Time machine wont find files

i'm trying to go into my time machine to find some old screen recordings from about 6 months ago but whenever i search "screen recording" it gives me 0 items? it's happening with anything i search (i've searched "safari" "library" "itunes") all things i've had on my computer since i started it up and once i go past my current back up it just says 0 files found

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

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How do you use time machine to find files you have deleted?

I have time machine set up with a USB drive. I have spotlight set up to index my backups.
If I go into the finder and type "order confirmation" it finds the PDF file with those words in it just fine.
If I delete that file from my desktop, it fails to find it. So then I enter Time Machine while still in the middle of the search, and press the back arrow to go back in time until spotlight can find it. It correctly goes back just one hour (my last backup had that file in it since I just deleted it) but it doesn't actually display that file.
So that's a simple test case of my having no idea how to get Spotlight and Time Machine to work together.
Am I doing it wrong?

Try the Time Machine Tutorial

Time machine - Cant find files

Hello, I accidentally deleted some ical files from my preferences but now I can't find them on my Time Machine back up. I thought that Time machine backed up my entire hard drive? Can anyone help me or advise me how to finds these lost files?
Thanks in advance.

Read here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

I had a repair done at the apple store where the replaced my hard drive and copied my other hard drive over to the new one. Everything is fine except the time machine wont reconnect to my old file and is trying create a new file but not enough space?

I had a repair done at the apple store where the replaced my hard drive and copied my other hard drive over to the new one. Everything is fine except the time machine wont reconnect to my old file and is trying create a new file but not there is not enough space for both files files? Do I need to do something to have it continue to update my old file instead of recreating a new one?

Depending on what version of OSX you're running, and how the data was transferred, you may be out of luck.
If you're running Lion, and your backups were made to a directly-connected external HD (ie, not a Time Capsule or other network location), you may be able to get Time Machine to "associate" the new disk with the old backups. See #B6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting, especially the pink box there.
If you're running Snow Leopard, you might be able to do a full system restore of your backups to the new HD. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14 for detailed instructions. That should leave a "trail" that Time Machine can follow to "associate" the new drive with the old backups. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work, and there's no way to do it manually, as there is with Lion.

HT1338 Time Machine wont boot!

Time Machine wont boot although it still is backing up and works in the preferences. How can I fix this? Any ideas?

Please try each of the steps below that you haven't already taken.
Step 1
From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Time Machine
and make sure that at least one backup destination is selected and available.
Step 2
If you're entering Time Machine from the Finder, make sure no Finder windows are open in other Desktop spaces in Mission Control. You must enter from a window open in the current space.
Step 3
If you're backing up to an external hard drive attached to your Mac, open the backup volume in the Finder. You should see a folder with the name "Backups.backupdb". If you instead see a file with a name ending in "sparsebundle," the backup was created over a network. You have to mount the backup volume manually when you want to restore from it by double-clicking the sparsebundle file.
Step 4
Select the "Backups.backupdb" folder and open the Info dialog. Either "staff" or "everyone" should have Read onlyaccess. If not, click the lock icon to unlock the access settings and make the necessary change. If you're not sure how to do that, consult the built-in help or ask.
Step 5
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the text to the Clipboard (command-C):
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V) and press return.
A folder will open with a file selected. Move the selected file to the Desktop, leaving the folder open for now.
Relaunch the Finder by selecting  ▹ Force Quit from the menu bar, then selecting Finder and pressing return. Your Finder settings will be lost.
Try again to enter Time Machine. If you still can't, put back the file you moved to the Desktop, replacing the newer one that will have been created in its place.
Otherwise, close the folder you opened and delete the file you moved to the Desktop. Recreate your Finder preferences.
Step 6
Do as in Step 5, but with this line:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
This time you may be prompted for your administrator password. Reboot, recreate your settings in the Time Machine preference pane, and run a backup to test.
Step 7
Launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the backup drive in the pane on the left (not any of the volume icons below it.) At the bottom of the window, you should see this:
Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partition Table
If the partition scheme is anything else, the drive has to be repartitioned (with the loss of all data.)
Step 8
Skip this step if you're backing up to a network device, such as a Time Capsule.
Boot in safe mode. Try again to enter Time Machine.
Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t boot in safe mode.
Step 9
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.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Try again to enter Time Machine. 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).

