Time Machine won't launch restore window

I've made a backup using time machine and all was working well until yesterday. Time Machine is backing up data but when I go to restore something it doesn't work. I click the time machine icon in the dock and all the happens is that it bounces for a few seconds then a finder window appears showing my desktop, sits there for 5 seconds then disappears. There is no usual time machine animation, so the time portal doesn't appear - just the finder window which crashes after 5 seconds.
Same happens when I launch it from the application folder. I deleted my backup and reformatted the drive all seemed well but it still wouldn't launch the restore window. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I did have a google but I couldn't find anything. If i need to reinstall time machine can you please provide instructions on how to do so,
Many Thanks

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
There have been a few somewhat similar posts here, with various causes.
There may be some clues in your logs. Try this again, when you have a good backup. Note the exact time you +Enter Time Machine,+ and do whatever makes it crash.
Then use the Console app (in your Applications/Utilities folder) to look at your logs.
When it starts, click +Show Log List+ in the toolbar, then navigate in the sidebar that opens up to your system.log and select it. It will open at the end (bottom) of your current log. Navigate to just before the time noted above.
If there aren't too many messages after there, just copy all of them and post here.
If there are many repeated similar or identical ones, just copy one and note that they're repeated.

Similar Messages

Time Machine won't back up Windows Partition

When I first started using time machine my windows partition of my hard drive was automaticlly on the exclude list. I took it off and time machine would back it up. Today when I went into time machine my back ups of it were gone but it wasn't on the exclude list. I decided to add it on in order to take it off again to see if this would change things however now it won't allow me to take my windows partition off the exclude list. What can I do to fix this?

Time Machine shouldn't be able to backup a Windows partition. TM only backs up HFS+ partitions, not NTFS. You may have been mistaken that TM ever backed it up. If you are talking about a virtual machine of Windows (via Fusion or Parallels), that's a different story as you shouldn't be backing that folder up via TM anyways.

Can I get a time machine hard drive to restore onto Windows XP?

Yeah, I just bought an iMac and I figured why not sell my Mac Mini? So I have time machine on and I back up all my files to my external hard drive of course. Now, sense I am selling my Mac Mini, I need to use Windows XP on my old PC for a month cause I custom ordered an iMac and that takes 6 weeks. Will my external hard drive with time machine back ups work with Windows XP so I can restore all of my files from my hard drive to Windows XP? and than also, will I be able to put my files back onto the hard drive and than load them all up to my new iMac?

The external hard drive you have been using for Time Machine will most likely not be recognized by Windows XP. The external hard drive is formated as HPFS. You may be able to read files from it (not sure) but you won't be able to write anything new.
When you get your new iMac, however, you can plug in that external hard drive and tell Leopard to load your account, documents, bookmarks, contacts, applications, etc. It will make your new iMac look like and behave like your old mac mini. It's pretty cool.
I hope this helps,
Julian

Time Machine won't back up after system restore

I just restored my system after a failure, and now Time Machine won't back up my hard drive. It gets about 40 out of 90 Gigabytes done, and then gives me an error message that just says that there was an error while backing up, and doesn't give any other information. I ran a Verify Disk with Disk Utility, and there is nothing wrong with the backup drive, and there is more than 200 Gigabytes of space left on that drive.
Thank You.

zhoffmanster wrote:
Ok, so here's the thing: I tried backing up again today, and it worked just fine. Before, what would happen is a message would pop saying "an error has occurred during backup" (or something close to that). The point is, the message didn't give any detail.
No, the point is, you seem to have ignored this:
See the Time Machine - Troubleshooting post at the top of this forum.

Time machine won't restore to my new MacBook Pro

Early 2011 15" MacBook Pro is now needing its fourth new keyboard/logic board in one year.
So I bought a new 15" MacBook expecting to easily migrate to it. Migration Assistant did well moving the applications over but failed with my Documents.
I concluded that I would restore my documents using Time Machine backups.
Except that Time Machine won't allow me to see the documents that need to be restored. I did the "Inherit older backups" thing, and there IS a pink time line showing the older machine backups - I just can't access them.
Any thoughts on how to resolve this?

