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Cannot retrieve from pre-Catalina backups

Hi to all. Updated to Catalina last week, but now have found that the oldest backup on my Time Capsule (according to the OS Time Machine option) is only 8:30 AM this morning.


Looking on the System Prefs for the Time Machine, the oldest one is December 4, 2018.


The Time Capsule has 3TB, and 600+ gigabytes is still free. As a precaution, I've turned off the automatic-backups.


Does anyone know how to get past this barrier?


Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 14, 2020 1:14 PM

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Posted on Apr 27, 2020 4:15 PM

The idea which I am hoping will still work is to use recovery and the Time Machine backup to go before the installation of Catalina. You can only do this from recovery. So choose a date and restore the entire backup to your External drive. Or even your internal drive if you so wish as long as you have tested the external drive with your current boot install actually boots properly.

You will need to erase the drive before you start the restore and then leave time machine to restore your previous working install. That means you don't need Mojave OS .. since it will be there in the backup. Once inside Mojave I think you have better chance of downloading it again.


If that does not work.. you certainly still need a restore of your previous OS as you cannot migrate easily from Catalina back to Mojave.


Apple might be able to help you if you ask nicely for a boot USB with Mojave.. There are other sources.. google around. Lots of Apple service centres will happily provide you with a Mojave boot USB for a few dollars if you have one near you.


Be assured plenty of people get themselves into the same boat so there are usually a good few articles on how to download the installer. Terminal commands should still work. The first one has a terminal command which only works in Catalina to download mojave.. give it a try.

eg

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/where-to-download-macos-mojave.2205013/


https://osxdaily.com/2018/09/29/download-full-macos-mojave-installer/


Some will be out of date.. but don't give up.

Also note the instructions to create your own boot USB installer is important. Once you run the downloaded installer it is deleted. And copying it to another location often seems to break it. So my advice is to create the USB immediately. Put a label on it and tuck it in a draw so you always have it.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 27, 2020 4:15 PM in response to Pete Obermanns

The idea which I am hoping will still work is to use recovery and the Time Machine backup to go before the installation of Catalina. You can only do this from recovery. So choose a date and restore the entire backup to your External drive. Or even your internal drive if you so wish as long as you have tested the external drive with your current boot install actually boots properly.

You will need to erase the drive before you start the restore and then leave time machine to restore your previous working install. That means you don't need Mojave OS .. since it will be there in the backup. Once inside Mojave I think you have better chance of downloading it again.


If that does not work.. you certainly still need a restore of your previous OS as you cannot migrate easily from Catalina back to Mojave.


Apple might be able to help you if you ask nicely for a boot USB with Mojave.. There are other sources.. google around. Lots of Apple service centres will happily provide you with a Mojave boot USB for a few dollars if you have one near you.


Be assured plenty of people get themselves into the same boat so there are usually a good few articles on how to download the installer. Terminal commands should still work. The first one has a terminal command which only works in Catalina to download mojave.. give it a try.

eg

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/where-to-download-macos-mojave.2205013/


https://osxdaily.com/2018/09/29/download-full-macos-mojave-installer/


Some will be out of date.. but don't give up.

Also note the instructions to create your own boot USB installer is important. Once you run the downloaded installer it is deleted. And copying it to another location often seems to break it. So my advice is to create the USB immediately. Put a label on it and tuck it in a draw so you always have it.

Apr 15, 2020 2:56 PM in response to Pete Obermanns

I have worked through it with several people here. That is why the warnings are there.

If you run into difficulties do post back with details and screenshots if possible.


Read carefully the second part of this document on using Time Machine from recovery to restore all your files and OS.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203981


And how to erase a disk.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496


Catalina made dramatic changes.


For now those backups on the TC are vital to your recovery.. so do not continue using it for backups. I encourage people to use the archive option in the TC so they are working from one step removed.. but it will depend on your setup. You can never have too many USB drives as you juggle these things around.

Apr 14, 2020 1:25 PM in response to Pete Obermanns

"Disappearing backups" is a common issue reported by countless numbers of users who have "upgraded" to Catalina. We know that Apple has made a number of changes with Catalina as far as Time Machine is concerned, but they have not documented any of them, so it's pretty much a guessing game trying to solve issues.


One of the issues is that Apple completely reformatted your Mac's hard drive when you moved up to Catalina, but the Time Capsule drive is still formatted the "old" way, which cannot be changed. So, Time Machine has to convert new backups from one format to another when backups start with Catalina.


Because your Mac's format was changed with Catalina, the Mac might not be able to read the old backups on the Time Capsule. It seems to work for some users, but others......like me....have had no luck trying to "see" the old backups using Time Machine.


My suggestion would be to power off the Time Capsule and leave it off for awhile......maybe an hour or two......and then power it back up. Now restart your Mac. Wait another hour or so and then see if your "old" backups are now accessible.


Please report on your results.



Apr 15, 2020 1:12 PM in response to Pete Obermanns

You can downgrade the computer but you will need to boot the computer to recovery.


Inside recovery you can open the Assistant and use the backup to go back to a date prior to your Catalina upgrade.


This can be messy. I recommend recovery to a USB drive not directly to your main boot drive. Once you are satisfied you have all the files you need back you can clone the USB drive to the main boot drive.


If you were running Mojave you should be able to download it again.. Apple simply block access to downloading it for a clean install. Note this for the future.. you always should create a USB stick installation drive of your Mac OS assuming you don't want to move rigidly to Apple's drumbeat.

Apr 15, 2020 2:28 PM in response to LaPastenague

Ok, thanks greatly for that advice. I've ordered couple 4 TB external drives to facilitate this. I've also found step-by-step guides for this. Doesn't look like fun, but at least it's a way out.


I've been a Mac-person since December 1984, when I bought my first Mac 128K - and I've still got it somewhere. But I just don't understand why Apple does such drastic and frustrating things to it's loyal customers.


I'll let you know how this all goes. Thanks again! 😀

Apr 27, 2020 8:24 AM in response to LaPastenague

Ok, hello again. After an extended delay for non-essential goods via Amazon, I have two 4TB external drives in hand. Both have been formatted to APFS, plus I have a USB flash-drive with 32GB available, blank and formatted to HFS journaled. I've also read and understand (at least, I hope that I do) the contents of the two Apple documents which you sent to me.


One of those 4TB external drives has a complete backup of the 1TB drive in this computer, using Carbon Copy Cloner.


I've tried following the instructions of some online videos - including using Terminal and later Recovery mode - but have not been able to download an installation copy of Mohave. So, I'm at at a work-stoppage point. Which means that I could really use your help and guidance.


And your comment earlier about keeping a back-up of macOs installers is really emphatic now, considering how I can't download an installation copy of Mohave. I really wish that I had copies of several OS-versions from the past.


Looking forward to your help!!

May 1, 2020 4:38 PM in response to LaPastenague

Ok, I'm happy to report that after several days waiting for the backup from my Time Capsule to populate one of my 4TB external drives, I had a complete copy of my most recent Mohave backup. Thereafter, I erased the SSD on my MacPro and used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy from the external to the SSD. CCC threw up a couple error messages, of things that couldn't be copied, but now I have Mohave back on the laptop. Success!


And then, I got a notice from the updates system, saying that I could update to Catalina. No thank you !!!!!


Anyway, I want to thank you immensely for your support in getting me thru this (self-inflicted) crisis!

Cannot retrieve from pre-Catalina backups

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