How do I retrieve mails from a time machine backup of a different computer?

I had to reformat my computer because of a trojan file I couldn't eradicate, and I didn't want to restore files from a time machine backup for fear of reinstalling the trojan. After reinstalling OS Maverick, my MacBook Pro from early 2009 is now back to good performance. However, I would like to retrieve my old archived mails from 2009 onwards, excluding the present year, of course. I know those mails are there, but how can I access them?
Thank you.
Domenico

See if you can inherit the backup.
Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)
See 17.
Time Machine FAQ
Time Machine Troubleshooting

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How do you access data on a Time Machine backup for a different computer?

The hard disk on my daughter's computer is having problems - it may be broken. If so, it may take a while to get the computer working again.
The information on the disk has been backed up to our Time Capsule using Time Machine. I can see the backup file sitting on the server.
How can I get access to the information in the file from my computer?
I have read that it is possible to browse other user's backup files from Time Machine by holding the Option key when clicking on the Time Machine icon in the status bar. This produces the menu choice "Browse other backup discs ...". When I select that option, I am given a choice of backup files, including my own file and my daughter's file. When I select my daughter's file, I go into Time Machine.
However, there is no data available to me. There is no timeline, and the windows behind the current finder window are all black. The same thing happens if I select my own backup file. (Entering Time Machine the normal way works fine.)
So, as far as I can tell, the "Browse other backup discs..." option is non-functional.
Is there some other way to access the data in that file?
I'm also concerned that when I finally get her computer working again, which may involve erasing the disk and re-installing the OS, or perhaps even replacing the disk entirely, that the repaired computer won't be able to access her backup file because I might not be able to recreate here username/uid with the same credentials as originally setup.

Hi,
Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, following the directions on that page does not help.
As I interpret it, I should be following the steps in the green box. I can get to the point where I am asked to select a backup file, and my daughter's backup file is one of the options. When I select that file, I am taken to the Star Wars interface.
In that interface, I can see a finder window in front. Behind that finder window are a series of other finder windows, as one would expect in the interface, but instead of being normal finder windows, they are simply black rectanges of the same size. I can browse within the front finder window, but that browsing is limited to the contents of my computer.
However, I did discover something interesting. If I follow the instructions in the pink box, which tells how to mount the disk image of the backup file, I am able to browse within the mounted backup file using a Finder window without entering TimeMachine at all. (Which to me is a big plus, since I think that the "Star Wars" interface is very bad.)
Of course, my daughter's file system is a mess. I'm going to have to give her some organizing advice. I'll also have to sit down with her after school to see if we can access the files that she needs.
Bottom line - I don't know at this point whether this is going to work, but mounting the backup file seems to have produced some progress.
Thanks,
Geoff

Just bought a used MacBook pro after my previous died. I want to migrate my applications, data, etc from a time machine backup of the old computer to the new. Will this affect, or overwrite the Apps., data, etc existing on the new machine?

Just bought a used MacBook pro after my previous died. I want to migrate my applications, data, etc from a time machine backup of the old computer to the new. Will this affect, or overwrite the Apps., data, etc existing on the new machine?

No. Only those Apps that are not installed on the new will migrate over.

Import mails from a time machine backup

I bought Lion,burned it on dvd,put a new hard drive in my macbook,installed lion,import my folders and now i can't restore my mail settings.I don't want to download al my mails again but i want to import my mails,settings &co. from my time machine backup.I tried copying the folder /gio/Library/Mail from time machine to /gio/Library/Mail to Lion but it didn't work
From the time machine application i saw that i can restore all the apps from my backup,how can i do if i want to restore mail only?
I copied manually the setting and the data for Safari,iCal,Contacts,iPhoto,but for mail i don't know which folder I have to copy and where I have to put them
Thanks

See if you can inherit the backup.
Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)
See 17.
Time Machine FAQ
Time Machine Troubleshooting

HT4191 Can I restore my NOTES mailbox to MAIL from a Time Machine backup?

I am new to the world of discussion so please bear with me. In trying to resolve a syncing problem between the iMac and iPad, I seem to have somehow deleted all the Notes we had stored. Can I restore from a Time Machine backup?

In theory - yes. The backup should restore all of the iPad settings - including mail settings.
If you backup the iPad with regularity, you do not need to resort to Time Machine. The backups should still be on your Mac.
iTunes: About iOS backups
iOS: How to backup (and restore from a backup)
A very quick rundown on how to restore from a backup. But read the articles above.
Turn off auto sync first. Launch itunes and go to iTunes>Preferences>Devices. Check the box at the bottom - Prevent iPods, iPhones .... you will see what I mean. Click OK . Quit iTunes.
Connect the iPad to the Mac and launch iTunes.
Right Click on the iPad name on the left side under devices.
Select - Restore from backup
Then sync with iTunes.

