Does Time Machine back up the Trash?

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Level 1

3 points

Does Time Machine back up the Trash?

If so, how do you restore it? I need to restore some files that were accidentally placed in the trash, then emptied. I can't see how to access the contents of the trash can when I try to do a restore. Apple claims that Time Machine backs up everything on your hard drive, which I've been assuming includes the trash can, but I don't see how to restore it, since it's not on the desktop. Any help would be appreciated.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.4), Time Capsule

Posted on Sep 2, 2008 12:45 PM

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Answer 1

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V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Sep 2, 2008 12:56 PM in response to GPM

No, TM does not back up trash. you should restore it from the place where it was before you put it into trash. just go to the folder where it was before you trashed it and start TM from there.

Message was edited by: V.K.

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Answer 2

VA2020

Level 4

3,455 points

Sep 2, 2008 1:06 PM in response to GPM

I wanted to add that if these were either photos or email accessed by either iPhoto or Mac Mail, open the application and then click on the Time Machine icon and go back when those photos/mail existed. Hopefully theses files were on your drive long enough that TM did a backup. If you deleted them just as quickly as you received/imported them, you may be out of luck.

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Answer 3

GPM Author

Level 1

3 points

Sep 5, 2008 11:33 AM in response to GPM

Thanks for the information, even if it was what I didn't want to hear. I'm disappointed to learn that Time Machine doesn't do what Apple advertises, i.e. "back up everything".

The items in the trash were put there before I installed TC and activated TM, so I'm afraid they are lost.

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Answer 4

Dientes

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2008 9:47 AM in response to V.K.

I trashed the dated folders inside TM backup folder(Backups.backupdb)and kept only the one that says "latest" ...the rest are still in trash....can i restored them from there???

When i open TM it shows only Today(now)....and if I try to back up it says the file is too large...

Did I loose everything?? Can I restore anything at all??
Thanks

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