Access Time Machine Backup from a different computer

Hi everyone,
I have recently had to put my Macbook in for repair and have been told it will be about a month before I get it back. My wife has a Macbook of her own, so I using that for the time being to continue working on my MA essays due in the next two weeks. My problem is that I dutifully did a complete backup of my files through Time Machine before sending my own Macbook away, only to find I cannot access the files on my wife's computer!
I realise this is completely my fault, but the files in the Time Machine backup represent months of work and I desperately need access to them! I have tried accessing the backups via Time Machine, and when this failed I went through Finder to the Backup folder on my external hard drive, only to find a little no entry sign next to the relevant folders. When I try to open them I get told I 'do not have sufficient access privileges'. Is there ANY way around this? I am desperate!

The Northern Contingent wrote:
Hi everyone,
I realise this is completely my fault, but the files in the Time Machine backup represent months of work and I desperately need access to them! I have tried accessing the backups via Time Machine, and when this failed I went through Finder to the Backup folder on my external hard drive, only to find a little no entry sign next to the relevant folders. When I try to open them I get told I 'do not have sufficient access privileges'. Is there ANY way around this? I am desperate!
You should post this with something to do with "Access privileges" in the title so the right people read it - those who don't use Time Machine probably won't bother with this thread. You were right to try a direct-access route through the Finder, because you can drag Time Machine files directly when you need to. I don't know enough about permissions to help you with the permission thing; it might be as simple as setting up an account on your wife's machine that has the same username and password as your own machine.
But note (in regard to the Jeremy's post) that if you do get a new logic board - yes, he's right, you'll have a different MAC address, which means you can't continue on with your TM backups. But you can't change the MAC address on the logic board; instead, there's a nice, geeky way to change the Time Machine backups record of what MAC address they were married to. You'll find the info here:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101

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Open time machine backup from a different computer

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Thanks Kevin for the suggestion posted on MacOSXHints how to "Repair Time Machine after logic board changes".
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101
It seems as though I am not alone with my frustration with the way Time Machine uses the MAC address of a computer to tell one system from another. This means that if you have your Mac repaired with a new logic board, or replace your system with a new one, you can't resume backups where you left off. Reading through the readers who used the fix using Terminal, it appears that the fix does not always work. I contacted Apple again, but they were no help. Surely Apple should come out with a solution as more and more people use Time Machine/Time Capsule.
It is CRAZY that after a change computers or a switch in the computer logic board that you cannot resume your Time Machine back ups.

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.
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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.

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

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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

Making a Time Machine Backup from a networked computer

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Download and install SuperDuper on MBP1's hard drive.
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The success of this procedure in producing a bootable copy of MBP1's drive on MBP2's drive relies very heavily on your statement that the two MBPs are exactly the same model. If that isn't true, all bets are off.

HT201250 Accessing Time Machine backups from other machines

I am using Time Machine to back up my iMac to Time capsule. The iMac will then be going to work with my husband and we would like to access the music and picture files with our two MBPs. Is this possible? I would be happy to only back up the iPhoto and iTunes libraries but that doesn't seem to work. Any advice on that?

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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.
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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

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

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

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Hi m,
I don't know if this would make a difference or not, but you could try booting the iMac in FireWire Target Disk Mode.
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Unable to access time machine backup. The folder "Documents" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents.

My MacBook Pro with 750GB storage refuses to startup due to a problem with logic board (unfortunately I'm in Singapore and there is no Apple store here and zero customer support). I'm trying to access some of the files from the time machine back-up using my MacBook Air with 120GB storage, but I'm unable to open the backup. I receive an error message "you don't have permission to see its contents". Unable to access time machine backup. The folder “Documents” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.
I don't really want to migrate the data from the time machine to the MacBook Air as I simply don't have sufficient storage space on the MacBook Air. The iPhoto library which I'm trying to access is 200GB, which is more than the size of the MacBookAir.
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When you setup the Mac, you created a Admin user account with say name X
You ran Migration Assistant and it migrated user Y from the Windows machine.
User Y has different permissions than User X.
User X can't normally access User Y's account.
So what you do is log out of User X via the Apple menu and into User Y, this way you have permission to access the files.
If you want to transfer files from User Y to User X account
Transfer files between user accounts on the same machine instructions
Finder > Go menu > Computer
A window appears with your boot drive, double click on it to open
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I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work. Help?

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work.
^^ that's the main problem. Here's the full history.
I bought a new 13" i5 MBP, early 2011 edition. I had an old white Macbook 2.14 ghz core2duo on Snow Leopard. I attempted to port over my time machine backup, but encountered problems in that my User was inaccessible from the new computer after the import finished, and I had to go in and change the root password, etc, and for some reason or another, I couldn't install any programs at all from that administrator's account. By "couldn't" I mean I could install them, but upon installation they would never boot. So, I took it to the apple store and did a clean install from the most up to date Lion OSX. Then, I created a brand new admin account, instead of trying to import the old one, and things seemed great. Then, I just imported my old files from the TM backup, but not any system settings, permissions, or user data. Just my Docs, pics, vids, apps, and itunes stuff.
Here's where things get weird again. I imported this stuff under the name "old", but all of these folders have a red negative sign on them, marking them as restricted. So, from my main admin account, I cannot even peruse these folders. Since I didn't import user data, I can't sign in to the "old" account to change permissions. I already tried to change the permissions from system preferences, but that didn't change anything. And now, for whatever reason, of all the apps that were imported then, MS Office is the only set of apps that does not work. When I click on it, it just says there was a problem and asks if I'd like to send a report to apple. I tried reinstalling it to no avail. I'm an English student, so i really need access to Word. Can anyone help? The Apple store is a major detour for me and would like to fix this issue myself.

Most likely you have Office 2004 which are PPC-only applications and will not work in Lion. Upgrade to Office 2011. Other alternatives are:
Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.)
Open Office (Office 2007-like suite compatible with OS X.)
NeoOffice (similar to Open Office.)
LibreOffice (a new direction for the Open Office suite.)

Cannot transfer Time Machine backups from one external drive to another

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I want to move my Time Machine backups from the 1TB Lacie Rugged to a partition on the 2TB Lacie Rugged (to take advantage of the new Lacie's Thunderbolt connection).
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HT202380: Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive
and followed the instructions precisely. About 2 hours into the transfer I came back to my MacBook Pro and saw a message saying that it was not possible to complete the transfer because I did not have the correct permissions. The only option was to click the OK button which stopped the transfer.
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Hi Eric,
Thank you for your response. I came across another thread yesterday which suggested the Restore via Disk Utility method. It worked for me, too. This was after I had tried following the method suggested in the Apple article above three times but each time the message was the same ....
The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.
I dare say that Apple would like to have us believe that it's a simple matter of 'drag and drop' but it certainly wasn't for me. From what I've read the permission problem crops up fairly frequently. Before the second and third attempts I had already amended Permissions on the Time Machine backups so that everyone could read and write, so that mustn't have been the problem. I'm the only person who uses my computer so that's not a problem.
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Of course, Apple says you can resize partitions using Disk Utility. What they don't say is you can downsize partitions but (in my experience and that of many other frustrated users on various forums) you CANNOT upsize using Disk Utility. I have 100GB spare on my external hard drive (from downsizing two partitions by 50GB each) BUT there is no way Disk Utility will let me increase the size of SuperDuper partition to 350GB :-(((
Cheers
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Move Time Machine backup from hard drive to Time Capsule

I have a new Time Capsule. Can I move my existing Time Machine backup from a hard drive to the TC? The tips given back in 2010 in this forum are no longer available.

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See Q18 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Access Time Machine Backup from a different computer

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