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Time Machine - Not able to Browse backups

Summary:

  • Unable to browse in ‘Enter Time Machine’ to restore an earlier version of a file
  • Unable to select a Time Machine backup window from the right side time list although the cursor does highlight a time.


Background:

  • macOS Monterey 12.5 running on 24in M1 Mac
  • Single User with admin rights.
  • All user data held on external 3TB Thunderbolt drive (LaCie)
  • Mac 256GB SDD is only used for the OS
  • Time Machine configured to external 2TB USB drive (Fujitsu)
  • Have changed User Home directory using System Preferences, Users & Groups and right click on user name to change home directory (used a temporary admin user in order to do this)
  • Using Finder, the Home Directory is confirmed as ‘LaCie Data’
  • Using Finder, clicking on Documents shows my data folders on the LaCie drive
  • Movies, Pictures and Music are all in the ‘La Cie Data’ directory
  • Selecting Music, Movies or Pictures from Favourites, takes you to the same (correct) directory.
  • The Music, Movies and Pictures apps all work correctly and with all files accessible.
  • Time Machine has been erased and reset a number of times. (It takes about 4hrs for the first full to complete).
  • The amount of disk used on the Time Machine disk at the end of the first back up represents a ‘copy’ of the data disk, approx 1.2TB.


Symptoms:

  • In Finder, selecting Time Machine shows the backups that have been performed. All good so far.
  • In ‘Enter Time Machine’ you can see the ‘Now’ window with the directory structure.
  • You cannot use the up/down arrows to browse to an earlier version.
  • You can use the right hand time line to move up and down (with the highlighted backup time changing to red), but you cannot select a backup.


Result

  • Time Machine is not providing a back up service and I cannot restore earlier files if needed.


What have I done wrong?

iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)

Posted on Jul 29, 2022 2:17 AM

Reply

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2 replies

Jul 30, 2022 11:24 AM in response to silvervifer

Hi silvervifer,


Thanks for coming to Apple Support Communities for help today.


We'd recommend verifying these steps: Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac


"If you use Time Machine to back up the files on your Mac, you can easily get back lost items or recover older versions of files. You can use Time Machine within many apps. 


  1. On your Mac, open a window for the item you want to restore.
  2. For example, to recover a file you accidentally deleted from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder.
  3. If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.
  4. Use Launchpad to view and open apps on Mac and open Time Machine. A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.
  5. You can also open Time Machine by clicking the Time Machine icon  in the menu bar, then choosing Enter Time Machine. If the Time Machine icon isn’t in the menu bar, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Time Machine , then select “Show Time Machine in menu bar.”
  6. Use the arrows and timeline to browse the local snapshots and backups.
  7. If you see a pulsing light to semi-dark gray tick mark, it represents a backup that’s still loading or validating on the backup disk.
  8. Select one or more items you want to restore (these can include folders or your entire disk), then click Restore.
  9. Restored items return to their original location. For example, if an item was in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder."


If the issue continues after trying these steps, please visit Get Support for a deeper dive.


Have a fantastic day!


Time Machine - Not able to Browse backups

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