bradjohnreeder
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How do you access or restore files under About this Mac > Storage > Backups?

I've deleted some files from my macbook pro. Prior to deleting them I had also deleted them from my time machine disk. When I enter Time Machine I cannot find them there.

 

After deleting the files from the hard-drive I noticed under About this Mac > Storage that 'backups' had increased in memory by 10gb (the size of the deleted file) so I presume a back-up of this file must exist somewhere on the macbook's hard-drive. My question is how can I access or restore these files?

 

Many thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Feb 16, 2016 1:43 PM

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bradjohnreeder

Q: How do you access or restore files under About this Mac > Storage > Backups?

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Feb 16, 2016 1:51 PM in response to bradjohnreeder
    Level 10 (271,850 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 16, 2016 1:51 PM in response to bradjohnreeder

    That is merely a display of information. Backups only exist if you make them. OS X does no automatic backups. If you have a Time Machine backup setup, then you can possibly restore deleted files from your backup.

     

    Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with using Time Machine.

  • by bradjohnreeder,

    bradjohnreeder bradjohnreeder Feb 16, 2016 2:07 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 16, 2016 2:07 PM in response to Kappy

    Thanks for your response -- I appreciate it.


    Originally these files came under "other" in about this mac > storage. After they were deleted other decreased by 10gb and backups increased by 10gb so that the total size of storage remained the same. If these files no longer exist then why hasn't storage decreased by 10gb? If they do still exist, do you know how I can access about this mac > storage > backups?

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Feb 16, 2016 2:21 PM in response to bradjohnreeder
    Level 10 (271,850 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 16, 2016 2:21 PM in response to bradjohnreeder

    If your have Time Machine enabled but no backup drive connected, then Time Machine will create backup snapshots: OS X Mountain Lion- About local snapshots. They occupy space on your drive, but if space is needed by OS X, then they are selectively removed to make up new free space. In other words they are not saved permanently but only so long as the space is not needed.

     

    The storage display is unreliable and should not be indicative of the present state of your drive. To fix that you must re-index Spotlight: Spotlight- How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support.