Made a big mistake. Accidentally put a backup file from my SSD into trash. No option to 'put back'.

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Level 1

6 points

Made a big mistake. Accidentally put a backup file from my SSD into trash. No option to 'put back'.

Dear community,

I made a huge mistake. I saw two back up maps in my SSD 'Backups.backupdb' map from my previous iMac. One map was called '2019-09-04-000122' and the other was called 'X's' iMac' and in the latter there was a 'Latest' map.

Here is what my stupid brain thought: Both files were exactly the same file size and had the exact same stuff in there when opened to compare. I could open both maps in different finder windows. My SSD is almost full, why not make space to delete the backup with the date name, I got the ''Latest'' back up file anyway right??

Big Mistake. I dragged '2019-09-04-000122' backup map up to trash and when I looked at the ''Latest' map turned into this white icon with a black arrow, it was a shortcut to the '2019-09-04-000122' backup map. I looked into trash, right click to find the put back option there is NONE and through the trash task bar it is greyed out.

I tried to drag the map back into where it came from I get '' this action can't be completed because backup item can't be modified ''. Weird thing the SSD still shows the same capacity as before when the '2019-09-04-000122' back up map was in there, while in the trash.

This was the moment I knew I messed up. Basically the backup file I could access just fine and look through all my previous iMac data, as my current iMac did not have the GB's I just reconfigured it as new.

I know I should not have touched the files, please help, what to do :(.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Aug 22, 2020 9:28 AM

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Answer 1

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lemonlighty Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 22, 2020 3:52 PM in response to lemonlighty

*Update SOLVED!

I fixed and solved it by using this method. Looked at the get info tab of the backup map in the trash can and saw that the pathway was ''External SSD -> .trashes -> trash''.

I thought that's strange pathway but should not be at all as it is still accessible and the capacity has not changed at all of the external SSD. Then I searched how to recover files from an ''external SSD Mac'' and the article 'How to Recover Deleted Files on Your Mac' from how-to-geek is what saved me.

This is what saved me ''If your file was stored on a USB flash drive or external hard drive, those have their own Trash you can check for deleted files. They’re hidden by default, though, so you have to do a little digging.''

So I tried their steps, used the terminal

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder

1 line at a time and the .trashes file showed up in my external SSD!!

There was the backup map. I tried to drag it back into the external SSD home folder, but it copying the whole thing, as there was only 15GB left on the external SSD it didn't work. So instead of just dragging it I needed to hold the command key before dragging to move instead of copy it and it moved it instantly!

The only thing is that is cannot be put back in the 'Backups.backupdb' map again, but that does not matter as I don't need to use that as back up for future iMacs. Just very happy all the files are safe and sound in the moved to the normal external SSD again and it automatically disappeared from the desktop trash can. I was truly getting scared of never unplugging the external SSD, never empty the trash can ever again and just leave it as is and access it via the trash can till forever. Map is not in limbo anymore!

Last was to run these two commands again (instead of true change it to false) to hide all hidden files again:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

Sorry for posting again, hope the solution can help future ' I deleted backup from external disk and can't put it back' people!

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

82,060 points

Aug 22, 2020 12:29 PM in response to lemonlighty

You are stuck between a rock and a hard place at this point.

The only way to get the backup out the trash, is to Eject and Disconnect the backup drive or... Erase the backup drive.

To be honest, I'm not sure if coping the file to an external drive instead of your current Mac's hard drive is going to do any good or help at this point.

FWIW, you should have Migrated from the old iMac's Time Machine backup when you first got the new Mac instead of trying piece mill from it later. see > How to move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

82,060 points

Aug 22, 2020 9:35 AM in response to lemonlighty

Yeah' It is a big no no to delete or move Time Machine backups to the trash.

Now you must completely erase the Time Machine backup drive and start over.

In addition to Time Machine, I also make clones with CarbonCopyCloner on separate external drives.

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Answer 4

lemonlighty Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 22, 2020 10:08 AM in response to den.thed

Yeah, it was the back up from my older iMac which is broken since last year. So I was accessing the files through that backup maps, thank god it isn't anything that is needed, just stuff accumulated years and years ago.

I can still view all the files via the trash can and it seems I can move the trashed '2019-09-04-000122' back up map somewhere else in the SSD, not in the ''backups.backupdb'' , but it couldn't complete as the SSD only has 15 gb available while the backup is 776gb, my current Mac only 30gb so it is impossible to drag it there as well.

I want to faint.

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Answer 5

lemonlighty Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 22, 2020 2:11 PM in response to den.thed

Guess I should not be using the word “new”, should be coming to 1 year old soon.

Yes, unfortunately i thought SSD 500gb was enough for a new iMac at that time and my old backup was from a 1TB HDD, so naturally I thought to just start with a clean slate.

That’s a very good point. I haven’t pulled the SSD out of the USB plug yet, so I am not sure what it is going to happen if I plug and replug it, the available capacity might get updated? Even though it is in the trash, while my current Mac has only 30GB available how come it can be even dragged into there :( is that back up file in limbo now, what is even going to happen to the backup map when I disconnect the SSD?

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Answer 6

lemonlighty Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 22, 2020 2:34 PM in response to lemonlighty

*Update*

What is working is dragging files from the back up map that is in the trash can into the current Mac. I am not even sure what is going to happen when I unplug the SSD where the back up originally was, as the external SSD info shows that the capacity changed at all when I put it in the trash, is it still linked to the external SSD?

*Update 2*

Ok, I did not expect this to work, but I can drag files directly from trash into web iCloud Drive. Is it an idea to just drag and upload the whole map from trash into iCloud first and then try to unplug the SSD? At least then I know I got a file safely stored in the cloud and can re download it when the external SSD has updated its available capacity.....

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

245,165 points

Aug 22, 2020 4:08 PM in response to lemonlighty

Good work.:)

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Answer 8

den.thed

Level 10

82,060 points

Aug 22, 2020 4:10 PM in response to lemonlighty

Nice, thanks for the update.

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