All but the most recent back up disappeared from external drive!

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Level 1

18 points

All but the most recent back up disappeared from external drive!

I'm currently using an old hard drive on my mid 2012 mac book pro with Sierra. I was waiting for new cable, now waiting for time to do the repair and reinstall. Meanwhile, most of my files are on my external drive in a Time Machine back up. I try to limit how many times I go in and retrieve files. However, the last time I checked, all but the most recent back up disappeared.

The drive isn't close to full. At one point a new back up from my current (old) drive started when I was connected, but I cancelled it and all looked fine. Nothing else appears to be missing from the drive.

Thankfully, I still have the most recent back up but now I am pretty nervous that this one all-important back up might disappear as well before I have time to fix up the new drive.

Am I right that I cannot just copy it to a second drive as an additional back up? Is there anything else I should consider?

Thanks,

Leila

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Oct 16, 2024 6:43 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

142,399 points

Oct 16, 2024 7:15 AM in response to lcoolss

That does sound like you are interpreting the information correctly. If time machine runs out of space it will consolidate the oldest backups into later ones. OR if it finds the old backups no longer have good integrity, it usually ASKS you first, then begins a new complete backup.

Solutions do NOT include copying this backup, which could turn minor issues into Major issues.

Instead, connect an Additional backup drive, and Time machine will begin a new stand-alone backup on it starting today, and will alternate backups -- every-other backup goes to every-other drive, until you decide to change the setup.

Next week, with a week of hourly backups on board, that new backup drive will look a whole lot better than what you have today.

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Answer 2

Oct 16, 2024 6:49 AM in response to lcoolss

what method did you use to decide all but your oldest backup had disappeared?

time machine backups are not intend to be accessed from Finder, and the information Finder presents can be very confusing.

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Answer 3

Oct 16, 2024 9:04 AM in response to lcoolss

I have occasionally gotten a message in time machine alerts that says my backups no longer have good integrity (I forget the exact words used). It also suggests I should create new backup on the same drive staring right now. The whole process is so innately simple and sensible it is easy to gloss over the details, and just tell it, "Sure go ahead", and click the button to proceed.

it is discussed in this page from the late James Pond's' comprehensive guide to time machine:

C13. " . . . Time Machine must create a new backup for you."

.

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Answer 4

lcoolss Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 17, 2024 9:03 AM in response to lcoolss

Okay, maybe I was wrong, since the best explanation is that, even though I had enough space for additional backups of the previous drive, I didn't have enough space for a new back up of the drive that was currently connected.

The several older additional back ups were probably wiped when it started a new back up which required a lot more space...and I just didn't notice.

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Answer 5

lcoolss Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 16, 2024 7:05 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I can see the Backups.backupdb folder on the drive containing folders of each back up. There used to be 6 or 7 and now there is just the most recent back up from before my computer failed. I would retrieve files from the latest folder under users and my username.

It didn't occur to me that this might not be correct. I didn't want to try to retrieve the files by hooking up Time Machine to a different drive. However, I did just check via Time Machine on my older drive and can only see that one back up.

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Answer 6

lcoolss Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 16, 2024 7:31 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you. That sounds like a good plan for when I get my other hard drive connected again! Live and learn;)

But, I am currently using a hard drive with mostly 2+ year old files, the last 2 years of files suspended in that one precious backup. I haven't tried to restore the files onto this older drive because it is smaller.

Yes, usually I would get a popup to say that a backup had been deleted but the older backups did not disappear during a back up. I'm okay with the mystery as long as it doesn't happen again!

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Answer 7

Oct 17, 2024 3:07 PM in response to lcoolss

You can reduce the space required for the initial backup by adding the folder 'System' to the exclude list in time machine. it will ask if you want to exclude All system data, and you should say yes.

Since recent MacOS do not allow that information to be restored from backups anyway, it makes no sense to save it.

(Recent MacOS insists the system must come from fundamental sources, like direct from Apple onto the crypto-locked protected system volume.)

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