Mac – Rescue light red Time Machine backups after El Capitan Update

backupdata-recoveryrestoretime-capsuletime-machine

Here is my story:

  • Oct 2: I have Yosemite Installed and configured Time Capsule taking regular backups.
  • Oct 3: I update Yosemite to El Capitan
  • El Capitan installation halts at 14% for 2hrs
  • I force-restart my machine several times but the update never goes through
  • I format my primary OSX partition and want to setup my mac again.
  • I start recovery process from boot
  • try to find my time machine but it shows my ONLY FULL Backup is 18th Sep (which is not what I want)
  • I use the same, restore using that 18th Sep backup.
  • When the restore process completes, my MAC is somehow updated to El Capitan with my data from 18th Sep backup
  • Now I configure my Time Machine again, it shows my last backup of 4th Oct but its light-red bar (slowly blinking from very light to light red bar)
  • I can't seem to access that 2nd Oct backup

Can anyone share if they have felt same, attaching screenshots for reference.
The Backup I want with light-red bar

The backups I can see after my update and setting up of Time Machine

Best Answer

  1. Hit “enter Time Machine”
  2. Press the key combination shift-command-C
  3. Then (very important) select a red bar to go back in time Explanation: dull red bars represent backups you cannot access, bright red bars you can
  4. Then from Macintosh HD navigate to desired folder you want to restore Backups will now be accessible and you can select the folder you want to restore.
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