How to Recover Time Machine Backups from APFS Disk

Sue Wayne

Jan 15, 2024 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

Apple has a dedicated tool, Time Machine that can help us backup files and restore them afterward. Though, after the change in its file system from HFS to APFS, there has been a lot of confusion with the backup conversion. For instance, users have asked us about how to recover Time Machine backups from APFS disk. We will help you uncover the same in this guide.

Why do you need to recover Time Machine backups from APFS disk?

While upgrading your Mac to macOS 10.13, you should not customize any settings related to Time Machine. If you have taken your backup in HFS or HFS+, then it will automatically be converted to APFS supported format. Though, if you have taken a backup in APFS format, then you can’t convert it to any other format.

Therefore, if you have suffered from an unexpected data loss, you need to take some added measures to recover Time Machine backups. Since the backup can’t be converted to any other format, most of the users make the mistake of deleting it. We recommend taking the assistance of a third-party tool to do it instead of getting rid of it. To learn how to recover Time Machine backups from APFS disk, read the next section.

Read More: How to Format MacOS APFS Drive

How to Recover Time Machine Backups from APFS Disk

Since the Time Machine backup can’t be converted automatically from APFS to another format, you can take the assistance of a reliable tool to do this. Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac would be the safest option to learn how to recover Time Machine backups from APFS disk. It has an easy to use interface and is known to have the highest success rate in the industry. Compatible with all the leading versions of macOS, it can recover your lost data from different situations.

Using Recoverit Data Recovery is pretty easy. In order to learn how to recover Time Machine backups from APFS disk, you can follow these steps:

1. Free download Recoverit Data Recovery on your Mac, and launch it to recover Time Machine backups from APFS disk.
2. Select a drive. To perform Time Machine backup recovery from APFS disk, you can select the location where your Time Machine backups were lost and click on "Start" to make a quick scan on APFS disk.

1. Start the scanning performing on your Mac computer. It will help you find your files after a few minutes.

1. After the quick scan, if you can not find your lost data, please opt for "Deep Scan" mode to dig deep into the APFS disk.

1. Finally, you can preview the scanned data and click "Recover" button to save the Time Machine backups.

In this way, you would be able to learn how to recover Time Machine backups from APFS Drive. All you need to do is take the assistance of Recoverit for Mac and follow the simple on-screen instructions. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and give this tool a try and feel free to share your feedback with us in the comments.