Time Machine Not Working

[billinden]

I have Time Machine and a Seagate Portable Drive. All this is hooked up to a very old, but reliable iMac. Once in a while, my Seagate drive stops working and I have to unplug it and restart my iMac. Today, my Time Machine stopped working altogether. It won't restore anything on any date.
I'm getting ready to purchase a new iMac, but want to restore my current computer before I do. Any suggestions for fixing my Time Machine would be appreciated.

 

[Rod]

Today, my Time Machine stopped working altogether. It won't restore anything on any date.

If TM has stopped working how are you seeing the backups that won't restore.

 

[MacInWin]

And why do you think the iMac needs to be restored? Has it failed?

 

[Rod]

Yes, I wondered that as well.
Regardless, other than running First Aid on the External Hard Drive (EHD) in question from Disk Utility, normally I would just erase the EHD from Disk Utility and create a new Time Machine backup. Of course if there is unique data on it you may not want to do that.
It's possible your Seagate Portable Drive has died or become damaged, erasing and reformatting may fix it but I wouldn't trust it as my only backup after that.
Try First Aid and see what happens.

 

[billinden]

If TM has stopped working how are you seeing the backups that won't restore.

I got a message that it wasn’t working. Plus, when I go into Time Machine, all the backups are listed, but when I click on the available dates, the ”restore” option isn‘t available.

 

[billinden]

And why do you think the iMac needs to be restored? Has it failed?

I didn’t need to restore anything. I got a message that it wasn’t working, so I was just checking to see if I could restore anything and I couldn’t.

 

[Rod]

In any available date you choose you will see a Finder window. You need to go to a folder and or a file on that window and select (highlight) it before the restore button appears.
Exactly what did the message you received say?

 

[billinden]

I tried clicking on several files and folders, but the restore button never became available. I’m sorry, but I don’t recall what the message said. Just that it wasn’t working. I’ll try again tomorrow. If I get the message again, I’ll come back here and let you know.

Also, when I mouse over the dates on the right hand side of the finder window, they all turn red.

 

[Rod]

I can't exactly picture what you describe, I've never seen the dates on the time line turn red. It sure sounds like something has gone wrong.
If as you say, you don't need to restore anything then why not just overwrite it by erasing the external drive and creating a new Time Machine backup.
( I usually do this every year a little while after the next new macOS upgrade. Once I'm sure all is well.)
If the drive is faulty you will probably find out during that process.

PS. If you eject that drive, shut down your computer and plug it back in after you have started up you may get to see "that message" again.

 

[Jimmysb]

Never having looked at my TM backups properly, I found that "Browse Time Machine Backups" brings up a window, but I need to look to the windows behind the front one for the "Restore" to change, I assume that is because the front window is today's backup.

 

[billinden]

Thanks everyone for your help. I’ll do as suggested and mess around with it again today. I may even make some screen prints to illustrate what I’m seeing. In the meantime, does anyone have a recommendation for a new external drive. My Seagate has never been the best and the customer service is non-existant.

 

[Rod]

Yes Jimmysb, that's correct.

 

[Rod]

You do need to "Enter" Time Machine Backups from the User Interface (UI) usually from the menu bar icon or from System Settings > Time Machine. I hope that is what billinden is doing too.

 

[billinden]

You do need to "Enter" Time Machine Backups from the User Interface (UI) usually from the menu bar icon or from System Settings > Time Machine. I hope that is what billinden is doing too.

I open Time Machine by clicking its icon on the menu bar at the bottom of my desktop. I’ve always done it this way and never had a problem.

 

[billinden]

I can't exactly picture what you describe, I've never seen the dates on the time line turn red. It sure sounds like something has gone wrong.
If as you say, you don't need to restore anything then why not just overwrite it by erasing the external drive and creating a new Time Machine backup.
( I usually do this every year a little while after the next new macOS upgrade. Once I'm sure all is well.)
If the drive is faulty you will probably find out during that process.

PS. If you eject that drive, shut down your computer and plug it back in after you have started up you may get to see "that message" again.

Attached is a screen print of the dates being highlighted in red that I mentioned. Every date appears this way when I click on it.

Meanwhile, my Time Machine appears to be working now. So is my external drive. I suspect it's my external drive that's causing the problem, but I'm hesitant to do anything to it that might cause me to lose important stuff. About every month or so, it stops working and I have to shut my iMac down, unplug the hard drive, then start everything back up.

 

[Whoopie]

I have Time Machine and a Seagate Portable Drive. All this is hooked up to a very old, but reliable iMac. Once in a while, my Seagate drive stops working and I have to unplug it and restart my iMac. Today, my Time Machine stopped working altogether. It won't restore anything on any date.
I'm getting ready to purchase a new iMac, but want to restore my current computer before I do. Any suggestions for fixing my Time Machine would be appreciated.

We had two-time machine drives fail, while the Macs still worked. We gave upon Time Machine.

 

[IWT]

We had two-time machine drives fail, while the Macs still worked. We gave upon Time Machine.

I don't think that you can blame Apple or the Time Machine app if the External Hard Drives fail.

External Hard Drives fail like any other Drive. It's either really bad luck or the External Hard Drives (EHD) which you used were either past their best or cheap versions; because, like any purchase, there are top quality and poor quality products.

Nevertheless, I'm sorry to hear that these Drives failed; but that is independent of Time Machine.

Ian