Loss of Time Machine Data Pre Mavericks Install

Question

Level 1

32 points

Loss of Time Machine Data Pre Mavericks Install

After upgrading to Mavericks recently I can no longer see any data on Time Machine prior to the date of upgrade.

TM is working fine and I have updated the firmware on my Time Capsule.

I had perfectly good data backup before hand and want to know if there is any way I can recover this.

All current discussions seem to revolve around TM not backing up etc; mine is but its just that I now only have records dating from SINCE I installed Mavericks and only black screens with pink coloure dates on the right showing prior to that date.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 24, 2013 3:41 PM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

263,655 points

Nov 24, 2013 3:55 PM in response to PaulSG

I suggest looking at System Preferences > Sharing and make sure your computer name (shown at the top) has not changed since Mavericks was installed. If it was changed, then changing it back to what it was before Mavericks should allow your backups to be easily visible again.

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Answer 2

PaulSG Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 25, 2013 12:18 AM in response to sberman

Tried that thanks but no joy as a result.

Bit more background though:

Seems that the issue is ONLY in Mail. I can see right back to Dec 2011 in Finder etc but nothing further back than the Mavericks install date (19 Nov2013).

Furthermore, I have noticed that, where I have created Mailboxes, the historic emails on some - but not all, are now shown only by title (Picture1) and their respective content has disappeared ie, when I open them up (Picture 2) I'm left with a blank page - see below.

The only other change I have made was to run MacPaw Gemini duplicate clean where I manually selected highlighted duplicate files one by one. However, I can't see how that woud have inadvertently removed the content of particular filed emails but not their tiltes etc - surely it would have taken the lot. In any case, I always left an identical file from within the duplicate group unchecked and, while doing do so, never saw any reference to the group being an email message - most, if not all the duplication involved photos, music and folder files.

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Answer 3

PaulSG Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 25, 2013 1:13 AM in response to PaulSG

Support Communities Maintenance dumped my edit of the above so, to continue........!!

Tried that thanks but no joy as a result.

Bit more background though:

Seems that the issue is ONLY in Mail. I can see right back to Dec 2011 in Finder etc but nothing in MAIL further back than the Mavericks install date (19 Nov2013).

Furthermore, I have noticed that, where I have created Mailboxes, the historic emails on some - but not all, are now shown only by title (Picture1) and their respective content has disappeared ie, when I open them up (Picture 2) I'm left with a blank page - see below.

The only other changes I have made AFTER I upgraded to Mavericks were:

1) to install and run CleanMyMac2 and

2) to run and install MacPaw Gemini duplicate clean where I manually selected highlighted duplicate files one by one. However, I can't see how that woud have inadvertently removed the content of particular filed emails but not their titles etc - surely it would have taken the lot. In any case, I always left an identical file from within the duplicate group unchecked and, while doing do so, never saw any reference to the group being an email message - most, if not all the duplication involved photos, music and folder files.

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Answer 4

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Nov 25, 2013 11:07 AM in response to PaulSG

Although you can restore messages from a Time Machine snapshot within the Mail application, it generally won't work with messages that were saved by an older version of Mail. In that case, you have to use an alternative method.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Mail/V2

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal

from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder selected. Inside that folder are subfolders representing your Mail accounts. The names refer to the email addresses you use.

Enter Time Machine and scroll back to the snapshot you want. Select the account folders you want and then select Restore ... to... from the action menu (gear icon) in the toolbar of the snapshot window. Restore the folders to the Desktop, not to their original location.

From the Mail menu bar, select

File ▹ Import Mailboxes...

Import from the mailboxes in the folders you restored to the Desktop. The imported messages will appear in a new mailbox. Move the ones you want to keep wherever you like and delete the rest. Then delete the folders on the Desktop.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

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Answer 5

PaulSG Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 25, 2013 11:29 AM in response to Linc Davis

Many thanks for responding Linc,

I got down as far as Enter Time Machine ...... of course scrolling back up the right hand edge pink-coloured date list to the snapshot I wanted (any date prior to installation of Mavericks) just leaves me with a black window!

So, I cannot therefore:

"Select the account folders I want..."

so there is no option to select "Restore...to ..." as there is no action menu, (gear icon) or toolbar ..... or anything!!

Baffling or what?!!

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Nov 25, 2013 1:01 PM in response to PaulSG

While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.

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Answer 7

PaulSG Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 25, 2013 2:38 PM in response to Linc Davis

Yup, done that and it comes up with the Finder window showing "Mac HD" .... and it shows back ups all the way back to the first available 9 Dec 2011. I can scroll the date to wherever I want and eventually the Finder page for that date scrolls forward.

However, perhaps I'm being very thick, but I cannot see how to access the Mail messages before the Mavericks install date (19 Nov 13). If I have Mail open when I select 'Enter TM" it only shows live Mail snapshots back to 19 No 13; the right had date scroll is inactive and, if I click on the furthest snapshot, it all scrolls forward to a black snapshot window.

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Answer 8

Nov 25, 2013 2:51 PM in response to PaulSG

PaulSG

All current discussions seem to revolve around TM not backing up etc

On vital data you "dont dare lose" always consider options IN addition to or other than Time Machine,.

TM is a backup, not a data archive in the least.

😊

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Answer 9

PaulSG Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 25, 2013 2:56 PM in response to PlotinusVeritas

Very true of course Thankyou, but that's rather like telling me I should have shut the stable door after the horse has bolted and doesn't tell me how to recover the missing parts of email contents of my time machine!!!!

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Answer 10

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Nov 25, 2013 4:31 PM in response to PaulSG

You erased the startup volume. As far as TM is concerned, it's not the same volume. To access the backups of the old startup volume, you have to start from the "Computer" view as I indicated above and select it. This may be confusing because it has the same name as the current startup volume, but you should be able to do it.

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