Time Machine - Troubleshooting

E3. I can't see backups for a disk/partition that's no longer connected

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For the examples below, let's assume you have too many photos to fit on your internal HD, so you've put them on an external HD, and named it MyPhotos. 

Normally, while that drive is connected, it will appear on your Desktop and/or Finder Sidebar (if the External Disks box is checked in Finder > Preferences > General and/or Finder > Preferences > Sidebar, respectively).  You can display its backups by selecting it in either place, then using either Enter Time Machine or Browse Other Backup Disks.

But if the disk isn't connected, it may not be obvious how to see the backups.

There are three similar situations:

  1. •If a previously backed-up disk is no longer connected (or has failed), and you're having trouble finding its earlier backups, see the green box below.

  2. •If a disk or partition has been erased or replaced, and you're having trouble finding its earlier backups, see the blue box below.

  3. •If you've excluded a previously backed-up disk or partition from backups (via Time Machine Preferences > Options), and done subsequent backups of the rest of your system, so the backups of that disk or partition no longer appear, see the tan box below.

To restore data files & folders from a volume in any of these situations, see the pink box below.

To Restore items, or the entire contents of a volume (disk or partition):

  1. •To restore an entire OSX volume, use the procedure in Frequently Asked Question #14.

  2. •To restore one or more items, select them, control-click (right-click) your mouse, and select Restore <item> to...  You'll then get a prompt to select the desired location.

  3. •To restore the entire contents of a data-only volume, select all the top-level folders (not the one representing the drive), control-click (right-click), and select the Restore <items> to... option.  You'll then get a prompt to select the desired location.


If you click the usual Restore button at the bottom of the window, you may get this prompt:

You'll then get a prompt to select the desired location, as if you'd selected the  Restore <items> to... option.

DO NOT SELECT Recreate Enclosing Folders if the drive has been replaced, or is no longer available -- that will restore to the hidden Volumes folder on your internal HD!


Under some circumstances, on Snow Leopard or later, on the next backup after you put the data back, Time Machine may figure out what happened, and automatically "associate" the new or erased volume with the old backups.  If it does, the backup will only be a normal "incremental" backup of changes, and all backups will appear normally.

If it doesn't, the backup will be a full one (everything on the drive, and you'll continue to have to use the procedure above to see the old backups).  Effective with Lion, you may be able to tell Time Machine do the "associate" per Item #B6. 

 

To see the backups of a volume that’s no longer connected:

Open a Finder window and select your computer name in the Finder Sidebar (or press Shift+Cmd+C).

Then either Enter Time Machine or Browse Other Time Machine Disks (see section #E2). 

If you're already in the Time Machine browser, looking at something else, you can select your computer name in the Finder Sidebar (or press Shift+Cmd+C).



On the first Finder window in the "cascade," labelled Today (Now), you'll see all the volumes currently connected to your Mac.



Disk MyPhotos, which was backed-up previously, but has failed or been disconnected, does not appear.

    

 



Do not select anything in the Today (Now) Finder window.











Instead, select the TimeLine entry or Finder window for a previous backup, and you'll see a folder for each volume that was backed-up then or previously, including any that are not currently available.


The folder for MyPhotos does appear in the center only, but not in the sidebar.


Double-click the folder for the desired volume; then you can navigate to whatever you're looking for.



Note that other things in the Finder sidebar that are now connected, but were not included in the backup being displayed are shown in gray, not black, and of course you can’t select them.  

 

To see the prior backups of a volume that’s been excluded:

Open a Finder window and select your computer name in the Finder Sidebar (or press Shift+Cmd+C).

Then either Enter Time Machine or Browse Other Time Machine Disks (see section #E2).

If you're already in the Time Machine browser, looking at something else, you can select your computer name in the Finder Sidebar (or press Shift+Cmd+C).



On the first Finder window in the "cascade," labelled Today (Now), you'll see all the volumes currently connected to your Mac.



Partition M.Misc, which was backed-up previously, but has since been excluded, appears normally on the Today (Now) page, but is grayed-out and can't be selected on pages for recent backups.

    

 


Do not select anything in the Today (Now) Finder window.










Instead, select the TimeLine entry or Finder window for any backup, and you'll see a folder for each volume that was included in that backup, including any that are now excluded.


The folder for M.Misc does appear since it was included on the selected backup.


Double-click the folder for the desired volume or its icon in the sidebar; then you can navigate to whatever you're looking for.



Note that things in the Finder sidebar that were not included in the backup being displayed are shown in gray, not black, and of course you can’t select them.  

 

To see the backups of a volume that’s been erased or replaced:

  1. •If the replacement has a different name (even slightly different) it will appear just as expected, like any drive;  the old one will appear as in the green box above.

  2. •If the replacement has been given the identical name as the original, Time Machine will add a "1" to the name, as in the second sample below.

Open a Finder window and select your computer name in the Finder Sidebar (or press Shift+Cmd+C).

Then either Enter Time Machine or Browse Other Time Machine Disks (see section #E2).

If you're already in the Time Machine browser, looking at something else, you can select your computer name in the Finder Sidebar (or press Shift+Cmd+C).


On the first Finder window in the "cascade," labelled Today (Now), you'll see all the volumes currently connected to your Mac.



Disk MyPhotos, which was backed-up until it failed, has been replaced with a new drive, also named MyPhotos, which has also been backed-up.


The new MyPhotos drive is shown on the Today (Now) window and a folder for it is in the center.

 




On any backup prior to the failure, the MyPhotos folder will appear normally in the center part of the window.  It represents the OLD disk.




On any backup after the replacement, Time Machine will show


  1. •The current drive as MyPhotos

  2. •The old drive as MyPhotos 1



Double-click the folder for the desired volume or its icon in the sidebar; then you can navigate to whatever you're looking for.



Note that other things in the Finder sidebar that were not included in the backup being displayed are shown in gray, not black, and of course you can’t select them.