Using Time Machine, is it possible to backup all of my old emails. If so, please describe the process.

I would like to be able to backup all of my old emails and remove them from the MacBook Pro HDD. I am using Time Machine and a Promise Pegasus RAID display. I can't seem to find any information about how this might be accomplished. If any one knows how to do this, please post the process in as much detail as possible. Thanks to all who respond.

You cannot use a Time Machine backup as a substitute for storage on your computer's hard drive. For that you need a separate storage-only hard drive. If you haven't space on your hard drive, then you should think about getting a larger hard drive and/or moving files to a permanent storage drive.
Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

Similar Messages

Using Time Machine, is it possible to back up a computer AFTER a specific date. I only want to back up files from AFTER January 2015. Is this possible, and how can I do this?

Using Time Machine, is it possible to back up a computer AFTER a specific date. I only want to back up files from AFTER January 2015. Is this possible, and how can I do this?

emilypdunne wrote:
Using Time Machine, is it possible to back up a computer AFTER a specific date. I only want to back up files from AFTER January 2015. Is this possible, and how can I do this?
Is what you're saying that you only want backups in TM of the state of your Mac from January 2015 to the current date and nothing before then? I'd think the simplest solution would just be to delete in TM all the backups prior to 1/15 and then let TM do its thing. The ultimate source for all things Time Machine is here. On this page, note the comment that "Time Machine will never delete the backup copy of anything that was on the disk being backed-up at the time of any remaining backup" which I understand to mean that if you delete all the backups in the TM file prior to 1/15, any file that wasn't present on your Mac as of 1/15 will no longer be represented in the TM file. Note that the second link also has instructions for how to delete TM files.
If you were trying to accomplish something else, then as Emily Litella (Gilda Radner in SNL) used to say, "never mind."

I recently bought a WD My Book Live to backup using Time Machine, now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. The WD drive appears in the Finder, it doesn't appear as an option when setting up the backup disc in Time Machine.

I recently bought a WD My Book Live to backup using Time Machine, now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. The WD drive appears in the Finder, but it doesn't appear as an option when setting up the backup disc in Time Machine. Any ideas please?

" now that I've upgraded to and my old NAS won't support Mountain Lion. "
Do you have a few words missing in the original question ?.
When i upgraded from LION to MOUNTAIN LION it made NO difference at all to my MyBook Live !!!
reading the original post again and again, do you in fact have two My Book Live units, an old one and a new one ?
tim

I just got a new MacBook Pro, and I tried to bring across my files from my last mac using time machine. After it was done copying I can't find my files anywhere but the space (about 130gb) has been used on my hard drive. Help please!!

I just got a new MacBook Pro, and I tried to bring across my files from my last mac using time machine. After it was done copying I can't find my files anywhere but the space (about 130gb) has been used on my hard drive. Does anyone know how I can get to them? I did change my user name from 'user' while it was copying, could this have something to do with it?

You don't want to do that by copying.
Your best bet, by far, is to use Setup Assistant. If your Mac is running Snow Leopard, see Using Setup Assistant on Snow Leopard or Leopard.
If it came with Lion, it's a bit different: Using Setup Assistant on Lion

Just got a new MacMini. Migrated files using Time Machine. However, now, on Launchpad, I see several Firmware updates that were relevant for the old machine, but not for the new one. How do I get rid of these updates? They won't delete!

Just got a new MacMini. Migrated files using Time Machine. However, now, on Launchpad, I see several Firmware updates that were relevant for the old machine, but not for the new one. How do I get rid of these updates? They won't delete!

Only thing I can think of is trying this Lion trick...
http://www.cultofmac.com/106030/how-to-nuke-lions-launchpad-and-start-over/10603 0/

Using Time Machine to restore an *older* BackUp drive

Here's my situation - I have currently been backing up my 2 computers (A Macbook Pro and a Mac Pro tower) to two separate external bootable drives (not Time Machines). I then take the drives off site in case of theft or fire, and know that if I need to I can always restore from these bootable backups.
However, because of the time and effort of bringing them in from their offsite location, I only back up once every few weeks, sometimes a month or more. So I just purchased an internal drive (separate from my system drive) to use as a Time Machine drive, for both of my computers (only one partition). Since they will be backing up every day, I will retain much more recent material in case of drive failure.
My question is this - if I have a drive failure on my current internal system drive, and the internal Time Machine is intact, is it possible for me to take my external bootable backup (say 3 weeks older than Time Machine in how recently it was backed up), make a cone of that on a new internal system drive, and then use Time Machine to restore that drive to what is most current on Time Machine?
Does this question make sense? I'm essentially trying to use a combination of external bootable drives and Time Machine in order to have peace of mind, knowing that I will have a complete, bootable restore, but it will then be able to become as up to date as the last Time Machine backup.

