From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

HererCOs a weird one.

Yesterday for complicated reasons I had to format my entire hard drive. I installed a fresh copy of Tahoe and all my data from the Time Machine backup. No problem. Except...

I have an encrypted disk image with some private stuff on it. It opens (with the password) as it should. But there are a couple of folders missing. These same folder are missing from every copy of the disk image, going way back into Time MachinerCOs history. I can restore past versions of the disk image, but when I open it these folders are missing.

Any thoughts?

Martin S Taylor

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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 27/10/2025 09:32, Martin S Taylor wrote:

HererCOs a weird one.

Yesterday for complicated reasons I had to format my entire hard drive. I installed a fresh copy of Tahoe and all my data from the Time Machine backup. No problem. Except...

I have an encrypted disk image with some private stuff on it. It opens (with the password) as it should. But there are a couple of folders missing. These same folder are missing from every copy of the disk image, going way back into Time MachinerCOs history. I can restore past versions of the disk image, but when I open it these folders are missing.

Any thoughts?

Martin S Taylor

I asked on your behalf, Martin:-

=

https://claude.ai/share/b8b2f39c-9a71-4f8b-b0bd-073c26177229

This is indeed a puzzling situation. Here are some thoughts on what
might have happened and potential solutions:

**Possible causes:**

1. **The folders were deleted before the backups began** - If the
folders were removed from the disk image before Time Machine started
backing it up, they wouldn't exist in any backup copy.

2. **Disk image corruption** - The encrypted disk image itself may have
become corrupted at some point, causing the filesystem to lose track of
those folders even though the data might still be present.

3. **Encryption/mounting issues** - There could be a problem with how
the disk image is being mounted or decrypted that's preventing those
specific folders from appearing.

**Suggested solutions:**

1. **Check the disk image with Disk Utility** - Open Disk Utility,
select the mounted disk image, and run "First Aid" to check for
filesystem errors. This might reveal or repair corruption.

2. **Try data recovery software** - Tools like **Disk Drill** or
**PhotoRec** can scan the disk image for recoverable files and folders,
even if they're not showing up in the normal directory structure.

3. **Mount the image in different ways** - Try mounting it via command
line using `hdiutil` with different options, or try on a different Mac
if available.

4. **Check for hidden files** - In Terminal, navigate to the mounted
disk image and use `ls -la` to see if the folders are just hidden rather
than missing.

5. **Look for alternative backups** - Check if there are any other
backups (cloud storage, other external drives, old computers) that might
have an earlier, intact version of the disk image.

Has Martin checked whether any files from those folders might have been
saved elsewhere, or does he remember approximately when he last
successfully accessed them?

--

I couldn't answer the question!

David
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

Martin S Taylor wrote:

HererCOs a weird one.

Yesterday for complicated reasons I had to format my entire hard drive. I installed a fresh copy of Tahoe and all my data from the Time Machine backup. No problem. Except...

I have an encrypted disk image with some private stuff on it. It opens (with the password) as it should. But there are a couple of folders missing. These same folder are missing from every copy of the disk image, going way back into Time MachinerCOs history. I can restore past versions of the disk image, but when I open it these folders are missing.

Does Time Machine write a log of what it has done? If so, perhaps this
shows why your two folders are missing?

Moral: always use two or more backup methods, and review the backups to
see that everything is there that should be.
--
Graham J
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 27/10/2025 09:32, Martin S Taylor wrote:

HererCOs a weird one.

Yesterday for complicated reasons I had to format my entire hard drive. I installed a fresh copy of Tahoe and all my data from the Time Machine backup. No problem. Except...

I have an encrypted disk image with some private stuff on it. It opens (with the password) as it should. But there are a couple of folders missing. These same folder are missing from every copy of the disk image, going way back into Time MachinerCOs history. I can restore past versions of the disk image, but when I open it these folders are missing.

Any thoughts?

The whole disk image was in Time Machine? And only bits of it weren't restored? That's really odd - TM will be seeing the disk image as a
single file (or a couple of big blobs) and couldn't AIUI dig inside the
disk image format and not back up some files.

