Basic time machine question from a new mac owner

Hello. I have an icon on my computer that says time machine and when i select the open time machine preferences, it takes me to my set up for my airport extreme.. is this correct or is time machine something additional that i would purchase to set up?

Thanks for the star and no problem, I would recommend that you get yourself an external drive though for backup. With any computer not having a backup system is gamble and sooner or later you will lose. If you do decide on a TM backup drive it would be wise to get one that has Firewire or Firewire 800 connections (for speed) and it should be about 2x the size of your interal drive if possible. Once you connect one TM will automatically back up your system and continue to back up every hour only backing up changes and addtions. So for example if you keep music and pictures and are continually adding material to your computer those are memories that you don't want lost if your machine has a failure, TM will help prevent that from occuring. It is one of the coolest features of Leopard. Two pieces of good news, TM is simple and external hard drives are fairly inexpensive these days.

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2 questions from a new Mac owner

Hello everyone,
I just recently purchased my first Mac (Macbook Pro) and am really enjoying it. I have 2 questions that I cannot seem to find an answer for.
1: Is there a way to reverse the FN keys ( I dont like having to hit FN + F9 to use expose, i hardly ever use the those keys except for volume). Is there a way to make it so when i press the keys i get the normal key and if i want to use the features of the key hit FN + Key? I cant find any way to do this, weird because the documentation for Leopard never mentioned anything about me having to hit FN+F9 etc to use the features
2: Whenever i reboot into bootcamp and start to play a game, the notebook fans start going crazy and it heats up considerably fast. I usually stop playing after half an hour out of fear i will overheat. Is this normal behaviour for this to happen or could there be something wrong with my notebook?
Sorry if these sound silly, I am new to all this

1. I don't think you can since the keys serve two purposes. However, an intrepid programmer may have written a utility for that sort of thing. One never knows. Search at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
2. Yes, that's normal because Windows does not have any fan control implemented. I don't think there's a solution for this common problem.

Time Machine after migration to new Mac

So, I just got a new Mac, and used the option to copy settings and files from a Time Machine volume to the new machine. Now that everything's run, though, I can't use Time Machine to backup the new Mac -- it says "Volume not found". I've Googled a bit, but most of the troubleshooting seems to assume that the drive is missing or won't mount -- the drive is there, but the Time Machine software won't use it.
What are my options here?

Hi VK
A supplementray question:
I have one i-mac happily backing up with Time Machine to an external hard drive.
I have just bought a second i-mac (stops the fighting!) and propose to use migration assistant to move my [admin] account from the old to the new i-mac leaving two other accounts on the old one. I see from your posts that it seems as if Time Machine will start a new back up series for the new i-mac's back ups. But what about the old i-mac? Will that continue to extend the existing Time Machine back up files, albeit without my transferred account and its files? If so, should I partition the external drive and start the new back ups from the new i-mac on this new partition. I'd like to end up with the old i-mac continuing to build its Time Machine back ups (less my account and its files) and have a new back up series from the new i-mac building to a separate partition on the external drive.
Does this make sense? I can't see an answer in the forum to what must be a reasonably common issue in this expandin mac world.
MVBW
Mervyn

HT201250 existing Time Machine backups to a new Mac

how do i migrate existing time machine backups to a new mac from my time capsule?

It took a little more research, but that link in the end solved my problem. After mounting the Time Capsule and the previous backup sparsebundle, I ran these commands to inherit the old backup (with <capsule> and <machine> representing the names of the Time Capsule and machine/hard drive respectively:
          sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/<capsule>/<machine>.sparsebundle
          sudo tmutil associatedisk -a / /Volumes/Time\ Machine\ Backups/Backups.backupdb/<machine>/2012-12-09-114511/<machine>
          sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/<capsule>/
"2012-12-09-114511" was the latest snapshot that was there. According to the documentation, you can pick any snapshot, since the "-a" in that command will update all of the associated snapshots.

May be slightly simple question from a new Mac user: Why can't I quit safari? I cannot quit it from top menu bar neither to do it from dock? All other apps are working normally.

May be slightly simple question from a new Mac user: Why can't I quit safari? I cannot quit it from top menu bar neither to do it from dock? All other apps are working normally.

Or you can actived the right button on your magic mouse and click on they icon in the dock. then you select "stop" and it's out of your dock.
Greetings
*update: Sorry, my mistake! I didn't read your message correct! Sorry for the inconvience!

I used migration assn't to load a Time Machine backup onto a new mac. The first TM backup after that took some time, perhaps not surprising. But the backups thereafter have all taken hours, with huge amounts of "indexing" time. Time to reload TM?

