Time Machine Only Displays Desktop or Home

Question

Level 1

13 points

Time Machine Only Displays Desktop or Home

If I click on a drive or a specific folder and launch Time Machine, it should pull up the directory for the drive or folder.

Suddenly this stopped working. Now the only two windows that Time Machine will display is the desktop and the Home folder - both, obviously, on the startup drive.

This means that in order to access a backup, I have to open the backup drive and dig through everything manually.

How do I repair this?

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Mac Pro 5,1

Posted on Jun 22, 2016 12:12 PM

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Answer 1

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Jun 23, 2016 9:07 AM in response to T_Y

G'day T_Y,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

I see that you are having an issue with accessing files and folders in your Time Machine Backup. I backup my Mac daily with Time Machine, so I know how important it is you have access to your data.

I recommend using the article Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac for help restoring specific files from Time Machine, specifically, this section:

Restore specific files:

Choose Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu , or click Time Machine in the Dock.

Find the files to restore:

Use the timeline on the edge of the screen to see the files in your Time Machine backup as they were at that date and time. The timeline may also include local snapshots.

Use the onscreen up and down arrows to jump to the last time the contents of the window changed. You can also use the search field in a window to find a file, then move through time while focused on changes to that file.

Select a file and press Space Bar to preview the file and make sure it's the one you want.

Click Restore to restore the selected file, or Control-click the file for other options.

Additional information can be found in our Mac Help user guide below:

Back up your files with Time Machine

Cheers!

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Answer 2

T_Y Author

Level 1

13 points

Jun 23, 2016 9:16 AM in response to raina_b22

Thanks, but this article is only relevant when Time Machine is functioning properly. This appears to be some sort of corruption in Time Machine itself.

I've been using TM for years. Suddenly, a couple of days ago, when I tried to retrieve a file, it stopped displaying the folder selected.

No matter what directory window I may be in, it ignores that folder and switches to my user folder instead.

There is no way to navigate to the desired directory from within TM.

Do I need to look for the TM prefs file and trash it?

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Answer 3

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Jun 23, 2016 10:36 AM in response to T_Y

Hi T_Y,

If you're using an external hard drive for a Time Machine backup, I would recommend disconnecting the Time Machine drive from your Mac Pro and reconnect. Then, test to see if you get the same result.

Also, please give your Mac Pro a fresh restart and then test once more.

If you still have an issue after that, please contact our support directly with the link below:

Contact Apple Support

Best Regards.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Jun 23, 2016 1:30 PM in response to T_Y

Start with A4 in the 1st linked article. This has straightened up a few problems I was having with Time Machine.

Time Machine Troubleshooting

Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

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