisible icon. Any ideas as to how I can get them back?

Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.
Back up all data. That means you know you can restore the Mail database, no matter what happens.
Triple-click the text on the line below to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Envelope Index
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder
from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens (command-V), then press return.
A Finder window will open with a file selected. Move the selected file to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have names that begin with "Envelope Index". Move those files, if any, to the Trash.
Log out and log back in. Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is corrupt and that Mail has to quit. Click OK.
Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the file you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.

Does anyone know why since upgrading to ML notes are not visible in Time Machine. They used to be part of mail and could be recovered from Time machine but since ML I don't seem to be able to access notes in Time Machine. Any help would be useful.

Does anyone know why since upgrading to ML notes are not visible in Time Machine. They used to be part of mail and could be recovered from Time machine but since ML I don't seem to be able to access notes in Time Machine. Any help would be useful.

Welcome to Apple Communities
Mail doesn't support notes. If you use iCloud, you have them in it because Notes is an application

I had to put my computer by together without migration or time machine I NEED help with order of the files?

I had to put my computer by together without migration or time machine I NEED help with order of the files?

Hi, where are these other files exactly?

Hello, my mail is gone and I can't find it anywhere. Its not in library and I have not configured Time Machine yet. Help please?!

Hello, my mail is gone and I can't find it anywhere. Its not in library and I have not configured Time Machine yet. Help please?!

Use Find Any File, if the old messages might have been in a specific mailbox, to look for a file by the name of the mailbox to see if there are any larger versions of that mailbox.
http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/
If your Mail is indeed gone, you may be able to recover it with one of the data recovery tools here:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1689
But act quickly. Every action while the computer is turned on weakens its chances of recovery. There is a slim chance also your email provider may have tape backup from before you checked your messages and after it arrived at their server for certain messages. You may want to ask them if that might have happened.

Time Machine Permissions Changed Problem

Greetings-
I'm experiencing problems restoring to built-from-scratch Lion OS installation on a new disk. Before starting the process I ensured everything was backed-up everything using Time Machine, which was backing-up regularly, then did a fresh install on a new disk drive in my machine. I began restoring files (not users) from Time Machine, which began okay, but when I went to restore some folders that were under Pictures on the orginal disk, I got the failure error message that I've seen posted about not having permission to write those files back to my new disk. I've used the same username and also checked that my UID was as before (501).
I read a few posting, and tried to change the permissions on the Time Machine external backup disk to my current user, and after modifying that backup disk, I discovered that my Time Machine backups only go back in time to when I changed the disk permissions! So now even if I look down through the Time Machine volume directory structure, the orginal folders are missing. Time machine made at least one backup, but now I need advice and trying to recover those old directories and backups.
Any advice is appreciated. I've tried some recovery software, but loosing the old structure makes life fairly difficult and heartbreaking. Thanks!

Two weeks after upgrading my system to Lion and transferring to a new hard drive -- I could find the files I wanted to restore from the day before on my external-drive Time Machine but couldn't restore because I didn't have "access to the GlobalNav.lbi."
I did not solve the problem, but while trying various things with Apple tech I stumbled onto the fact that I could access the Time Machine from my partition, on which I have 10.6.8.
Tech was at a loss because my 10.7 Recovery Drive is missing. I'm making a Lion install USB stick (from MacWorld article instructions) and will try to reinstall the system and Recovery Drive. I believe my Recovery Drive was damaged before moving my system to the new hard drive, perhaps by the hard drive that is being replaced by the manufacturer.

Time Machine interface problems-Can anyone help?

I can only enter Time Machine through its file folder. The graphic interface only opens a blank window. Weird. Can anyone help?

I'm having the same problem.

Problem restoring files from a Time Machine Backup! HELP!

Heya,
I have Snow Leopard and have been using Time Macine regularly since May.... I never needed to restore any file until now...
Deleted some must have stuff.. and emtird the trash (of course!).. so went to time machine to restore it...
Looked it up... nice interface.. have stuff since May 2011... nice.. found the 10+Gb of stuff I had deleted.. and restored... Pffffew!
Opend the file... Bzzzz! you loose... file is currupt,,, what?
load again.. still no go? files all look the right length m.. hmm very strance... can;t open then... lets try a simeple file...
restore a text file... size ok.. but... EMPTY!
use HexEdit to open the text file... All ZERO's!
check the otehr files I restores ALL ZERO's!
DOH! restore files I saved into safe old Time machine in May 2011... AL ZEROS!!
***! Everything is ZERO! my last 6 months worth of time machine backups is all gone! Directory structures say they are there.. file sizes are ok.. but NO DATA!!!
Can somone please HELP ME!
G./

Open Disk Utility. Click once on the external drive left-most icon (not the indented volume name/icon); what does it indicate for Partition Map Scheme? Also, do you have an Intel Mac or a PPC Mac?
Now click "Verify Disk" and see if it finds errors or if it reports "ok."
What I am hoping (this is something of a long shot) is that there will be errors found on the disk that Disk Utility can repair and then your data will be properly associated with the file names and headers. "Verify" simply reports back on the state of the file system and can do no harm; only when you click on "Repair" will it actually try to repair anything. You might want to report back first on the results of "Verify" before trying to "repair."
By the way, this Verify (or Repair) procedure can take ~ hours for a large disk that is mostly full. I did this recently on an external Time Machine drive that was 1.5 TB in size and 2/3 full and it took ~ 3 hours.
If severe errors are found on that disk, something stronger than Apple's Disk Utility might be called for, such as Disk Warrior. Hence better to report back here before roceeding with any "repairs."
The type of error I am hoping you might have is in the file system that relates the filenames and their header (and file sizes) to the locations around the disk where the actual data inside the file are located. If that file system gets damaged, your computer will have trouble finding the actual data that goes with each file. Hence getting zeros when you should have gotten data. Sometimes this can be fixed, sometimes it cannot. Often it can. If the problem is caused by a physical problem with the disk, the likelihood of recovery is low. If the problem is with the file system/mapping to the data on the drive, it very well might be fixable.
Have you had any power failures, system freezes, improper or disorderly computer shutdowns, etc. or unexpected dismounting of the backup drive anytime since you have been using it? Have you ever gone into that external backup drive in the finder and changed any of the files on it yourself, or has it only been touched indirectly through Time Machine?

