Time Machine won't go back in time!

Time Machine is one of the most advertised features of Leopard, I really like it, but honestly, I didn't use at all last month, but I'm not complaining about that. I'm sure that there are some people out there that are really taking advantage of it.

(This segment is not that much related to the actual problem)
Here's the thing: I was watching a podcast the other day about Time Machine, and the guy suggested excluding the virtual machine folder if you have one, and I happen to have one, so I went to the Time Machine preferences and did that.

I started thinking that really should take advantage of Time Machine, so I decided to try it out. I went to the downloads folder, and clicked The TM button. It did the whole transition thing (I mean going from desktop to TM mode). Then I tried clicking the arrows... nothing was happening, I tried going back in time by clicking the date manually... nothing. It was acting like there wasn't any backup folders or something, even though I have at least three weeks worth of backups on my External HD.

I tried different folders, restarting, ejecting and mounting the HD, permissions... Nothing. Here's how the TM mode looks like when I try to restore (notice the timeline):


And this one to show you past backups on the HD:


P.S. I have a LaCie 500GB USB HD.

Looks very strange.

When I look at the second screenshot, i see the backup at 9.55 is still in progress but i dont see a revolving sync icon near the ext HD icon in the left pane. Was this backup interrupted?? May be try your luck removing/ completing that in-progress file/folder and then check the TM history.

Looks like I'm going to delete the current backups, and start all over again.

hmm... Anybody have any idea on how to delete a Time Machine backup. I'm guessing by deleting the backup file in the External HD.

But I'm still open for any other ideas????

I just wanted to ask the same question again. Anybody know how to reset Time Machine. I mean if I want to start all over again how would I approach this. Should I just delete the Backups.backupdb file and thats it?

Thanks in advance.

I reckon a full erase of the external hard drive and re do the first full backup of your internal hard drive tot he external one. That should fix things.

The problem is I really can't fully erase the HD. It has over 240GB of data (unrelated to Time Machine)that I don't have somewhere else to move to.

Thanks anyway...

I guess deleting the Backups.db folder should do the trick?

I have the same problem,.....

I think we (you) must either delete the entire contents of the drive or partition the drive and use an empty partition.

I tried starting a new Time Machine backup. That created another Backups.db folder.... just adding to my confusion.

I reckon delete all backups.db folders (fingers crossed) and open Time Machine and do a BACKUP NOW.

This will of course lose all the old backups you have so be CAREFUL ! It will simply make a current backup and hopefully solve the problem of incremental backups....

I am sorely disappointed that Apple have not sorted this essential issue...

reminds of (OH NO !) my old Windows PC!

Well... I deleted the Backups.backupdb file it took a couple of hours and I had to press the option key while clicking empty trash, because there was some kind of locked files in there. So, I did that.

Now, 2 days later, I have two days worth of backups, still the same problem I CAN'T GO BACK IN TIME. I really don't want to format the HD or even partition it. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

boy...I sure could use help with my lacie mini on my MBP. As a neophyte, I am clueless. Plug and Play? I wish. After connecting...and asking Time Machine if it wants the lacie to be the backup...it says that it will begin backup in around an hour. An hour later? Nothing. I click the icon and the different screen opens with the cascading folders. Blank...no arrow forward or back. Is this just a Lacie issue?
j

I have not done any deep testing, but I had the same issue today.

I went into TM and could not move back or forward, the arrows did not do anything.
While trying things, searching on the internet quickly I found nothing.

Than by accident, it seems, I was trying in a folder that is being backuped and it did work. So checking again my try of earlier I noticed, I was in the "desktop"folder, which I have excluded from backing up.
So I think that might be it. (there is no warning, and its hardly visible , but if you start in a folder that is backuped, I noticed the folders that are excluded are grey out)

So my conclusion, when you are in a folder in TM that is excluded, the arrow is not selectable (notice a very light difference in light/color). It seems its also not possible to

mo010, Is that the same issue as you had?



PS Interesting enough, as the arrows where a little grey out, I thought I put the brightness higher to see it better.... its not possible to change brightness while in TM?! Thats odd!

mo010, Is that the same issue as you had?

Click to expand...

Take note that you replied to a post dated from December 2007, almost 4 years ago. If you're having difficulties with Time Machine it's best to start a new thread. And unless you're running out of space on your external hard drive, it's probably best to back everything up. If you ever need to restore in the event of a hard drive crash, a complete backup will work best.