Daniel Greeney wrote:
So I just purchased an internal drive (separate from my system drive) to use as a Time Machine drive, for both of my computers (only one partition). Since they will be backing up every day, I will retain much more recent material in case of drive failure.
Let Time Machine back up every hour, as it's designed. That will protect you best.
My question is this - if I have a drive failure on my current internal system drive, and the internal Time Machine is intact, is it possible for me to take my external bootable backup (say 3 weeks older than Time Machine in how recently it was backed up), make a cone of that on a new internal system drive, and then use Time Machine to restore that drive to what is most current on Time Machine?
Does this question make sense?
The question makes sense until you realize that Time Machine backups contain everything you need (unless you do something silly, like exclude your system files).
Once the new drive is installed and formatted, you can restore your entire system from the TM backups faster than you can copy the clone to the new internal HD. See #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum. Note that you use the Snow Leopard Install disc only for the Installer on it; you don't install OSX from it.

When using time machine with external hardrive to backup, some music items from iTunes and some photos from iPhoto do not transfer to backup hardrive. What am I ding wrong? Using latest version of mountain lion.

When I use time machine with my external harddrive to back up computer, some music from iTunes library, and some photos from iPhoto library are missing when I check backup disk. I am using latest version of mountain lion. Am I doing something wrong?

First, Time Machine doesn't completely back up the iPhoto library while iPhoto is running. Make sure you quit iPhoto after making any changes to allow a backup to take place.
This simple procedure will clear your Time Machine settings, including both overt and hidden exclusions. If you have a long exclusion list that can't be recreated easily, you may prefer a more complicated procedure that preserves the exclusion list. In that case, ask for instructions. Otherwise, do as follows.
Triple-click the line below to select it:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal
from the contextual menu. A Finder window should open with a file selected. Copy it to the Desktop. Then move it (the original, not the copy) to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your administrator password. Reboot, recreate your settings in the Time Machine preference pane, and run a backup to test. If TM now performs as expected, delete the file you copied to the Desktop.

When i try to use time machine it locks up preparing backup

when i try to use time machine it locks up preparing back up.I have used this back up for a year with no problem and it has 900gb of unused space

Trocker
Thanks for the follow up.
I think that we need to fine tune the exchange of information.
When you mentioned "capture", my first impression was that you were doing a DV and HDV capture firewire into the Premiere Elements Capture Window.
Premiere Elements 12 Capture WIndow.
With your additional information, what I suspect you are doing is the following:
1. Attaching your camera to the computer via USB (USB Mass Storage On) setting the computer AutoPlay for
Organize and Edit
Premiere Elements 12
which opens the Elements Organizer - Photo Downloader dialog.
2. If I am guessing correctly so far, in this dialog what are you setting as the Save Location? And, what is being transferred photos or videos or both.
(I have done a run through with my camera, and this path can do both. I left the Save Location as "Pictures" and did not run into any "Insert Disc" messages.
3. Again, if I am guessing correctly on this one (based on your "automatically Organizer opening", what happens if you transfer from camera to computer hard drive location, perhaps a folder on the computer desktop?
We will be watching for your follow up to confirm details.
Thanks.
ATR

After my hard drive was replaced I installed Mountain Lion. I was unable to use time machine or migration assistant to access files on my external Omega hard drive even though the files are still there? Is there another way?

My hard drive on my iMac was unrepairable so Apple installed a new one for me. When I reconnected my external Iomega USB hard drive I could "see" the original backup figures and the rows of "windows" and back to the original red rows of dates in time machine, but I could only access the recent installation date of my new OS X Mountain Lion. Migration assistant would not work as well only accessing the recent backups. Is there a way to "unlock" the past data so I can retrieve my documents and photos without resorting to purchasing "rescue" software??

I can't see backups for a disk/partition that's no longer connected

HT3275 Continue using Time Machine backup history after switching disk from local to Airport Extreme?

I have been using Time Machine on my iMac for backups for quite some time. The disk I've been using is a single disk connected via USB. Now that I got an AirPort Extreme base station, I wanted to switch the disk drive to the AirPort Extreme, but continue to use my existing backup history and not start a new one.
When I did that, Time Machine complaint that the disk does not have enough space left to do the initial backup. Again, I don't want to start a new backup history but rather seamlessly append to and continue with my existing backup history that's already on the disk.
Is this possible and how?
Thanks,
Torsten

torbu_us wrote:
I have been using Time Machine on my iMac for backups for quite some time. The disk I've been using is a single disk connected via USB. Now that I got an AirPort Extreme base station, I wanted to switch the disk drive to the AirPort Extreme, but continue to use my existing backup history and not start a new one.
As the other poster says, that's usually unreliable and not supported by Apple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.
When I did that, Time Machine complaint that the disk does not have enough space left to do the initial backup.
That's because Time Machine stores backups differently when they're done over a network. See the blue box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17 for an explanation.