Help! Time Machine Restore Problem From Leopard Server

Hi All,
I just did something dumb with my iMac running 10.6.4 and need to restore all data from my time machine backup.
I have a mac mini running Mac OS X Server 10.5.8 which has a time machine volume on an external USB drive.
I have reinstalled 10.6.4 on the iMac and tried running Migration Assistant to transfer information from a Time Machine backup. I am able to log in to the Time Machine volume successfully but I immediately get an error:
"The Connection Failed"
I have also tried booting into and restoring from the Snow Leopard DVD and get the same results.
I am reluctant to attempt to configure Time Machine for fear that it'll somehow overwrite the backup I have. I do not want to mess with the permissions on the TM backup in order to clone the backup in advance of configuring TM before I get some advice.
Please help! Lost a lot of sleep last night and my wife is very upset.
Below are some console log errors that indicate something is wrong, but google does not turn up anything concrete on the keywords:
11/4/10 7:54:23 AM [0x0-0x14014].com.apple.MigrateAssistant[182] objc[182]: Class MigrationAssistantPane is implemented in both /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Migration Assistant and /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app/Contents/Resources/MigrationAssistantUI.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Mig rationAssistantUI. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
11/4/10 7:54:23 AM [0x0-0x14014].com.apple.MigrateAssistant[182] objc[182]: Class Process is implemented in both /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Migration Assistant and /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app/Contents/Resources/MigrationAssistantUI.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Mig rationAssistantUI. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
11/4/10 7:54:27 AM Migration Assistant[182] Couldn't get a connection to the migrateTool after 1 attempt.
11/4/10 7:54:32 AM Migration Assistant[182] (SYS) We've received count = 2 systems
11/4/10 7:54:32 AM Migration Assistant[182] + (SYS) Adding SMSystem : file://localhost/Volumes/Mac%20OS%20X%20Install%20DVD/
11/4/10 7:54:36 AM Migration Assistant[182] (SYS) We've received count = 3 systems
11/4/10 7:54:36 AM Migration Assistant[182] = (SYS) Updating SMSystem : afp://server.local./Time%20Machine
11/4/10 7:54:36 AM Migration Assistant[182] = (SYS) Updating SMSystem : file://localhost/Volumes/Mac%20OS%20X%20Install%20DVD/
11/4/10 7:54:45 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[85] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist) Throttling respawn: Will start in 373 seconds
11/4/10 7:57:21 AM Migration Assistant[182] (SYS) We've received count = 3 systems
11/4/10 7:57:21 AM Migration Assistant[182] = (SYS) Updating SMSystem : afp://server.local./Time%20Machine
11/4/10 7:57:21 AM Migration Assistant[182] = (SYS) Updating SMSystem : file://localhost/Volumes/Mac%20OS%20X%20Install%20DVD/
11/4/10 8:00:58 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[85] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[214]) Exited with exit code: 1

I do have an extra external drive that I can copy this file to, by assigning permissions, but am not sure about how TM hides and secures the files needed. I'm worried about messing up the only copy I have of this data.
Don't change anything in the backups. Ever.
Your best bet may be to do a full system restore of the desired backup from the server to the USB drive; then you should be able to boot the iMac from that.
But if you want to copy the backups, you'll have to be logged-on to the server with an account that has permission to copy the sparse bundle.
If you copy just the desired backup, instead of the whole sparse bundle, it won't be recognized as a Time Machine backup, but might work with either +Setup Assistant+ or +Migration Assistant.+

Time Machine Permissions Issue "fetching" Please help!

Hello,
I did a fresh install of Mavericks and have accessed my time machine many times since then. Tonight I tried to access it as usual, but all of a sudden I cannot access any files.
It says I don't have permission...nothing has changed!? "The folder “Pictures” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents."
I have done ALOT of research, even on these forums, and have tired advice from Lych Davis (I think is his name), but it didn't work. The permission says "fetching".
I have tried to add me in the get info tab....Nothing shows up
I have tried to delete the "fetching" acount....It won't die
I went to my Users and Groups and my Group is, by default, set to "staff."
I tried to "verify disk" in Disk Utitlity..it didn't help.
Please help me...I have done NOTHING different, not even an OSX update since I accessed my TM a few days ago. Please help me.

anyone???

Old Time Machine Backup Problems - Permissions

Today, I figured out how to access my iPhoto Library photos from my old Time Machine backups. I was SO happy! The backups were from 2011 and earlier (hardrive crashed in May 2012). I had not done a Time Machine backup since 2011, so I decided to do a new backup today. After the backup finished, I decided to look at my old photos again (in the old backups) and when I tried to click on any of the files in the old backups, I get the message: The folder “Pictures” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.
Of course, now I am crushed/frustrated because I do not understand why I cannot access the old backups anymore. *Note: the new backup is accessible.

No problem.
You probably need to use Browse Other Time Machine Disks and within that older backup go to User/Pictures and restore the file "iPhoto Library" to a separate folder on your drive (so as not to replace your current iPhoto library) and then look in that restored photo library.
You need to do this in the Time Machine "Star Wars" interface from "Browse Other...."

Time Machine permissions problem!! Help!

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