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down eliminate

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down menu with the gear box symbol to eliminate

I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
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.
See Pondini's page for more explanation: What are Local Snapshots? http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
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.

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

Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?
If so how do you locate them in the Time Machine interface?
If I go into Time Machine mode and type say "/usr/local" in the Time Machine search bar I get nothing although I can open a terminal application and cd to /usr/local and see bin, lib, include, etc.
Of course I can never see /usr/local in Finder either ... only at the command line.
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.

How does Time Machine handle alias files on the backup volume?

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.
My concern is if an alias file on the backup volume is backed up »as is«, or if it is resolved and the original file is backed up? The last would be most annoying as this will make the size of the backup much larger.
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 wont backup

I bought an external hard drive and put files from my old computer on it before I bought my iMac. Now I want to use it for backing up my iMac but Time Machine wont backup to it without erasing the contents. Is there a way around this? Or will I have to buy a new EHD? Or is there a way to backup to cyberspace?
Thanks

jmhoskin wrote:
I bought an external hard drive and put files from my old computer on it before I bought my iMac. Now I want to use it for backing up my iMac but Time Machine wont backup to it without erasing the contents. Is there a way around this? Or will I have to buy a new EHD? Or is there a way to backup to cyberspace?
The drive is probably set up with the MBR (Master Boot Record) partition map, that Windoze uses. To use it for TM you must completely reformat it, which will erase it. If you have enough space (or can borrow another external temporarily), you can copy the data off, reformat it, then copy the data back.
TM works best with it's own, exclusive space, so you should partition the drive anyway. If you're going to use the other data with a PC, make the other partition MS-DOS (FAT).
For formatting instructions, see item #5 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
Also see #1 of the FAQ Tip for size considerations.

Time machine wont backup says backup failed

Hi all . I have had time maching running successfully for 5 years. It is running on mavericks IMAC and using an external MYbook drive - same setup 5 years. My macbok also backing up remotely over wifi to this drive using time machine. Recently my macbook stopped backing up and would not recognise the sparse file even though time machine could find the backups it would not backup. I connected th Mybook directly to my Macbook and it recrreated the backup and now works fine over wifi. However since connecting my Mybook back to IMAC time machine again recognises the Backups and history and the drive - but it wil not backup. It goes through the motion of preparing backup but fails after 45 mins just stating "backup failed" ! I run disk utility on the Mybook adn it is fine. I have deleted the in progress file but still does not work. How can I force Time machine to work - mad that it will recognise the drive, see all my previous backups but not use it as a backup drive and fail the backup with no proper error message. Any deas ?

Mister_E wrote:
Hi:
I have a mac that is about 3 months old. I am using Mac OS X 10.6.3. I am not using Time Capsule. I am using an external hard drive. My Mac's hard drive is 500 G the external drive is also 500 G.
That's almost certainly much too small. See #1 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
But of course, it depends on how much is on your internal HD, which you haven't told us.
The message I get says I have 74.74 GB of 499.75 GB available.
Under options I do have "Notify after old backups are deleted" checked.
That means you're running Snow Leopard. PLEASE update your settings (click +My Settings+ at the right of this very page, and select the version of OSX you're running, and be more specific than "iMac" about your hardware) so we know what we're dealing with, as asked before! PLEASE
That's one of the things that changed in Snow Leopard. Having that box checked in Snow Leopard does not prevent deletions.
As I said, it backed up fine for a couple weeks but now what do I do? No matter how small I make the backup, if it just keeps adding backups it will eventually fill the drive.
From your first post: +*"I started getting messages that TM failed to backup because is was full (something like that)."+*
Now that we know you're on Snow Leopard, most likely the message says *+"The backup disk is full,"+* which is simply the notification you asked for by having the "Notify after old backups are deleted" box checked. See #C4 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
Next time you get the message, take the time to note exactly what it says, and see #C4 in the Troubleshooting Tip.
And PLEASE update your settings.

