Time Machine Troubles....

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Level 1

7 points

Time Machine Troubles....

I am finding that when I go into time machine to search back for a file, after going a day or so back all the windows go blank, like there is nothing there. There is nothing to search or restore. It's very strange. The other day I went back a ways and tried to restore a file and the restore button was greyed out. There was no way to restore. Then when I went to try again I got the blank window. Sometimes files are even there and then pop off and that's it. Nothing. All the way back to 2016. I thought to try to run Disk Utility but I could not access the time machine drive. I mean, it could see the drive but it would not allow me to unmount and run first aid on it. It said the drive was busy. I shut down, restarted, everything. Same message. Yet, every day Time Machine tells me it's done a successful new backup at the scheduled time, but I am not really feeling I can trust that this is actually being done and that my files are safe and would be accessable if I needed them. I think I need some help to feel comfortable with Time Machine again.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Sep 22, 2020 1:44 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,760 points

Sep 22, 2020 2:40 PM in response to loopydloop

Hold down the Option key and in the TM menu select "Browse Other Backup Discs…". Then select the same disk. See if that will open up earlier backup and show the files.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,760 points

Sep 23, 2020 4:41 PM in response to loopydloop

Mackeeper is one of the worst one can install and run on a Mac. There is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or security apps on your Mac. This user tip describes what you need to know and do to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community

Glad you found the cause and fixed it.

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

91,624 points

Sep 22, 2020 2:29 PM in response to loopydloop

While Time Machine works OK, I have also had issues with it in the past. One time I had an external drive failed and another time I made a fatal mistake and had to start over with a new set backups. Plus I will never ever delete files from my Mac that I need or want to keep and then expect to recover then from Time Machine.

Personally I have never totally relied on Time Machine and run CarbonCopyCloner as my primary backup on a second external drive in addition to Time Machine. see > https://bombich.com/ Others here also use and suggest SuperDuper as part of their overall backup strategy.

With that said, I highly recommend that you get a second external drive and include CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper as part of your backup strategy.

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Answer 4

loopydloop Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 23, 2020 4:28 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you Toady. I did try your suggestion, it was a good one, but it did not work. But, I went around and around with Apple Support and discovered that a third party application, MacKeeper, was fowling up the works. Incidentally, that same application had fowled up a great deal of things on my computer before that as well. Now it is safely off my machine and everything is working correctly again. I will never install it on my machine again. Thanks for your suggestion, though.

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Answer 5

loopydloop Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 23, 2020 4:30 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks. I have used those other programs with great success in the past. Time for a revisit I think. However, the problem in this instance, and in several others recently, is a program called MacKeeper. It completely messed up my time machine more than once. Now it's off my machine and everything is running great. That's it for me. No more MacKeeper.

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Time Machine Troubles....

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