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User profile for user: msf_08
msf_08 Author
User level: Level 1
6 points

Time machine back up (including first!) only includes Alias

Hello,


I have a MBP with M1, operating macOS Monterey (v. 12.6.1). I have recently set up Time Machine automatic backups using an external hard drive (My Passport for Mac). I have made about 4 backups now.


Going through them, including the earliest backup, and I realized the first backup does not seem to contain a hard copy of the Documents, Desktop and Downloads folders. To me it looks like Time Machine did not copy/paste these folders into the external hard drive. If I click the folders I go back to the ones on my computer, weather if I click other folders/files that are not alias, they open from their copy on the external hard drive, and not the original version on the computer. These folders are not excluded from my Time Machine backup. It makes sense a copy was not made, since I remember thinking my first backup only took a few minutes!


Is this how Time Machine is supposed to work?


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 15, 2022 2:23 AM

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User profile for user: John Galt
John Galt
User level: Level 10
146,402 points

Posted on Nov 15, 2022 7:46 AM

Is this how Time Machine is supposed to work?


No. The problem is that you are not using Time Machine the way it is supposed to be used.


Read Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support.

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User profile for user: Luis Sequeira1
Luis Sequeira1
User level: Level 9
67,582 points

Nov 15, 2022 7:32 AM in response to msf_08

Do you happen to have "Documents and Desktop in iCloud"?


I have never activated that feature, but I wonder if that is the cause. Your Documents and your Desktop folder would in that case be stored in iCloud, so in reality there would be no Documents folder, nor Desktop folder, insider your home folder.

The Downloads folder, though, appears also as an alias, which is odd...

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Time machine back up (including first!) only includes Alias

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