Mac OS·784 discussions

Narrowing down cause why TimeMachine won’t restore emails

Tags: Mac

Have noticed recently the some Macs can no longer restore individual emails and contacts via ‘Enter TimeMachine’. Trying to triangulate what combination of things leads to this downgrade in features..

There seems to be several variables that could impact things: MacOS version, TimeMachine to direct attach vs. network destination, APFS vs. HFS+ format on the backup drive and whether the drive was adopted from a previous Mac or started fresh.

My local observations say (with “YES” meaning CAN restore individual emails):
Big Sur + direct attach + APFS + fresh = YES
Big Sur + direct attach + HFS + adopted = NO
Monterey + network attach + sparsebundle on APFS + fresh = NO
Monterey + network attach + sparsebundle on HFS + fresh = NO

Topic

I suggest…

In reply to Narrowing down cause why TimeMachine won’t restore emails

That you reach out to the Apple community directly for help. Apple has a direct support page where you can post questions and get feedback from other Apple users or Apple tech support.

Already have…

In reply to I suggest…

Unfortunately I’ve already been on the phone with Applecare and had a discussion on Apple Discussions forum, but answers have been unsatisfactory and contradictory. So, I’m taking the gather more data approach to try to “triangulate” the answer. What’s in common with those who can successfully restore an email?

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