Time Machine not working with Yosemite

What I am saying is that If you are currently using a hard drive to store saves made by Time Machine, then you can access your saves by going thru Finder. You can not access saves by selecting the TM icon in the usual method, it will no longer function as designed and as you did in Mavericks. A different hard drive is not going to fix this issue with Time Machine; only Apple can help us with that (hopefully soon). I hope this helps you understand the problem. Look under "Time Machine not working with Yosemite in this site and you will see others facing this same problem while waiting on apples fix. Also, note that 10.10.1 was supposed to address this issue, but in fact, the problem was not corrected. Hope this helps you!

Looks like after reading all these comments, my solution is going to be simple, turn off the time machine backup until someone up there at Apple fixes the problem. I will still continue to back up my important data files to my external USB drive, but this is a bunch of BS. They should never had released this OS update with such a serious bug. I have wasted enough of my time and resources on this issue.

I tried several different drives (Drobo, TimeCapsule, MyPassport, SeagateBU)... no joy.

That method didn't work for me, nor would it for anybody else getting the backup sparse bundle not available warning when trying to open the Time Machine sparse bundle.

However, with 10.10.1 I can and have gone into my User folder in Devices, entered Time Machine, and then have access to all my stuff (Documents, Downloads, etc.) and its historical copies, and I can navigate to Applications and Desktop in Favorites and back, but attempting any other folder in Favorites is no joy.

It doesn't work for me... just tried it and I could only recover the mailbox that was open when I entered Time Machine, and the mail available didn't change with history. Fortunately, not knowing this method of using Time Machine (I always just went into Time Machine to recover stuff) I've always kept emails I wanted to keep in folders on my Mac.

Jdaddy404,I did a completely new backup to my Time Capsule by navigating to it in the Finder, and deleting the "sparsebundle" file that was my previous backup. I could have also used Airport Utility to erase the entire disk. If you're using a local drive (via USB, Firewire, or Thunderbolt) for your backups, you should be able to delete the backup folder therein, or use Disk Utility to erase it completely (if that's all that's on there.) And the next time Time Machine attempts a backup, it will be a new, fresh one. And therefore will take a long time.

I will also add that navigating inside the Time Machine backup itself to recover files is a bad idea. I use the Time Machine interface via the Finder, and it makes a lot more sense. Apple removed the ridiculous "galaxy" animation for this in Yosemite, and something else broke, because the Time Machine snapshots appeared empty. Now with 10.10.1 however, this issue has been fixed. At least for me. It's working just as well as it ever did in Mavericks, only without the silly "galaxy" backdrop.

Lastly, if Time Machine isn't working for you, I can recommend Carbon Copy Cloner, or Super Duper, as good backup alternatives. They make bootable clone backups (with incremental updates,) which can be very useful. I also use CrashPlan, which backs my data up to a server in the cloud. That way if my backup drives are ever lost or stolen or burned in a fire, I still have backups "off site" I can rely on. Incidentally, CrashPlan also is having a 50% off "pre Black Friday" sale on their Family Plan. I renewed my subscription there a few days ago, for two years. Their service is good, at a price I couldn't pass up.

You can never have too many backups, I say, and I'm glad Time Machine is back up and running as my primary one.

Fofer, but then you have no history... a working realtime back up is OK for future, but what about those who want to get their saved stuff?

With your comment, though, it appears that the Time Machine break is related to accessing stuff prior to Yosemite. I have some anecdotal evidence that that is what's happening: during my two weeks of trouble shooting this problem on a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro I completely redid my Mac Pro and my MacBook Pro from Time Machine back ups (this is still available... you can access your Time Machine backups if doing a clean install from the Recovery Drive... I was able to reinstall Mavericks from Time Machine) and from CarbonCopyCloner clones. I actually renamed my computers on a couple redos, and upon entering Time Machine the windows going back into the past had the various names of the computers on them... UNTIL i attempted to access them, then they all changed to the current computer name, and I lost that ability to access/recover historical stuff.

Actually (and this may have already been suggested), since the historical backups are still on your Time Machine drive, and if your still have Time Machine running they are continuing to accrue and consequently erasing the oldest backups when space is needed, you might want to "archive" your Time Machine backup, and start a new one if a clean Time Machine does work as Fofer did.

I was able to import my old mail folders the old fashioned way from my backup drive, so I am happier, but far from happy, since my macs time machine does not operate in the way it was designed too. Time Machine was one of the selling points that got me too purchase my Mac in the first place. Time Machine operates, but only from the date in which I installed Yosemite.

It's curious that your TM apparently operates normally from the time you installed Yosemite. Mine doesn't. Doesn't matter what the date I try to back to, I get intermittent blank cards, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to when and how it will decide to let me go back in time. The only method that works for me is to enter TM after I've opened the Mac HD and start from there. Even then, the only way to back through the time cards is through the side bar, selecting a date from there to which I wish to back up to. Clicking on a card behind the front one will always result in ... nothing.

Yes it is very strange that some users have completely different problems, after installing Yosemite, and others none at all. Especially when some of those users did completely fresh installs (erasing and reformatting the old hard drive, & then installing Yosemite, using a pen drive). My machine is basically only a two week old computer, since it's fresh install, and I had problems accessing time machine backups since day one. I've done 3 separate installs, and after each one, my machine acted completely differently. I could go for a fourth, and that 'might' do the trick, or it might create an entirely new issue. Personally I don't have the time to do another. 'Hopefully' Apple will read the many 'contact us' replies about the problems wt Yosemite, and provide all users the same Yosemite update fix. Keep contacting them, and if you figured out a fix, please post it here.

I am in no way saying not to post your time machine problems & solutions here, but maybe if enough of us contact apple feedback, they 'might' provide an update to fix the problem. https://www.apple.com/feedback/

Done and done. Thanks for the link.

I think Linc Davis solved the problem, sorry I'm not able to post here his post but you can see it here: Time machine not working in yosemite

I am having the same problem. When trying to back up to TC it hangs on "preparing backup" for hours.