Since you have both machines connected why don't you use Migration Assistant to transfer your Home folder? Or you can simply drag your documents from the old computer's connected hard drive.
I hope you realize that Migration Assistant will not transfer your Home folder if you have a new Home folder with the same name. Instead it will create a whole new Home folder with a different name. Have you checked to see if you have two user folders located in your /Users/ folder?

Time Machine Won't Restore

I have a case open with Apple support about this, and it's been escalated to engineering, but it will take til at least Monday before they get back to me.
Running Leopard 10.5.1 on a Macbook Pro 17 Core Duo 2.16ghz
Using a Seagate USB 500G FreeAgent as the backup drive.
Time Machine sees the drive and backs up with no problems.
Something blew up in networking subsystem yesterday (got couldn't allocate buffer size domain:55 errors in Safari and Mail. Had network connectivity, but no networking application would function. Parallels and IChat crash on startup. Entourage and Mail can't connect to servers. Safari wouldn't load any sites, gave me the domain:55 error above. IP address assigned, could renew IP address, could ping any address)
Disk repair revealed mismatch in file and directory counts (off by 2.) Repaired. Problem not fixed. Permissions repaired. No help. Reinstalled Leopard. Network problem solved.
But the real problem is that I can't restore from the Time Machine Backup. Using restore from backup during installation: finds external drive, says Max OS X System Not Found. Using Migration Assistant, doesn't find external drive at all.
Time Machine shows all two weeks of backups, include all system subdirectories, applications, user files, etc. Showing hidden files reveals all UNIX directories seem to be intact.
I can restore individual files or directories from the Time Machine interface. Can't do any type of system restore or migration. I would prefer not having to reinstall all apps and coaxing parallels to work with the restored virtual machines, as I've had problems with that in the past.
Any help would be apprecated.

Well, after more work exploring the backups, it appears that what I thought were complete backups were not. About half my applications, including Stickies, Quicktime and Spaces all were backed up as zero byte files. Also, all the photos in my IPhoto library disappeared. So I can only assume that some core OS files were also corrupted or backed up as zero byte files.
I have to say that Time Machine is a bust. I just plugged in my external drive and let Time Machine do its thing; I didn't make any configuration changes.
I have to look into a third party solution for the time being. ***** to lose some really great photos.

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up. I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.
I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?
When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups. It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
Then I bought a new external hard drive (Seagate) and it worked fine for three weeks, then died.
So I just got a new external hard drive, which was put together from an internal hard drive and a hard drive enclosure.
Time machine did the first backup today, and it should have taken 9 hours like it did on the previous first time full back up. Instead, it took 30 minutes. That can't be right. I want to start over and do a full backup to make sure everything gets onto my new external hard drive, but I can't figure out how to do that. Please help.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare -E
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Time MAchine won't back up due to not enough space, but there is

TIme Machine won't back up. Displays this:
Actual capacity of the external backup drive is 999.68 GB and available is 135 gb .
The imac internal HD capacity is 999.01GB and used space is 636.321 GB.
This problem has occured periodically in the last 12 months or so, so prior to OS version10.8 install in Jul 2012.
I previously called AppleCare, as I have a contract, and tech said I just need to reformat the external drive and start over.
I did that the last time this happened a few months ago, but I don't like that option, as it eliminates all the prior backups,
What if I needed to try to recover something I deleted 3 weeks ago, for example. I couldn't do so as all backups would have been deleted, of course, by me having refomatted the drive and basically starting over. Also, I noted in another post about a person having a problem due to using a partitioned drive. Mine is not partition, as far as I can tell. See this:
Any ideas? Thanks

The solution is essentially "simple." You need a larger hard drive for these backups or you need to use a different backup solution. By this I mean using backup software that does not preserve an archive of old copies of a file, but simply erases old copies in order to replace them with the new copies. By replacing your backup drive can always accommodate the drive it backs up if it is large enough - say the same size. I can suggest:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
All of the above are capable of being scheduled. Synk Pro makes immediate backups of any changed file on the hard drive. You may configure it to archive changes (like Time Machine) or to delete prior copies.

