Time Machine skip certain files

For some reason Time Machine doesn't want to backup every day a Microsoft Access file.
For some obscure reasons, sometimes it save it. I haven't been able to determine why.
These informations can be helpfull to give me assistance:
the file is stored in a volume which seems to be backup correctly
the file in not in the exclusion list and has never been in
the file modification date is changing as user modify it
I have tried to apply the 'touch' command to the file and start manually TM right after. But the file has not still being backup.
if I make a copy of the file at the same level of the file system, TM save it.
if I restore the latest version of the file from TM. Some data are missing in the file. That proove that the version is older.
Anyone can help?

Hello Thierry,
This series of notes by the late Pondini should help you with most questions about Time Machine.
Pondini FAQ
http://pondini.org/TM/ Troubleshooting.html

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Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

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If MAC OS X hides files in the Time Machine hard drive, MacDrive will hide them too.
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Are you anywhere near a place that sells Macs? If so, you might see if they will copy the files for you. A university might be another place to check to see if they have any Macs or anything running Unix and would be willing to help you out.

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You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots. Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
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I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.
The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library. Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots.

I want to use my 1TB Seagate Hard drive for time machine and transferring files from Mac to PC.

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I uses Time Machine to transfer files and program from old to new MacBook Pro. Aperture doesn't work. Every time I open Aperture the computer need me to key in Serial number. How do I fix it.

Hi There,
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Nelson

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Deleting Time Machine Back-up Files - HELP!

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wcaroliner wrote:
So two questions: 1) how do I get this file out of the trash?
See #E6 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).
2) how do I delete all of these back-up files - well, I don't need to delete all of them but there are so many? Do I really need all of these time machine back-ups? If I do delete them - what am I actually deleting? Are they just copies of my harddrive or is it a problem to delete them (when I look in the file that is in my trash it seems like it is my whole system
You shouldn't have to delete old backups. Time Machine will do that automatically when it needs space for new ones, unless you have the +Warn when old backups are deleted+ box checked in +Time Machine Preferences > Options.+ Just remove the check.
If you have other data on your Time Machine drive, in the same partition, that's not a good idea. It needs to be moved elsewhere, so Time Machine has it's own, exclusive space. See #3 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).
The backups have a complex and somewhat unusual structure; there's a bit of "smoke and mirrors" going on there, where it appears that every backup is a full copy of your system, and it is, in a way, but isn't in another. Seems contradictory, I know. See [How Time Machine works its Magic|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Works.html] for an explanation.
I did try to delete the files by going into time machine, clicking on the gear icon, selecting a file and clicking on delete, nothing happened.
You should have gotten a confirmation prompt, then one for your Admin password. If you didn't, the backups may be damaged/corrupted. Repair them, per #A5 in Troubleshooting.

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Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?
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Thanks.

John, another tech pro ("baltwo") suggests:
Run this in the Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1
OPTION-click and hold on Finder's Dock icon->Relaunch which reveals all hidden files. Then, look for that file and delete it. To hide all of those, use the same command, substituiting zero for the one, and relaunch the Finder.

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I have been trying to find some info on how Time Machine handles alias files on the backup volume, but can't find anything on that topic. Neither here in this discussion or at the Apple support pages.
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Even though I do not know of folders having been renamed (which will cause that folder and all its content to be backed up again) Time Machine often backs up a surprisingly large amount of data, so I suspect that alias files could be resolved.
Any info on this will be appreciated.

Alias files are NOT followed, AFAIK.
For more info on how TM works, see this ars technica review.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: joshz

Time machine and hidden files

Hi all
Apples old Backup software didnt backup hidden files (which i think really *****), but the question is does Time Machine backup hidden files as well?

The best way I have found to restore hidden files using Time Machine is to download the "HiddenFiles" widget from the widgets downloads here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/developer/hiddenfiles.html
Once you have hidden files enabled, then they also show up in Time Machine, and appear to restore just as easily as normal files
Steve
(a recent switcher feeling somewhat chuffed at his findings)
Message was edited by: stevesant

Time Machine deletes "unchanged" files at some point?

I am worried with the fate of old files backed up with Time Machine and that are not changed, like old pictures.
I was told that after the first backup, Time Machine works by making links to unchanged files to avoid copying everything not changed.
_My question_: when Time Machine automatically deletes old backups to make save for the new backups - is it possible that these unchanged files (such a specific old pictures file) be also deleted ? In other words, some of _my old pictures might vanish of Time Machine if its file is not changed_?

Mikus wrote:
I am worried with the fate of old files backed up with Time Machine and that are not changed, like old pictures.
I was told that after the first backup, Time Machine works by making links to unchanged files to avoid copying everything not changed.
Correct.
_My question_: when Time Machine automatically deletes old backups to make save for the new backups - is it possible that these unchanged files (such a specific old pictures file) be also deleted ? In other words, some of _my old pictures might vanish of Time Machine if its file is not changed_?
No. As Malcolm says, Time Machine always has copies of everything currently on your Mac. Every Time Machine backup is, in effect, a full one -- a complete "snapshot" of your entire system.
See How Time Machine works its Magic for an explanation.

HT201250 Will Time Machine backup the files on my desktop?

Will Time Machine backup the files on my desktop? Backup files anywhere on my computer even if they're not neatly in the document folders?

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3107
Most commonly used backup methods explained

Time machine skips files

I had serious problems with a (non-Apple) program update, and since then Time Machine has only been willing to back up part of the disk, not all of it.
Is there a way to reset Time Machine so it will know it should back up the entire drive?

Check the Time Machine exclusion list in the Time Machine system preferences and remove all items from here. In addition you might check the following article to see about hidden settings that might be preventing Time Machine from making full system backups: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57556922-263/ensure-that-time-machine-is-ma king-restorable-backups-in-os-x/
Do keep in mind that Time Machine will not back up certain files like those in the Trash, or temporary files like caches, so upon restoring some programs might need to re-cache data, but they should still work.

Time Machine skipping files and folders

Running OS X 10.10.2 on a Early 2009 Mac Pro. System installed on a 256 GB solid state drive. 10 GB of memory.
I'm having a problem with Time Machine where it's not backing up some of my files and folders. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it, but it includes very, very important things like the parent directory for projects I'm working on, arbitrary hash directories in some git repositories, an assortment of emails, Messages attachments, random preferences files, and somehow the entire contents of my Pictures folder. And probably more -- I haven't checked everything.
I've recently forced Time Machine to do a full traversal when it made a recent backup (and confirmed that it was a full traversal by looking at backupd's output in Console.app), but these files are still missing.
Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do to fix Time Machine? I just want it to do a full backup, not skipping anything.
As a last ditch effort I could blow away my Time Machine drive and start from scratch, but I really, *really* don't want to do that because it contains several months worth of backups, and I occasionally do need to go back and get older versions of files.

It is a nasty bug of OSX 10.9 and 10.10 . Some workaround is described here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/170219/time-machine-is-skipping-files-a nd-folders-how-to-fix/170336#170336 by Pete.

Time Machine skip certain files

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