Beats me!
Why do USB-C & Lightning plugs work downside up & upside down? Sure hope you don't stay up all night tonight pondering this stuff! :)
FWIW, I would have made a bigger hole for the plug.
No harm, but you are clearly quite computer literate. How could you not realize? Are you that sheltered that you do not know that there is another computer world out there besides MS Windows PCs?
IF your Stickies are indeed in TM backup, then you can search for them. However, you need to know what they are called (which I do not) and, hopefully, where they might be located.
The initial backup is totally complete (depending upon your preferences) and then the subsequent backups are partials. If, and when, you need a backup or part of the backup, TM will give you all of what you want.
Forget your old HD and start over with the new one and a total backup.
I "THINK" you can do just that, however you'll need to have both HDs going thru your Mac. I also "THINK" you'll have to designate the new HD as the TM backup drive 1st. While both are on your desktop, drag from old to new. This may take quite awhile, so be prepared. Then de-designate the old HD...
Copied & pasted from a file I keep on hand for just such occasions:
"Boot to your recovery system: Restart, while holding Command + R.
At the menu, run Disk Utility, then Repair Disk.
Boot to the built-in Diagnostics (Restart, holding the D key).
Are any error codes reported?
If you don't see...
So....If it cannot scan APFS, it really cannot do anything? This, then, is just a version bump to say: "we're still here, but can't help APFS Macs yet." (Which have been around for a long time!.)
If TechTool Pro can do it, why can't DiskWarrior?
Have used this for years for problems and just as a checkup. Always found some problems and corrected them.
Have the new version, but haven't used it yet! DeltaMac, are you brave enough to give it a whirl & report on your impressions?