I don’t have a TM icon on my Desktop.
What OS are you using? (I am using 11.14.2.)
Also, how is your TM volume connected to your computer? (Mine is a Time Capsule connected to my local network via Ethernet.)
David
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A great little tool for TM diagnostics is TimeTracker by CharlesSoft. Although he hasn’t officially “released” it yet, he’s been keeping it updated for years. Best of all, it’s free.
That said, I’d also try to pry open that iMac and see if you can get the disk out. SATA-USB docks are cheap and work fine (make sure it’s USB3). If the disk is still ok, you can get everything off it and eventually move it back to your new Mac.
This one even comes ready with both USB3 and USB-C cables. $23 shipped.
I’m running 10.14.2 (Mojave) on an iMac. Time Machine is assigned to an exernal hard drive connected directly to the computer by USB cable. It shows up on the Desktop in the normal way as a hard drive, but now instead of the generic orange-coloured HD image its the green TM image.
Except that, funnily enough, I switch the iMac off at night and this morning the Time Machine HD has reverted to the generic image. However, it seems to be doing its regular backups in the normal way - I’ve just checked.
Peter
In my experience the hard drive icon will revert back to the green TM icon fairly quickly, usually after the first Time Machine Backup occurs. I used to take time to force it back to the TM green icon immediately, I can’t remember how anymore, but found it wasn’t worth the effort as the Time Machine backups worked normally with the generic icon showing and the TM machine green icon came back on its own. If I restart the computer the generic icon almost always returns for a short while but then changes to the TM green icon without any action from me.
Same here. It’s annoying and it’s been this was for ages. No idea why Apple can’t fix it to show reliably. Fortunately, it does revert on its own after a while.
I have a client who has convinced herself that the state of the icon has something to do with the state of her backups.
Yes, mine used to revert to the TM icon eventually too, but now it seems to have settled for the generic icon since my update to Mojave. Not a problem, just a bit strange.
I fixed the problem by assigning my own Tardis icon to the disk:
Now it no longer changes back and forth.
If you order the tools from OWC/MacSales then order one or two of their external cases from their sale and clearance section. About $6. Holds a 2.5" drive and comes with a cable. I’ve used a dozen or so of them over the last few years.
Off the track a bit but should I be seeing an icon on my Mac for an external hard drive connected to my Airport router via USB? I have that drive configured for Time Machine backups. I believe I once saw that drive depicted when I launched Disk Utility but only that one time.
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That’s what I did, I copied the icon off the time machine app and pasted into the get info of the external HD. Never an issue after that.