I used migration assn't to load a Time Machine backup onto a new mac. The first TM backup after that took some time, perhaps not surprising. But the backups thereafter have all taken hours, with huge amounts of "indexing" time. Time to reload TM?

Does every backup require lots of indexing? If so, the index may be damaged.
Try Repairing the backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If that doesn't help, see the pink box in #D2 of the same link.

How do I access an old Time machine backup from my new MBP?

I wanted to access my Time Machine Backup from a new MBP. Time machine recognized my backup drive but could not find my Backup file. What's wrong here? I use another Login name on my new MBP - could that be the reason?

Take a look on this page at item #17:
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html

Time Machine backup fails on new Mac

I used Migration Assistant to transfer data from my old Mac Pro G5 to my new Intel Mac Pro. I erased the backup disk (500 GB My Book) then attempted to use Time Macine to backup the new Mac Pro. It won't start on it's daily schedule. When I select "Back up now", the icon in the tool bar indicates it starts to backup but then quickly stops. When I open Time Machine, it says: Backup - Failed. There is no error message so I don't know what else to do. Have any of you had this problem? If so, what did you do to solve it?
Thanks for any help.

in DU, select the whole drive (model, not name) and click on the partition tab. set the number of partitions to 1 and click on "options". set the partition scheme to GUID there. set the format to mac os extended journaled and click "apply".
once the disk is reformatted go to TM system preferences and set up TM.

Time Machine stopped working with new Mac address.

Greetings,
I have an IOMEGA 500, FireWire which I used to use for Time Machine. I now have a new Mac address and do not have access to the old Mac address. Is there any way that I can get the IOMEGA to start working with Time Machine? If so please give me step by steps instructions on how to make this external hard drive work again with Time Machine.
Any help is most appreciated.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

macuserr222 wrote:
Greetings,
I have an IOMEGA 500, FireWire which I used to use for Time Machine. I now have a new Mac address
Do you have a new Mac, or a new logic board? Either will get you a new MAC (Media Access Control) address, which Time Machine interprets as a different Mac.
Do you mean you haven't started doing backups of the new Mac, and want to view the old ones? If so, see #E2 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
If you want to use the old backups to set up a new Mac, see [Setting up a new Mac from an old one or its backups|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Setup.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
When you do your first backup, OSX should ask how you want to handle the old backups. See #B5 in Troubleshooting for details.
If that's not what you mean, please explain exactly what's going on, and what happens when you try to do whatever you're doing.
Message was edited by: Pondini

Can I still use my "old" Mac after restoring Time Machine backup to a new Mac?

Hi guys.
Will I still be able to use my old Macbook Pro 2008 (Leopard) after restoring his latest Time Machine backup on a new Macbook Pro 2012 (Lion)?
Using Setup Assistant and transfering data using Time Machine creats the same Account on the new machine that was on the old one. I just don't know how the old machine will react towards his clone. I don't want to make a mess...
Please let me know.
Thanks

It should work if the drive is connected directly to your Mac. That is not the same as saying that it will work.
Since Mountain Lion was just released, it might make sense to hold on a few weeks and watch the forums for new and unforeseen issues before you dive in.

How can I migrate data from old macs second harddrive in time machine backup to my new mac?

Hi,
I have a little problem migrating all my data from my old Macbook to my new Macbook. I had two harddisk installed in my Macbook and did make a backup to a USB Disk. It seems that both harddisk are included in the backup. I can see them in Time Machine.
Now I want to restore my data to the new Macbook Retina. Unfortunately the Migration Assistant only shows the system disk, but not the data disk.
How can I access the data disk in the backup to restore the data to some directory on the new Macbook? The data is mostly the iTunes Library of my old Macbook.
Regards

If the migration assistant doesn't work and you have no backup then you will have to take another path that involves a little more manual work. Anyway in your situation a fresh start seems like a good idea. So set up your new Mac with the same username and afterwards copy your user folder from the old to the new either using your ethernet connection or an external USB drive. This will also bring your user's Library folder along and retain most of your settings at least as far as they are applicable in Mavericks.
HTH
Martin

Cannot use Migration Assistant to migrate from a Time Machine backup to a new Mac.

