How to restore Time Machine backup (2011 mini with Snow)?

I have a Mini 2011 running with Snow Leopard, and it runs perfect and stable, but when I apply the latest security update, it stops working.
It will boot into an alternating light and medium blue screen.
To fix it I want to do a full system restore from Time Machine. I have used this function before, with ease and succes, but I cannot replicate it.
Problem: the Mini has no DVD drive.
Last time, I used a Mini 2009 with the 2011 attached as Target Disk drive. If I try that now, the restore programs says the backup is not compatible with the Mini 2009 (which is weird, as the Mini was able to boot from the install before!)
How do I put back my backup? Is there a direct way to do it by pulling the program from the DVD to the 2009 mini? Third party solution?
What can cause this non-upgradability of the system? Basically it is just a Mini 2009 full install from the 10.6.3 Upgrade disk with some machine-info files and 2 Ati kexts from Lion added.

Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imaging something not being covered there.

Similar Messages

How to restore time machine backup without disturbing already installed app

Hi!
My school recently reconfigured/reformatted my macbook and install the school image. Now it is filled with applications that the school help us installed. Now how do i restore the backup that my time machine backups last time? Migration assistant or what? I did not change my mac, it is just that my hard disk got reconfigured. How do i restore backup without disturbing the apps my school installs?
Please help thanks!
ALa.

alazahee wrote:
I did not change my mac, it is just that my hard disk got reconfigured.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Is your user account still there?
If not, and if you have either Time Machine backups or a "clone" as backups, yes, use Migration Assistant. See [Using Migration Assistant|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Migrate.html]. Note that you must be logged-on with a user account that's named differently from any of the accounts you want to transfer, or else be prepared to rename the duplicate.
If your backups aren't either Time Machine backups or a "clone," you'll have to drag and drop or restore using the app that made them.

Mac Mini late 2012 Failed to Restore Time Machine Backup

Try to restore time machine backup to my mac mini. I have made backup right after I got the machine from apple. Now due to some reason I am trying to restore it but failing again and again. Error is something like this:
I have erase disk as default which is required for intel based model but still it didn't work. Please help me out.
Further I have also tried installing fresh 10.8 OSX by making bootable usb. It also didn't work. A question mark appears right after I select USB Bootable Drive at start.
Thanks

Yes same. When I try booting MBP with same usb it goes to recovery menu, (one which comes when you press Cmd+R) I think my MBP is running mavricks thats why it dont go to 10.8 setup. Further when I select same usb in mac mini it shows following screen.
Content of USB are:

Restoring Time Machine backup to a drive in a "Voyager Dock"

Restoring Time Machine backup to a drive in a "Voyager Dock"
I would like to restore a Time Machine volume to a hard drive not installed in the computer it has backed up.
I have an iMac 24” with a failing drive. It will eventually need to be replaced.
I have my Time Machine back up for this computer in a Voyager Docking station.
I would like to have Time Machine “restore” the iMac’s data to a drive in another Voyager Dock running from a computer other than the iMac involved.
What I hope to do is bring the “restored” drive and the iMac to my Mac service provider and just have them swap the old drive for the new.
How do I get Time Machine to do this?

So, You're saying I can do this from a different computer with its own Time Machine?
In other words, I have my Time Machinedrive from the dead iMac and a fresh, formatted drive both hooked up to an unrelated computer with its own Time Machine.
If I enter Time Machine on that computer won't it show me the data it backs up for that computer only?
Will Time Machine know that there are two Time Machine backups (the one from the iMac and the one from the new host machine), and allow me to select the one from the iMac?

What size Time Capsule - i.e. how big are Time Machine Backups

Hi all,
Just trying to decide which Time Capsule to get...my question is basically how big are Time Machine backups.
For example I have a MacBook with 100gb harddrive. At the moment about 80gb in use.
I assume the Time Capsule will immediately backup that 80gb but how big are the incremental backups. If I modify about a GB's worth of data each day, does this GB get moved to the capsule or is Time Machine cleverer than this and only backups the changes at byte level for example.
Any pointers, thoughts, etc. much appreciated.
Michael.

I have an iMac with a 500GB hard drive and a MacBook with an 80GB hard drive. The MacBook is nearing capacity but the iMac has around 90GB of data (the Time Machine backup is around 93GB). I will likely opt for the 1TB version as I am eligable for a Government discount bringing the cost down to £303 (£183 for the 500GB version). As it's unlikely that it will be easy to upgrade the Time Capsule HDD then I'm looking at future proofing as I do not want to have to repurchase in a few years. I'm also likely to buying a second MacBook or MacBook Pro in the coming months so it does make sense.
Secondly, you can use the Time Capsule as a shared storage area as well as for the Time Machine function.

How do i reformat imac hard drive and restore time machine backup?

