Accessing Backup Files On Time Machine From Another Mac

Hi everyone,
I use 1 Time Machine on both my iMac and MacBook Air.
How can I access the Backup Files of my iMac on my MacBook Air, using the Time Machine?
I hope this is not too confusing! Thanks, everyone!

Unfortunately, what you ask is complex and difficult at best for most users. Please take a look at this User Tip provided by forum expert Tesserax for a review of the methods that might be used to do what you ask.
AirPort Disk - Remote Access (3 Methods)
Among the methods listed, I use Method 3, so can provide a few tips on that. It does require that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) furnish you with a a fixed or static IP address for your Internet connection....and....that you have the correct type of modem and router that would allow Port Mapping to be able to reach the data on the Time Capsule.
Most users choose the Back to My Mac Method, abbreviated as BTMM, which is supported by Apple. Depending on the nature of the network at work, you may or may not be able to access your backups at home. Please contact Apple Support for more details on this.
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

Similar Messages

Access specific files in the time machine from another Mac

I bought one mac air with less space than the mac pro backup that I have in the Time Machine, so I can't migrate the old mac to the new mac air. How can I Access specific files in time machine then? Thank you.

You can still get your files out of the TM backup..
There are several methods..
you can do it manually.
See Can't access old files on time capsule
You can also buy a USB drive large enough for the whole backup and simply restore the whole thing to that drive plugged into your computer.. you can then pick and choose what files you want. And at any time you want. Having files in their standard format and location is hugely easier than TM backups.
If you run into permissions issues there is a fair bit of help although a bit outdated in pondini KB.
So read through the info here..
Q14-17 on restore in particular. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
And check the troubleshooting for specific problems that can arise.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Section E in particular.
You can pull the hard disk out of your Mac Pro.. that is not hard.. put it in a USB to sata holder and access files that way..
Overall this is what I would do anyway.. because you will not want to junk the computer with files intact.. pull the files directly off the old hard disk.
Let me also commend to you a different strategy in the future..
TM is great when it works.. sadly on every upgrade Apple make changes to it.. and cause utter chaos.
Buy a 3rd party backup software.. I use CCC and like it.. you create bootable clones of your Mac.. that means all files are readily accessible because you can literally boot directly from the backup.. or access the files because they are not hidden, compressed, rewritten in strange formats.. etc.
Recovery of a computer with a dead hard disk is 3min exercise where you hold the options key during boot and choose the backup disk.
You can continue to use TM for the incremental backups which it does very well.. but have the bootable clone as a way of accessing everything. From which you can then easily access the TM backup for whatever might be missing.. I do not do Clones on regular basis.. so it is slightly different method of doing things..
You can never have enough backups.

Can I access my Time Machine from another mac?

My current mac (an iBook G4, early 2005) has I think died irreparably. I'm waiting to see if it can be repaired but in the meantime I'd like to know if I can plug my Time Machine into another Mac (either a friend's or a family member's, both have 2006 MacBooks) and be able to access my stuff? I read elsewhere in the forum that this was possible if you were setting up a new mac, but I won't be able to buy a new computer for a while and need quite badly to be able to get at my documents.

yes, it's possible. plug it into the other computer. control-click on TM inthe dock and choose" browse other Time Machine disks".

How do i use a Time Machine from another computer from Time Capsule with multibackups

Can Iuse a Time Machine from another computer from Time Capsule with multibackups

Not sure what you are asking here.
Time Machine is software on a Mac that is used to backup that Mac to a Time Capsule hard drive.
Are you asking if another Mac can backup to the same Time Capsule that other Macs are already using?
Or, if not....please clarify on exactly what you want to do.

HT203177 My new Time capsule 802.11n (4th generation) remains saving after a long time (3 weeks) but there is no backups files in time machine. It seems that it is working without results. What should I do?

My new Time capsule 802.11n (4th generation) remains saving after a long time (3 weeks) but there is no backups files in time machine. It seems that it is working without results. What should I do?

