Time Machine backups greyed out

Cedricgw wrote:

. . .

With this browse option, can i see my previous time machine saves along my future new ones?

Not at the same time. Enter Time Machine will show the backups of the new Mac, Browse Other Backup Disks will show the backups of the old one.

Yes that it what happened, nothing came up

It ususally does, but sometimes it doesn't. 😟 Nobody seems to know just what goes wrong.

if the first "browse" solution works, i may not need to do this techie thing should i?

As noted above, they'll be shown separately. Plus, no old backups of the old Mac will be deleted automatically (TM only deletes old backups from the Mac it's running on). You'll have to do that manually, or there won't be room for many backups of the new one.

the mac mini is 500go, and my save drive is 260go, that means that when the mac mini will be filled in by more than 260go i'll loose files i guess...

What's important is not the size of the internal HD, but how much data is on it, being backed-up. If you're like most of us, you'll be adding far more stuff (especially photos, music, and video) than you delete, so the size will grow.

With a 260 GB drive for TM, if you have more than about 130 GB on your system, TM may not be able to keep backups for very long, even if you do the "inherit" and "associate" thing. If you don't do those, there will be even less space.

2 last questions

if the first "browse" solution works, i may not need to do this techie thing should i?

As noted above, they'll be shown separately. Plus, no old backups of the old Mac will be deleted automatically (TM only deletes old backups from the Mac it's running on). You'll have to do that manually, or there won't be room for many backups of the new one.

1/ to delete the previous versions, i managed to enter with the browse in teh previous saves and i delete permanently all saves of some specific folders but the gain is not so big

to gain space, shall i open in finder teh previosu saves and delete the folders which are old this way?

What's important is not the size of the internal HD, but how much data is on it, being backed-up. If you're like most of us, you'll be adding far more stuff (especially photos, music, and video) than you delete, so the size will grow.

With a 260 GB drive for TM, if you have more than about 130 GB on your system, TM may not be able to keep backups for very long, even if you do the "inherit" and "associate" thing. If you don't do those, there will be even less space.

2/ is there a way to tell TM to save only some folders instead of telling it not to save some? ie it would be good to tell TM to save "documents" + "music" + "image" + "applications" for example..?

thank you very much, already versy useful

Cedricgw wrote:

. . .

1/ to delete the previous versions, i managed to enter with the browse in teh previous saves and i delete permanently all saves of some specific folders but the gain is not so big

to gain space, shall i open in finder teh previosu saves and delete the folders which are old this way?

You can't do that via the Finder. You can only delete entire backups (the date-stamped folders) via the Finder. Even that's supported only on Lion, and doesn't always work well.

Deleting all backups of selected items can only be done via the Time Machine browser. As you've seen, it's quite tedious, and you usualliy don't gain much space.

Your best bet is probably to delete the folder for the new Mac, and use the "inherit" and "associate" commands so all your backups are together.

And consider getting a larger drive.

2/ is there a way to tell TM to save only some folders instead of telling it not to save some? ie it would be good to tell TM to save "documents" + "music" + "image" + "applications" for example..?

No, you can only exclude things, as Time Machine is intended to back up your entire system. The exclusions are intended for things you don't necessarily need to back up -- for example, I exclude my Downloads folder, since I never keep anything important there for long.

If these are your only backups, omitting important things is a recipe for disaster. 😟 See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #11.

If you have other backups, it may be workable. For example, if something fairly large doesn't change much, and you can back it up elsewhere (even to CDs/DVDs), you could omit them from Time Machine. But if your data is important to you, it's probably worth getting a larger drive.

Hello Pondini,

I have Time Capsule to backup my Mac. I find your web-site regarding Time Machine and Time Capsule very helpful.

In the past I solved some problems regarding my Time Capsule and Time Machine with the help of your web-site.

However now, I am experiencing a problem related to Time Machine. When I choose Desktop folder in Finder and

after I click Time Machine icon and enter Time Machine; When I go to old backups, all the files in Desktop folder

are greyed out. So I can not restore any of my files they were in Desktop folder in the past. Do you have any solution

to this problem. If you could help me with this issue, it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tolga

It sounds like something happened at about the time that started, such as getting a new internal HD or logic board, or doing a full system restore or "clean install."

If so, the old backups are treated as if they were from a different disk -- one that's no longer connected. Try the workaround in #E3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Thanks for your reply. My problem is solved with this workaround. I don't know why this happened. Eight months ago my logic board was replaced. After that I inherited old backups to new logic board. Few months ago, I reinstall Lion due to some other problem. May be that was the cause.

My question is: If I format my hard disk and clean install Lion on it. And format my Time Capsule. Start everything all over again. Will the problem be solved permanently without your workaround ? If I will clean install Lion, how can I get my old stuff from Time Machine backups ? How can I access to Setup Assistant that you mentioned before ? Will Setup Assistant also import Bookmarks and Mail contents to my fresh Lion disk ?

Thanks again,

Tolga

tolgao wrote:

. . .

I don't know why this happened. Eight months ago my logic board was replaced. After that I inherited old backups to new logic board.

If you got the "inherit" prompt, and selected it, that wasn't the problem.

Few months ago, I reinstall Lion due to some other problem. May be that was the cause.

Depending on how you did that, and how you put your data back, yes, that might have been the cause.

My question is: If I format my hard disk and clean install Lion on it. And format my Time Capsule. Start everything all over again. Will the problem be solved permanently without your workaround ?