How do I reformat my iMac internal hard drive and restore from a Time Machine backup?
I have an iMac 20" Mid 2007 with a problematic hard drive.
IntelCore 2 Duo, Processor speed 2 Ghz
800 Mhz Bus speed
4 GB RAM
250 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
10.6.3
Was getting a question mark upon booting up, so I booted from a 10.6.3 Snow Leopard CD and ran disk utility. Repair disk was interrupted with an error message. 'Disk utility can't repair disk. Backup files, reformat disk and restore backed up files.'
1. Should I select Erase, Mac OS Extended Journaled, Erase?
2. If I do this, won't I lose my networkability, and therefore lose access to Time Machine backups?
3. If it were you, would you go ahead and replace the hard drive? Not sure I should trust this hard drive!
4. If I need to replace the hard drive, can you send instructions?
Thanks!

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you have your Time Machine backup drive connected, then you can use Setup Assistant to migrate your Home folder, application support files, and third-party applications and system preference files. I recommend doing this via the Setup Assistant when the option appears.

How do I restore Time Machine backup files (from TC) to an external HD?

I did a full Time Machine backup of my machine to a Time Capsule. All told, around 500GB. The MBP to which I'd like to transfer the files doesn't have a big enough hard drive. However, I do have a 1TB External HD that I could use. Can I use Time Machine or Migration Assistant to move/access the files? I'm using Lion.

See: Mac 101- Time Machine, Time Machine - 101 Tutorial, Pondini's Time Machine FAQ - All You Need for Time Machine, and Pondini's Time Machine FAQ.

Restore Time Machine backup to newly-formatted Macintosh HD

I recently had to erase and re-format my internal start-up drive ("Macintosh HD," formatted GUID Partition Table) while troubleshooting. Turned out it was a failed main logic board, display and display LED backligh, so it was in the Apple Store for 2-3 weeks (long story). I have my Time Machine backups on an external 2TB USB drive, which has its own system, and is bootable. The newest Time Machine backup I have is from 11/13/11, but I thought I'd be safe and do a belt and braces backup, so I used Carbon Copy Cloner to backup Macintosh HD to a disk image. Somehow, I royally screwed it up, and I have THREE CCCloner backups on my 2TB drive (as well as the Time Machine backups). The three CCCloner backups are:
2011-10-26 (October 26) 15-52-21, total 14.18 GB (no System or Users folders)
2011-11-13 (November 13) 21-47-17, total 16.86 GB (System folder = 136.1 MB; Users folder = 1.54 GB)
2011-11-20 (November 20) 18-58-00, total 12.84 GB (System folder = 27.6 MB; Users folder = 1.05 GB)
It would seem I somehow invoked an incremental backup in CCCloner, and I do manual Time Machine backups.
The problem here is two-fold:
1. Between 11/13/11 (last Time Machine backup) and 11/20/11 (last CCCloner backup), I did a LOT of work, that I don't want to lose, but I don't know how to reconcile the three CCCloner backups. I've been in communication with the developer of CCC, but apparently he's taken the weekend off, and we have not yet worked out a way to cleanly reconcile the three CCCloner backups, which is what I would MOST like to do, as it contains the whole week's work between 11/13/11 and 11/20/11.
2. When I erased and reformatted my startup Macintosh HD, I, of course, severed any link between it and the Time Machine backups on the 2TB USB drive.
I suppose the quick and dirty way to get back to my Macintosh HD status is to do the following (found in an Apple Support Archived document):
"Once the drive has been formatted, quit Disk Utility to return to the installer. Go back to the "Utilities" menu again, and choose "Restore From a Time Machine Backup." Connect your Time Machine backup drive, and allow it to be scanned for valid backups. Choose your latest backup from the list provided, choose the destination for the restoration (the newly formatted "Macintosh HD"), then let it do its thing."
Then cherry-pick the new-to-11/20/11 items out of the CCCloner folders. Not an elegant solution, but I can't think of any other. I don't mind reformatting the Macintosh HD again, but then having to pick through the CCCloner dustbin is a big PITA
Anyone have any ideas?
Bart

