Time Machine not working to see back in time

[joshallegro]

When I enter Time Machine, I can't scroll back in time. The "back" button and the date scroller on the right side don't seem to work.
I have 30 backup dates in my TimeMachine and viewing my Downloads folder which has has plenty of changes over time. Can anyone help?

My TM drive is for formatted APFS (Case Sensitive).

Steps I've tried;

• Restart Mac
• Tried deleting the .inProgress file in Backups.backupdb folder but searched and couldn't find this file anvwhere on the TM

Someone also recommended using "Shift+cmd+C" which works and allows me to rudimentary ways of viewing folders. However that approach makes it difficult to simply view a folder changing over time by scrolling back and forth.
Why isn't my TM just working as normal? Why do I have to use that command to see back in time?

 

[gilby101]

Glad your second step didn't work . There is no Backups.backupdb folder on APFS formatted TM. Please don't try deleting stuff.

Is your problem with the backups or with the TM interface? Lets start with:
Confirm that you do have 30 backups: Can you see all the backups in Finder? Go to the TM disk/volume and does it show lots of dated TM icons. Can you see your files inside a backup?

 

[vanc]

After I saw this post, I thought, no way, should be good for me. However, I got exactly the same issue as OP.

I have been making backup regularly for my MBP 16" with M1 Pro for over a year with the same 2TB SSD from LaCie. I'm now running on the latest Ventura 13.5.1. After launching the Time Machine app, the "Restore" button is always grayed out. I also couldn't go back to previous backups, just like the OP.

Perhaps we missed something. I never actually used TM backup to restore. None of my Macs (quite a few since 2007) failed and requring restore from backups. Perhaps I was just lucky.

 

[pastoralbasement]

I have the same issue as OP on several computers running macOS 13.x. I may have also seen this issue on one computer running macOS 12.x (which has since been upgraded to macOS 13.x). The impacted computers typically cannot browse Time Machine's interface to backups older than 24-48 hours. The screenshot demonstrates the issue.

Meanwhile, if via the Finder I browse to the Time Machine volume, I can see backup data going all the way back to this computer's very first backup in May 2023.

This is where I found a workaround. While this volume window is in the foreground, I can use the Time Machine menu to successfully "Browse Time Machine Backups" or click the "Enter Time Machine" button. Suddenly, Time Machine's interface seems fully functional. From this point, I can browse to whatever files/folders I desire to recover.

 

[vanc]

This is where I found a workaround. While this volume window is in the foreground, I can use the Time Machine menu to successfully "Browse Time Machine Backups" or click the "Enter Time Machine" button. Suddenly, Time Machine's interface seems fully functional. From this point, I can browse to whatever files/folders I desire to recover.

I can confirm the workaround works for me. Thanks!

 

[Nermal]

Interesting. I had the same issue the other day and just put it down to a temporary glitch, but now I'm wondering whether a recent software update may have broken things. I'm running 12.6.8 here.

 

[bobcomer]

I happens to me too. Definitely a bug!

 

[Nermal]

I've just found that my Time Machine hasn't actually done a backup for three weeks. I remember in the past it would warn you if it had failed for seven(?) days, but I haven't had any warnings whatsoever this time!

Edit: Turned everything off and on, and now it's backing up again. I hate doing that, because you never know what the actual problem is, but when backups are involved it's important to get it all working again quickly.

Edit 2: "Enter Time Machine" is now working again too. It seems there was something broken with the "link" to Time Machine, and rebooting fixed it, but I wonder what caused it and why I didn't get a warning.