Q: TimeMachine: Restore incremental backup

Great reference:

http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

All Time Machine snapshots are full backups, though only the files that have changed since the last snapshot are actually copied. I think you may be confused by local snapshots, which are represented in the TM timeline by gray hash marks.

OS X Mountain Lion: About local snapshots

Your question assumes that there's a distinction in Time Machine between "full" and "incremental" backups. There is no such distinction. So you'll have to explain how you are making that distinction.

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I can't be sure, but I suspect that the snapshots you say are missing are local snapshots, which can't be used to do a full-system restore. Otherwise, some necessary files weren't backed up for some reason.

Losing 4 months of data is not a small problem that can be easily shrugged-off with "for some reason" :-(

I'm in the same situation, and to clarify: Time Machine does, in fact, keep full vs. incremental backups, confirmed by the AppleCare support manager I am working with on this problem.

The solution *may* be to restore to the full backup, then once you're back into the recovered system, running Time Machine restore from within the OS in order to restore your files up to a more recent point in time. However this solution hasn't been confirmed yet.

What's definitely confirmed is that any local-only snapshots are lost when the hard drive is lost, which begs the question: Why would Apple choose to do that in the first place when a perfectly-good external backup location is connected?

I will post updates as I get them, and if anyone else finds a solution, please don't just disappear, POST IT!

bbonn wrote:

. . .

I'm in the same situation, and to clarify: Time Machine does, in fact, keep full vs. incremental backups, confirmed by the AppleCare support manager I am working with on this problem.

No.  There's a misunderstanding.

Time Machine only makes a full backup once; all thereafter are incrementals, of what's new or changed.

But because of the way they're all linked together, every backup is, in effect, a full one.  Seems odd, but see the tan box in How Time Machine works its Magic for an explanation.

However, it sounds like you may have been bitten by a bug we recently discovered, and Apple either doesn't recognize yet or hasn't told the Support folks about.  Something (we don't know what yet), is telling Time Machine not to back up several top level system folders.  Without them, of course, those backups aren't complete, so don't appear on the selection window.  See #D10 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details.

if so, you should be able to get most of your stuff back, at least everything from your home folder.  We can help with that if necessary.

What's definitely confirmed is that any local-only snapshots are lost when the hard drive is lost, which begs the question: Why would Apple choose to do that in the first place when a perfectly-good external backup location is connected?

Those are made on laptops only, whether the external is connected or not, so you'll have access to them if necessary.   Think of them as temporary, expendable Versions for files that don't have regualar Versions.  See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #30 for details.

I too am experiencing this... I think what fluidblue_max is trying to say is this:

When you go to restore the drive by doing a Command R at bootup, you are prompted with which backup you want to restore from. 

In my case the latest backup it showed I could restore from was June 13, 2013.  My backup drive has newer backups than that!!

So I restored June 13, 2013, then I went in to the Time Machine app, and it shows that the "Latest" is August 16, 2013.

How do I get the files that were created after June 13, that are spread all over the computer and from multiple accounts restored to the August 16 date and placed back in the right spots correctly?

Hope this helps.

Steve

motosf wrote:

 

In my case the latest backup it showed I could restore from was June 13, 2013.  My backup drive has newer backups than that!!

Sounds like you were bitten by a bug we recently identified, where something (we don't know what) tells Time Machine not to back up your System folders.  That's why the latest "complete" backup was in June.  See #D10 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details, and a way to tell if you get it again in the future.

How do I get the files that were created after June 13, that are spread all over the computer and from multiple accounts restored to the August 16 date and placed back in the right spots correctly?

It's a bit tricky, but you should be able to recover the home folders from the August backup. 

I've been working on instructions to post in the above link, but it gets a bit complicated depending on how many user accounts you have, and in what order they were created.  The one I've got so far is for only a single user account, so won't work well for you "as is."

To be sure I get it right, just sit tight for a bit. 

We'll have to delete all your current user accounts, so if you have new content, since August 16, copy it somewhere safe so you can copy it back into the August 16 version.  Also try to remember the exact short user names (home folder names) and the order they were created in. 

If we can get that right, it will allow those accounts to see the old backups normally in the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display);  if not, some will lose permission to them.

Give me a few hours; I'll post back when I get it on my site.

Pondini wrote:

 

 

It's a bit tricky, but you should be able to recover the home folders from the August backup. 

 

 

We'll have to delete all your current user accounts, so if you have new content, since August 16, copy it somewhere safe so you can copy it back into the August 16 version.  Also try to remember the exact short user names (home folder names) and the order they were created in. 

 

Thanks for the help Pondini!  Couldn't I simply do a restore from my "Latest" (Auguest 16) Time Machine app backup on one of my users home directories and tell it to "Replace"?  If I did that, wouldn't it replace (files that had been updated) and add files that had been created after June 13?

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks again.

motosf wrote:

. . .

Couldn't I simply do a restore from my "Latest" (Auguest 16) Time Machine app backup on one of my users home directories and tell it to "Replace"?  If I did that, wouldn't it replace (files that had been updated) and add files that had been created after June 13?

No, for two reasons:

• You can't replace the home folder you're running from.  

• The newly-created user accounts probably won't match the UUIDs on the backups, so those accounts won't have permission to their home folders on prior backups. The cause is different, but the pink box in Problems after using Migration Assistant has an explanation.