<< Are the backups in a separate partition? If not, that may be a problem.
How about the CCC backups? >>
Nope to both.
<< That doesn't make sense. A CCC clone should contain the most recent version of everything (unless you omitted things). Where are you getting those sizes? >>
Individual folder "Get infos."
<< Yes, that's how you do a full system restore from your Time Machine backups. >>
Which I did last night, needing to move on with a number of projects.
<< You should be able to use the Finder to find files on the CCC backup from your home folder with Last Modified Dates since 11/13 (or, perhaps better, the free Find Any File app, which will let you pick any folder), and copy them. >>
<< May I ask why, with an iMac, you're doing all your backups manually, rather than letting at least some of them, especially Time Machine, run automatically? >>
The discussion below with Mike Bombich, of CCC, to which I replied just a couple minutes ago, may help explain some things (it will NOT explain my stupidity -- my only excuse is that I was pressed for time after a long and pointless search in all the wrong places for a very severe problem I was having, as you'll see). Why I didn't do a Time Machine backup just before I took my iMac in for service is a question I can only answer by saying "Duhhhh..."
Email from Mike Bombich and my reply between dotted lines
December 3, 2011 8:04:33 PM EST
Hi Bart:
<blockquote>Choosing the "2TB" drive as the "source" in CCCloner would give me the actual, bootable 2TB's system, which has few, if any, of the permissions, settings, etc. that were part of the the original Macintosh HD System files, which is what I'm trying to recover.</blockquote>
Unless you backed up another system to the 2TB volume since November 20, then that volume definitely has everything from your Macintosh HD as of Nov 20. You ran this task at that time:
2011-11-20 18:57:58 -0500
Task: Copying selected files (-psn_0_106522)
Source: Macintosh HD
Mount point: /
Destination: 2TB
Destination path: /Volumes/2TB
Settings
Archive deleted items, owner: bartonbrown
Archive modified items
Do not automatically prune archives
Which means that everything from your Macintosh HD volume was copied to the 2TB volume, and anything that was already on the 2TB volume was moved aside to the _CCC Archives folder. With the exception of the presence of the _CCC Archives folder, the 2TB volume was an *exact* replica of your Macintosh HD volume when that backup task finished on Nov 20.
I think this actually means that the restore process should be really easy. CCC won't copy the contents of the _CCC Archives folder (unless you choose it as a source folder explicitly), so if you choose the 2TB volume as the source and Macintosh HD as the destination, your Macintosh HD volume should be back to the state it was in on Nov 20. I don't see any need to exclude anything from the restore -- anything that wasn't on the Macintosh HD volume was moved to the _CCC Archives folder.
As an aside, you aren't going to find the bulk of your (most recent) Macintosh HD items in the _CCC Archives folder, that folder contains items that were on the 2TB volume when you started that backup task (which means there probably are some pretty important items in the _CCC Archives/2011-11-20 (November 20) 18-58-00 folder). You will find some items from Macintosh HD in there, but they're older versions of files from previous backups, and items that you have since deleted from Macintosh HD.
<blockquote>is there any way to back up onto an already bootable drive with CCCloner and STILL be able to choose the INDIVIDUAL CCC backup I want to restore the Macintosh HD drive.</blockquote>
Yes:
1. Create a new folder at the root level of the destination volume (e.g. "Macintosh HD 12-03-11")
2. Choose "Macintosh HD" from the Source menu
3. Choose "Choose a folder..." from the Destination menu and select the new folder that you created on the destination
When you want to restore from that, you'd boot from the 2TB volume, then in CCC choose "Choose a folder" from the Source menu and select that folder as the source.
You could also choose the "Create a new disk image" option, but I personally prefer backing up to a folder if the destination volume is formatted as HFS+.
Lastly, one thing to keep in mind with either of these solutions is that subsequent backups directly to the 2TB volume (with default settings) will cause the unique backup folder on the destination to be archived. You can avoid that by using CCC's "Protect root-level items on the destination" option. That's the setup I alluded to earlier, in the "I want to back up my startup disk and a data volume to the same backup disk" article.
Mike
To which I replied:
December 4, 2011 1:13:45 PM EST
Hi Mike --
"Unless you backed up another system to the 2TB volume since November 20, then that volume definitely has everything from your Macintosh HD as of Nov 20 ...and anything that was already on the 2TB volume was moved aside to the _CCC Archives folder. With the exception of the presence of the _CCC Archives folder, the 2TB volume was an *exact* replica of your Macintosh HD volume when that backup task finished on Nov 20.
Oddly enough, it wasn't: for one example, the Time Machine backups, which were NEVER on the Macintosh HD volume, are still on the 2TB backup volume, untouched, and so are literally thousands of files and folders I had backed up directly to the 2TB backup volume -- and thousands more I'm pretty sure weren't -- that DIDN'T end up in the _CCC Archives folder, but at the root level of the 2TB volume.
I wish I'd done a window grab of the 2TB backup volume's window before I did my 11/20/11 backup, and before I restored Macintosh HD from Time Machine, but I was so caught up in testing -- 60 hours worth, and all to no purpose -- for what a senior advisor fromr a company whose name is associated with the pomaceous fruit of the species M. domestica (genus Malus, family Rosaceae) was positive was a problem with third-party memory, just before we finally set up the FOURTH Malus domestica store appointment and I had to bundle the iMac up and drag it 40 miles to discover that the "Senior Advisor" was wrong and I was right -- for a change -- that it was a failed main logic board, well... I was working against time, I finally ran OUT of time, and all I can come up with to account for the current state of 2TB is that didn't do the CCCloner backup correctly. (I know that sentence is really poor grammatically, but when one has to tiptoe around landmines, circumlocution is better than circumambulation.
Last night, I had to restore Macintosh HD from Time Machine, which worked fine, except I now have literally hundreds of gigabytes of duplicate files (better than lost ones!) spread over 3 drives. The only recourse I can think of now is to use TidyUp! to winnow out the duplicates and try to understand better how to use CCCloner for backups, or surrender and use Time Machine.
Thanks for all your help. I have a couple other projects I wanted to finish up today, but I can see the day is going to be devoted to salvage operations...
I will just add this: The 2TB USB drive I use as a backup for Time Machine has been bootable since before I started using it as a backup, as is my 1TB USB drive, and all three -- Macintosh HD, 1TB, 2TB -- are at OS X 10.6.8. I also manually back up individual items to both 1TB and 2 TB drives.
Bottom line is, I obviously don't quite know how CCC works, and I thought I could back up -- at the last minute -- my internal, regular start-up drive, "Macintosh HD," to a Disk Image with CCC.
As for Time Machine, its constant and unfathomable-to-me backing up drove me nuts, so I turned it off, and used it to back up, manually, about once a week. Stupid? Yes.
Mea culpa
Bart

