Time Machine Entries Grayed Out

Question

Level 1

37 points

Time Machine Entries Grayed Out

Hi,

Looking to see if any one has run into this. Or maybe knows of something that could have taken place around 3/4/09 (software update??).

When I enter Time Machine the entries from Today to March 5, 2009 are white and accessible. The entries from March 4 to February 5, 2009 are grayed out. Almost like Time Machines knows of the entries but can't access them.

Any help would be appreciated.

iMAC, MACBOOK, Mac OS X (10.5.6), iPhone 3G 16GB, iPOD 5G

Posted on Mar 13, 2009 7:33 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 13, 2009 7:41 PM in response to Stan52

Do you mean the Timeline at the right of the TM interface?

Is a drive/partition that's not being backed-up selected in the sidebar of the Finder window?

If they're grayed-out, it means there are no backups from that day, for whatever drive/partition is selected.

It sounds like you started backing-up a drive or partition on March 5, but have backups of other drives/partitions before then.

Reply

Answer 2

Stan52 Author

Level 1

37 points

Mar 13, 2009 7:42 PM in response to Stan52

I did install the Time Capsule and Air Port update around this time. Though Time Machine for my iMac (which has this issue) is not on Time Capsule. Still I wonder if that update "reset" Time Machine.

Thoughts???

Reply

Answer 3

Stan52 Author

Level 1

37 points

Mar 13, 2009 7:46 PM in response to Pondini

Pondini,

Yes the "timeline" on the right of the Time Machine window.

I back up the whole iMac hard disk to Time Machine on a G Drive. Settings have been the same for a year or so. So it is a single partition (whole disk) which is backed up.

Thanks though.

Reply

Answer 4

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 13, 2009 7:58 PM in response to Stan52

Stan52 wrote:
Pondini,

Yes the "timeline" on the right of the Time Machine window.

I back up the whole iMac hard disk to Time Machine on a G Drive. Settings have been the same for a year or so. So it is a single partition (whole disk) which is backed up.

How full is your TM disk? Now it sounds like your backups prior to March 4 have been deleted.

To be sure, check via the Finder (look but don't change anything). On your TM disk should be a single folder named "Backups.backupdb" Inside it should be a folder with your computer name; inside that should be a folder for each backup, named with the date and time.

See what, if anything, is there prior to March 4.

Reply

Answer 5

Stan52 Author

Level 1

37 points

Mar 13, 2009 8:10 PM in response to Pondini

Pondini,

There are backups in the Time Machine folder from 3-13-2009 to 02-09-2009. Then there is a folder named latest.

Now for the weird part. Since opening in Finder. Now I can access all entries in Time Machine back to 2-9-2009.

Also opened mail to check. It is fine now too.

Thanks for your help. Maybe Time Machine just need a good "kick in its pants!!!" by opening Finder.

Reply

Answer 6

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 13, 2009 8:13 PM in response to Stan52

Stan52 wrote:
Pondini,

There are backups in the Time Machine folder from 3-13-2009 to 02-09-2009. Then there is a folder named latest.

Now for the weird part. Since opening in Finder. Now I can access all entries in Time Machine back to 2-9-2009.

Also opened mail to check. It is fine now too.

Thanks for your help. Maybe Time Machine just need a good "kick in its pants!!!" by opening Finder.

That is weird, indeed. TM does something new and strange every day, I think.

Glad it's fixed -- wish I could take credit for it!

Reply

Answer 7

remiamfm

Level 1

0 points

Apr 2, 2009 7:15 AM in response to Stan52

Wow. Funny. Same thing happened to me, after my backup disk's directory got corrupted, and after successfully fixing it with disk warrior, all my time machine dates were greyed out and useless. Following what you did, I opened with Finder, and everything came back to normal... !

Reply