When you use Time Machine to recover older versions of files, it shows a Finder-like window and you have to navigate to the file your want to restore. But what if the file you want to restore is not shown in this Finder window? It doesn't show directories often used by developers such as /usr, //etc, or /var. Can you use Time Machine to recover and restore older versions of files from these directories?

Happily, the answer is yes. Here's how.

1) Open a "regular" Finder window.

2) In the menu bar, go to Go -> Go to Folder....

3) In the dialog, enter the name of the hidden folder that contains the file you want to restore, /etc for example.

4) Enter time machine. I have it shown in my menu bar, so I can go to the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and select Enter Time Machine.

When you start time machine in this way (from an already opened folder in the finder), it will start in the folder that is already opened. So in this way, you can use Time Machine to restore or find files that live in directories that are not normally shown in the Time Machine interface.