Problems trying to restore Time Machine backup to a new computer

Hi there-
I recently purchased a new MacBook Pro and want to downgrade it from Lion to Snow Leopard. I have Time Machine backups from my slightly older MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard. However, when I attempt to restore from the Snow Leopard backup, I get a message stating I can't restore that backup because it was done on a different computer. Is there a way around this so that I can essentially just overwrite my new computer with my latest backup of the older running Snow Leopard? Thanks in advance-

I should say though, I don't know for sure if a complete disk wipe will allow you to boot off the 10.6.3 Snow Leopard disks or not, as I don't fully understand how the firmware works. There are two parts I know of, the hardware firmware and the EFI software firmware.
EFI supposedly has it's own partition on the drive, which should be able to be completly erased.. When I installed rEFIt however (it's a alternate firmware allowing me to boot other operating systems), it required two reboots for it to take hold.
I also should say I've never taken a factory Lion installed machine and put Snow Leopard on it.
So far what I've been able to determine is the firmware is blocking the booting of the 10.6.3 disks (the only retail version there is) so you can't install Snow Leopard, if the firmware can be flashed to a earlier verison the 10.6.3 disks should boot as the hardware drivers for 2011 MBP's reside on the 10.6.3 disks.
But if you have a second Mac, then the target disk mode of the link above should work, you can also create a large HFS+ journaled partition in Disk Utility in Lion and then use Target Disk mode of the other Mac to install Snow Leopard there.
I wish you luck, you might have to visit MacRumors or another Mac site to get further information. The Lion machines are very new, Apple is resisting attempts to downgrade from Lion to Snow Leopard and not many have done it yet.
I bought my machine pre-Lion so I can stick with Snow and avoid the Lion pain, but have it on another older Mac for experimental puposes (quad boot).
I'm pretty sure rEFIt will allow you to boot off the 10.6.3 disks.
I'm sorry if I couldn't have been more help, I'm still learning how to get around this 10.6.3 block myself.
If I had a factory Lion machine, I would most certainly post a blog how to downgrade the SOB to 10.6 somehow.

Impossible to restore time machine backup?

How in the world can I restore a Time Machine backup to my MacBook Air???
I have a full time machine backup on an external USB drive. I can't however connect that USB drive and the external CD drive at the same time.
I also have no idea to get the shared disc on my Mac Mini to show up in the boot window (can connect to my wifi network, but nothing shows)...
I accidentally erased my drive while trying to erase my free space, now I can't figure out any possible way to ever restore the data...

This really *****, the 92.5% seems like it will be my best attempt...
There are 2 files that time machine restore doesn't seem to like... There part of an older program, Hemera Photo Objects, Volumes 1 & 2...
There's a data file for each of the 2 programs... Vol1Thumb.hta & Vol2Thumbs.hta... For some reason these 2 files come up with an error (something along the lines of:
Cannot restore the file /Volumes/[....]/Vol1Thumbs.hta to (null)
Cannot restore the file /Volumes/[....]/Vol2Thumbs.hta to (null)
I don't believe the files are corrupt (the likelihood that these 2 separate files installed at 2 separate times both ending up in a bad sector seem unlikely, especially when the app has several other files that don't generate this error)... Unfortuantly modifying a backup seems impossible (I've tried everything, including "sudo rm Vol1Thumbs.hta" but I get an error stating that its not possible to modify a backup...
I'm running out of options... Still wondering why things can't just work like they're supposed to...

Restore Time Machine backup after hard drive crash

My hard drive on the mac book crashed, so I replaced it. Now I need to get my time machine back up on the new drive. I've already started using the computer and reinstalled lion, so I'm not getting the original "backup" screen. How do I find my old time machine backups?

Your best bet is to do a full restore from your backups. See #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Concerns ALL Time Machine Users. HOW TO MOVE Time Machine backups. Help !

