How to Recover Files from a Time Machine Backup

In this video tutorial we will discover how to recover deleted data using Time Machine backup on your Mac.

I'll show you how to recover files on your Mac using Time Machine. And then after that I'll even be showing you a way that you can have another shot of recovering your files even if Time Machine fails.

So by far one of the most advantageous features built into MacOS is that of Time Machine. I personally use it to back up my entire Mac and that really gives me some peace of mind just in case things happen to go sour on me. Now, I do want to say though real quick that this video does have one disclaimer and that will typically Time Machine is very safe and foolproof. Typically it does of course require that you enabled it on your Mac first before you lost all your files. Now if that's you and you know that you've enabled Time Machine feature on your Mac before you lost your stuff then that's great. You're all set. But for those that haven't, for those that know they don't use Time Machine or don't even know what it is in the back half of this video, I'm going to be providing you a really robust alternative that you won't want to miss so wait until then, but for all those people that have enabled time machine, here's how to use it.

Steps to recover files on your Mac using Time Machine:
1. So lucky for us Apple makes it extremely simple and this is honestly one of the things that I love most about it, so of course just make sure that the media or drive that contains all of your Time Machine back up files is connected to your Mac.
2. The next You want to do is navigate to the location on your Mac where your file previously was. Now for me, this is my desktop, but for you, it could be literally any location that was included in the Time Machine backup when you first created it.
3. Then once you're there, open Time Machine by clicking the icon on the top bar and you'll notice that this will bring up the Time Machine interface which is essentially a file folder of different snapshots in time of that one specific file location on your Mac. And what you can do now is browse all of these folders going further back with each one until you find your missing file.
4. Now once you find it, all you have to do is Select it. Then click Restore and the file will be brought back into the present.

No backup? Try a third-party app!

However, what if you're in the second group of people that has never enabled Time Machine before and you might not even know what it is and you might be a little freaked out right now. Well, first of all, I hope you'll consider it now after watching this video because it's awesome. But second of all, what we can actually do is we can use a piece of file recovery software. We're to our advantage and give us another shot at getting our files back. So of course with file recovery, there are no guarantees and it's definitely a lot less robust than using Time Machine, which is an actual byte for byte backup of whatever was on your Mac, but we can still use a powerful piece of thorough recovery software that can go into our Mac pull our files out and give us the best chance of recovery possible. I always recommend Disk Drill.

Steps to recover deleted files without backup:
1. Download and install Disk Drill on our Mac to get started. So once you've done that go ahead and open it up.
2. Make sure that the drive from which you lost your data is connected to your Mac and once it is it will show up in the disk list where you can select it choose your scan method and then click search for lost data.
3. So the scan has finished and now you can review the files by clicking this button at the bottom right here. Now depending on the files you're looking for whether it's photos documents videos audio files.
4. And then once you find the stuff that you want, all you have to do is Select them by putting a check mark next to them then go down and click - Recover.

[staciekeener]

I used a seagate external drive. the mac i was using since crashed. when I plug the external drive into my new mac it does not allow me to access the files as it states they were stored in time machine. I have tried everything and can't seem to get my files. any suggestions would help. thanks

[BrettDavidsonAdventures]

My MacBook Air laptop was stolen. But I have a backup in Time Machine backup on an external drive. How do I view the contents from a new MacBook Pro???

[jasminemorris]

So I have my stuff from my macbook backed up but it keeps saying I don't have permission to the files on the Mac. Do you have a video on how to gain permissions back or get permissions on the new computer?

[amarpreetbrar]

I stupidly erased all my data (losing my wedding photos and photos and videos of my daughter) from my external seagate 5tb hard drive by reformatting it from NTFS tl ExFat. Is there any way to get those files all back please?

[stevenpanter]

Hi Mate, I have an old external hard drive that was used as time machine about 5 years ago. Now I want to recover some photos From it but I do not have a Mac anymore, how can I do this. I don’t have windows, only iPad Pro, I have a mate with MacBook, can he recover for me

[BigCountrySo-CaL]

My computer died, so can you do this from a new computer, looking into your old time, machine back up hard drive?

[andrewdanvers]

My Mac will need a complete wipe, and reinstall OS, time machine continually backs up, but what if I want to restore ALL files, not individual files as shown in the vid? I surely cant reinstall individual files. YT vids ive search just show restore 1 or 2 files, but not the whole lot

[hannamayer]

Unfortunately, I don't have a Time Machine backup, what can I do to recover files?

[ooohlaa]

i have a document that may be 2 or 3 years old and I can't remember what folder I would have filed it in. It is a download no longer available. Can I do a search on my time machine Seagate hard drive for it via the TM software? Does it show individual files or is there a search button?

[seanstacey]

This is great, but what do I do if the external hard drive I backed up has failed and I can’t connect it?

[victormexico]

my time machine is full but i don't see files in it?, , , can U help me please?

[Beatsnmotivation]

Does any one know why Time Machine hide my files on my SSD? I downgraded my Mac from Monterey to Mojave bc of music production problems. Bro the files are hidden I can see them is like 350 GB but I can’t restore files bc the files are hidden. Is it bc I downgrade it?

[mymixchannel]

It didn’t work doesn’t open that page you showed

[AliceBowie]

great tutorial - I have a unique situation, and wondering if you had any advice. Last week, I ran a Time Machine backup and it popped up a window halfway through saying there was not enough space so it deleted older backup. I wanted to see what photos were in the now oldest backup on my external time machine. I double clicked on the photps app from a 2016 date and all of the sudden it "updated" my photos library. when I checked the library after it completed it had only Dec 2016-Jan 2020 photos and my library size is now around 10GB. I take a ton of video so my library would have been way bigger consisting of around Jan 2012 -Jan 2022 I need to backup all photos that are presently on my mac before any further damage is done. To complicate this even more my wife is a separate user on this same mac and her photo library is around 180 GB and she did not lose anything.

[karlasoto]

For people without TM, I need to recover only one file...help. any free version, real free. not only to see the files, free to restore and recover files.

[jungkookshe]

Namjoon, you should see this. It will restore the files. Please support 💜💜💜💜 ARMY is here

[zoulhhh]

Time machine does not even have a search?

[Massihiri]

Disk drill ask for payment before they allow me to recover the file

[dhinesh]

First ❤️ first comment 🔥 from Tamilnadu

[razorbackroar]

i just need to open photos app from my external drive & restore them not the whole library