- Joined
- Jan 1, 2009
- Messages
- 15,512
- Reaction score
- 3,876
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Winchester, VA
- Your Mac's Specs
- MBP 16" 2023 (M3 Pro), iPhone 15 Pro, plus ATVs, AWatch, MacMinis (multiple)
Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying don't use TM or that it is hard to use. It really is dead simple to recover a lost file, or entire drive, for that matter. Just open TM to the Finder-like interface, scroll back in time to the backup that has the file/version you want, select it and click "Restore." Done. What needs to be cautioned is not to go to the backup drive directly in Finder, without opening TM first. That is where the risk comes in. It is slight risk, but it is there.I never knew that restoring from Time Machine would be that complicated for a rookie. Apple makes it sound so easy. I guess I will just keep backing up with TM and hope that I never have to restore anything. BTW, I did read all your references except for the Light Company. In fact, I had already seen and printed the website for Restoring a Library from TM in Photos on Mac, and I planned on trying those instructions. I assume that is something you recommend I try since you included it as a reference. If I am careful, do you think it will work in my case?
I am a firm believer in backups. On my two Windows 10 computers, I do weekly backups to several different external hard drives using three different programs (Acronis, Macrium, and the standard Window backup). All my backups are automated. The few times I have had to restore, I never had a problem. And now Windows has a program called File History that is somewhat similar to TM. File History regularly backs up versions of all my data files, so I can easily do a restore of any file or folder.
And then there is Time Machine on my iMac, where everyone cautions me, as a rookie, to stay away from when it is time to restore, lol. Thanks again for educating me.
There is also a Version system on the Mac. I am not familiar with Windows File History, but Version keeps literally that, versions, of files in the storage. You can read about that here: View and restore past versions of documents on Mac
Unfortunately, the versions system doesn't support deleted files as the versions are also deleted with the file itself. But if you just want to go back to a previous version of a file, it's worth a try. Note that the versions in this system are totally separate from Time Machine and that not all documents/files are versioned.