Concerns ALL Time Machine Users :
MOVE (or COPY) Time Machine backups from a "x"To Disk to an "y"To greater disk.
Hello and thank you all for reading me,
First, excuse me if I make language errors (I'm French).
Secundo, I don't know if you'll find something interesting for you
in what I write about Time Machine and my own problems,
but there's a possibility also that YOU could perhaps help me.
I'm talking about Time Machine and his **** Backups.backupdb folder,
containing "*Name of your Mac*" folder,
this folder containing Time Machine backups, format : YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS
Time Machine doesn't recognize the backups it made *IF YOU MOVE THEM*.
I have perhaps a solution in this message.
You'll see below what kind of problem I (and you could) have.
Since 12/01/10, an Apple Adviser Level Two (and me)
are trying to understand how to move backups from TM1To Disk to, let's say, a bigger one.
My case is TM1,5To.
*Purpose :* Move 19 backups from Time Machine X disk to Time Machine Y disk.
Delete TMX disk Time Machine backups after that.
Make TMY disk the current used Time Machine Disk.
I don't remember exactly what we did before
(we even created a "root" account with password (dangerous to do),
but it didn't solve the problem),
but we finally copied :
TM1To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* folder (containing 19 backups) into :
TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb folder.
The Copy application announced *16 hours !* (without antivirus, to remove absolutely).
So I said goodbye and thank you to my Apple Adviser. After *8 hours*, Copy failed.
BUT it had succeeded to copy *4 backups ONLY* (why ?) in TM1,5To.
I immediately verified and checked each of these with Get Info.
They had EXACTLY the same size (Byte to Byte) as in TM1To.
➔ BUT HERE IS MY OBSERVATION :
After designing TM1,5To as Time Machine Disk, I ordered it to Backup (now).
And what did Time Machine do in TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb ?
It created a *NEW folder*, named *MacBook Pro 2* !
➔ *I HAVE NO ACCESS* to TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* (4 backups copied from TM1To, remember) ;
➔ while I still *HAVE ACCESS* to TM1To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* (19 backups) ;
➔ *AND I HAVE ACCESS* to TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro 2*,
where Time Machine makes actually his backups.
*NOTE :* If you *change the name* of your computer,
Time Machine *changes automatically the name* of the folder who is in Backups.backupdb folder.
➔ ① I have *never seen* such protections (Sharing and Permissions).
You are not allowed to do anything. I've tried to change permissions,
first : "R+W", after that : "Make (Me) the owner", I can tell you : DON'T DO IT !
➔ ② It's impossible to install an OS on a Time Machine disk
(I thought it would allow better permissions).
OS Installer detects the existence of a Backups.backupdb folder
and refuses to install on this disk or partition.
I have now the bad intent to install minimal OS X
1) after deleting (how ?) this folder (but not its contents, how to move it ?)
and 2) declare *after that* the disk as Time Machine disk.
➔ ③ Time Machine doesn't backup OTHER Time Machine backups
(who are in an ancient-not-choosed-for-backups Time Machine disk) NOR backups this disk
(detects, once again, the existence of a Backups.backupdb folder).
AND you can't *absolutely not remove backups from the folder the're in*
(for me, *MacBook Pro* or *MacBook Pro 2*).
➔ ④ I didn't have time to do it, but I think there would perhaps be a solution
in restoring backups in partitions specially created to receive them (having the same name,
that sort of thing) and then re-backup these partitions (vicious and complicated).
There is a function on Mac OS X Install DVD : start with it, and then (do not install)
choose "*restore from Time Machine backup*" from the menu bar (it's called "Utilities", I believe).
➔ ⑤ I *absolutely don't understand* what follows :
— If I add (in my TM1To disk) the bytes of the 19 backups
in Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* folder, I obtain about *1,8 To*.
— It's impossible (and not french).
— When I check the size used with Disk Utility (NOT with Get Info),
I find a correct (?) size : *about 750 Go*.
— What are Time Machine backups made of ?
It can't be aliases (because of their size, and because *aliases suppose originals,
and where could they be ?*), or am I wrong and becoming crazy ?
➔ ⑥ If you refer to the numbers shown at the end of this text (*4 backups*),
you'll see I could *delete duplicate elements* inside these 4 backups,
to win space (but *what kind* of space *if I delete aliases* ?).
Back-In-Time (see below) says he does it.
BUT is it really the OLDEST items I have to destroy (see ⑤),
when I don't know with what kind of ARTEFACT I'm acting ?
What does Time Machine delete to create more backup space ?
Is it REALLY the OLDEST backups it treats, or duplicates, OR ?
*What you can do :*
Find and go to Tri-Edre.fr or Tri-Edre.com/fr site (it's a french company
that creates small Mac applications since fifteen years at least,
I think I already bought them several programs in 1990) ;
Their program *Back-In-Time 1.4.4* is free (Trial) and complete to download (with PDF docs too).
It is *ENTIRELY DEDICATED* to Time Machine and *things you can't do* with.
Price is about 30 €, I think it's worth.
The TRIAL version you will obtain can only work on the LAST Time Machine backup,
but you will see what's featured *AND :*
You will ACCESS to ANY Time Machine backup you want
(It has to be the last of a serie of backups, but the serie you want.
I've bought the application and own an activation key, but you understand I can't give it to you
(it would not be ethic) and anyway you would be obliged to disconnect AirPort, Ethernet etc.
•➔ I have bought the application because I thought (it's said in PDF FAQs) I could IN THE END move Time Machine backup files, but it cannot, (I'm afraid).
*BUT ANY ACCESS PROBLEM IS SOLVED.*
•➔ Back-In-Time 1.4.4 can *delete :* duplicate backups, complete backups,
or duplicate items inside one or several Time Machine backups,
things that I believe impossible with Time Machine itself
(I've seen it offers to delete ALL occurences of an item) ;
•➔ The application can also restore anything you want, where you want
(but I think Time Machine does it too ?)
•➔ Believe it or not, but since I've bought it on 15/01,
I've only worked about 2 hours (no, much more) on it
and didn't make sufficient progresses (enhancements ?)
to talk of it with sufficient experience (I'm a bad guy, don't you think ?)
•➔ Tri-Edre offers on-line support, e-mail support (and so on),
and I EVEN didn't manage to join them, because I did many other things,
and also somewhat have been disgusted *not to be able to move* or copy
*(accessible by Time Machine after that)* backups,
and I also didn't succeed (*another Time Machine inconvenient*) to DESTROY an ".inProgress"
Time Machine (package) which doesn't work anymore (several interruptions while active),
date (and name) 2010-01-27-164345.inProgress, but is used (*with failure results*)
by Time Machine (it's turned off till I find how to destroy its **** ".inProgress" package.
•➔ I've asked my Apple Adviser Level 2 to wait for news from me
before working himself on the problem, and I think I will send him this message
to prove I haven't forgotten him.
•➔ I'll send it to Tri-Edre too, in the same move.
I hope those remarks to be useful for somebody, tell me if it has helped.
I will also publish this in any Time Machine topics I find here, and in MacRumors site too.
As you can see, I need help too … Does anybody have an idea ?
Perhaps if I used a specific Copy software, it could work ?
You'll see below an example of some time I've spent to study my problem
(you will think I'm crazy).
With my kind regards, and good luck if you have other Time Machine problems !
Olivier Herrbach
<Edited by Host>
Le but du jeu est de transférer toutes les sauvegardes Time Machine
d'un volume/partition que nous appelerons "1 To"
sur un volume/partition que nous appelerons "1,5 To".
*Je rappelle que les 4 sauvegardes effectuées par Time Machine sur le 1 To
n'ont pas été reconnues comme siennes par Time Machine sur le 1,5 To,
bien que strictement identiques en taille après leur copie.
J'ai remarqué dans Back-In-Time des fichiers invisibles (tels que "TimeMachine.log"
ou quelque chose de genre), et je soupçonne fort qu'ils n'ont pas été copiés et que Time Machine,
ne les trouvant pas dans le 1,5 To, a ignoré à cause de leur absence les 4 sauvegardes décrites ici.*
*Sauvegardes effectuées par Time Machine sur 1 To :*
Path : MacBook Pro > Volumes > 1 To > Backups.backupdb > MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro contient 19 items (dont un alias appelé "Latest") :
1°) 2010-01-02-045758 Size : 913.207 B for 41.888 items comprenant :
• Hitachi 1 To Size : 907.664 B for 41.887 items 7 folders
Différence avec 1°) = - 5.543 B - 1 item (1 folder)
2°) 2010-01-03-001957 Size : 982.211.325 B for 67.490 items comprenant :
• Hitachi 1 To Size : 901.516 B for 41.886 items 6 folders
Différence avec 1°) = - 6.148 B - 1 item - 1 folder
• Samsung 500 Go Size : 981.302.510 B for 25.602 items 4 folders
Total • + • = Size : 982.204.026 B for 67.488 items
Différence avec 2°) = -7.209 B - 2 items (2 folders)
— *Supprimer • Hitachi 1 To* dans 2010-01-03-001957. Comparer les dossiers.
3°) 2010-01-04-222709 Size : 5.241.032.819 B for 26.509 items comprenant :
• Samsung 500 Go Size : 5.187.330.874 B for 19.392 items 8 folders
Différence avec 2°) = + 4.206.028.364 B - 6.210 items + 4 folders
• StartUp Disk Size : 53.692.703 B for 7.115 items 4 folders
Total • + • = Size : 5.241.023.577 B for 26.507 items
Différence avec 3°) = - 9.242 B - 2 items (2 folders)
— *Supprimer Samsung 500 Go* dans 2010-01-03-001957. Comparer les dossiers.
4°) 2010-01-05-125449 Size : 9.428.705.396 B for 204.915 items comprenant :
• HD 250 Go Size : 9.374.308.265 B for 181.575 items 7 folders
• Samsung 500 Go Size : 692.898 B for 16.222 items 8 folders
Différence avec 3°) = - 5.186.637.976 B - 3.170 items
• StartUp Disk Size : 53.692.703 B for 7.115 items 4 folders
Total • + • + • = Size : 9.428.693.866 B 204.912 items
Différence avec 4°) = - 11.530 B - 3 items (3 folders)
— Supprimer • StartUp Disk dans 2010-01-04-222709. IDENTIQUE.

