Accessing Time Machine files on external drive

I'm going to be selling my iMac G5 soon and won't be replacing it for some months. I regularly back up the entire HD to an external drive using Time Machine.
I would like to be able to access my iMac files on the external drive, as and when required, using my MacBook.
Could you let me know whether this is possible as there seems to be a permissions issue when I attempt to do this?

Thank you, I've tried your suggestion and so far so good.
I'm having some issues opening my Lightroom Catalogue because of permissions issues, and also with they iPhoto library on the external drive, so I'll need to work out a way of resolving these problems.
I would like to be able to access these libraries 'as is' on the MacBook and use them just as I would on the iMac but the Time Machine backups are throwing up permissions errors. My user name is the same on both the MacBook and the iMac, so I don't think that is the issue.
Otherwise, I will have to think of another system and not bother with having a Time Machine backup. I think I'll need to copy/clone the iMac HD or at least the Documents folder but that would probably create some security issues as anyone will be able to access the files—which I don't want either.

Similar Messages

Copying Time Machine files to external drive for use with PC

Hello! Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
My MacBook Pro recently died. I have it backed up by Time Machine on an external drive. Now I'd like to copy my files from the backup to another external drive so that I can access them later from a PC computer running Windows (7 or 8). Is that possible? The Time Machine drive, I believe, is formatted specifically for Mac, but the external drive I'm trying to copy to is FAT32. Can I connect both to a friend's Mac, look for the files I need, and then copy them from the backup drive to the other external drive? Will a PC computer be able to read them?
Thanks!

Usually that error indicates a drive malfunction; specifically, the drive is spinning down and not responding to bus signals. Some "Eco" or "green" drives are known for this behavior. The following steps may help:
Select  ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive is connected to a hub, connect it to a built-in port on the computer.
If a firmware update is available for the drive, apply it.
Contact the drive manufacturer to see whether there's a firmware setting you can change.
If you installed vendor software for the drive, uninstall it.
If none of the above steps resolves the issue, try another drive.

My iphoto library disappeared. i am trying to restore my library from time machine -- from an external drive -- but everytime it tries to copy my library it tells me it can't do it because i don't have access to my iphoto library??!!! help!!

My iphoto library inexplicably disappeared! i am panicked but i do back up by time machine to an external drive and also to JustCloud. I am trying to restore my iphoto library from a back up on feb 28, 2014 and it says it's copying but then gives me a message that it can't do it because i "don't have authorization to access iphoto library"?! what does this mean? i really want to get my library back on my mac. Also if anyone knows why this happened or where my photos might be on my computer, i'd appreciate help with that, too.

Thank you Terence for your help. I was able to restore my backup from my time machine ext drive to a new 1tb seagate ext drive. so i felt sort of ok. but yesterday that older ext drive i used for time machine wouldn't open! i called applecare and they trouble shooted with me and said it's probably a goner and data is probably corrupted. it's only a few years old and i'm very careful with it. my husband accidentally dropped my new drive last night -- i know, unbelievable, i was SO upset, poor guy -- but I'm so stressed with all of this. i have 10 years of photos and videos. so now i only have the one newer drive with a backup. i have to buy another one today to backup again so i at least have two backups. i tried to delete a ton of files last night to free up the 30 gb of space i need to get my full library back on my mac. i have 90gb free and deleted 7 years worth of photos i had on picasa that were in my "pictures" folder and also a ton or random photos and videos i had in that same pictures folder and thought that would give me the 30 gb but it hardly freed up any space at all! do you know why that is? all of this stuff is really a pain and really stressful. thank god i did have a backup in the first place but now i am panicked the one i have left will somehow crash. especially after my husband dropped the drive lastnight! it didn't fall far and fell onto a wood floor and seems fine, but after my older ext drive crashed yesterday -- and i lost my entire iphoto library a fewweeks ago off my mac -- i feel cursed. any answers you have would be great. thank you.

External Drive with Time Machine, booting from external drive with utilitie

I'm using Time Machine now with
a LaCie 1TB external hard drive.
Everything works fine.
But, I've been wondering:
Can I place a program like TechTool
on the external drive (that Time Machine uses)
and boot from that external drive.
I would like to be able to do that,
because diagnostics and repair programs
only works properly and fully when they run from
external drives. Anything on the internal drive can be repaired
and examine. Impossible to do if Techtool is on the same
drive that's been examined.
Any thoughts as to what I should do?
Thanks
iMac, Leopard, Time Machine, Lacie Quadra 1TB drive.
P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
(from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?

pitou wrote:
P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
(from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?
As V.K. says, you can't boot from TM backups.
But you can restore your entire system from any one of them, per the procedure in #14 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
You can also selectively restore from them, while running normally. See #15 in the FAQ Tip.
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the rest of the FAQ Tip.