Mail from Lion Time Machine Backup to Mountain Lion

Hello,
My Lion iMac is crashed and now I want to put my Mail database from Lion Time Machine Backup to my Mountain Lion Mac Mini.
In Migration-assistent under Users there is no topic for Address Book, Calendar and Mail. Also the helpdesk told me not to use the migration-assistent but doing it manually.
How can I add extra accounts from the Lion Time Machine Backup ?
I have already <emailaccount1> working on my Mac Mini. It is just merging <emailaccount2> upto <emailaccount7>.
Is it just copying Library/Mail/V2/POP-<emailaccount2> to ~/Library/Mail/V2/POP-<emailaccount2> or do I have to change something under Preferences ?
Thanks,
Hubert

Hello Sig,
This helped but the original mail data is deleted completely. I tried it on a dummy account and discovered that the original data of <emailaccount1> is deleted by copying the Mail folder onto the original one.
So I made a copy of the Mail folder before overwriting it. Then I copied the deleted mbox files back to the Mailboxes folder and started Mail.app.
Thanks,
Hubert

How to restore just Mavericks from a Time Machine backup

Macbook Pro 15", (early 2011) 2.0 GHz, 8GB memory
After having my WD 750GB HD crash, I decided that I would opt for a smaller (256GB) SSD drive and just put Mavericks and my apps on the new drive and keep my user files on an external drive. I've installed and formatted the new drive but I can't figure out how to install just OSX from Time Machine since the entire backup is too big for my new drive. Before the drive failed, I had installed the latest update for Mavericks (10.9.3?) Thoughts?

I think you should do the following:
Install Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion Using Internet Recovery
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion. Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
You can find more about restoring from a Time Machine backup at Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
You

How do I reinstall Mavericks from a time machine backup? (Hard drive failure)

Ok, so I have a mid-2007 iMac and the hard drive finally died. It originally shipped with Leopard or something, but I had it upgraded to Mavericks. I have an external hard drive with a current Time Machine backup on it. I am about to replace the internal hard drive with a brand new (unformatted) hard drive. So here is the question: Is there a way to boot from my Time Machine backup and then reformat the drive and do a Time Machine recovery?
I have the old OS X install disks, but I don't want to have to upgrade through all of the old OS Xs. I also have a Macbook that I could create a bootable USB from--something like this (http://lifehacker.com/how-to-create-an-os-x-mavericks-usb-installation-drive-145 0280026)--and then I could reformat the drive and recover from Time Machine. But is there an easier way? Can I just boot straight from my external hard drive that has the backup on it?
Thanks for your help everyone, I'm hoping to be able to take care of all of this tonight.

You can try this. OPTION boot the computer.
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
"OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the disk icon labeled Recovery HD.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
This should boot the Mavericks Utilities Menu.
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
When the formatting is done quit Disk Utility and return to the Main Menu. Now select the option to restore/reinstall OS X from a Time Machine backup. Follow the directions.

How do I restore Reminders from a Time Machine backup?

Hi,
For reasons which are long and unimportant I have to restore my mac from a time machine backup without being able/wanting to use a full migration assistant etc
I'm currently having issues with restoring my Reminders from the TimeMachine backup I made. I have manged to restore Notes, by going to Library --> Containers and restoring the "com.apple.notes" folder, but this process doesn't work with the similar folder in Containers ("com.apple.reminders").
Am I doing something wrong here? Where does Mountain Lion store the reminders data?
Many thanks for any help

OS X Yosemite version 10.10.1
I recently lost most of the contents of my Reminders. Although I can't be sure of the cause, I suspect a certain Mac cleaning utility.
I was able to restore my Reminders with the help of Apple Support, but the procedure was not straight forward as the ~/Library/Calendars folder “contains account data and generally speaking it will cause iCloud to activate even if deactivated and remove the data since the time stamp on the data is older than on iCloud”.
Here is the procedure that I followed:
1. Disconnect from Internet
2. Make a backup of your current ~/Library/Calendars folder
Locate Calendars folder using Finder
List the folders in your Home folder
Click on Go → Hold down alt key to see Library → Click on Library → Click on Calendars
Copy the Calendars folder to Desktop
3. Locate Calendars folder in Time Machine
Locate Library folder using Finder
List the folders in your Home folder
Click on Go → Hold down alt key to see Library → Click on Library
Enter Time Machine
Locate Library folder for the day/time you want to restore
Click on Calendars folder
4. Restore Calendars folder
Then Restart and check your Reminders to ensure that they are OK
5. Make a local backup of your Reminders
Export each Reminders list to (say) Desktop
Reminders → File → Export
6. Reinstate previously saved Calendars folder
Locate Library folder in Finder
Copy saved Calenders folder from Desktop into Library folder (over-writing previous Calendars folder)
Restart
7. Update Reminders from local backup
Import each Reminders list from Desktop
Reminders → File → Import → select backup file → select appropriate Reminders list
8. Reconnect with Internet

How do you retrieve files from a Time Capsule backup that was made by a computer you no longer have?

