Time Machine not working with Yosemite

I recently upgraded (clean install) from OS X Mavericks to Yosemite. Before upgrading, I backed up my MacBook Pro via Time Machine on a network server (QNAP.) Yosemite is up and running now, however, I am unable to access folder history via Time Machine. Yosemite recognizes the historical backups, however, when I select a specific date in Time Machine, nothing happens.


Is anyone else experiencing this?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 16, 2014 10:56 PM

Reply
334 replies

Nov 17, 2014 12:18 PM in response to John Gruver

Was introduced with Yosemite 10.10.0, is still there in 10.10.1.


Absolutely repeatable


In Mavericks, in this situation, in the backup in step 5 it would do a scan of the drive as part of the space calculation so it was always 'right'; now it just takes the used space on the volume - which is (nearly) always totally wrong.


So if the used space on the drive is more than the free space on the backup it will delete backups until either there is enough space or there is only one backup left. In the latter case it gives you error message but by then its too late as all your other backups have gone.


See this thread - Yosemite and Time Machine


But I mixed up TB and GB in the example, they should all be TB

Nov 17, 2014 3:44 PM in response to adeluciajr

I attempt to open my encrypted Time Machine ** and I get a error message:

The following disk images couldn't be opened:

Image: MacBook Pro.sparsebundle

Reason: Resource temporarily unavailable


So, not good.


Good news? It appears my MacBook Pro will restore to my latest 10.9.5 backup via the Restore Disk (starting up while holding down Command and R), but of course it's going to take 10-hours!


BTW: My Mac Pro's Time Machine just dumped older data to make some space... it had gotten below 20GB free space... now it's at 153.99GB free/7.5TB used

Nov 17, 2014 5:30 PM in response to adeluciajr

Happy User,

Today Nov 17, finally 10.10.1 update came out. That is the good news for restoring past data. Now Time Machine can travel back in time. The bad news is that we all provided Apple developers with the workaround to accomplish all this by clicking on the Macintosh HD either outside of or in Time Machine and navigating to the desired folder or file(s). The favorites before, only froze everything up. Now Apple engineers, being ingenious copycats really haven't solved the real fix for this problem. They implemented the workaround we thought up by freezing the favorites and programming Time machine to select Macintosh HD and you have to navigate through the finder panes to go into the past. You can select a past pane okay, but you can tell that the fix in 10.10.1 is only a workaround until they get around to doing it right and we thought of it first!

Nov 17, 2014 6:08 PM in response to borisoff22

Nothing has really changed for me since 10.10.1. If I enter TM from the folder I wish to retrieve, then I can't navigate back in time. If I enter TM from the HD then I can navigate back in time using the sidebar only. If I attempt to navigate through the folders before backing up in time, I will get blank time cards. I think this is a partial fix, but it sure doesn't act like Time Machine in Mavericks.

Nov 18, 2014 8:48 AM in response to Jdaddy404

I just tried it out on my Mac Pro with 10.10.1, in Enter Time Machine. If I select my computer in Devices in the Finder window (you have to set the Device preference, in Finder, for Sidebar to show your computer) and then select my home folder I have access to all historical copies every individual item on my computer (e.g., Applications, Documents, Music, etc.) while in Time Machine. Not perfect, but it does work.

Nov 18, 2014 8:56 PM in response to greenmind

For instance, when I open my Mail wt Time Machine, and try to recover old emails, I am unable to go past November 13 in the Mail program. Time machine fails to function before the 13th. The 13th is the day which I installed Yosemite. My backup drive still functions, and have files going back to 2012. Unfortunately I can only access them by going into my devices. Then looking for items seems to be a hit or miss process. Or I can go directly into my backup drive, in order to recover old items. Unfortunately using time machine as it was designed, is not possible. I will also be asking in a new forum, but I'll ask here first. Under what file name is old mail files stored under, so I can look them up in my backup drive, and hopefully have them restored.

Nov 19, 2014 7:41 AM in response to greenmind

Firstly, your mail is in Library (accessed in Finder by selecting the "Go" menu item and then holding down the "Option" key. Then it's:


Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/(your pick, e.g., "Junk.mbox")/(folder w/loads of characters)/Data/9 (or whichever you have)/3 (or whichever you have)/Messages. If there's any in there, select one and you'll see the preview. Double-click it and it'll open in Mail.


ADDED: and BTW, I was not able to access historical files of that folder in Time Machine to recover any older mail.


Secondly: How the heck does one open Mail in Time Machine???

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Time Machine not working with Yosemite

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.