Time Machine not allowing selection of a file from yesterday’s backup

[chnine]

Hi there,

I have a Photoshop doc (using current Adobe CC product) that I accidentally changed some layers on today (working too fast LOL).

I renamed the doc (versus duplicating and renaming it) to reflect that I was adding some new work.

Prior to this, this doc had last been worked on a couple weeks ago.

I keep current backups via an external 8T Seagate drive (via USB) using the Time Machine app, as recently as last night so I figured I could just go into Time Machine and get the most recent backed up version.

I opened the folder where the file resides on my desktop.

Then I went into Time Machine... where all *looks* normal but even after waiting a bit in case anything needs to load — I’m unable to select yesterday’s folder — or any other folder — except for today’s folder.

Everytime I back up, I check to make sure it completed... I have not had occasion to need to restore (or get a previous iteration) anything prior to this.

I re-started my computer, re-plugged in the hard drive, it mounted fine.

I’m on a MacBookPro 15" Retina mid-2015 using Mojave 10.14.6 with 27" Apple Thunderbolt display.


Anybody have any idea what might be going on? It’s not the end of the world regarding this particular file but I AM RELYING upon this hard drive for back-up. So I need to figure this out.

Thanks for reading!

 

[chscag]

My experience with Time Machine has generally been good, but many other folks have reported anomalies perhaps of their own doing, perhaps not. No telling what happened and why you can't restore that particular file.

I know that doesn't help you, but I wanted to mention that in addition to my Time Machine backups I use Carbon Copy Cloner. CCC has never failed me whether it was to restore a single file or the complete system.

CCC has an option built in called "SafetyNet" that when used, acts very similar to Time Machine backups.

Backups are a must, and redundancy is a good thing.

 

[chnine]

My experience with Time Machine has generally been good, but many other folks have reported anomalies perhaps of their own doing, perhaps not. No telling what happened and why you can't restore that particular file.
* * *

Hi chscap,
Thank you for weighing in on this. I appreciate your recommendations. Yep, we are all about the backups here. I am done with Time Machine — it used to work — I could actually grab previous versions of docs LOL. Disappointing. Carbon Copy Cloner does look good (with 5 computers per license) and there are others so I’ll do a little research and get this solved. Thanks again!

 

[madrich]

Hi there,

I have a Photoshop doc (using current Adobe CC product) that I accidentally changed some layers on today (working too fast LOL).

I renamed the doc (versus duplicating and renaming it) to reflect that I was adding some new work.

Prior to this, this doc had last been worked on a couple weeks ago.

I keep current backups via an external 8T Seagate drive (via USB) using the Time Machine app, as recently as last night so I figured I could just go into Time Machine and get the most recent backed up version.

I opened the folder where the file resides on my desktop.

Then I went into Time Machine... where all *looks* normal but even after waiting a bit in case anything needs to load — I’m unable to select yesterday’s folder — or any other folder — except for today’s folder.

Everytime I back up, I check to make sure it completed... I have not had occasion to need to restore (or get a previous iteration) anything prior to this.

I re-started my computer, re-plugged in the hard drive, it mounted fine.

I’m on a MacBookPro 15" Retina mid-2015 using Mojave 10.14.6 with 27" Apple Thunderbolt display.


Anybody have any idea what might be going on? It’s not the end of the world regarding this particular file but I AM RELYING upon this hard drive for back-up. So I need to figure this out.

Thanks for reading!

Sometimes the TM needs to be reset without erasing it. Read your TM instructions it shows two reset options, a hard and soft method.

 

[chnine]

Hi Madrich,

Thanks. I’m not using a Time Capsule anymore. My backup is to a Seagate 8T USB drive. I did a search for Time Machine soft reset and found links about the Time Capsule itself. I didn’t find anything specific to the Time Machine app. I’m going to try another backup app

Thanks again.

 

[madrich]

Hi Madrich,

Thanks. I’m not using a Time Capsule anymore. My backup is to a Seagate 8T USB drive. I did a search for Time Machine soft reset and found links about the Time Capsule itself. I didn’t find anything specific to the Time Machine app. I’m going to try another backup app

Thanks again.

It’s not an app. Its the reset button in back of the Time Capsule (Machine). A soft reset depends how short/long you hold it for a reset.