Using MacBook Time Machine in a new MacBook Pro-possible?

Hi All,
Apologize if this is a re-post question or very basic. But appreciate your help.
I have been using a MacBook (white) for sometimes and take advantage of the Time Machine in its MacOS X to back up my files. I am planning to get myself a new MacBook Pro. However, I wonder whether I could use all the time machine backup in my external harddrive of my MacBook with the new MacBook Pro.
Is anyone can give me suggestion? How to do this if this is possible.
Thanks

you can use Migration Assistant (it's in /Applications/Utilities) to migrate your user data and applications from the MB backup to the new MBP. You'll also have the same option during the initial computer setup. after that MBP will need to start its own backup sequence. It can't use the old MB backups except in browse mode.

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Using Time Machine on the new MacBook after migration

Hello,
I have an external hard disk that I use for time machine. I changed my laptop from Macbook Pro 15" to Macbook Pro 13" and I used this external hard disk to migrate from my older Macbook to the new one. Now I want to use my external hard disk to back up my new computer but the problem is that I think when I try to backup it makes the backup on top of everything from my older computer. The back up on the new Macbook takes 250GBs on top of 600-700GBs. I don't think that my backup should take 900GB of space. I think 600-700GBs is from the older computer and I don't want to have an unnecessary backup on top of what I actually need...
So what should I do to get rid of that 600-700GB properly , and then set the external hard disk as the new time machine for my new Macbook ?
My OS is 10.8.4.
Thank you

Michek wrote:
I used this external hard disk to migrate from my older Macbook to the new one.
Exactly how did you do that?
If you used Setup Assistant when the new Mac started up (preferred), or the Migration Assistant app later on, and let it transfer Computer Settings, when the next backup started, you should have been asked if you wanted the new Mac to "inherit" the old Mac's backups. See #B5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for more explanation and details.
If you did something else, or answered the prompt with Create New Backup, you may be able to do that manually. It's a bit geeky, though. See #B6 in the same link.

TIme Machine Error on new MacBook

When I try to run time machine, I am receiving an error message:
Time Machine Error
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while
copying files to the backup volume
The background is this. My wife and I had been using time machine with a MacBook on an external USB drive with no problems. Then I bought a new MacBook and used time machine to transfer my own files and folders. Time machine continues to work fine for her MacBook. When I tried to use the same external drive for my new MacBook I received the error message above. Then tried to run it manually but got the same error. Then I (I now know) made a mistake and attempted to erase fix the problem by erasing all of the old time machine backups using the finder.
At first, I thought that killed the external drive, but then I connected the old Macbook and ran time machine on the old MacBook - no problem! I then ran Disk Repair verify and it found the external drive to be fine. Oddly enough, when I then connected the new Macbook, time machine did a successful full backup of the new Macbook and later one successful incremental backup on the new Macbook. Just when I thought all was fine, time machine then began generating the error again on the new MacBook (though, so far, it still works fine on the old MacBook).
Before giving up and buying another external drive to use for time machine on the new Mac, I came to this forum, saw a post about the time machine buddy widget, and so here is the message from that:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 265.9 MB requested (including padding), 343.49 GB available
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Permission denied
Copied 0 files (0 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Permission denied
Copy stage failed with error:11
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Permission denied
Backup failed with error: 11
Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
Any thoughts for something I could try?
Thanks.

I wouldn't mind re-formatting the external drive, but before I do -- is it reasonable to think that I should be able to use the same external hard drive for time machine backups for two different Macs? It sure seems as if I should be able to, but I just thought I would ask. Thanks.

Use back up from Time Machine to start new MacBook Pro

Using the Time Machine and an external Hard Drive I back up my 3 years old MacBook (running Lion and with hard drive of 250 GB)
I am planning to purchase a new MacBook Pro (with a hard drive of 750 GB)
how do I transfer all my software and Data to my new computer?
if I plug my Time Machine to it will set up my new computer just the way I have my old Computer?
will all software work properly?
Any thing else I should have in Consideration??

K2spuky wrote:
Using the Time Machine and an external Hard Drive I back up my 3 years old MacBook (running Lion and with hard drive of 250 GB). Will all software work properly?
The old machine is running Lion already, then all your programs are ready already for the new machine with Lion.
how do I transfer all my software and Data to my new computer?
if I plug my Time Machine to it will set up my new computer just the way I have my old Computer?
Plug the TimeMachine drive into the new computer, boot it and when you go through the setup there will be a opportunity to transfer from the TM drive.
Shouldn't be a problem as your already on Lion.
Of course if your older machine software is crappy and slow, so will your new machine.
You might decide to fresh install instead, create the same user on the new machine then install all your programs from fresh original sources and then transfer files manually from the older machine, droppping the contents right into the same user folders as on the old machine.
More work, but actually saves work if your older machine is screwed up. Because Setup and Migration assistant has no brains, it transfers crap just as well as the good stuff. and despite what it says, it seems to transfer programs even if you state you just want files. Why I don't know, it's what someone said.
I never use either, because reinstalling the whole OS again, especially Lion with the Internet download, is not worth the chance. I'd rather download a few programs and transfer manually, takes about the same amount of time.

