Q: I don't see [Preferences] or [Change Disk] when I click on Time Machine

SharonLee123 wrote:

 

Now that we have this. How do we change Time Machine?

Ah, you're running File Vault. 

I should have noticed the icon on your home folder and/or thought to ask that; sorry. 

File Vault encrypts your entire home folder into a strange container, called a sparse bundle disk image. 

It doesn't get backed up until you log out; and you can't see or restore individual items from it. All you can do is restore the whole thing.

See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #25 for the gory details. Skip to the The remainder of this page relates to File Vault 1:  section.

If you really need to have your entire home folder encrypted, there's not much you can do (short of upgrading to Lion) -- that's how it works.

If you only have a few sensitive files or folders, there's a way to put just them in an encrypted disk image, so the rest of your home folder can be backed-up normally (and you can see and restore individual items).

Or, if you don't really need anything encrypted, we can do that, too.

SharonLee123 wrote:

 

Ok, I'm with you but is my current data located on my internal drive of 2TB? See last image.

Yes, on Macintosh HD, your home folder is in a hidden sparse bundle disk image.  Data is decrypted only when you're logged-on.  The backed-up sparse bundle should be on your TM drive (but also hidden).

The normal Applications folder should be backed-up normally; if you go into Time Machine, you should be able to see them in all those backup windows (but not any in an Applications folder inside your home folder).

To see hidden files and folders (their names usually start with a period), download the free TinkerTool app, per #A3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.  That will show all sorts of things you haven't seen before.  Obviously, do not mess with any of them!

To see your home folder, open a Finder window to your internal HD.  Inside it is a Users folder, inside that is a folder named for your home folder, and inside that (instead of the usual sub-folders like Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc.) will be the sparse bundle.

To see the backed-up version, open the Backups.backupdb folder on your TM drive; inside it is one folder for your Mac; inside that is a series of date-stamped folders, one for each backup (plus one or two other things).  Inside each of those backup folders, you'll find the entire folder structure of your HD.  For some backups (that were done while you were logged-on), you won't find the sparse bundle. For others (done when you logged-off), you will.

You should be able to double-click the sparse bundle (and supply the password) to open it, then you can see the individual files and folders.

p.s. And can't we change TM to backup my current data?!?

Time Machine IS backing it up.  The backups are just hidden in that sparse bundle.

I don't need anything encrypted.

In that case, you may want to turn File Vault OFF.  But there seems to be a problem; it doesn't look like there's room on your HD to do that.  Double-check, though -- see how large your home folder is (via the Finder or Get Info -- it may take a while to calculate).  You'll need a bit more free space than that -- you've only got about 40 GB now.

To turn File Vault off, OSX needs at least as much empty space as the size of the sparse bundle temporarily -- while it decrypts and copies the entire home folder.

So you may have to copy a large amount of stuff elsewhere, delete it, empty the trash, and log out so OSX can "compact" the sparse bundle.