Time Machine preferences window appears as Finder view after restore

I wanted to upgrade to a larger disk drive, so I backed up using Time Machine to a USB drive, and then swapped out drives and did a restore. However, after the restore, now when I click on time machine preferences from the top bar, instead of the GUI appearing, a finder view appears with timemachine.prefPane in its heading. Any ideas what is going on? If I go through the System Preferences route, it works.

Not actually answered... Has been reposted...

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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 - how to save work and mail after 'restore to' date

OK, things have gone seriously wrong on my girlfiends almost new 21" iMac.
First Excel wouldn't open a week ago, and now Quark won't launch and Word seems to be corrupted.
Time to go back in time.... (cue wibbly wobbly special effect)
We reckon it was definitely ok about a month ago. She backed up regularly.
1- Is there a way to just go back with the apps and OS and leave everything else alone?
2 - Failing that, she can back up all her recent work, but how to keep the mails in the Outlook mailbox that have been recieved since the 'go back' time?
Many thanks.

Install [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/ ImportExportTools] and adjust the Options (see picture).
http://chrisramsden.vfast.co.uk/3_How_to_install_Add-ons_in_Thunderbird.html

Time Machine Lock in Preferences window doesn't remain locked after a system reboot

I am not sure if this problem occurred in Lion or not, but in Mountain Lion, I'm noticing the lock in the lower left corner of the Time Machine preferences page doesn't remain locked after a reboot of the computer. Has anyone else noticed this issue? Is there a fix or is it a glitch that Apple will need to correct?

From the menu bar, select  ▹ System Preferences ▹ Security & Privacy ▹ General ▹ Advanced... ▹ Require an administrator password to access locked preferences: On.

I installed time machine but I can't find it in system preferences?

I installed time machine but I can't find it in system preferences? How do I access it? Light is green but is it backing up?

???
You installed Time Machine or Time Capsule? Time Machine is part of Leopard (OS X 10.5.x). If you are referring to Time Capsule, you set it up via AirPort Utility. You should have the install disk. If you are talking about Time Machine, can you confirm you have OS X 10.5.x? Your signature indicates you only have Tiger (OS X 10.4.11). If that is correct, you need to upgrade to Leopard.
Welcome to Apple Discussions!

Time Machine does backups, but cannot find those backups

I have a 27-inch iMac (mid 2011) what is wirelessly connected to a 3T Airport Time Capsule.
I am running Yosemite 10.10.1
In the Time machine preferences, the latest backup was made at 5:54p (C) today. The earliest was made in July 2014.
My problem is that I cannot access the backups. When I enter time machine I get the "waiting" window title and then a message that says the backups cannot be found and a referral to the time machine preferences. When I go the the preferences, everything looks OK. The proper disk is selected.
I read another post that seemed related to this, but there were so many abbreviations, that I could not understand anything. If anyone does understand this issue, could you explain it in plain terms? Thank you.

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 and start typing the name.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try to enter Time Machine. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Time Machine Preference doc needed

I recently somehow deleted my time machine preference found in Drive/System/Library/PreferencePanes. Can someone email this document to me or where can I download it?

<font "size=+1">How to Use Pacifist to Replace Deleted OS X Applications
Download the shareware utility Pacifist from VersionTracker or MacUpdate. Use it to extract a fresh copy from the file archives on your OS X installation DVD. The file archives are in the /System/Installations/ folder.
Here are Four Basic ways to use Pacifist (courtesy of George Orville.)
A. Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.
B. Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.
C. Insert Mac OS X installer CD and when it mounts, navigate to .... Menu/Go/Go to Folder, and in the window, type....
/Volumes/disc name/System/Installation/Packages
where disc name is the name of the CD/DVD that you inserted.
• Click "Go".....
• Drag .pkg to Pacifist..... proceed to step 7.
D. Insert your Mac OS X install disk 1 .... and open Pacifist.
1. In Pacifist, select "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" ... dialog may appear asking for disk 2, then disk 3 and finally disk 1 again....{if DVD is not used)...If “Stop Loading” is selected...the procedure will stop!!!
2a. When loading is complete, a new window appears, click the triangle to display contents of each package...Select item and proceed to step 7.
2b. or click the “Find” icon in the Pacifist window and type the name of the software you need.
3. In the list that comes back, click the top most entry for the item that you want. ..... that is the one for the English language.
4. On the top of the Pacifist window, click “verify” .... you will probably be prompted for your password.
5. Enter checks for.... “verify permissions” and “verify file contents.” and click “verify” ....enter password when prompted.... you will get back output which may look like this:
20 files were scanned.
20 of 20 files were present on the hard disk.
0 of 20 files had file permissions that did not match those specified in the package.
0 of 20 files had checksums that did not match those specified in the package.
6. Click “close”. Go to step 7.
Extract or Install........
7. In the Toolbar (upper left), you now have the option to extract or install. Click a file in the lower list and those two icons will be enabled.
8. If “Extract to...” is selected.... navigate to the location where the file will be placed, select “choose”, select “extract” in new dialog that appears,authenicate , if prompted, click “OK”.
9. In the next dialog, click “Extract”.
10. If “Install” is selected... dialog will appear with the location/path of the installed software. Click “Install”
11. Type in your password, click “OK”
• Pacifist will begin to extract files.
12. In steps 8/10ß.... you also have the choice to “cancel”
Notes.....
• Pacifist may find that a file it is installing already exists on the hard disk. Pacifist will present you with an alert panel....
Stop
Leave original alone
Update ..... Default selection
Replace .... Replace option should only be used on full install packages

