Doing a search in Time Machine

Question

Doing a search in Time Machine

Can you open up Time Machine and perform a search function that scans back throughout the whole archive? I have to retrieve 30 folders of work that were created at various times, but did not copy correctly to a backup drive and only a vague notion of the date of their last backup.

thanks

POWERBOOK G4 1.67GHZ 80GB HD, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 1.5GB RAM

Posted on Jul 4, 2010 9:47 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 4, 2010 12:57 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

Yes, you should be able to, although you'll have to do each of those 30 folders separately.

From the *Restoring specific files or folders* section of Mac 101: Time Machine

+You can use the timeline on the right side of the window to reach a certain point back in time (the timeline shows the times of all backups on your backup disk). If you don’t know exactly when you deleted or changed a file, you can use the back arrow to let Time Machine automatically travel through time to show you when that folder last changed.+

+You can also perform a Spotlight search in the Time Machine Finder Window search field to find a file. Simply type the Spotlight search field and use the back arrow to have Time Machine search through your backups to find what you are looking for.+

Reply

Answer 2

Jul 20, 2010 5:29 AM in response to Pondini

From time to time I have modified a file that should not have been modified. Using TM is not always the best way to get an unmodified copy, it would be easier to use Spotlight on the file name and browse back checking the last modified dates on the file then copy it to the Desktop to examine it.

Personally I'd like it if the default in Spotlight were to search external vols, but even when I change the window to search the TM volume it always gives a nil return on any search string.

What might I be doing wrong?

Cheers, Colin

Reply

Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 20, 2010 9:57 AM in response to Colin Cohen

I don't need to search my backups much, and Spotlight often doesn't work the way I'd like it to, either.

Does the search inside Time Machine (last paragraph of my last post) not work?

Reply

Answer 4

Jul 20, 2010 10:09 AM in response to Pondini

Thanks yet again!

Once I 'enter TimeMachine' I don't know of and search facility - just the ability to move back with the slider - no option for a search that I can see.

Cheers, Colin

Reply

Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 20, 2010 10:39 AM in response to Colin Cohen

That's talking about the search box in the Finder toolbar. See the first screen shot, and the discussion below it, in #15 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Reply

Answer 6

Jul 20, 2010 11:04 AM in response to Pondini

Aah!

Looked at the vid in your link below and one of it was new to me, until it came to the bit with the cmd-f window - I had not realised one could do cmd-f and then use TM.

All was just as described, I searched for a file I knew I had, and then entered TM. As it showed all the diminishing search windows the front one deleted the file name I had typed in and the rest of the window and all the ones behind went blank!

Cheers, Colin

Reply