Dear James Pond,
Thank you once again, and, don't be afraid, I will be as short as possible,
but I need to use your last reply (I've cut all what was already said).
JP ➔ You can copy an entire set of backups, but you cannot copy part of it successfully. See #18 etc.
JP ➔ Read this from the first paragraph: "you cannot copy only selected backups,
or merge two (or more) sets of backups." The structure of the backups simply will not allow it.
I've read it, and found it regrettable. And I've also read, after that, what were the solutions under Leopard and Snow Leopard, and my conclusion is that it's a *dead end* for me. In short,
— I can't move (by drag and drop) the 1To's Backups.backupdb folder (containing MacBook Pro, 19 backups, access) to 1,5To, because there exists already the Backups.backupdb folder created by copy on 12/01 with Apple Assistance (containing [MacBook Pro, 4 backups of 19, no access] and [MacBook Pro 2, 15 backups, access]). I don't even know if it could be deleted by the copy (and I don't wanna do that anyway) ;
— I can't rename (and what for, I already forgot it) any Backups.backupdb folder nor delete it ;
— I can't copy any Computer'sName folder (entire set containing backups), being in a Backups.backup.db folder, into another Backups.backupdb folder ;
— I can't copy any (or all of an entire set) YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS backup(s), being in a Computer'sName folder, into another Computer'sName folder (even if it would be empty).
— Saying NONE in Time Machine Preferences and putting it to OFF is simply no use.
All is said. What I can try to do is :
— Delete (not with Finder, but with Back-In-Time) all duplicate things I find in all backups and also entire duplicate backups (I have full access to all with the software) ;
— Restore each of the reduced-to-minimum backups obtained in specially right-sized partitions wearing the YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS name of each restored backup. Time Machine doesn't backup his backups, but will backup these partitions.
I'm afraid to be actually completely running out of the target, when I read what I write … It's time to go to bed !
Reminder (OH) : Where did you find these amazing informations ?
JP➔ Some of it is detailed here: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_maco[]sx_leopard_timemachine.html
➤ Thank you ;
JP➔ and here:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2007/10/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14
➤ Thank you too ;
JP➔ You have to understand the structure. When TM does the first backup, yes, it copies everything.
On subsequent backups, it copies what's new or changed, but also makes "hard links" (sort of like aliases) to the copies of the things that didn't change. That's how it can only back up a few things each time, but show you a complete "snapshot" of the way your entire system looked at the time of every backup.
➤ I'll do my best to understand.
JP➔ Time Machine deletes backups under two conditions. See the first part of #12 in the Frequently Asked Questions User Tip, also at the top of this forum.
Under normal circumstances, you should not have to delete any backups. See the rest of #12.
➤ I understood why Time Machine didn't delete oldest backups : they were not weeklies ones.
Reminder (OH) : How can I destroy the (corrupted ?) not working "2010-01-27-164345.inProgress" in 1,5 To, which causes Time Machine to abort any backup of any size I ask ?
JP➔ Why do you think it's corrupted? TM is designed to "recover" a partial backup.
➤ I'll verify that with the little Tools/Apps I discovered in your FAQ User Tip document and downloaded immediately.
Why didn't Apple tell me anything ? It's my fault, I'm perhaps not clear and not demanding enough more from them.
JP➔ You cannot install OSX on a disk containing TM backups. That's because they need to be on separate disks.
Technically, you could put them on separate partitions of the same disk, but that would not be a good idea.
➤ I never told you that (there would be no interest at all). I talked about the same location, to see if it would allow me more permissions, but if all works without doing it, it's really no use.
JP➔ Sorry, I don't know what that means.
➤ I'm sorry, I didn't explain : "but if all works" meant : Copy Backups.backupdb, "without doing it" meant : Install OSX.
➤ If I install an OSX BEFORE, Time Machine will REFUSE completely to backup on it, it's understood.
JP➔ Correct. The partition you're running from will not be an option in TM Preferences > Select Disk. That prevents TM from backing-up it's own backups!
➤ Would it be so absurd ? Maybe it could resolve my actual problem ?
I think you are right, but I don't know why. I trust you.
Reminder (OH) : "I will not bore you again except if I don't find a specific answer to an unknown-never-seen-incredible malfuction."
JP➔ Don't worry about that -- thats what this forum is for, especially if you're still having problems.
➤ It's seems in fact that there is no possible solution, except what I said above and is certainly crazy/out of subject.
Just try to be as clear and concise as you can.
And please don't post the same things repeatedly -- it wastes your time and ours, and can confuse other folks.
➤ You're absolutely right and I tried to do so this time, and I'm sorry because I see it's still (far) not enough (short).
Thank you once more. I wish you a good evening and week-end. Here it's 01:40 AM.
With my kind regards
Olivier Herrbach
[email protected]

