OS X 10.9.5 Time Machine backups missing files (Mavericks)

I'm currently running OS X 10.9.5 on my 2012 Mac Mini.  Based on all the trouble reports I've seen online, it'll take me at least one more release before I consider going to Yosemite (OS X 10.10.x).

Anyway, a couple days ago I was editing some old photos stored in my user/Pictures folder with a third party utility.  I messed one up and to make matters worse ended up saving it over the original.

No problem I thought - I use Time Machine (and have for several years) - so I'll just open it up and restore the original photo.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the most recent TM backup and there were only 40 objects in my Pictures folder. There should have been 337 - and the photo I wanted wasn't one of the forty.
 
I started going back in time and had to go all the way back to Oct 14th 2014 where the Pictures folder had over 300 objects in it. The TM backup from Oct 21st 2014 only had 30 objects. Skimming forward in time from Oct 2014 the present, the backups of my Pictures folder contain anywhere between 30 and 40 items.
 
I have no idea what happened, (maybe I upgraded from 10.9.4 to 10.9.5 in mid-Oct???), and more importantly, no idea how to get TM to start backing up all my Pictures again.

I then checked a few other folders at random - like my Documents - to see if they're being backed up properly. From what I saw, all the other folders I checked looked OK.  

Sheesh....I've never had issues with TM in all the years I've been using it until this.  I've even done full machine machine restores from TM backups in the past with no problems.  Needless to say, it shook my confidence that I can easily restore a file if need be in the future.  Plus, I still wanted to fix my Pictures folder backups from here on out so I can restore them if I have to.

Searching on the web showed I'm not alone - people have been complaining of missing files in their TM backups for a couple years at least (and not just from their Pictures folder either).

Anyway, out of the several "solutions" people offered, here's the one I tried that worked.

I went into my TM settings and excluded my Pictures folder from being backed up the next time TM ran.  After TM completed its backup, I then went in and took my Pictures folder out of the  exclusion list so it would be backed up the next time.

After TM ran again I went into Time Machine to check the folder and YES - all 337 objects were backed up!  So far it's been 4 days and my Pictures folder has been backed up properly every time.  I'll call it case closed for now, but will have to keep a closer eye and inspect my TM backups now and again, and not just "set it and forget it" like I had been.

Paperless Office Part 2: Connecting an Epson Workforce DS-560 Wirelessly to OS X Mavericks

  
The Epson DS-560 arrived and I promptly tried "connecting" it.  I wanted to use WiFi so the scanner didn't have to be moved around the home office to plug/unplug a USB cable to my Mac or my wife's PC as needed, and also to allow our iOS devices to be used to scan if necessary.  There were two connections that needed to be made; one to the home WiFi network, and the second to the individual computers.

Here's where the "fun" began.  A quick read of the downloaded online manual (that's the only way to get it - there's no paper copy in the box, and no soft copy on the CD that comes in the box) talked about three different Epson software utilities you need to run to connect to WiFi - first in direct connect mode (use the scanner as an access point and connect the computer directly to it), then you set it to recognize your local (home) WiFi network, then finally connect it to your computer.  Sounds convoluted, and it is, and you can read about other people's frustrations in the product's Amazon reviews, so I won't repeat what they've already so eloquently stated.

When downloading the manual, I noticed a video on the Epson site that shows how to connect the scanner via WiFi - which made it look like a piece of cake.  Watching this, I thought maybe the PDF manual was old and Epson had updated their software to make the process much easier.  Nope.

When you run the setup software you get on the CD (or via download - they were the same) it's missing some of the critical screens shown in the video that appear to make setup a breeze.  The actual setup software jumps right to trying WPS mode setup, not first trying to discover and connect to your network via "magic" as the video suggests and then if that doesn't work, the video suggests trying WPS mode.

Here's where I made a mistake in not knowing my own home setup well enough.  I use an Apple Airport Extreme (latest gen 802.11ac) router (which replaced a previous gen AE - so I've used Apple routers for a few years).  I never saw a WPS button on an AE or had previously read anywhere that they supported WPS, so I began slogging through the manual connection setup for the DS-560.

I'll try to shorten this process here, but it took me well over an hour, with a call to Epson "Mac" support, and still couldn't get it to work.  There was a lot of switching to WiFi mode, AP mode, holding buttons until lights blinked, but the "Epson Scan Settings" program would not find the scanner.  Epson support threw up their hands and said to make sure my AE was only using the 2.4GHz band and not 5GHz.  I do know that the AE uses both bands simultaneously - so that wasn't it.

So, after a few more attempts, I turned to Google in desperation and searched "WPS mode Apple Airport Extreme".  Lo and behold - I learned that even though there's no WPS button on an AE, they do support WPS via the Airport Utility:

- Open AirPort Utility 6.x
- Click on the picture of your Base Station
- Click Edit in the smaller window that appears

When you do this, you will see that the pull down under the Base Station menu (top of screen menu bar) is no longer greyed out.

The Base Station menu item at the top of the screen has a choice; Add WPS Printer..., but you can install any WPS wireless device using this method including the Epson DS-560 scanner!

So essentially following along with page 42 of the DS-560 Manual:
1. Set the connection mode switch on the scanner to Wi-Fi.
2. Open the input tray and turn on the scanner.
3. Press and hold the Connect button on the scanner for at least 3 seconds, then release it when the Status and ! error lights flash alternately.
The scanner enters standby mode for WPS connection for two minutes.


4. During those two minutes - enter the Airport Utility and tell the AE to connect a WPS printer.

It may take up to a minute, but eventually the Status light on the scanner stays on, indicating that the scanner is connected to your network.

Now - you can begin the process of connecting your Mac to the DS-560. 

Luckily, I bought IP Scanner Pro from the Mac App Store a long time ago.  I'm sure there are free utilities like it available if you search.  What you need is something that will tell you what the IP address of your DS-560 is on your WiFi network.  Once you have that, you can enter it into the Epson Scan Settings app and it then should connect your Mac to the Scanner with no issues.

So far, the only thing I don't like about using the DS-560 wirelessly is you're forced to use the Epson software for scanning, and their software is pretty rudimentary.  No Paperless, or Devonthink Pro, or even VueScan.  Your Mac does not see the Epson under System Prefs/Printers and Scanners and I haven't found any way to add it manually.....although I haven't tried connecting the DS-560 via USB, adding it to System Prefs and then unhooking the USB cable to go back to WiFi to see if the Scanner will "stick", but I have my doubts it will.

Anyway, the bottom line is that WPS is the way to go when hooking the DS-560 up via WiFi to your Mac.

Now its time to start plowing through my years of accumulated paper.