I have a Time Capsule that has backed up five computers over the last six years. Four of those computers I no longer have or the drives are not working. I want to retrieve some old pictures from these backups. They are stored in large ".sparsebundle" files.

The first choice that you should consider is to use Migration Assistant on your Mac.
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant
The last choice would be to try the steps below that work for me......but there is no guarantee that they will work for you. Also, please be aware that there is always a chance that the backups for the Macs that you still have might be damaged in the process if things go wrong.
Proceed at your own risk. The advice mentioned below is worth about as much as you paid to visit this web page.
If you wish to continue......
Pick one sparsebundle file from an "old" Mac and double click on it to see if that will mount the drive icon on the Mac computer that you have there. This will be a white "disk" icon, likely named Time Machine Backups, similar to the illustration below:
You may be asked for a password when you double click on the sparsebundle file. That might be the Time Capsule disk password, or it might also be the administrator password for the "old" Mac.
If you have made it this far, please report on your progress.

Importing Mail from SL Time Machine Backup into Lion

Quick Question:
When importing my 14k+ worth of mail through the built in method provided by Mail:
What I was told was to go into my Time Machine backup of Snow Leopard, and navigate to ~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes, and copy the Mailboxes folder onto the desktop. From there, I would redirect the "import mailboxes" function back to the Mailbox folder on my desktop.As I went into the Mailbox folder I only found the following: Deleted Messages.mbox, Notes.mbox, Outbox.mbox, ToDos.mbox, and there was not ainbox.mbox
My question is:
I have a few email addresses: one for school, two others for personal use. And within my ~/Library/Mail folder in my TM Snow Leopard backup, there are three folders that correspond to my three email addresses: IMAP-(schoolemailaddress), IMAP-(personalemailaddress1), POP-(emailaddress2), & POP-(emailaddress3). And so, my question is which folder do I import my mail from the TM to the new Mail in Lion because only in these folders do I see an "Inbox.mbox"?
Thanks!

In addition, how come mail has taken up close to 12gb of HD space when it was importing my mail over from snow leopard when I first launched mail in Lion?

How do I delete files from a Time Machine backup?

Hi,
I have a Time Machine backup that has a large group of image files on it. How can I delete this data from the TM backup so it is no longer taking up that space on the Time Machine backup drive? Just delete the files in Leopard and run Time Machine again...? I somehow don't think that will work...

hassiman wrote:
Hi,
I have a Time Machine backup that has a large group of image files on it. How can I delete this data from the TM backup so it is no longer taking up that space on the Time Machine backup drive? Just delete the files in Leopard and run Time Machine again...? I somehow don't think that will work...
It would be a disaster.
Only delete TM files from the TM interface. Run TM from the dock, select the file(s) you wish to remove and click the Action Gear. You have the option to delete that particular backup, or all instances of that backup. This is the only way to delete backup files.

How do I remove files from my Time Machine Backup and then how to exclude external hard drives from Time Machine?

How can I remove external hard drives from the Time Machine and exclude them in the future?

For deleting backups from Time Machine: http://pondini.org/TM/12.html
For excluding things from backups: http://pondini.org/TM/10.html
For general Time Machine advice (all courtesy of Pondini): http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

I need to backup my mails from a time machine backup disk from a powerbook leopard to an IMac snow Leopard...can I do this?

Hi everybody...
I need to backup my complete history of emails. I have a time machine backup disk I used in a powerbook intel, second generation with Leopard OS. Now I have an Imac of 24 inches, with Snow Leopard OS. Can I use that backup disk (TM) to put the mails that used to be in the powerbook into my IMac?
My original powerbook is broken, so I cant do anything there...

You should be able to find and restore emails that were on the old Mac via Time Machine. Emails that were on the server, not the Mac, won't be there, of course.
See the blue box in #15 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

How do i retrieve pictures from the time machine

I had to reboot to retrieve my administrative password. I backed up my pictures on the time machine but I am unable to retrieve them is there anyone who knows how to get them back?

Are these photos within your iPhoto library or pictures in a folder?
See Pondini's answers and guide to your specific question:
How do I view or restore selected items? - Apple OSX and Time ...
Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions 15p1. Restoring the ...

How do I retrieve mails from a time machine backup of a different computer?

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