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Strange Time Machine Behavior

I've been using TM for years and have never had any issues until now. Normally to recover a file I would open or click on the folder the file was is, then "Enter Time Machine" I would get the TM screen and it would go the the folder I needed to pull the file from. Every since I updated to 10.9.3 whenever I enter time machine it opens in "Admin". It what open any another folder, and I have many. I believe its a system issue because I have (3) 2TB time machine drives attached to my iMac. Each one does the same thing. Any ideas? As an example I've attached two screen shots. My "Current Jobs" folder and where TM is actually going toUser uploaded fileUser uploaded file


Thanks

Posted on Jun 13, 2014 4:01 AM

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9 replies

Jun 24, 2014 7:48 AM in response to Feejer

I don't have a quick answer for you, but it may help if you were to first show some path information in the Finder window.


To do that click the Finder's View menu, and select Show Sidebar, Show Path Bar, and Show Status Bar - all three.


Then, "Enter Time Machine" and determine if it's easier to navigate.


... whenever I enter time machine it opens in "Admin".


I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. Does that mean TM appears to be opening under another user, named "Admin"?

Jun 24, 2014 9:15 AM in response to John Galt

What I mean is this. Before all of this started if I was looking for a file I had in my past "Job"s folder I would highlight that fold (on my internal HD on the iMac) Enter Time Machine and TM would go to that Jobs folder. Now what happens is when I enter time machine it goes to the ADMIN folder only. Its doesn't matter what it highlighted or what I'm clicked on

Jun 24, 2014 9:20 AM in response to Feejer

In that case turn off Time Machine using Time Machine's Preferences. Unmount the backup volume.


Navigate to the following folder by selecting the entire line (triple-click to select it), then control-click, and from the contextual menu that appears, select Services > Reveal in Finder:


/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist


Drag the entire folder to the Trash, reconnect your backup device, wait for it to mount, and turn Time Machine on again. This will not create a new backup nor will it erase your existing ones, but the values shown in the "backing up xxx of yyy" message will be inaccurate until TM finishes the subsequent backup.


Determine if that fixes the problem.

Jun 24, 2014 10:05 AM in response to John Galt

Sorry to say that did not work. Whatever folder I highlight or click TM goes to the same "Admin" folder. It must have something to do my 10.9.3 One of my coworkers updated their OS yesterday and now their TM is doing the same thing. Its not letting me go to the root of my drive which has 3-4 folders, (Jobs, Photo's etc.... in other foldersUser uploaded fileUser uploaded file

Jun 24, 2014 11:47 AM in response to Feejer

I have to step away for a little while, but this is where my questions are leading:


Time Machine is working normally. The problem you're experiencing is due to the fact that you are attempting to access items at the root level of your hard disk. Updating OS X to version 10.9.3 probably corrected file permissions settings that had been incorrectly set in the past, for reasons unknown and probably impossible to determine now.


Normally, all the files you create should be at a hierarchy two levels beneath that - it your own Home directory. That's the one labeled "Admin".


To recover from this situation and use Time Machine in the way it's designed to be used should be a simple matter of dragging the folders from the top level of your hard disk to your Home directory.


For example: open two Finder windows. Drag CURRENT JOBS from its present location to your Home directory (house icon); preferably to the Documents folder within it. Repeat for every other folder at the root level of your hard disk, which includes everything except Applications, Developer, Library, System, and Users.


Confirm that everything has been relocated to within your Home directory and that you can read, write, create, and delete files in their new locations within your Home directory. If you can, you can delete the original copies at the root level of your hard disk, if any remain (they should not).


Allow Time Machine to continue its backups. If you are in dire need of a backup that already exists and that you are unable to access in its present state, write back for recommendations.



Jun 24, 2014 12:41 PM in response to John Galt

Thanks for taking the time to solve this issue. I can find everything I'm looking for by going thru the external drive TM is writing to. I have 3 of them, two are offline with older jobs from 2010-13. Yes I guess I'll have to go back and move the files around. But what I don't understand is this. We / I never had an issue with TM going back in time using the correct folder to look for a job. Sorry more screen shots...... In the first shot you can see my HD is open to the right of that is my current jobs with "Art Guild" highlighted. I could normally enter time machine and it will go to the "Art Guild" folder but it goes to Admin. Now the strange part. Shot two is trying to enter TM as you can see it says Admin......if I cancel TM (get out of the TM screen) my opened Current Jobs folder is gone / renamed to Admin. If I close it and open it back up everything is back to normal. Just trying to figure out what happened to my computer and my co workers so it won't happen again



Thanks!User uploaded fileUser uploaded fileUser uploaded file

Jun 25, 2014 8:55 AM in response to Feejer

It's not normal behavior. Since you apparently don't want to post a screenshot showing the Sidebar, Path Bar, and Status Bar information and I'm tired of asking questions about it, I suggest starting a new Time Machine backup. Put the existing backup device aside. Determine if the new backups perform as you expect they should. Maintaining two or more backups "in rotation" is advantageous anyway, since one of them could fail at any time, without warning.


The files and folders shown in your Macintosh HD window - such as Applications (Mac OS 9) indicate the information on that Mac was upgraded from much older ones, probably incrementally, over a period of at least ten years. There have been several iterations of Time Machine starting with OS X "Leopard" and each one incorporated minor changes.


Before starting a new Time Machine backup, I suggest you move the folders that ought not to belong at the root level (everything except Applications, Developer, Library, System, and Users) to your Home directory. OS X doesn't rigidly force the user to put specific items at specific locations - for example there is no reason you can't put documents in your Movies folder, or your iTunes Music library in Applications, but to do that would be unconventional. It's also unconventional to put files or folders that ought to be in one's Home folder at the top level of your hard disk hierarchy, so Time Machine may behave unexpectedly.

my opened Current Jobs folder is gone / renamed to Admin.

I don't think that's exactly what is happening. From what I can tell, you are "entering Time Machine" with the CURRENT JOBS folder selected, and it's opening in your Home directory, named "Admin". Nothing is being renamed, but unless you change the Finder's View menu to Show Sidebar, Show Path Bar, and Show Status Bar, you won't be able to navigate to it. That's the reason for relocating it and the other folders as I described.

Strange Time Machine Behavior

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