Can't find files after restoring them from Time Machine

Hi!
Yesterday I formated my macbook pro and re-install Mountain Lion. Before that I made a backup using Time Machine.
When I wanted to create full system restore I couldn't do that. Neither using migration assistant neither with Mountain Lion startup disk. But that was yesterday story. I guess I was one of those unlucky guys who can't do a system restore because some strange reason.
So what is the problem today: They someone says that I should enter a time machine and do a restore of a Macintosh HD. Restore of the whole hard disc.
And I did that.
And now I can't find those files on my Macbook. I can see on disk space that they are on the disc but I can't find them.
Is it because of the different user account or something like that?
It would be really great if I could get a full system restore but it would be also great if I could just see all the files that i restored.
THanks for the help guys!

That's not the right way to restore. Delete the folder named "Macintosh HD" in the Volumes folder. It will take a very long time.
Most likely, some folders were inadvertently excluded from your backups, and as a result you can't restore your data in Recovery, Setup Assistant, or Migration Assistant.
Starting from a fresh installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. You should now be able to enter Time Machine and restore your user data from a snapshot.* I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of your home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: Time Machine won't continue your previous snapshot series, but will instead try to begin a new one, starting with a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

The first time I connected my new My Passport portable hard drive to my Mac, the message asking if I want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine did not appear. What is the next step?

The first time I connected my new My Passport portable hard drive to my MacBook Pro, the message asking if I want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine did not appear. I would like to set it up to do this. What would my next step be?

Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Open Time Machine preferences to select this drive for use as the backup drive. Turn on Time Machine.

Time Machine under Lion appears to ignore Paragon NTFS external drives

Have Macbook pro with 2 external drives, one HFS+ formatted as my Time Machine drive, and another NTFS drive with the bulk of my user data (photos and audio files).
To improve NTFS read performance and enable writing, I have been using Paragon NTFS for about 2 months very successfully.
Time machine was also working to backup the NTFS drive under Snow Leopard, with no issues.
However, just moved to Lion, and one of the items I noticed is that the NTFS drive (with all my "valuable" data) is now being ignored by Time Machine. If I enter the time machine Preferences...Options... the NTFS volume is listed in the items excluded from backup. I can remove it from the list, and click save, yet if I return back to Options the drive has re-appeared in the excluded items list.
Is this a bug or intentional? This is a huge drawback, as I really didn't want to migrate everything off this huge drive just to re-format it because of this.

Had similar problem. Upgraded to Lion, couldnt read any NTFS drives! Turns out old NTFS drivers from Paragon dont work in Lion, so had to buy new one. That also didnt work. Eventually followed discussion thread on Paragon support, deleted (manually) the offending drivers (UFS/NTFS) from Library, uninstalled Paragon.
Could now see NTFS drives R/O.
Reinstalled Paragon driver, now cant see drives in Finder but can in Disk Utility. Did a 'repair' on drives in Disk Utility and hey presto! it's all back where it should be.
Now my time machine has stopped working, don't know if they're related.

Time machine does not appear to backup an external HD. how do I get that included in the backup?

time machine does not appear to backup an external HD. how do I get that included in the backup?

In the Finder, press the key combination shift-command-C, or select
Go ▹ Computer
from the menu bar. A window will open showing all mounted volumes. Select the one in question and open the Info window. What is shown as the Format in the General section? If it's not "Mac OS Extended," Time Machine can't back up the volume.

Time machine would back up only the first time after I shut off my imac and started it up again. Then it would fail or claim it could not locate my external Hard Drive even though it's icon was showing in the time machine dialog window.

Time machine only ever backed up the first time it runs immediately after I start up my computer after it has been shut off. All other back up attemps fail. Recently it stopped recognizing the icon for my external hard drive in the time machine dialog window where you select the hard drive to back up to, and turn on and off the time machine function. Now the external HD icon only shows up on the desk top but no longer in the dialog box. I just tried shutting the computer off and turning it on again and now the light is on, on the external hard drive but the icon does not even appear on the desk top.
The external hard drive is a 1TB Seagate. The drive still has plenty of unused capacity. I ran a diagnostic test on it. It said the disk needed repair but the repair function would not work. The message stated that it could not be unmounted and repair is not available because the disk can't be written to. The Mac OX utility said the disk can still be opened but can't be changed nor repaired. The external HD is not S.M.A.R.T. supported.
I haven't tried replacing the cable yet. Is that the next thing I should try?