Yes, but that will erase all your backups. 😟

If I will clean install Lion, how can I get my old stuff from Time Machine backups ?

Why do you want to do that? It won't help this problem, but if you have other, serious, problems, it might be a last resort.

How can I access to Setup Assistant that you mentioned before ? Will Setup Assistant also import Bookmarks and Mail contents to my fresh Lion disk ?

If you erase your internal HD and install OSX on it, when your Mac restarts, Setup Assistant will run automatically, giving you the option to transfer some, all, or none of your stuff. See Using Setup Assistant on Lion.

But again, I don't know why you'd want to do that.

If your only problem is the old backups being grayed-out, here's a possible fix: First, determine the approximate date/time where the grayed-out backups start. Then use the procedure in #B6 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to make Time Machine "associate" your "new" (current) disk with the old backups. When you drag the volume name from a backup (per the pink box there), be sure to drag one from the time period where the backups are grayed-out (ie, in a folder whose name represents a date during that period).

Note that even though the names are the same, Time Machine thinks they're different -- that's why you need to use one of the older backups.

As you said, may be it is not a good idea to do a clean install of Lion. Your workaround works perfectly.

As related to your last paragraph, I don't understand. My greyed out area is not on the right side of Time Machine where dates of the backups shown. It is inside the Finder window where files are shown. Please check the link below to see if we are talking about the same problem ?

The link below has the screen shot of my Time Machine interface. You can see my problem:

http://d.pr/i/VSyJ

That's a curious screenshot -- it doesn't look quite like the normal Finder's Column View:

The items are in a grid; there's no icon to the left of the items; if any of them are folders, there aren't any arrows to see contents in the next column.

Do you have any sort of Finder additions/extensions/hacks?

No, I don't have any sort of finder additions/extensions/hacks. I am the only one who uses this MBP. I searched the web, and I could not find any info regarding this issue. First time, I recognized this problem was last December. If I choose a file in current("Now") Finder window and browse back to old backups, this weird grey-out issue occurs. But, if I choose a folder in current("Now") Finder window and browse back to old backups, then everything works as it is supposed to be. No grey-out issue occurs. Now I am worried if there is a hardware problem with my Time Capsule ? If it is a software problem, worse case I will clean install Lion and see if it works. But It is a lot of hassle to clean install Lion and move back all data. At the same time, your workaround for grey-out issue, works perfectly. But there is something wrong with my Time Machine/Time Capsule. It is not working the way it is supposed to be. When I first bought my Time Capsule, for a long time there was no issue like this grey out issue.

I explained this issue in detail on this last screenshot, which shows how this issue is not occuring when a folder is selected.

Here is the new screenshot link:

http://d.pr/i/GdIG

tolgao wrote:

. . .

Now I am worried if there is a hardware problem with my Time Capsule ?

Very doubtful. And Time Machine does periodic verifications of all network backups; if there were a problem it can detect, you'd get a message.

If it is a software problem, worse case I will clean install Lion and see if it works.

That would be a very last resort.

You have a lot of stuff on your desktop. In older versions of OSX, that wasn't a good idea -- it took a lot of CPU to keep track of all the icons, and could bring a Mac to it's knees. I don't think that's such a large problem any more, but still may not be the best idea.

Is this problem limited to your Desktop? If you go into, say, Documents, in exactly the same way, do you get the same results?

I don't use Column View much (I use List View), and don't keep things on my desktop permanently -- just things I'm currently working on. I'll experiment a bit while you're trying other folders.

One thing you might consider is, you have a lot of stuff on your Desktop. In earlier versions of OSX, that wasn't a good idea -- it took a lot of CPU to keep track of all the icons, and if you had too many, your Mac would slow to a crawl or even hang! I don't think it's as critical now, but you might want to think about moving some large folders elsewhere.

I've had good luck by making folders at the top level of my home folder, alongside Desktop, Documents, etc. Your Xcode folder might be a good candidate for that.

This issue occurs only on Desktop, Applications, Downloads, and My Home Folder.

The issue does NOT occur with: Documents, Library, and Dropbox. It works okey with these folders.

I will try to put large folders to somewhere else on my desktop. There is only one simple App in my

Xcode folder.

tolgao wrote:

This issue occurs only on Desktop, Applications, Downloads, and My Home Folder.

The issue does NOT occur with: Documents, Library, and Dropbox. It works okey with these folders.

Very odd. 😟 I've not seen this posted before, and I've also been unable to make it happen here.

Your first sample, with the "grid" instead of a column, is quite bizarre.

The only other thing I can suggest is to try the things in #E4 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

As a last resort, you might try installing the "combo" update, per Installing the ''combo'' update and/or Reinstalling OSX. If that doesn't help, installing a fresh version of OSX (that won't disturb anything else), per the same article, might help.

I will try to put large folders to somewhere else on my desktop. There is only one simple App in my Xcode folder.

You might try putting some folders elsewhere (not on your Desktop), then creating aliases to them, and moving the aliases to your Desktop. That way, your workflow will be the same, but the actual data won't be on your Desktop. That might help.

Thanks alot for your help so far. By the way, I can't find com.apple.TimeMachine.plist on my library folder. Where can I find it ?

Since Time Machine backs-up everything, including all user accounts, it's preferences are not in your home folder.

It's in the top-level /Library/Preferences folder.