Using Time Machine & Superduper as backup solutions

I have a 2 TB firewire drive that I have partitioned into a partition for Time Machine and Superduper. My thought is to have a bootable backup using Superduper and use Time machine for individual user file storage and recovery. I also have Parallels running and the Vista environment under Parallels is about 200 GB. Time machine is always backing up that file if I have Parallels running, so i am excluding Windows Vista.pvm which is that environment. What else can I exclude safely from Time Machine that is just redundent if I am using Superduper.
I am going to schedule Superduper to run at 2:00 AM each day.
Any concerns or suggestions about my approach or are their any alternatives that would be better.

EricGAnderson wrote:
I am sure that I don't need a lot of system files
Yes, you do. First, they don't take up much space (they're only backed-up when they change); second, you can't do a full system restore without them. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #11, especially the pink box.
Superduper may be just as easy a way to restore a file like an app that does not change from month to month.
A "simple" app, yes. A "complex" one (typically one that came with its own installer), no. Those put other files in other places, and/or "helper" apps; if you don't also restore all of them, the app won't work properly.
Again, the space saved is rarely significant.
Message was edited by: Pondini

Problem using Time Machine with Seagate BackUp Plus Pls HELP!!

I have a late 2006 iMac (running OS 10.5.8) & am trying to back up using Time Machine with a new Seagate BackUp Plus drive. When I select the Seagate drive in Time Machine it tells me I msut first erase the (Seagate) disk. When I hit ERASE, I get a Time Machine error : COULD NOT UNMOUNT DISK. I see from various posts that 10,5 & 10,6 have issues with some external drives so want to upgrade to Mavericks (to get around this incompatibility issue): HOwever apparently my iMac is too old (by 1 year) to allow this. Can anyone give me any advice on how to get my iMac content backed up via Time Machine using the Seagate BackUP PLus drive I bought (becasue it is supposedly "compatible with PCs & Macs".
Thank you!!
Wendy

Your Seagate drive should work just fine. If it doesn't have any important data on it, try re-formatting it with Disk Utility to blank it out. Or run the Disk verify/repair and see if you can get it to fix any problems.
I have a Drobo FS too. You probably need a firmware update, they issued one a while back to fix problems with Time Machine. Use the Dashboard or download it from their support site, http://www.drobo.com/support/updates.php
Just curious how long you let it run after it "stalled". If it is a big file it could just be taking a while to copy over, do you see activity lights on the USB drive? The first time you use time machine let it run overnight, it's going to take a while, after that it will update quickly.
While you're at it, you might want to verify your start-up disk too with Disk Utility.

How can I use time machine to back up and play media?

I just bought an external hard drive that I wanted to back up some media files onto (music and photos). I also want to stove videos/movies on the hard drive and play them from there. A few questions:
1. Is that the same as backing up with time machine or is it referred to as something else?
2. Can I use time machine to add new files, or should I do that manually?
3. Once the files are on my hard drive, can I remove them from my computer or should I keep them there?
I know that these questions may seem obvious, but I'm concerned about losing files because I don't understand what time machine actually does. Please feel free to ask me questions if you need to understand my question better. Thanks!

Time Machine makes a backup of your hard drive, which you can restore from, but not use as a repository of data.
Time Machine automatically makes incremental backups as you change things on the Mac HD.
Time Machine is not an archive, meaning if you make a backup, and then delete the originals from your Mac, Time Machine will eventually delete the copies it has made.
However, if you copy the files directly to the external, then you can remove them from the computer. But, those will be your only copies. If that disk dies, they'll be gone. So, that's really not a backup. It's the only source.
You can back up to Time Machine and also store other files on the same disk.

How do i use a time capsule as a shared drive and back it up to another time capsule using time machine ??

how do i use a time capsule as a shared drive and back it up to another time capsule using time machine ??

You cannot backup network drives with Time Machine.
You can simply setup the TC in the network.. it is a shared drive.

I have a Airport Time Capsule 2T, I would like to know if it is possible to backup all my apple divides (iMac, iPhone and iPad)?

I have a Airport Time Capsule 2T, I would like to know if it is possible to backup all my apple divides (iMac, iPhone and iPad)?

The iMac can back up to the Time Capsule, but iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad back up to either iTunes on your Mac....or....to iCloud.
If the iPhone and iPad back up to iTunes on your Mac, then when the iMac backs up the iOS backups are sent to the Time Capsule as well. So, the iPhone and iPad back up indirectly to the Time Capsule.
The iPhone and iPad cannot back up directly to the Time Capsule.
For more information on iOS backups, see this Apple support document:
Back up and restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using iCloud or iTunes - Apple Support

Using Time Machine, is it possible to backup all of my old emails. If so, please describe the process.

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