What Mac OSX version are your running ("iOS" as shown in your profile cannot run on a Mac computer)?

Time Machine: Why Does It Disable Finder?

I am using Time Machine with a third party external drive. I find I am having to do a hard shut down every few days because I will find the indicator on the menu bar just spinning away, my dock will lock up, and when I restart and look at the Time Machine preferences, I will find that the last backup was a day or two ago. Every once in a while, a restart will trigger a backup failed warning. Yet sometimes it will do what it's supposed to for a while. Is anyone else having similar issues? Any ideas what the problem might be? Thanks!

My suggestions:
Do one backup manually with a Ethernet cable. This is much faster than wireless, and if there is any corruption on the backups, it will be able to fix it in much shorter time. Once this is done, increase the backup interval. This should help the time machine to run more smoothly.
Here is the unofficial way (sorry - there isn't an official way)
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=200710291721156
If you will have one big monolithic file that keep updated by the application very frequently, then you should exclude the file and do the backup manually.

Time Machine does not appear to auto delete old backups

I would like old backups to be automatically deleted, but so far does not appear to have occurred as I have not received any warnings. I have checked the box in the setup dialog box to do so. I have only 60GB remaining and receive warnings from Tech Tools that the free space threshold is at 2% remaining.
Does the drive have to be fully exhausted before older backups are automatically deleted (causing the warning), and if so should I turn off the Tech Tools warning for remaining disc space for that drive?
I am using an OWC Mercury Elite AL Pro 2TB external drive with an eSATA connection. Our typical business files can range from 100 to 300MB each. In the Apple Support Mac 101 Time Machine article it states "As your backup disk begins to fill up to its capacity, Time Machine intelligently deletes the oldest backups to make room for newer ones (and will alert you if the "Warn when old backups are deleted" option is selected in Time Machine preferences)." To date, this warning has not appeared making me think no deletions have occurred.
Thanks for any thoughts, Scott

Scotttt wrote:
I would like old backups to be automatically deleted, but so far does not appear to have occurred as I have not received any warnings. I have checked the box in the setup dialog box to do so. I have only 60GB remaining and receive warnings from Tech Tools that the free space threshold is at 2% remaining.
Does the drive have to be fully exhausted before older backups are automatically deleted (causing the warning)
The oldest backup(s) won't be deleted until there isn't room for a new one. And "warning" is a bit misleading -- when there isn't enough space, the backup will fail, without deleting anything, until you deselect the option. See #C4 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Note that this has changed for Snow Leopard; it does the deletion(s) automatically, then sends a notice.
and if so should I turn off the Tech Tools warning for remaining disc space for that drive?
Yes. That accomplishes nothing. Time Machine manages it's space automatically.
To date, this warning has not appeared making me think no deletions have occurred.
That's not strictly true; it applies only when Time Machine has to delete your oldest backups to make room for new ones. But it also deletes "expired" backups every time it does a new one. See #12 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 this forum).

Can't open time machine preferences

I just did a clean install of Lion on my macbook pro. I used migration assistant to pull most things over, but not everything. I was going to go into Time Machine to pull out a few documents, when I encountered this error message. I clicked on Open Time Machine Preferences and got: An unexpected error occurred (error code -6584). Does anyone know what this means?

Snowmeister wrote:
"iMovie cannot be opened because of a problem. Check with the developer to make sure iMovie works with this version of Mac OSX. You may need to reinstall the application" - this doesn't make sense, as I have reinstalled OS X)?
Are you re-installing from the original grey DVDs that came with your Mac, or from a retail SL installer? The retail version doesn't include iLife.
The OE discs should have iLife on disc 2, so if that's what you're using you can re-install from there.
As to what CleanMyMac has done, I don't know. To alter the apparent processor signature seems very odd. Maybe some of the other guys around here can come up with a theory.
Cleaning caches is totally unnecessary unless there's a specific problem to address; caches are there to help speed up the Mac. If you clear them, you slow down the Mac until all the various applications and processes have rebuilt their respective caches.
Removing language files can be tricky too. Remove the wrong ones and the System will cease to boot.
Likewise for fonts.
Logs are mostly harmless to clear, but they are there for a purpose too; to help you find the source of problems. In any case, the daily maintenance task built in to the OS does all that's needed in that regard.
Could be that one of those logs may have been able to tell you what that junk did.
Applications > Utilities > Console
Loads of logs in there.

Time Machine preferences window appears as Finder view after restore

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