HT201250: Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac

Learn about Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac
lisak458

Q: Having difficulty accessing old data from time machine

After getting infected with some malware, I recently did a quick erase of my hard drive. To back my files up, I used both Time Machine and dropbox. For some reason, dropbox didn't upload. The folder had a lot of data, so that might have prevented it from doing so. For that specific folder, I also had a third backup at work, but I'd only backed it up in late December.

 

I rebooted my shiny new, flawlessly running computer, only to find that the one folder I needed most was not backed up by either Time Machine or dropbox. In Time Machine, it states, 'The alias “Melendez Lab alias” can’t be opened because the original item can’t be found.' Any suggestions on what to do? I selected 'fix alias', which directed me to merge it with the work backup I downloaded that doesn't have dec/jan files, but even then it says I don't have the permissions to do so.

 

I have a macbook pro, OS 10.8.5.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jan 31, 2014 7:27 AM