I have a supposedly valid Time Machine backup for both of the MacBook Pro's we have (had). My wifes is Pro is working but mine died. I am replacing it with a MacBook Air. Following the steps, I tried to Migrate all my Pro files and apps from a TM backup using the Migration Assistant but it stops at 'Looking for source' and never gets past this.
I have confirmed the wife's back up is valid using 'Enter Time Machine'. However, on that same Mac Pro, if I use the Migration Assistant, it does not find the hard drive, once again , getting stuck at 'Looking for source just like on the Mac Air.
I went back to BestBuy where I bought the Air and worked with the Apple Rep. He tried it himself on a Mac Pro they had in the store and got the same results.
We called this into MyApple and after elevating this to the next level, they still cannot explain it.
I have used this feature in the past prior to upgrading to Mavericks so I am wondering if the fault is there?
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dave

I may have solved this (partly). A search reveal A LOT of peoplel having the same issue. One solution put forward was that the Time Machine backups were not complete. I noticed in mine, non of the backups for a quite a while have no Applications or System files backup. The solution was to do a TM reset. I did that and ran a new backup of the one MacBook Pro that is still working. After it was complete, the backup had the Applications and System data in it. I was able to open the Migration ssistant and it found the drive.
Now I just have to hope that the repair shop can salvage my malfuncitoning MB Pro so I can solve the main issue either by Migrating fromht MB Pro or make a new back up of the MB Pro after TM reset and use that for the migration. Won't till tomorrow (hopefully).
Dave

Getting Photos from Time Machine Backup disc to new mac

Hi! I have everything saved from my macbook on an external hard drive via time machine. When I go into time machine and the back up from my mac book, I click on users and then photos and then iphoto library and have no problem seeing my library...
BUT
Now I am trying to download all of the photos from the backup onto my husband's macbook. When I go to import on iphoto and then go to the backup disc... I cannot select iphoto library. It is a faded color and won't let me select it. It makes me worried that I can not access my pictures from another computer and cannot download them onto my husband's computer.
What is the problem and how do I resolve this?
Thanks!

I think it's because you're trying to restore to a computer with a different Owner. I would post that on the Time Machine forum.
Regards
TD

Time Machine question from an ex Windows user

Simple question that sounds stupid but I just wanted to be sure. I'm new to Mac OS so bear with me on this
Let's say I install a program and I want to be rid of completely or it causes some issues, if I use Time Machine to go back to before I installed it will all of the folders/directories that the program created be gone or will it just pull the icon?

There is another way of using Time Machine that I don't think Camelot has mentioned. He is talking about using the in-system interface to flip back and forth in time and restoring individual files, but what you, metalrocker, originally asked was if you could go back to before you installed your program, and you can.
First, a warning. Doing what I describe below will put your entire computer back the way it was before you installed the program you are having issues with. All documents, files, e-mails (if stored locally) will go back to what they were before. You can still get newer ones from your time machine, though.
Second, the concept: Go find the DVDs that came with your computer. The first one is all you need, also called Mac OS X Install DVD. Put that into your computer. Now shut the computer down. When it starts back up, hold the C key pressed. This will make the computer start from the DVD. Starting up will be noticably slower from the DVD. You will eventually get a few questions about language, and you have to agree to a user license. Stop after that. You do NOT want to reinstall the operating system. Instead, look at the menu on the top of the screen. There should be one item called Utilities. On that menu, there should be an item called "Restore from Time Machine" or something similar. THAT function WILL bring your entire system back the way it was at a selected date and time.
Normally this is only used if you messed something up really bad, or if you had computer problems on one machine so serious that you decided to switch to a new computer, but wanted all the stuff from your old one... from before the troubles began.
Of course, this alternative is serious overkill if all you wanted was to remove a program. Most of the time, I just chuck the App icon out, and possibly take a look into your user Library/Application Support folder, to see if the application put anything in there, and if so, throw that out too.
There IS yet another method - there IS such a thing as uninstalling a program. It is usually not necessary, and rarely recommended, but if anyone wants to hear more about it, and is a little handy with the Terminal, give me a shout.

Time machine after migration to new mac - problem

After migrating all of the data from a MacBook Pro to a new iMac 27, I discovered a glitch in the Time Machine backup. I kept getting error messages that Time Machine could not back up 560 gigs but my new machine had only 160 gigs on the hard drive for backup. After discussions with the hard drive manufacturer, and an Apple representative, I read on the forum about backing up multiple hard drives. This gave me an idea, and sure enough, I have two additional hard drives daisy chained to the backup hard drive. Apparently Time Machine was also trying to back up the two additional hard drives (which I use for additional backups). After excluding those two extra hard drives in system prefs under Time Machine options, the problem went away. Now for the first time in a few years, Time Machine is backing up only my primary computer.

Sorry, I was posting this for anyone who had a similar problem. I solved my own question - dufus as I was - and posted this for the edification of others.

Basic time machine question from a new mac owner

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