Hello, no experience with TC, but...
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.

Can't restore individual iPhone backup file via Time Machine

Hello,
I was hoping someone here might be able to assist me. I seem to have lost my iPhone backup file, but when I access the backup files in time capsule under user, in library under mobilesync, I can't even make it that far in time capsule, all I get to is a sparse image file of the username, is there a way I can access these files without a complete restore?
Thanks!

If you mean you're using the Finder, that's not how to restore from Time Machine.
See #15 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).

I can not access my files in time machine

I am trying to restore a file from time machine. When I try to select the file in time machine, it is not accessible. I can not select anything. Only the folder that was selected when I started time machine is highlighted and can be restored but I can not switch to a different folder or select a specific file.

This option was removed in v9.1.5
IPhoto menu -> Provide iPhoto Feedback

Time Machine from old Mac to new Mac

I recently changed my Macbook Pro (mid 2010) to one of the newer models.
I use an external HD via an Airport Extreme (I know its not recommended, but its been working perfectly for over 18 months)
I attempted to use a time machine backup to setup the new Macbook, but had to opt for using the Migration Assistant. I was able to restore from my last backup, but now Time Machine inisists on creating a new backup, instead of continuing to use the previous backup.
I've noticed that within the actual HD that it has a SparseBundle for the old Macbook, which can be mounted, but I cannot access any of the files due to restricted priveleges?
When TM begins creating the new backup, it creates the Backups.backupdb folder as expected, so I'm just wondering if theres anything I can do to try clean all this up so I can continue to use the same backup hierarchy as from the previus Macbook?
Apologies if I'm missing anything here or lack clarification, but I'm a first time user of the communities

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Just change the new Mac's +Computer Name+ in System Preferences > Sharing.

How to access Time Machine from Another Computer?

My daughter's iBook went down and is in the shop for repair and we want to access her Time Machine back up from another computer. Does anyone know if there is any way to do that?

Time Machine won't do it as far as I can tell.
However, you can access the backups through Finder.
Warning - you *do not* want to do anything but copy out files - no deletes, moves, renames, no nuttin... Doing so will screw up the backups for any future Time Machine use!
If the backups are on an external disk, then just navigate to the folder Backups.backupdb/yourMachineName there you will find each backup by date/time with the contents of the system at that time.
If the backups are to a Time Capsule you need to mount the backups - the sparsebundle file - first then examine the folder Backups.backupdb/yourMachineName.
Time Machine does have a 'Browse Other Time Machine Disks' option, but as far a I can exercise it it only looks at other disks with backups for the same machine.
Again _only copy_ out files. Normally one should only use Time Machine, but here you can't - so be cautious.

Can I copy files from Time Machine to another Mac (or flash drive, etc)?

I hosed my hard drive yesterday (dropped the MBP on a hard floor). Fortunately, I have a TM backup that was done only an hour or so before the accident. It will take me a couple of days to get a new HD and install it, so I'm wondering if it will mess up the TM backup if I copy some of the files onto another system so I can continue stuff I need to do until I can restore the system.
I do *not* intend to do any work, change files, etc on the backup drive, just want to work on them on another system, then copy back *after* the MBP is restored and functional.
Thanks,
Chuck

That is very useful info! Thanks. I have a new drive in and the TM restore went fine, so I'm in business again.
So you are saying that this method will not damage TM access to the backup file, as for example in needing to do a complete restore?
Thanks again,
Chuck

Where can I find an iPad backup file in Time Machine?

