Recover a Lost File With Time Machine

When you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you not only get a complete backup of everything, but also a history of files that includes deleted or modified files. You can recover a file you have deleted even if many backups have occurred since you deleted the file. Practice this technique so you know how to use it before you need it.

Comments: 6 Responses to “Recover a Lost File With Time Machine”

    Robert Hutchison
    6 years ago

    Hi Garry, good video. I use Timemachine going back over a year or so, say you have edited a file over a period of time and ccidentally deleted a while back , and you didn’t know where the last saved file was, is there a way to get latest version of that file?

    Thank you very much.

    Kind regards,

    Robert

    6 years ago

    Robert: There is a Search field at the top of the TimeMachine interface. You can see it in the video. So you can try to use that. The further back in time you go, the fewer versions you will find. Eventually, Time Machine starts deleting very old versions as it runs out of space. That is why it is good to have a TM drive that is much bigger than your hard drive. People often make the mistake of getting a 1TB drive to back up a 1TB drive. Get as big as you can to have more history.

    Rita Golaszewski
    6 years ago

    Thanks for the video Gary! I never really understood how to use Time Machine. I also found out that my computer hasn't been backing up! I checked it because of your video.

    John H
    6 years ago

    A great video Gary. It makes my backups more useful than I thought.Thanks a lot.
    JH

    Braun Bill
    6 years ago

    Does time machine do a backup of things that are in a document or desktop folder that is connected or placed on icloud?

    6 years ago

    Braun: Everything on your hard drive is backed up. It would only be possible for something in iCloud Drive to not be on your hard drive if you have that "Optimize" option turned on in iCloud Drive settings.

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