How can I access ~/library on my time machine backup?

Last but not least, navigate the TM disk within the Finder, (do not enter TM).

When you are on the date you are looking for, navigate the directory structure until you reach the Users folder.

Open Terminal and type

cd

and a space, drag and drop your user name folder inside the Terminal window. That completes the cd command for you. Hit return.

You are now into your user folder inside the TM disk. Type

cd Library

open .

please note the dot after open. Last command opens a Finder window of the Library folder inside TM disk.

Now you are ready to get what you need.

Gilles Savard1 wrote:

But when i do your terminal trick, the library that pop up suddenly is the one on the fresh install, not the one on my old time machine backup. When you said to drag the user folder, I did it from the time machine hard drive but still open the Library of my fresh install.

Are you sure?

Look at the picture above. You can see the full TM disk path to Library folder, after dragging my user folder inside Terminal window.

Hi,

I recently found this worked for me. Hope it works for you as well.

1. Open Terminal and enter:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true && osascript -e 'quit app "Finder"'

2. Proceed to the Library folder in the Time Machine backups to recover what you need.

3. When finished change true to false to have it revert back to the original settings.

Good Luck

While within Time Machine, type Command/Shift/G. At the prompt type ~/Library/

Should work

Here is a link from previous discussions and more options

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3297320?answerId=16271356022#16271356022

RM

Open a Finder window.

Select Go from the Finder menu. Press alt/option key, you'll see Library pop up into the menu. Select it.

Now the Finder window should show the content of your Library folder.

Enter TM and restore what you need to.

First of all, the user Library is now hidden in Lion. From Finder, go to the Go menu and hit your option key. Your user Library should be available. If it is not, then you have a whole seperate problem which none of these posts will solve. If you do have a valid Library then do this.

From the Go menu and option key, enter your Library folder. Drag the little folder at top of finder window and put in into the sidebar at left. Now you can access hidden Library folder anytime and should be there when you enter Time Machine too.

Hope this helps

RM

I have the same problem and try your terminal manipulation.

I did the same thing than hiredgoon, did a fresh install and got the Time machine of my old system. So it does not link with my new system.

But when i do your terminal trick, the library that pop up suddenly is the one on the fresh install, not the one on my old time machine backup. When you said to drag the user folder, I did it from the time machine hard drive but still open the Library of my fresh install.

Any idea?

1) In a Finder window, open your old user name folder on your Time Machine hard drive:

Backups.backupdb > Latest > Old computer name > Users > Your user name

2) Press Command+Shift+G.

3) Type ~/Library/.

This will open your backed up Library folder.

Alberto, you are a hero. Gone through the whole internet, twice, before I finally found your magic commands. I dont know why the other suggestions won't work but I did my back up in Snow Leopard, and now try to reach TM library (Snow L) from my clean installed Mountain Lion iMac.

/Friss

This is the solution!! Dick M, I cannot thank you enough. The problem with accessing the library folder from time machine is that you cannot access the "Go" menu. The solution as Dick has said is that you access the library folder the traditional way then drag the folder to your sidebar. All sidebar items are then visible in time machine. I have saved hours of wasted time recovering this file. Thank you!!!

Alberto won the Internet on April 12, 2012.

What's interesting is this started happening when I switched to Mavericks from Lion. Even though the Library is hidden in Lion, it was not hidden in TM. Only in Mavericks did it start hiding in TM.

Thank you HonestDon! I had an infected file in a backup of a sentmail folder, and could not get to it through any of the methods prior to your suggestion. Your method let me navigate through my backup drive, through my library, and delete the suspect file. Bravo!

ID

I know this is an old thread and this may not be seen but "Thank You!" for this. I thought I had lost all the emails from my wife's account. Command+Shift+G let me find all the email stories her 77 year old mother has sent her.