Time Machine not backing up all files??

[IMYB]

I am running 10.9.5 on this iMac 27" so that I can keep running my old Photoshop and Illustrator fully paid version and not pay Adobe every month for the rest of my life. I had piece of mind that all my files were getting backed up on the time machine. But today, for the first time I made changes to the wrong file I said... I'll just get it back from the time machine since this file was not changed for years...

Opened time machine and the file is NOT THERE. I then started to look around and most files are missing. Some are there in multiple versions but big chunks are missing. Doesn't seem to be a reason as to why some files are backed up and some others are not.

I need to solve this issue and make sure I get a full backup of my computer.

What should I do??? I have lots of design files for clients and can't risk losing them.

Thanks!

 

[MarkC426]

Are you omitting anything in Time Machine settings?

 

[IMYB]

Are you omitting anything in Time Machine settings?

Where can I look, to my knowledge I am not.

The missing files are in folders that are backed up... like

FOLDER 1
file 1
file 2
FILE 3 MISSING ON BACKUP
file 4
file 5
FILE 6 MISSING ON BACKUP

 

[IMYB]

I just found this... Shows the only thing "omitted" is the backup itself

 

[hg.wells]

How are you browsing your backups?

Time Machine doesn’t take full backups every time, they are incremental.

Are you accessing the data via searching the drive or through Time Machine:

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

Automatically back up what's important: Photos, email, music, and more.

support.apple.com

 

[MarkC426]

I just found this... Shows the only thing "omitted" is the backup itself

Is your TM drive almost full?

 

[IMYB]

How are you browsing your backups?

I can browse on it but on some folder that I know I changed files in there there is just the TODAY version. There is NOTHING behind the screen to click on.

Some other folders have some file in there but not all the files I have in there for years. Those are not like files that were just created and the backup didn't save them yet.

I am talking 1000s of files missing just at a glance.

 

[IMYB]

Is your TM drive almost full?

Not even close. I only have 457GB on my hard drive to backup. Backup has been running for years and I would expect it to be more than what it shows

 

[Phil77354]

There are alternatives to Time Machine that you may find more suitable and worth considering, as an alternative to trouble-shooting TM, which is probably not the favored backup program for many more experienced Mac users. Many other threads here have had similar discussions and this will always be a common recommendation.

CarbonCopyCloner
SuperDuper

 

[IMYB]

There are alternatives to Time Machine that you may find more suitable and worth considering, as an alternative to trouble-shooting TM, which is probably not the favored backup program for many more experienced Mac users. Many other threads here have had similar discussions and this will always be a common recommendation.

CarbonCopyCloner
SuperDuper

ok, I used time machine because it was easy for newbie and it would ask me when I would setup a new computer to restore time machine backup, so it was easy to use when you don't know much.

 

[Phil77354]

ok, I used time machine because it was easy for newbie and it would ask me when I would setup a new computer to restore time machine backup, so it was easy to use when you don't know much.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Time Machine user myself! But I haven't had many situations where the backup was needed and I haven't challenged the contents of my backups as a result. I've followed similar discussions here with interest and sometimes thought about using one of the alternates myself. TM is easy to use, that is also why I have defaulted to it . . .

 

[IMYB]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Time Machine user myself! But I haven't had many situations where the backup was needed and I haven't challenged the contents of my backups as a result. I've followed similar discussions here with interest and sometimes thought about using one of the alternates myself. TM is easy to use, that is also why I have defaulted to it . . .

I understand and appreciate your inout. I have tons of clients and old files on them. Where I would design something, clients change directions but I would keep the old design just in case, then it always happens where they say... Hey remember that designed we tried and I KEEP EVERYTHING. This way i can pull it back up, but I was surprised that stuff was missing. It's on my hard drive now, but I my hearth would feel better is all those files were safe on a 2nd locations too

 

[IMYB]

Ok, maybe I don't understand time machine properly.... It seems like if I go back to DEC of 2021 I can see all my files in my folder, then there is a hole until about FEB 2022 where some files show up. It seems like they show up as I make changes to them.

Now, lets say I start a time machine backup on:

JAN 2021
If I were today to go into a folder and look back on the folder only, would I see ALL MY FILES in that folder or just the changed ones? Meaning, if I had a file in JAN 2021 but I never changed it since then and to day I delete the files by accident.... Do I go to YESTERDAY and get the file back or do i have to go ALL THE WAY to JAN 2021 to get it?

The yellow on the attachment was just to hide some clients name.

 

[Phil77354]

Ok, maybe I don't understand time machine properly.... It seems like if I go back to DEC of 2021 I can see all my files in my folder, then there is a hole until about FEB 2022 where some files show up. It seems like they show up as I make changes to them.

Now, lets say I start a time machine backup on:

JAN 2021
If I were today to go into a folder and look back on the folder only, would I see ALL MY FILES in that folder or just the changed ones? Meaning, if I had a file in JAN 2021 but I never changed it since then and to day I delete the files by accident.... Do I go to YESTERDAY and get the file back or do i have to go ALL THE WAY to JAN 2021 to get it?

The yellow on the attachment was just to hide some clients name.

My understanding of Time Machine is that you should be able to select any of the previous points in time, and it will provide you with the ability to recover anything that existed in your computer at that point in time. For example, if you didn't change anything, then all of your incremental backups should appear to be identical when you view them in Time Machine.

