forbes47 wrote:
Alas, I don't use Time Machine. Tho' after this experience, I may well start! Thanks for your reply.
You can try checking for local APFS snapshots just in case you used backup software which did take advantage of APFS snapshots. Unfortunately with Mojave Disk Utility doesn't show APFS snapshots (later versions of macOS allow Disk Utility to interact with APFS snapshots). You can try using the following Terminal command to see if any APFS snapshots exist on your boot drive:
tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
If there are any APFS snapshots associated with your boot volume, then it may have what you need. Some third party backup software will take advantage of APFS snapshots. Doesn't hurt to check.
Unfortunately you are running a very old version of macOS, so I'm not sure what results that command will give you (perhaps nothing). Surprisingly on my dual booting Mac (Big Sur & Tahoe), this command gives me nothing other than an OS snapshot, but the TM app allows me to browse a local TM APFS backup snapshot which I believe resides on the other OS volume since I haven't backed up the Tahoe volume I'm currently using/testing (for some reason the above command & even Disk Utility are not showing the APFS snapshots for my data for either volume). Apple has only a very simple rudimentary implementation of these utilities, but they are all we have to use.
If you get any results from that command, then post the information here. We can provide you with details to mount the APFS snapshot so you can navigate the APFS snapshot through the Finder.