Time machine wont start?

Time machine wont start in my computer after I double click on the icon. There is no error message -- seems to ignore me completely.
Any tools to find out what is going on?

Not sure what happened, but re-booting fixed the problem.

My HD is shrinking/ Time Machine wont back up

So my Macbook pro has been running really slowly lately, like getting progressively worse, and now the external hard drive that I back up to time machine is spinning all the time, Time Machine wont back up, it just says "Calculating changes" and now I noticed that I have 3 less gigs on my internal HD although I have written nothing to it today. The external HD works fine other wise, I can move files manually to and from it, but I'm getting really freaked out that I maybe have a virus or something, although I have never know anyone whos had one on a mac. I have a genius bar appointment tomorrow, but I need to work on my machine now. I my main log in got so slow yesterday that it was unusable, so I created a second log in which work much faster last night, but now seems to be slowing down too. Oh, my right fan has been noisey for some time too, and my system runs at 140-160 degrees, which I have read is fairly normal, although it is often hot to the touch. Any Ideas??!?!
THB

tylerhbrown wrote:
So my Macbook pro has been running really slowly lately, like getting progressively worse, and now the external hard drive that I back up to time machine is spinning all the time, Time Machine wont back up, it just says "Calculating changes" and now I noticed that I have 3 less gigs on my internal HD although I have written nothing to it today.
That sounds like something corrupted on your internal HD. Verify it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). As noted there, if that shows errors, you'll have to repair it, per the yellow box there.
The external HD works fine other wise, I can move files manually to and from it,
Was that just an experiment, or are you keeping other data there, in the same partition as your Time Machine backups? If so, that's not a good idea. See #3 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Updated to mavericks but time machine wont back up?

Updated to mavericks but time machine wont back up. I have tried and tried.it will not delete old files like it used to.Please help

I bought a new MacBook Pro in late august this year, and since then I`ve had some serious problems backing up my iPhoto library. I have searched severals forums in both english and norwegian, with no luck. But today, I found this... http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4116
Thank you so much, Pondini. You made my day
Kind regards, Erlend.

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

For about a year I've been using my 1TB external hard drive for only time machine. To be honest, it wasn't until today that I tried to connect my hard drive to a PC and realize it isn't compatible. I read about partitioning the hard drive so that it can work both for time machine and transferring files between pc and mac. I'm not what you would call tech savvy, so I was wondering if I can get some advice on how to do this.
Thanks in advance.

To do it, you have to partition the hard disk, so you will have one partition for Time Machine and another one to store files and use them in a PC and Mac. To create the partition, follow these steps > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html
In order to read and write in the external disk on the PC, you have to select "MS-DOS (FAT)" as "Format". If you choose any other option, the PC won't be able to read your external disk. Apart from that, note that you can't use files bigger than 4 GB with FAT. If you want to use the external disk with files bigger than 4 GB, you have to format your new partition in exFAT, and you have to do it on a PC

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,
I purchased a new MacBook Pro Retina 15". Since I am using MacBook Pro and I uses Time Machine for backup files and program. Store saleman tell me I can retore my existing program and files from old MacBook Pro to new MacBook Pro computer. After files transfer it seem to be OK. But only Aperture has a problem when every time I open Aperture to edit photos, MacBook Pro ask me to key in the Aperture Serial Number that made me so inconvinent. Did any one have meet this problem and can someone teach me how to fix it, Thanks.
Nelson

Either the license files were not transferred or it has to be relicensed.
Remove and then re-install aperture. On an rMBP this should take only a couple of minutes.

Time machine wont find files

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