Time Machine won't start after migration to new MacBook Pro.

I upgraded to a new MacBook Pro. Both machines are running OS X 10 (10.7.5 on old, 10.8.2 on new). I used an ethernet cable for the data migration.
I'm trying to use the Time Capsule we've been using all along for Time Machine, but Time Machine won't start because there's only 5.1GB free on the device and it wants to run a full backup. "The backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 252.33 GB but only 5.07 GB are available."
What are my options? I'd hate to lose prior versions of all the data I've moved to the new machine, but if I have to, then I have to. But then I'm not sure how to access the Time Capsulre base as a non-backup drive and delete what's there.
Thanks for yor help.
Vince

Windows in VM is going to know it's on a different machine, so you'll still have to hop through Microsoft's hoops or you won't get updates.
Just an FYI: when moving a Fusion virtual machine, the first time you run the virtual machine, you are prompted if you "moved it" or "copied it". Selecting "moved it" will retain the UUID and prevent Windows from prompting for reactivation. (However, if it is a copy of the virtual machine and you wanted to run both copies simultaneously on the same network, you must select "copied it" otherwise the copies can't run at the same time.)
If one did select "copied it" accidentally, then just follow the reactivation prompts. As long as you're not reactivating a lot then it usually will work the normal way over the internet. Even if you're forced to call, just tell the support rep that you're reinstalling Windows and type in the really long code that they say. The few times I've had to call, it was less than 15 minutes. Again, as long as you're not reactivating a lot (so looking suspiciously like a pirate,) reactivation is a pain, but relatively quick.

Time Machine won't backup up to external firewire drive

MacBook Pro - Time Machine won't backup to firewire external drive. Has worked well in past few weeks..........any ideas?

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.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.
Select "system.log" from the file list. Enter "backupd" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. Post the messages from the last backup, beginning with "Starting standard backup."
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Do not post many repetitions of the same message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

I signed into icloud to find my iphone. icloud tried to upload my calendar, froze my desktop calendar and then erased it when I unchecked the box. I use time machine. Can I restore my desktop calendar and how to I keep everything but my phone locator off.

I signed into icloud to find my iphone. icloud tried to upload my calendar, froze my desktop calendar and then erased it when I unchecked the box. I use time machine. Can I restore my desktop calendar and how do I keep everything but my phone locator and mail off? I do not want to sync my desktop with icloud except for mail.

This the Activation Lock. Read here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5818
The only way is to login to iCloud with your computer browser and wipe the iPhone.
If you can't then you have a brick, Apple won't help and AL cannot be bypass.
https://www.icloud.com

Time Machine doesn't work with Windows Server 2008

At work we use a Windows Server running with Windows Server 2008 to backup our work via Time Machine. All my collegues are running Snow Leopard appart from on that runs under Leopard because it's a G5.
A few weeks ago I installed Lion to try it before upgrading all the computer and found that time machine won't work. Apperantly I found that it is due to an AFP connection.
Can anyone tell me if I can do anything apart from trying to use another Backup Software like Data Backup?
Would really like to use Time Machine as it's SUPERB ;-)
Regards

Perhaps that drive is too small to use for Time Machine. Your Time Machine drive needs to be at least twice the size of the drive it is backing up, preferably 3 times.

New MBP and Time Machine won't let me search out my NAS to save too. Any ideas?

When trying to set up time machine and using a NAS drive in my wireless network Time Machine won't let me search and select the storage device. I can access the storage and save/retrieve files so I can see and use it. Anyone got any ideas please?
Brand New MBP running Mavericks.