Restore Time machine backup from a stolen computer to a different Mac Pro

*My Mac Book Pro was stolen.* It had some Time Machine backups, but Time Machine had stopped working about 6 months before it was stolen. I had stopped using the USB drive since TM would never complete. (2 issues)
1. When I plugged in this USB backup disk to the Mac Pro just now, it asked me whether to use Time Machine with it. It told it no, ask me later so I could browse it first.
2. It looks like the old problem with Time Machine not backing up the stolen laptop shows up as a file called "2008-09-22.204132.inProgress". I am hoping that the backups previous to that one are okay. So far, browsing the files appears to me that my data is intact but perhaps spread across 40 folders.
So now, what should I do to retrieve the data I want?
A. Copy the data files and pictures manually without Time Machine? How do I know I will get the latest versions?
B. Use Time Machine with this disk and somehow ask TM to restore to a different machine? (Is that even possible?) (Will it merge the files into my user folders?)
C. Use Migration Assistant?
D. Copy and paste the entire file structure to a directory someplace and pull off the data as I need it?
*End result: I want my external hard disk wiped ASAP, and in the meantime I want my data files preserved.*
The old MacBook Pro definitely did not have Snow Leopard but the MacPro does to which I want to copy the data. It probably had Leopard. But honestly my user data is not necessary, just primarily the data, pictures, DVD projects, etc.
As a side note: My old laptop and my MacPro used the same username and password.