Transferring time machine files to new Macbook Pro

Hello All - I just got a new Macbook Pro and wish to use a time machine external backup disk to transfer everything from my three-year-old Macbook to it. The old Macbook has all the latest system updates, but there is an older version of iLife on it. So I wonder if this operation would replace the new version with the old one. Also, are there any other caveats? Thanks in advance for your help. JN

No, migration will not replace an older app with a newer one. However it's best to use setup assistant to make the transfer the first time you book up the new Mac.Otherwise it may create a second Home folder. Just choose from a TM volume.
-mj

How do I restore from time machine on a new macbook pro ?

Hello,
My Macbook pro was stollen about 2 months ago and i'm currently debating on which Macbook retina I should get, the higher 13" or the higher 15" model. In either case, how do I go about restoring the system to which my old macbook pro was at ? i.e getting the same itunes songs files, iPhoto pictures etc.
I have read that if the version of the os x in the time machine was an earlier than that on the new machine it would cause problems. so how do can I work around that if i face this problem ?
One last question, how can I know the space needed on the new system for the restoration from the time machine?

The new machine will boot into Setup Assistant, and you'll be prompted to import the data from a Time Machine backup, among other options. A system-version mismatch is OK.

Can I use a TIme Machine drive of my Macbook to transfer data to a new IMac

Hi everyone
I currently have a 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro as my main machine, using System 10.6.4.
I'm keen add a second computer which will allow me to run both systems at the same time.
My day job is a music producer, so I have plenty of audio programmes and plug ins, that are all intel spec and up to date, so I'm aware of tranferring new password codes etc to a new hard drive however I wondered if there were any potential issues transferring the data from my Macbook Pro and or it's Time Machine Drive to a new iMac ? I'm guessing not as they are both Intel Machines and will be running the same operating system, but any guidance to re-assure me would be greatfully received.
Many thanks in advance to any replies.
Robert

I wouldn't use Migration Assistant for anything but to transfer your Home folder assuming you wanted to operate out of the same account on both machines. That's certainly the easiest approach. It's what i do between my Mac Pro and my MBP.
But Migration Assistant is not a tool for maintaining synchronization between two computers. For that you can either have the two computers on the same local network and sync them over the network with third-party software. Or you can maintain an external "common" backup that is used to keep the two computers up to date using third-party software.
My choice is the common backup on an external hard drive. I use a notebook sized drive because it's easy to take with me when I travel. I backup the most recently changed computer to the external drive. Then connect it to the other computer and do an incremental update. This keeps both computers in sync. You just need to remember which was the most recently changed computer.
If you have a local network, then when both computers are connected to the network you can enable File Sharing on one of the computers, then sync the two with third-party software.
Backup Software Recommendations
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
6. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
7. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
8. Data Backup (Commercial)
9. SilverKeeper 2.0 (Freeware)
10. MimMac (Commercial)
11. Tri-Backup (Commercial)
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

How to use my time capsule on my new macbook pro retina (time machine error)

Hello all,
I've been using my old mac for a while with my time capsule, but recently I bought the new macbook pro retina and I wanted to use the time capsule as the backup disk on the new one. However, whenever I try to run the backup, a message appears "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/XXX’s MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use."
I wanted to override the settings so that the new macbook will use the time capsule for its backup disk instead of the old one, as I will no longer be using it.
I was wondering if anyone had this problem before and if anyone know how I can solve it?
Thank you

You could delete the old backup from your old laptop? If you need to keep it then you need to rename that folder so that your new macbook can creatie its own file in the same name.
Regards,
Ryan

Cannot access Time Machine backups on new MacBook Pro

Hey, I'm new to the forums, just wanting to throw it out there.
But to the point- Yesterday, I purchased a new MacBook Pro. I upgraded from a regular MacBook. I want to keep my Music, Pictures, and other Documents, so I used Time Machine to make an image of the old machine. I want to copy those specific folders over individually, so I didn't use the option to restore from the Time Machine backup. When I copied my Music folder into the location I wanted it, I tried to open the folder, and received an error message saying:
"The folder "Music" could not be opened because you do not have sufficient access privileges."
I went through Get Info and changed Permissions to Read and Write for Everyone. I don't really know what to do from here... It also does this when I try to access the backups on my external hard drive. Please help me!

