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recover deleted time machine backup

SO, I wiped my Mac and when I tried to install my time machine backup in recovery mode my Mac couldn't find any time machine backups. So I installed a fresh version of Mac OS and when I plug the Time machine hard drive in it looks like this:



And inside the HD the only thing that was left was this:

Atm I'm trying to recover my lost files using a third party data recovery program called Disk Drill. Allthough- I'm worried that once I recover all the files, my Mac won't understand that it is a Time machine backup- just a bunch of files on a HD. As I'm writing this it occurred to me that I'm on Mojave and backup was made on Big Sur. Could that cause any problems?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jan 31, 2021 7:56 AM

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9 replies

Jan 31, 2021 8:07 AM in response to jrydinger

<< I'm on Mojave and backup was made on Big Sur. Could that cause any problems? >>


YES. the drive format was changed in Big Sur, and Mojave can't understand that a Big Sur APFS Volume may have Time machine backups on it -- it is expecting MacOS extended Volume.


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Edit: It is possible you are looking at the NEW Time machine Volume, and that you need to get Time machine to look at the OLD MacOS extended Volume that should still hold your old Backups.


https://www.macworld.com/article/3600278/macos-big-sur-supports-time-machine-on-apfs-formatted-drives-but-there-are-a-few-catches.html


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recover deleted time machine backup

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