Replaced hard drive, but can't access Time Machine backups of old drive

My internal hard drive was failing so I replaced it. I told the people that replaced it that I could install the System myself and that I had backups of my data.
So, I got the machine home, booted up from the Snow Leopard Install DVD and selected Restore from Time Machine. I chose the last backup which was Mountain Lion 10.8.2. It crashed after several minutes.
So, I restarted. But I had my finger on the Control key rather than the Option key, so it booted to on-line recovery mode. When it asked me if I wanted to restore Lion I decided, "Sure. Why not? Since the restore from Time Machine doesn't work." That took about six hours.
Then I went to the App store and downloaded Mountain Lion. Another six hours and that is done.
Now I can't access the backups on Time Machine. They appear to be there. It shows backups to Feb 2011, which is when I installed Time Machine on an external drive. But I can only access databacked up from my new drive and Admin account.
Last night Browse Other Drives for Time Machine at least showed the old backups. After shutting down overnight only the new backups show.
I've run verify and repair on the external and it's okay.
Please tell me I can get that data back. There's over a decade of stuff there going back two other Macs. Photos, important documents, all my writing are there. I really need it back and I can't understand why I can't get back.
Thanks in advance.

Hi all... I had a very similar issue. I had a hard drive replaced by Apple on my iMac due to a total hard drive failure. I attempted to restore my last time machine back up through my time capsule but I get some type of sparse bundle package error. It appears that something is coming back from the back up as I only have about 180GB remaining space out of 1TB. Any advice? It appears that Apple had re-installed the latest version of Lion back to my hard drive. I'm completely distraught here as like Romantic Heretic, I have over a decade of information currently lost.
Any help with step by step directions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks

I have my Time Machine on an external drive (not connected to Airport Extreme) and I have an external HD attached to airport extreme. Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme. How?

I have my Time Machine on an external drive (not connected to Airport Extreme) and I have an external HD attached to airport extreme. Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme. How?

Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme.
Sorry, but no.
Time Machine will backup your Mac, but not the hard drive attached to the AirPort Extreme.
Time Machine will back up a hard drive only if it is attached directly to your Mac via USB or FireWire.

How to use Time Machine with an external drive?

Hi…I’m new to this, I hope someone can help me=)
I’m trying to back up my Macbook Pro 10.6.8 using Time Machine with an external drive Seagate Backplus Slim. I’ve tried several solutions that I’ve found through different forums but still wouldn’t work.
Every time I opened Time Machine, it has this appearance:
Then when I click “Select backup Disk”, it goes on like this:
And after I click “Set Up Time Capsule”, it has this:
It keeps saying that it couldn’t find AirPort wireless, even though I have good WIFI connection.
Anyone know what I should do? Please help….Thanks everyone

Ayuphie ~ In your Time Machine Preferences panel, slide the OFF-ON switch to the ON position:

How do I convert a Time Capsule former Time Machine into an external drive?

I want to convert my 2TB Time Capsule (which I formerly used as a Time Machine) into an external drive. I now have a 3TB which I have set up as the Time Machine thus freeing the 2TB to hopefully work as an external drive. The 2TB now sits with the old Time Machine backup data intact but I no longer need that backup. I had it hooked up to my modem but not have hooked the ethernet up to my desktop (is that right?). Please advise how to prep the 2TB Time Capsule to be a normal external drive.