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
You need to Restore the files from the backups, not copy them via the Finder. Time Machine, as you now know, uses special "deny everybody everything" permissions on it's backups to keep us mere mortals from moving, changing, or deleting them, which can hopelessly corrupt them. Restoring one Mac's backups to another one takes a few extra steps.
TM keeps the backups for each Mac separate, and normally only shows the ones for the Mac it's running on, even if there are other Macs' backups on the same disk/partition.
Since you're on a different Mac, you need the (badly named) +Browse Other Time Machine Disks+ option to see the old backups. Start with a normal Finder window, then hold down the Option key while selecting the TM icon in your Menubar, or by control-clicking (right-clicking) the TM icon in your Dock.
You'll see a selection screen showing all the disks/partitions that have TM backups on them. Select the one you want, and you'll be taken to the normal TM "Star Wars" interface, where you should see all the backups on that disk/partition.
You can then navigate to a backup (presumably the most recent one), in the "cascade" in the center of the display (the first, lowest one, represents "now"). Navigate to the folder you want to restore, select it, click the "gear" icon in the Finder window's toolbar and select the +Restore to ...+ option. Then you'll get a prompt for the destination.

"Reconnecting" Time Machine Backups on New Macbook Pro

I recently got a new macbook pro and used Time Machine to set it up. Unfortunately, when I attempt to continue to use time machine backups, I get the warning that I don't have enough space.
I next attempted to use the Pondini B6 troubleshoot to reconnect my backups via the terminal (http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html), however upon attempting to execute the "sudo tmutil inheritbackup" command I received the following error message:
The backup "I***Mac" can't be inherited because it would conflict with "I***’s MacBook Pro" (with I***Mac being the name of my old laptop and I***'s MacBook Pro being my new one).
Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I just wipe my backup HD?
Thanks so much

It helps!
After this:
sudo tmutil delete "/Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/Computername 2/"
sudo tmutil associatedisk -a /Volumes/Mac\ HD /Volumes/Time\ Machine/Backups.backupdb/Computername/Latest/Mac\ HD
I was able to go into Time Machine and see the backups that were in Computername that I hadn't been able to see via Time Machine (but could see from the command line).
And then I deleted a folder in TIme Machine (a profile inside ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox and the entire old backup in /Volumes/Time\ Machine/Backups.backupdb/Computername/ was deleted. Perhaps fat fingers? I dunno. I have a volume copy of the Time Machine volume, so I'll try again...

Time Machine transfer to new Macbook Pro

I bought a new Macbook Pro last week that I need to replace tomorrow due to slight case damage - I installed loads of applications such as Office 2008, transferred all photos etc and wondered if I do a Time Machine backup today before I return it tomorrow - can I transfer everything back over and have all applications working without having to reinstall them?
Cheers

Yes, you'll just need to do a restore using the Install disk.

Can i use my time machine backup of my macbook pro for my iMac?

its a new imac and i'm wondering if i can use time machine to get my imac where my macbook is...like mirror everything thats on my macbook.
hope that makes sense.
jon

Use Migration Assistant on your new iMac and select "Time machine or other backup disk" as the source.
Migration Assistant is in your Utilities folder.

HT201250 Time machine backup to new macbook

I am purchasing a new macbook.
If I use time machine and want to incorporate its backup into a new macbook, does it back up my itunes backup information of my iphone as well?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Time Machine makes a backup of everything on your OS X partition except you want to exclude some data. Also, if you want to restore files, you can choose what you want to restore, so the answer is that your iPhone backups will also be backed up

10.5.8 Time Machine backup migrate new MacBook pro...?

Hi all,
My venerable PowerBook G4 has died, but I take regular time machine backups.
If I purchase a new MacBook Pro, will I be able to migrate my data to it, if it's running Lion.
I undestand some of the old programs won't work - so be it, but I'm more concerned about my photo's.
Many thanks.

Yes.
Your best bet is to use Setup Assistant when your shiny new Mac first stars up. See How do I set up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC?

Time Machine and the New Macbook Air

I am selling my iMac and have purchased a new Macbook Air. Since it does not have firewire or a DVD drive, does anyone know if I can ask Time Machine to restore the latest iMac backup directly to the MBA as a way of transferring my files to the new computer? Thanks.

Anthony Curcio wrote:
I am selling my iMac and have purchased a new Macbook Air. Since it does not have firewire or a DVD drive, does anyone know if I can ask Time Machine to restore the latest iMac backup directly to the MBA as a way of transferring my files to the new computer? Thanks.
Where are your backups? If they're on a USB drive, or a Time Capsule, you should be able to use +Setup Assistant+ on first boot. 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 the +Snow Leopard > Installation and Setup+ forum).

Using MacBook Time Machine in a new MacBook Pro-possible?

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