Long time reader of this forum which has helped me on many occasions, but first ever post. I have a question about recovering a file from another Time Machine Backup. Sorry for the lengthy story but wanted to give you as much detail as possible about the situation. My wife & I each have an 11 MacBook air which were both running the latest version of Mountain Lion. Each computer is backed-up using Time Machine to a WD Live Duo NAS drive through the Wi-Fi which is setup as Raid 1.
As a secondary precaution, I also backed up all my documents, iTunes library, iPhoto library, Movies, Mail to an external HD just in case I could not get to the Time Machine Back-up after a clean install of mavericks. For the Mail, I copied the entire mail folder from ~/Library/Mail/V2 location, along with exporting all my mail as well. Yes it was redundant, but just wanted to be prepared. I did the same for all the files on my wifes computer.
Over the weekend, I decided to perform a clean install of Mavericks 10.9.2 on both machines. I did mine first, so I backed up to Time Machine one last time, copied all files to external HD, than booted from a USB installer erasing the HD and installing Mavericks from the USB installer. In the setup, I used same name for the HD, login, & computer name. Everything installed great, all apps installed and everything works. I can even use Time Machine to go back in time to look at files prior to Mavericks installation. This is what I was hoping for.
Next, I did my wifes MacBook Air, backed up to Time Machine, copied all files to external HD, booted from the same USB installer, erased HD, and installed Mavericks. During the setup, my wife wanted to use a different login name, and changed the name of the computer. Again, all went well, all Apps were installed with no issues.
So now the dilemma I am in, there is one particular program that I am having an issue with and its data. The Program is Garmin Training Center that we both have on our computers. Before starting this whole process, I opened Garmin Training Center and exported all the activities. I imported my data on my computer and all was good. I imported my wifes and some data was missing. I said no problem; I will just use Time Machine to go get the file. The file is located ~user/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Training Center and under that folder is a file with a .gtc extension.
I went on my computer and entered Time Machine to verify that I could see my .gtc under the ~user/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Training Center and it was there, I thought great, no problem, I can get the file when I get done with everything else on my wifes computer. So I get done with her computer, go into Time Machine, and I cannot see anything past the day I installed Mavericks. On the right side of the screen, I can see the previous days/weeks of back-ups, but cannot view them.
I said, ok, I will just mount the disk from finder, and browse her back-ups in that way, which I could do, but in every one of her backups, I can see the Garmin folder is listed in the ~/Library/, but no Training Center folder and no .gtc files. Strange??
So I got on my computer, mounted the backup drive and browsed my backups. Well, to my surprise, I can see the Garmin folder, but it is empty. I checked every backup of mine, even the full back that was in the very beginning. So I went back into Time Machine and went through every one of my backups under the ~user/Library/Application Support/ and the Garmin folder was there along with the /gtc file, in every backup?
Any ideas why I can view files in Time Machine but not when the disk is mounted, on either machine? Also, is there a way to view my wifes backups prior to the Mavericks installation? We tried to create a second account on her computer using the original user ID, so now we can view the top level folders now but cannot browse the sub folder because an error pops up say we do not have permission. How do you change permissions while inside Time Machine?
Sorry again for the lengthy read
As a secondary precaution, I also backed up all my documents, iTunes library, iPhoto library, Movies, Mail to an external HD just in case I could not get to the Time Machine Back-up after a clean install of mavericks. For the Mail, I copied the entire mail folder from ~/Library/Mail/V2 location, along with exporting all my mail as well. Yes it was redundant, but just wanted to be prepared. I did the same for all the files on my wifes computer.
Over the weekend, I decided to perform a clean install of Mavericks 10.9.2 on both machines. I did mine first, so I backed up to Time Machine one last time, copied all files to external HD, than booted from a USB installer erasing the HD and installing Mavericks from the USB installer. In the setup, I used same name for the HD, login, & computer name. Everything installed great, all apps installed and everything works. I can even use Time Machine to go back in time to look at files prior to Mavericks installation. This is what I was hoping for.
Next, I did my wifes MacBook Air, backed up to Time Machine, copied all files to external HD, booted from the same USB installer, erased HD, and installed Mavericks. During the setup, my wife wanted to use a different login name, and changed the name of the computer. Again, all went well, all Apps were installed with no issues.
So now the dilemma I am in, there is one particular program that I am having an issue with and its data. The Program is Garmin Training Center that we both have on our computers. Before starting this whole process, I opened Garmin Training Center and exported all the activities. I imported my data on my computer and all was good. I imported my wifes and some data was missing. I said no problem; I will just use Time Machine to go get the file. The file is located ~user/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Training Center and under that folder is a file with a .gtc extension.
I went on my computer and entered Time Machine to verify that I could see my .gtc under the ~user/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Training Center and it was there, I thought great, no problem, I can get the file when I get done with everything else on my wifes computer. So I get done with her computer, go into Time Machine, and I cannot see anything past the day I installed Mavericks. On the right side of the screen, I can see the previous days/weeks of back-ups, but cannot view them.
I said, ok, I will just mount the disk from finder, and browse her back-ups in that way, which I could do, but in every one of her backups, I can see the Garmin folder is listed in the ~/Library/, but no Training Center folder and no .gtc files. Strange??
So I got on my computer, mounted the backup drive and browsed my backups. Well, to my surprise, I can see the Garmin folder, but it is empty. I checked every backup of mine, even the full back that was in the very beginning. So I went back into Time Machine and went through every one of my backups under the ~user/Library/Application Support/ and the Garmin folder was there along with the /gtc file, in every backup?
Any ideas why I can view files in Time Machine but not when the disk is mounted, on either machine? Also, is there a way to view my wifes backups prior to the Mavericks installation? We tried to create a second account on her computer using the original user ID, so now we can view the top level folders now but cannot browse the sub folder because an error pops up say we do not have permission. How do you change permissions while inside Time Machine?
Sorry again for the lengthy read