Time Machine Won't allow me to select restore on old restore points

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Level 1

5 points

Time Machine Won't allow me to select restore on old restore points

I've had this issue a few times and it seems to come and go. I'll enter time machine and I will be able to look at old restore points but it won't let me restore them. I just had a scare where I opened her up and first thing it asked for was my preferred network info. Then it said the date was set before 2001 and sure enough it was some really old date. I went to look and see if I had lost all my info on my hard drive and well the only I thought was missing was my pictures. I opened up time machine and could see all of my restore points but the restore button wasn't highlighted. What is going on?

Message was edited by: mdm041

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 30, 2010 6:24 PM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Oct 30, 2010 9:49 PM in response to mdm041

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

What you see in the "Star Wars" display depends to some extent on how you get there.

If you're on a Finder window for a week-old folder, say, then +Enter Time Machine,+ you can only select backups in the last week; all the earlier backups, that don't have backups of that folder, can't be selected.

Try clicking your home folder, internal HD, or Computer name in the sidebar.

Also note you can see your iPhoto library via the Finder window in Time Machine, but you can't see the package contents or view individual photos. To see the photos, start with iPhoto, then either select +File > Browse Backups+ from the menubar or click the Time Machine icon in your Dock. See #15 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

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Answer 2

mdm041 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 4, 2010 8:41 PM in response to Pondini

In my case I can see the old files from the restore but the restore button is not highlighted. Its like the data is there and I can see it but it won't let me restore it.

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Nov 4, 2010 8:52 PM in response to mdm041

I'm not sure what you mean by that -- the Restore button won't be highlighted until you actually select something.

If it doesn't light up when you select something, try selecting a file, then clicking the "gear" icon in the Finder window's toolbar -- you should get a small "contextual" menu, allowing you to restore to an alternate location, delete all backups of the highlighted item, etc. Do you?

If it's not working like that, try the things in #E4 of [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

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