lhbilly wrote:
*My Mac Book Pro was stolen.* It had some Time Machine backups, but Time Machine had stopped working about 6 months before it was stolen. I had stopped using the USB drive since TM would never complete. (2 issues)
1. When I plugged in this USB backup disk to the Mac Pro just now, it asked me whether to use Time Machine with it. It told it no, ask me later so I could browse it first.
2. It looks like the old problem with Time Machine not backing up the stolen laptop shows up as a file called "2008-09-22.204132.inProgress". I am hoping that the backups previous to that one are okay. So far, browsing the files appears to me that my data is intact but perhaps spread across 40 folders.
So now, what should I do to retrieve the data I want?
start Migration Assistant located in /Application/Utilies. it has an option to migrate your data and applications from a TM backup. migrate what you want. note that users will be migrated to new users so to access your old home directory you'll have to log out and log in as the migrated user.
A. Copy the data files and pictures manually without Time Machine? How do I know I will get the latest versions?
B. Use Time Machine with this disk and somehow ask TM to restore to a different machine? (Is that even possible?) (Will it merge the files into my user folders?)
C. Use Migration Assistant?
D. Copy and paste the entire file structure to a directory someplace and pull off the data as I need it?
*End result: I want my external hard disk wiped ASAP, and in the meantime I want my data files preserved.*
The old MacBook Pro definitely did not have Snow Leopard but the MacPro does to which I want to copy the data. It probably had Leopard. But honestly my user data is not necessary, just primarily the data, pictures, DVD projects, etc.
As a side note: My old laptop and my MacPro used the same username and password.

Unable to restore time machine backup onto a new hard drive

I recently bought a new hard drive for my mid-2010 white Macbook. I have kept this computer regularly backed up with time machine, but just to be sure I made sure I hooked up my external hard drive prior to changing the hard drive and made sure it was fully backed up. I checked my exceptions and saw that my system files and applications were listed, so I removed them from the exceptions list and let it back up again (it only backed up a further 60MB though, so that made me a little uneasy).
I successfully switched over the hard drive and then plugged in my external hard drive so I could do a restore from Time Machine. My external hard drive has 3 partitions: 2 time machine backups for each of my computers, and one partition for storing files that also has an old copy of 10.6 on it.
When I booted the computer, I held option, then selected Macbook TM. When it came to the window with 4 options, including disk utility and restore from time machine backup, I selected restore from Time Machine backup. When I did so it said "No OS X Backups Were Found." Why wouldn't it have backups listed if I have been consistently backing it up? How else do I do a full system backup?
Also, how can I be sure that I'm restoring this backup onto the new hard drive? It didn't prompt me to select that drive at any point, and I want to make sure I'm not overwriting the middle partition on the backup drive (or anything else).

Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
You will find that Mountain Lion stores an invisible copy of the Recovery HD. You can boot from your Time Machine backup drive by restarting with OPTION boot:
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 for your Time Machine backup drive.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
Your computer should boot into the Recovery HD. You will be presented with a main window of options. Select the option to restore from a Time Machine backup then click on the Continue button.

Restore Time Machine backup to Raid 0 (Striped set)?

I've been struggling with setting up my Mac mini (late 2012) server with a Striped RAID set and then restoring a Time Machine backup to the new RAID 0 volume. Here are the steps I have undertaken:
Bought a 3TB Airport Time Capsule and created a full restore of my existing Time Machine backups to it.
My Mac mini has dual 1TB hard drives. Pressed Command + R on bootup and entered recovery mode.
Using Disk Utility, I created a Striped RAID set by adding both my 1TB drives as slices to a new RAID set and clicked on Create.
After the RAID set was created, I exited Disk Utility.
Clicked on Restore from Time Machine Backup.
The process fails as it cannot create a Recovery Partition on a RAID set.
After much exploration, I think the problem can be resolved by attempting to Reinstall OS X on Step 5 and then attempting a Time Machine restore after the core OS is in place. Thoughts?

Additional Information
A Recovery partition cannot be created on RAID volumes. If your startup device is a RAID volume, you back up and reconfigure your computer to use a non-RAID boot volume. If needed, create a separate RAID volume for data which is not the target of the OS X installation. You can also create an external, bootable drive with a Recovery partition, as described above.
See this article if the following message appears during the install process:
"Install Failed: OS X could not be installed on your computer. OS X can't be installed on the disk because a recovery system can't be created. Visit www.apple.com/support/no-recovery to learn more"
From:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4649

How to restore Time Machine backup (2011 mini with Snow)?

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