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Makisupa Policeman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 28, 2021
522
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It looks like in Ventura there’s been a change (or bug) in Time Machine restore functionality. When restoring a file or folder through TM you can simply scroll back to where it was in the backup history, restore a file, and it will put the file back in its original location.

However, if you control-click (or right click) on the file or folder it would bring up the option to “restore to…” open a save as dialogue, and you could choose where you want to put it, like explained here.

This option technically still exists in Ventura, however if you attempt “restore to…,” it will simply save the file in the original location, and if a file or folder with the same name exists there, it will ask if you want to keep or replace the one that’s already there.

If intentional, this is an infuriating change, because sometimes you might want an old version of a file back, but not necessarily delete the current one. Or, even more troubling is the fact that if I want an old photo or music library back, to merge with a current one, the current one will simply be replaced by the old one (thus almost completely defeating the purpose of backing up libraries in TM!)

Does anyone know a way around this, other than maybe dragging and dropping the file from the finder within the Time Machine “backup.backups” folders themselves? I find the idea of even opening and messing around in TM within the finder distressing because it could damage the backups, but would this even necessarily give you back an old version of the file, since the folders within TM in the finder are just hard links?
 
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Selecting Keep should place the restored version alongside it, no? Otherwise, rename the existing file and then restore.
I think you’re right, and this is a bit simpler workaround. But I don’t see why the “restore to” won’t just let me save old files where I want. It seems like a downgrade in functionality to me. I have to:
  1. rename current file
  2. restore the old file
  3. move old or new file to a new folder (if I want them to have the same name)
  4. then change the name back?
Extremely clunky!
 
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