Repair Time Machine Backup (Solved): Time Machine Backup Failed, Corrupted, Missing - Qiling  

Repair Time Machine Backup (Solved): Time Machine Backup Failed, Corrupted, Missing


Time Machine Backup/Restore Failed

Mac users, who're currently running macOS Catalina or Mojave, report that they got an issue with Time Machine. Mainly, it's about Time Machine backup failed to back up the scheduled files to the configured backup disks, let it be the Time Capsule drive or third-party drive. Hence, how to repair Time Machine backup becomes the topic we're going to discuss here.

You can read on or jump to the issue & solution you're most concerned about.

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Issue 1. Can't Backup or Restore Check Time Machine system requirements > check your Mac...Full steps
Issue 2. Backup Corrupted Create a new backup > restart Time Machine > repair with terminal command...Full steps
Issue 3. Backup Missing Download software to recover missing backups > repair unrecognized...Full steps

Issue 1. Can't Backup or Restore Your Mac Using Time Machine

One phenomenon to get Time Machine backup failed is that you can't back up or access an existing Time Machine backup, or restore from an earlier backup won't work. According to Apple's official instructions (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204157), when you have a problem with Time Machine, check these things if you see an alert that Time Machine is unable to back up your data, or if you can't select your backup disk in Time Machine preferences.

Fix 1. Check Time Machine System Requirements

Fix 2. Check Your Mac

Fix 3. Check your AirPort Base Station

Fix 4. Check Your Network Connection

If you back up to a server, AirPort Time Capsule, or drive connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that your Mac is connected to the same network as your backup drive. You can select your wireless network from the Wi-Fi status menu. 

Fix 5. Check Your Backup

If you back up to a server, AirPort Time Capsule, or drive connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that your current Time Machine backup doesn't have any issues that could prevent further backups:

Fix 6. Check Your Drives

If your drive is already formatted correctly, turn off Time Machine, then check it for problems:

Issue 2. Time Machine Backup Is Corrupted

What's a corrupted Time Machine backup? Below are some backup corruption symptoms.

Time Machine corrupted.

How to repair a corrupted Time Machine backup? According to some experienced users and professional geeks, when Time Machine corrupted, it can be fixed by the following four troubleshooting methods.

Fix 1. Create New Backup

If Time Machine keeps asking you to create new backups, click Create new backup to start the new backup then. So that it can work smoothly later.

Fix 2. Restart Time Machine

Restart Time Machine several times may also help. You may need to switch Time Machine to On-Off-On and then reboot the Time Machine again.

Fix 3. Swap out The Hard Drive

Another solution to repair Time Machine is to set up a new external hard drive with Time Machine as a backup drive.

Fix 4. Repair Corrupted Time Machine with Terminal command

If Time Machine stops responding or even not working on Mac, to repair the corrupted Time Machine becomes tough yet still resolvable with Terminal command. 

Notice:
Before starting the process, You should stop Time Machine: Time Machine Preferences > Toggle Time Machine 'OFF'. 

Issue 3. Time Machine Backups Missing

When you cannot access to Time Machine or Time Machine corrupted, you are highly recommended to get backup data back first. How?

Fix 1. Recover Missing Backup Image with Software

If the Time Machine backup disk can be opened but nothing appears, the best way is to scan and restore all lost Time Machines' Backups.backupdb files. Here we'd like to recommend you try Deep Data Recovery for Mac which supports users to restore all lost data from different situations within only 3 steps. Download Deep Data Recovery for Mac and restore Time Machine backups now:

Step 1. Launch Deep Data Recovery on your computer. Select file types and click "Next" to start.

Select file types that you want to recover

Step 2. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the "Scan" button.

select a location and click scan

Step 3. Deep Data Recovery for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.

click recover now button to recover lost data

Step 4. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the "Recover" button to have them back.

What's more, if you lost files on Mac or external storage devices, you can also apply Qiling Mac data recovery software to easily recover files on Mac without Time Machine backup

Fix 2. Repair Unrecognized Time Machine Drive

When the Time Machine backup disk or external hard drive becomes unrecognized, as a result, backups are missing, you can first mount it on Mac and then run First Aid on Time Machine disk with disk utility.

Step 1: Connect the Time Machine backup external hard drive to Mac. Launch Disk Utility, check external hard drive at the left panel.

You'll see that the external hard drive is greyed out, marked as untitled. (Untitled means unmounted on Mac computer.)

Unmount external hard drive.

Step 2: Select the untitled external hard drive and click the "Mount" button from the Disk Utility bar.

Unmount external hard drive and make it recognizable.

Step 3: Select Time Machine drive at drive level on the left panel of Disk Utility and run First Aid.

Repair corrupted time machine.

Step 4: Select Time Machine drive at volume level and run First Aid.

Fix Time Machine corruption.

Wait for the process completes, check if Mac computer can recognize your backup disk and open it in Time Machine again.

Conclusion

Regarding the topic "Time Machine backup failed" and "how to repair Time Machine backup", we gathered all feasible solutions to help you resolve the various issues with Time Machine on your Mac. If you have further Time Machine problems, click for more Time Machine guidelines from the following collection.

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