Timemachine Data Disappeared? Sparsebundle OK

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Timemachine Data Disappeared? Sparsebundle OK

Early in December 2015, I upgraded to a new MacBook Pro. I kept the same computer name (I'm no longer using the old one) and when I set up Time Machine I opted to inherit the backup data dating to early 2014, nearly 2 years of data was backed up. Fast forward to January 3rd, 2016, I noticed my laptop was doing a complete back up which seemed strange. I had been using it for a month already. I noticed soon after that when I launched Time Machine the oldest back up available was starting January 3, 2016. I was not happy that almost 2 years of data just vanished. I went to my Time Machine back up drive and checked the sparse bundle which has the same name as my computer name, the previous one and current one (there is only one Sparse bundle). The files inside of it date to early 2014, which makes sense. But, when I launch Time Machine and try to move to the older dates to see the back ups from 2014 and 2015, all I see are black screens. Would Time Machine have deleted all of that data by itself? I can understand deleting an older back up or two as disk space is needed, but all of them? I'll note too that there is plenty of disk space available, over 1.5 TB, so that is not an issue.

Any ideas are appreciated as to why my data would have vanished, and perhaps how I can get it back? Is an undelete application a possiblity? Thank you.

MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.4/2.2 GHz), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Feb 5, 2016 12:39 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 5, 2016 1:11 PM in response to lbaitis

Actually I think it was a bad idea to inherit.. Due to the complexity of how Time Machine works it cannot really keep the old backups and just pile new backups on top of it. This is a totally new computer with different base OS. All of which must be saved in a way that restore can be done.

Anyway what is done is done.

Since early dec it should have done backups.. but complete backup on the 3rd of Jan probably means it corrupted the earlier backup. Including what was done between Dec 15 to Jan 16.. so a full new backup was required.. You are not going to get TM to get behind it.

The info might be there still in the backup.. I would strongly recommend you archive it now to a USB drive.. wipe the TC and start a clean fresh backup now.

Then plug the USB into the computer and manually see if you can access files going back to 2014.. it is possible they are still there.. but you cannot use TM to access them..

If you already migrated your files to the new Mac.. I would not over worry about it.. but our recommendations here are always to archive the old backups and start anew.. TM can always use an intact older backup using "Browse other Time Machine Disks"

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Answer 2

Feb 5, 2016 1:20 PM in response to lbaitis

On January 3, you might not have noticed it at the time, but a message that looked like the screenshot below likely appeared on your Mac.

Unfortunately, this is Time Machine's way of saying that backups became corrupted for some reason and they could not be repaired. When this happens, all of your old backups are deleted and a new backup set is started at the time.

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Answer 3

lbaitis Author

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Feb 6, 2016 1:18 PM in response to lbaitis

Thank you very much for sharing this information. I am quite disappointed in Time Machine’s decision to delete all of the files on its own. If the back up became corrupt, it would make much more sense to archive the old files for possible later retrieval manually, or at least, ask the user if they would like to archive the old files before deleting them due to a back up corruption.

Unfortunately, the old data has completely disappeared. I have manually mounted the drive, entered the back up folder and only folders dated January 3, 2016 and later appear.

Have you heard of anyone having any luck with using undelete software for a situation like this with Time Machine? I came across this program and it looks like it’d be worth trying.

http://www.stellarinfo.com/disk-recovery/mac-data-recovery/buy-now.php

This data loss is an upsetting situation for me. For years, I backed up my photos / videos to 2 external hard drives before deleting them from my laptop. About 6 months into using Time Machine, I decided it was going well. From that point on, I copied my photos / videos to just one other external hard drive (definitely a mistake). In December, an accident occurred in my house where that external hard drive was plugged into the wrong power supply and was fried. I wasn’t too upset at first thinking, that’s okay, I have back ups of everything on other external hard drives and Time Machine. One year’s worth, from July 2014 through July 2015, were only on Time Machine. My daughter turned one in August 2014, which means I am missing all photos and videos from the entire year of age one to two. I decided to wait until after the holidays to work on putting together a new external hard drive with duplicate copies from my other data sources (another mistake, if only I'd done this in December). I am going to exhaust all options in getting these photos and videos back, even if I can only get some of them back through undelete software.

I have learned a lot through this unfortunate experience about Time Machine and I am not going to trust it anymore. Thank you again for your help.

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Answer 4

Feb 6, 2016 1:27 PM in response to lbaitis

Have you heard of anyone having any luck with using undelete software for a situation like this with Time Machine? I came across this program and it looks like it’d be worth trying.

No, it won't work.

Time Machine breaks the files up and it works in such a way that recovery is near impossible.

Very sorry you lost the photos..

In December, an accident occurred in my house where that external hard drive was plugged into the wrong power supply and was fried.

Photos can be recovered from this hard disk.. you will need to send to a recovery centre and it will cost around $1000, as the drive may need to be disassembled and the platters read. But it could be a simple controller swap if you are lucky.. Most modern drives have voltage protection on the controller board and will be able to recover files with relative ease if that is the case.

When you ever get into this situation.. STOP immediately.. make a backup copy of the whatever the backup media is.. then the files can be extracted.

Unfortunately the inherit backups was entirely wrong.. to not immediately.. i mean instantly begin recovery.. was wrong. You cannot afford to wait.

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Answer 5

Feb 6, 2016 1:46 PM in response to lbaitis

Have you heard of anyone having any luck with using undelete software for a situation like this with Time Machine?

The only way to have any chance of recovering the files once they were deleted would be to immediately stop everything, so that no more files were copied to the Time Capsule disk. If you do not do this, then Time Machine writes over the old files, and after a few days, there is very little chance to retrieve any useful data. It could not hurt to try, though.

One year’s worth, from July 2014 through July 2015, were only on Time Machine.

Most of us have learned the hard lesson that if you don't have at least two copies of important data.....on two different hard drives....you will lose that data, you just don't know when this will occur.

I have learned a lot through this unfortunate experience about Time Machine and I am not going to trust it anymore

Most Time Machine issues occur in relation to backups on a Time Capsule, which is a network drive. Backups to a network drive are quite a bit more complicated (with more things to go wrong) than backups to a USB drive directly connected to a Mac.

Personally, I do use a Time Capsule, but it is not my "primary" backup plan...... I also have back up drives connected directly to each Mac and I also use other software like Carbon Copy Cloner to make other backup "clones".

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