Time machine backups disappeared

Loads of bad stuff happening..

Too late but I think you made the wrong move inheriting the backup.

You have no idea how fragile a Time Machine backup really is.. Possibly you have never been greeted with this message.

I would do the following.

Use archive function in the Time Capsule to make a full backup.. you will need a Mac formatted USB drive of size equal or greater than TC drive.

Once you have preserved what is likely now already too late.. open the TC disk in Finder If there is more than one backup try and access it and drill down to the actual dated backups and see if they contain any data. It is laborious process, sorry. If you have anything in them still and Time Machine cannot open it the issue is likely permissions.

What I am going to suggest is to fix the permissions using old airport utility 5.6.1 (you can use windows version.. or just google for script to run it.. but you will need a Mac running nothing later than High Sierra I think). If that is possible try the method here.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8375787?answerId=33349536022#33349536022

Pondini was our hero.. sadly died long before introduction of Catalina. Much of his usefulness is diminished..

Apple has never provided a method of resetting Time Machine..

The best you can do is remove all the back targets. reboot the computer to make sure it sticks and then use add backup.. which will pretty much rewrite the plist.

We strongly urge people to use Carbon Copy Cloner now.

BTW if you have Norton AV or any other AV or security package that is cause of your problems.

The Time Capsule has multiple passwords and it gets worse from there

Base Station Password or device password

Disk Password

Wireless Network Password

Backup (Encryption) Password

Finder is usually looking for the Time Capsule admin password, which is the Base Station password in most cases......unless......you set up a separate Disk Password, in which case you will need that password. If you set up no other passwords other than the Wireless Network Password, that is the one to try.

But........if you originally chose the option to encrypt your backups, then you set up yet a different password for that and that is the password that will be needed to unlock the disk. There are no back doors on this one, if you don't know the password, you won't get in.

If you can get into the Time Capsule settings using AirPort Utility, you might be able to retrieve the passwords that you have stored for the Time Capsule.

Open AirPort Utility

Click on the picture of the Time Capsule

Click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Base Station menu item.......up at the very top of the screen where you see the other menus like File, Edit, Help, etc

Click Show Passwords

If it ran ok for a week that is even more mysterious.. but not highly surprising.

Post details of any sparsebundle or backupbundle you find on the TC disk in Finder.

Was your old computer running Catalina?

All the errors you listed are to do with Time Machine.

I want you to open the backup in Finder.. NOT TIME MACHINE.

But if you are concerned you should preserve the backup as it exists right now by archiving.. Don't start messing unless you are happy everything has copied across with the migration.. otherwise you are likely to do more damage.

Using the correct password does help, so that issue may be resolved.

Are you running any kind of anti-virus application on your Mac? If yes, that can an issue.

The fact that you see a backupbundle file means that you are running the Catalina operating system on your Mac. As LaPastenague has already mentioned, there are loads of problems with Time Machine on Macs running Catalina.

Power off the Time Capsule, wait a minute, then power it back up

Restart your Mac

Hold down the option key on your Mac while you click on the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the screen

Select Verify Backups

Let the process run until it completes.......which might be up to a few hours.......or until you see an error message. If an error message appears, post back with the exact message that you see.