This has to be done within Time Machine, not by attempting to search through the files that Time Machine creates in the backup disc.

The operation of Time Machine is to incrementally add to the backup so that it doesn't need to recopy everything each time it does an update, but that doesn't mean that if you look at each of those incremental backups then you will see only what changed. You should be able to see everything as it was at that point in time.

If this is not what you are seeing when you 'Enter Time Machine', then my opinion is that it is not working properly.

 

[IMYB]

My understanding of Time Machine is that you should be able to select any of the previous points in time, and it will provide you with the ability to recover anything that existed in your computer at that point in time. For example, if you didn't change anything, then all of your incremental backups should appear to be identical when you view them in Time Machine.

Ok, so I am not crazy because that what I was expecting. I though it would show me what was in that certain folder on that date.

So, it seems like something happened around DEC 27ht of 2021 and things went weird. I just checked multiple folder that I knew existed and on DEC 27 and prior all the files are on there. Then after that date the same folder only shows the CHANGED FILES. This seems to be happening on all my folders where DEC 27th 2021 has a full backup and everything after that is only copying files that were changed. Now that means that if I didn't change a file I can go get it back but this doesn't look like it should be working.

No idea how this could have happened.

I am not the kind to "mess around" in my computer. I turn it on, do graphic word, send emails... that is pretty much it. i don't change settings since I like things the way I have them.... weird

I would hate to start a new backup because I would have to make darn sure I am not missing an old file that I deleted and don't know it yet...

This has to be done within Time Machine, not by attempting to search through the files that Time Machine creates in the backup disc.

The operation of Time Machine is to incrementally add to the backup so that it doesn't need to recopy everything each time it does an update, but that doesn't mean that if you look at each of those incremental backups then you will see only what changed. You should be able to see everything as it was at that point in time.

If this is not what you are seeing when you 'Enter Time Machine', then my opinion is that it is not working properly.

 

[BigBlur]

Yeah, something seems to be broken. When you view a folder back in time, it should show as how it appeared on that day. There shouldn't any gaps or missing files.

Also, the fact that your Mac has about 540GB of data, and your Time Machine backup is only about 600GB seems odd to me. Just for reference, my Mac has about 200GB of data, and my 1.5 year-old backup is about 800GB in size. (This is with Big Sur and Monterey, in case things have changed since Mavericks.)

If I were you, I would stop using that backup to avoid more potential data loss, and start a new one on a new drive. You can still keep the old one around and use Time Machine to retrieve files from it later if needed. It may also be good to look into other alternative secondary backup methods in addition to your Time Machine backup, depending on how important your files are.

 

[spinalnormy]

I'm going to ping this old thread to ask if you ever got things working properly? I have been having the same symptoms and am getting tired of deleting my sparsebundle and starting over. I keep searching for recent discussions about Time Machine problems but am not having much luck. My backups to a big almost empty Synology NAS never seem to have more than a few days of backups, and most of my important files only seem to be in the ones from today and yesterday. I'm seeing log messages about incomplete backups so I'm fearing that something is breaking, but the diagnostic tools are pretty sparse. Thanks if you have any words of wisdom.

 

[richmlow]

I am running 10.9.5 on this iMac 27" so that I can keep running my old Photoshop and Illustrator fully paid version and not pay Adobe every month for the rest of my life. I had piece of mind that all my files were getting backed up on the time machine. But today, for the first time I made changes to the wrong file I said... I'll just get it back from the time machine since this file was not changed for years...

Opened time machine and the file is NOT THERE. I then started to look around and most files are missing. Some are there in multiple versions but big chunks are missing. Doesn't seem to be a reason as to why some files are backed up and some others are not.

I need to solve this issue and make sure I get a full backup of my computer.

What should I do??? I have lots of design files for clients and can't risk losing them.

Thanks!

I don't consider Time Machine a reliable backup solution. On various occasions, I needed an older backup and it was not there! Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not work.

I rely on backups with Carbon Copy Cloner 2 and Backblaze.


richmlow

 

[spinalnormy]

I don't consider Time Machine a reliable backup solution. On various occasions, I needed an older backup and it was not there! Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not work.

I rely on backups with Carbon Copy Cloner 2 and Backblaze.


richmlow

Thanks for the input. This is pretty much what I've concluded. It's frustrating. One of the reasons I decided to pony up for a couple of beefy M1 MBPs and a Synology NAS, along with other infrastructure, was the enthusiastic praise by friends and colleagues of how great Time Machine was. I pictured it simplifying things, especially for one long-time Windows user who had suffered from backup woes. But I now realize that these TM boosters were talking about the original better-integrated configuration using locally-attached storage. I don't mind using other backup strategies but the TM approach seemed good, like journaling file systems from more sophisticated engineering environments. I was expecting it to "just work" like the ads say. Oh well.

 

[Tuur]

Just for the record, I've noticed the same thing on Ventura. Somehow random files are missing.

E.g. I can have a folder with a bunch of different files and on my Mac there are two different screenshots in there where Time Machine only shows one. The files haven't been touched in years.

This is a new backup drive so Time Machine started fresh a couple of months ago. Still stuff is missing from almost every folder I checked.