It'd be like backing up an image but deciding not to back up the red pixels.
--
Chris
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 13 Dec 2025, Chris Ridd wrote
(in article <10hk771$82eo$1@dont-email.me>):

On 27/10/2025 09:32, Martin S Taylor wrote:

HererCOs a weird one.

Yesterday for complicated reasons I had to format my entire hard drive. I installed a fresh copy of Tahoe and all my data from the Time Machine backup. No problem. Except...

I have an encrypted disk image with some private stuff on it. It opens (with the password) as it should. But there are a couple of folders missing. These same folder are missing from every copy of the disk image, going way back into Time MachinerCOs history. I can restore past versions of the disk image, but when I open it these folders are missing.

Any thoughts?

The whole disk image was in Time Machine? And only bits of it weren't restored? That's really odd - TM will be seeing the disk image as a
single file (or a couple of big blobs) and couldn't AIUI dig inside the
disk image format and not back up some files.

It'd be like backing up an image but deciding not to back up the red pixels.

Believe me, I understand just how weird it is!

IrCOve changed from using .sparsebundle to .asif (as if!) donrCOt know if that will help any.

MST

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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 14/12/2025 18:34, Martin S Taylor wrote:

On 13 Dec 2025, Chris Ridd wrote
(in article <10hk771$82eo$1@dont-email.me>):

On 27/10/2025 09:32, Martin S Taylor wrote:

HererCOs a weird one.

Yesterday for complicated reasons I had to format my entire hard drive. I installed a fresh copy of Tahoe and all my data from the Time Machine backup. No problem. Except...

I have an encrypted disk image with some private stuff on it. It opens (with the password) as it should. But there are a couple of folders missing. These same folder are missing from every copy of the disk image, going way back into Time MachinerCOs history. I can restore past versions of the disk image, but when I open it these folders are missing.

Any thoughts?

The whole disk image was in Time Machine? And only bits of it weren't
restored? That's really odd - TM will be seeing the disk image as a
single file (or a couple of big blobs) and couldn't AIUI dig inside the
disk image format and not back up some files.

It'd be like backing up an image but deciding not to back up the red pixels.

Believe me, I understand just how weird it is!

IrCOve changed from using .sparsebundle to .asif (as if!) donrCOt know if that will help any.

It means you turn legally blonde and go to Harvard law school?

The only thing I can think of but which is pure speculation is:

* something must have marked the AWOL files as not to be backed up.
There are 3 ways to do this: via System Settings, tmutil on the
command-line, or by setting the `com.apple.metadata:com_apple_backup_excludeItem` extended attribute on
the file. (Apps would usually set that for you.)

* the previous image format kept files not to be backed up in a separate
file in the sparsebundle

* that separate file is then marked with that same extended attribute

Maybe? But that's a huge reach and it doesn't feel sensible to make sparsebundles so intimately aware of backups.
--
Chris
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

Martin S Taylor <hogwash@mRaErMtOiVnEstaylor.TcHoImS> wrote:

Here's a weird one.

Yesterday for complicated reasons I had to format my entire hard drive. I installed a fresh copy of Tahoe and all my data from the Time Machine
backup. No problem. Except...

I have an encrypted disk image with some private stuff on it. It opens
(with the password) as it should. But there are a couple of folders
missing. These same folder are missing from every copy of the disk image, going way back into Time Machine's history. I can restore past versions of the disk image, but when I open it these folders are missing.

Any thoughts?

From the olden days: A disk image was marked as 'modified'
even if you only looked at it. (without changing anything)

If you modified a copy by adding files to it,
then looked dat the original one, the older unmodified version
would take precedence in back-ups,
thereby losing the modifications.

No idea whether Apple still does that,

Jan

Note:
And more from the olden days: Disk images for storing things permanently
are a thoroughly bad idea, because no recovery is possible.
If a disk image goes corrupt and refuses to mount that's it,
you have permanently lost whatever was on it.
And worse: you might have been carrying a corrupt disk image along,
for years, through many back-ups,
without noticing it is no longer available.
Filevault encryption of whole volumes is much safer.



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