I can see the time machine history on the right side of the screen. The archived dates are displayed in a bright red color. Older dates are displayed in a dull red color. All the dates prior to Feb, 2013 are not accessible. Time machine has never alerted me that any of my archives were deleted or overwritten. There seems to be plant of disc space available.
So why can't I access older archives?
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)
Something occurred in February 2013 that caused Time Machine to start over again. This can happen when you update to a newer operating system on your Mac or even if there has been a major update to the operating system that you are currently using.
Unfortunately, Time Machine usually will not notify you that it is starting over with a new "master" backup.
The "dull" red color indicates that Time Machine cannot currently access the older backups from the current Time Machine interface.
If you want to try a "test" to see if you can access the old backups prior to February 2013......
Right-Click on the Time Machine icon on the dock
Click on Browse Other Time Machine Disks
If your Time Capsule disk appears in the next window, click on it
Wait 10-15 minutes to give things time to load, then see if you can access one of the old backups
Report on your results.
Thank you for your reply, Bob.
I ran the procedure as you suggested, but still not able to access February 2013 and prior.
As to a cause, this is what I think happened:
While browsing February 2013 in Time Machine, I accidentally pulled the USB connection to the drive. I used the apple disc utility to make repairs. The disc currently shows no problems.
While in the finder, I can see and apparently access each "Macintosh HD" back up on the archive disc.
My goal is to recover an old iPhoto Library, but I also want to restore full access to all the time machine back-ups.
What do you suggest?
-JL
While browsing February 2013 in Time Machine, I accidentally pulled the USB connection to the drive
And that.....would explain things. Time Machine is very unforgiving. If you ran Repair Disk and Repair Permissions on the USB drive, that is about all that you can do.
You may likely have to use the Finder to go back and get files. Be very careful when you do this not to change or modify a file in any way. It's OK to copy the file to move it elsewhere.
Thank you, Bob. I'll give that a try.
Also, I'll explore a commercial disc recovery utility.
Thanks-
-JL
FileSalvage is a popular choice for this type of work. There used to be...and may still be....a free version to take a look at the drive to see whether the files can be repaired. To repair them, you have to buy the full application.....about $90 as I recall.
Not sure how this might work on a Time Machine backup though.....since there are many thousands upon thousands of very complex links in there.
Good luck!
why can't I access older archives?