I'm having the same issue with Mavericks - and it appears to be Mavericks specific. I don't have this problem with Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion can see both of my NAS drives.
Additionally, with Mavericks Time Machine won't see your backup properly. It may only see the most recent backup. Though in my case it wouldn't load either one (I had two on different drives). To recover some files I had to use a machine running Mountain Lion to mount a backup file then I was able to extract the files to a USB drive, which I then moved to the Mavericks machine.
I've tried using terminal to run tmutil commands without luck. I have mounted the volume I want to use - it shows when I do "ls -l /Volumes". Then when I do sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/VOLUMENAME the system seems to go into an infinite loop. I have to ^c to get back to terminal.
Clearly with Time Machine on Mavericke Apple has really screwed the pooch.
MacBook Pro 2.3GHz i7 with DVD drive and standard resolution display.

Time Machine won't back up external drive to Time Capsule

I recently got a Time Capsule, and successfully set it up to back up my iMac's primary drive, but for some reason Time Machine won't back up my external drive to the Time Capsule.
I removed the external drive from the exclusion list in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and from what I've read this should be sufficient to make Time Machine back up the drive.
The external drive is connected to my iMac via Thunderbolt > Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adaptor > Firewire 800 input, and the Time Capsule is connected via Ethernet to my LAN.
Since I'm using Ethernet, I've disabled Wi-Fi on the Time Capusule by going to AirPort Utility > My Time Capsule > Edit > Wireless > Network Mode > Off.
The reason I believe the external drive is not being backed up is because when I click the Time Machine icon in the upper-right status bar and choose "Enter Time Machine", none of the folders on external drive show any older versions.
Furthermore, when I click Finder > Time Machine Backups > Backups.backupdb, I can see only one sub-folder which has the name of my iMac's primary drive. I can't see any equivalent folder for my external drive.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I don't see anything you have done wrong.. perhaps it does backup in a different way.
Load the widget.. A1 here... http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
That will allow you to track the log of TM to see what it is doing.
I would also try rebooting the computer.. exclude the drive again.. reboot.. and remove the exclusion.
You should be able to check the actual settings of TM in plist file.
And you can do a full reset of TM as well.. See A4. Check what is in the file. Pondini lists the location for you.
Nothing surprises me with Mountain Lion ...!!

Time machine won't backup, yet plenty of space & not much used on Mac HD

Well, this is yet another "Time machine won't backup becuase there is not enough space" thread. I have searched Google and threads here but it's still a mystery why this error is occurring and it seems there is no clear solution. I also looked at the Apple Time Machine errors FAQ as well.
Here are my specs and what I have tried so far.
2010 Mac Pro Quad Core with 1 TB hard drive with 12 GB RAM. (137 GB used so far on internal Mac hard drive disk, so about 863 GB free space).
- New external 1 TB hard drive initialized as Time Machine backup disk when inserted for the first time.
The exact error I am getting is this: "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 1.80 TB but only 999.20 GB are available."
I have tried deleting the Time Machine system preference, reinitializing the external disk, clearing the system caches with Cocktail, restarting and letting Time machine ask me all over again if I wanted to use the external drive for Time Machine. Still the same error.
My question is how on earth can 1.80 TB be required for the backup when I only have 137 GB of used space?

danomatic12 wrote:
My question is how on earth can 1.80 TB be required for the backup when I only have 137 GB of used space?
Two possibilities:
There's another disk (or disks) connected to your Mac. If they're formatted HFS+, Time Machine is trying to back it/them up as well. You can exclude them per #10 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 1.8 TB includes 20% for temporary workspace on the TM drive, so TM is estimating the backup at about 1.5 TB.
Something on your internal HD is corrupted, causing an incorrect calculation. Verify your internal HD, per #6 in [Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Using Snow Leopard+ forum).

Time Machine won't launch restore window

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for