I want to restore my iPad from a backup. I know how to do this, and have already done it before.
However, this time I would like to find a backup that is stored in Time Machine. So, two questions:
1) can I even do this?
2) if I can, then do you know where iTunes keeps the backup files for iPad's in OS X Lion? I would assume that I should be able to locate the backup file, copy it to my current day Mac and then restore the iPad using that file, no?
In previous OS versions the backups used to be in: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
However I have searched my whole machine and can't find a single folder that is called MobileSync. It is not hidden, nor in ~Library, nor in the USER\XXX\Library, nor anywhere.
Thank you,

That path is still correct - at least it is on my system - but unless you had Library brought out into a place where it could be found, in the Sidebar for instance, I don't know how you'd get into it in Time Machine. Try this, though: access the user's Library folder via the Go To Folder command, then drag the Library folder into the sidebar. Then run Time Machine and see if the Library folder persists in the TM interface. If it does, you should then be able to navigate into Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ and find and restore the backup folder.
Hope this helps.

How do I stop a copy of backup files? Time Machine filled my extern HD, I bought a 2TB, drag and drop the old backup files and now my iMac has been stuck in "preparing copy" mode all night.

My 235 MB external HD was full, I bought a new 2TB and dragged and dropped the old backup files to it. Now my iMac is frozen in "preparing copy" mode. How can I 'unfreeze' it? How should I move the backup files from one external HD to the other?

This has been answered here so may times (especially by pondini, e.g. in this thread Time Machine stuck in repeating "preparing files" cycle), so please search this forum the next time before asking such a question.

How do I transfer files through time machine from old macbook to new macbook pro?

I have Lion on my old macbook and I have saved all my info through time machine. How do I transfer my files to my new macbook pro?

If you want to restore all you old machine to your new MacBookPro, simply restart you computer in Recovery mode (Hold option key while restarting), select restore from Time Machine Backup, and select the latest or whatever date you like.
On the other hand if you want your new MacBook to use your old TM back, just inherit that backup using the following command in Terminal:
tmutil inheritbackup {machine_directory | sparsebundle}
You will find detailed instructions for inherit backups here: http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html

Mediasmart ex485 - cant create backup file for time machine

I've got an Ex485 that I've put a second 750GB drive into. I'm trying to create a 200GB backup file, however the indicator will get to a certain percentage (44%) and then stop. I dont know why its doing this but its very frustrating. I can only create small backup files - 50GB or smaller. And those small sizes are of no use to me, I need it to be able to backup all my data on my mac.

I have the EX490, so it may be different, but I had to manually create a directory on the EX490 called 'Mac', then share that to make it work. It did not work out of the box. When I run the mac software from the EX490 it installs a HP Mediaserver icon in my system preferences. From there it lets me create a Time Machine volume. I have set this up on two separate macs now in the house and both can backup with Time Machine. One volume is 100GB and the other 400GB. Not sure if this helps you? Also running Snow Leopard if that makes any difference.

How do I access old files on Time Machine?

I am trying to go back far enough to get a data file that doesn't automatically get updated in Quicken. I apparently have a corrupted data file that make Quicken 2015 crash every time I try to open it. The problem started in October 2014 so I have tried to go back to early September using the same file name but have not had any luck despite replacing the file with the older file but same file name. do I need to assign a new file name to the older file in order for it to work? I have been assured that the Quicken software appears to be working and it is the latest version so they are stumped. I'm dead in the water and need any advice you can offer.
Thanks in advance.

Hi,
You would normally open the folder where the file or item normally resides.
You would then launch Time Machine and use the arrows to go back in time and select the same File/items name and then press Restore to bring it "forward" to the current date.
You can also manually look in your Back Up Drive/Backups.backupdb/computer name and then the dated folders and then the "mirror' spot in the file system that the item normally resides.
Whilst this sounds like an easy way you may have to search lots of folders to find the item as an item is only saves when it is changed.
You should not need to change the File Name using Time Machine.
If you were thinking on manually bring it to the Desk top from inside the back Up files I would make a Copy and rename it. Then work on the copy.
In the Console App (Applications/Utilities) there may well be a Crash Log of the app which may give more clues.
I don't use Quicken but the Log may show some generic type issue or highlight something about the files it is trying to open.
It might pay to say what sort of data is in this particular file as people who use Quicken may be able to spot something.
10:00 pm Friday; December 26, 2014
 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Accessing Backup Files On Time Machine From Another Mac

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