1) How do I turn the wireless on the TC on or off? Where do I go to change the settings.
Spend some time in the airport utility.. the easiest way is simply go through every screen until you are familiar with the controls.
Open airport utility.. click the TC.. click edit.
Click the wireless tab. Click on Network mode.. select Off..
2) I found the Touro 4TB and the price is quite inexpensive compared to other 3 and 4TB units. What's the reason for that? Am I missing something in the specs? They offer a Touro Deskpro and a Touro DX3. I can't tell from the description what the difference is - I can't see beyond 4TB. Is one preferable over the other?
They are competing with better known brands.. ask anybody hard disk brands they know.. and either Western Digital or Seagate come to mind. People easily forget there was hitachi (ex IBM). Although Hitachi sold their disk division but due to anti-trust laws it could not be sold entirely to WD who bought half of it.. Toshiba bought the other half. WD tries to hide the Hitachi drive name to bury it.. they bought to bury. But Toshiba keeps it alive.
I actually buy Hitachi drives (Toshiba now) in preference to the others. But everyone has their favourite. The Touro are just good value for money.. the case is not exactly the work of art.. buy LaCie for that. It is a bit over large and the plastic is plasticiky, if you get my drift. Silver plated plastic to make it look like metal is not my favourite.. but I am hardly concerned with the look..!! It looks like an external hide drive.. hide it if you find it ugly.
The difference between the Touro Pro and the Touro DX3 4TB drives is the speed of the drives, the pro is 7200rpm and the the DX3 should be 5400rpm.
I am not 100% sure of the above.. but it is likely to be different drives.. We have not seen DX3 in our market until recently.. they were all pro.
None with bigger than 4TB at this point..
3) OWC - never heard of this group - are the hard drives dependable in your experience?
Retailers who sell Touro and Toshiba and LaCie and every other brand.. sell online and to overseas.. good prices if not the cheapest.. have their own lines of shells, as well selling all the others.. have their own brand SSD but obviously bought in from elsewhere.. RAM, kits for all sorts of things.. huge catalog and very Apple orientated.
I am amazed if you have been on a Mac for more than 5min.. google ads have not flashed up OWC 20 times.. you must have good resistance to advertising.
Please google OWC.. if I post their actual URL the post will get deleted.
Look up say external drives.. they have one zillion of them.

Cannot delete Time Machine file from external hard drive

Hello,
I'd like to delete my original Time machine file from an external hard drive ( Lacie mini ). I move the file into the trash bin and it constantly "deletes". At one time I left it deleting overnight and the file still wasn't trashed.
I am going to hook up Time Machine to a different, dedicated external hard drive, but I'd like to gain space on the drive that Time Machine is currently on.
I currently have Time Machine turned off ( I do have everything backed up with my home folder on another external HD ). Should Time Machine be turned on for me to trash the file? Is there a better way to delete the file?
Much thanks in advance.

V.K. wrote:
... the best and the quickest way to delete it is to erase the TM hard drive....
But what if a person doesn't want to erase the TM drive? My MacPro came with tiger installed, but since tiger-intel-retail discs don't exist, my copy of tiger is what i have. I was all manner of foolish directing TM to that drive, but damage is done. What can someone in my position do?

Deleting time machine files off external hard drive

Can someone please help me?? I stored my time machine backups on an external hard drive which is now full because of time machine! I just want to delete the time machine files so I have space again on my external drive. Can anyone please explain how to delete this? Nothing seems to be working.

Can someone please help me?? I stored my time machine backups on an external hard drive which is now full because of time machine! I just want to delete the time machine files so I have space again on my external drive. Can anyone please explain how to delete this? Nothing seems to be working.

Is there a way to access Time Machine files associated with an old user name?

My iMac was running super slow and there was a bunch of programs, etc. that I wanted to get rid of anyway so I thought I would do a "clean install" from my Snow Leopard disc. I moved items on my desktop to my Seagate external drive and then unplugged it. I have had Time Machine saving to it for a long time so I was confident I could just move a few items (pictures, music, etc.) back on to my hard drive when the install was completed. To my surprise, when I went to Time Machine I found the items I had moved from my desktop but no earlier versions of my other files.
In researching this issue a little bit, it appears that perhaps I created a new user name when I did the install and that my historical items are likely still on the Seagate but stored somewhere associated with my old user name. I understand that if I can change my user name back to the original that I may be able to access the items and transfer the items I want. To compound the situation, I have no idea what my old user name even was.
Does this make sense to Mac experts out there?
If so, is there a way to see the old user names and access the Time Machine files?
I've been avoiding telling my wife that I may have lost all our kid photos so I'm desperately hoping someone can help.

The problem is that Time Machine detects your new OS X copy as a new Mac and it doesn't let you access to your backups. To access to them, see > http://pondini.org/TM/E3.html
Another option would be to access to your backups manually. Open a Finder window, select the Time Machine drive in the sidebar and go to Backups.backupdb > your computer's name > one of the backups > your partition's name, and copy the data you want

Can't access Time Machine files since upgrading to Mavericks

I have searched the community and found that people have experienced issues backing up to Time Machine since upgrading to Mavericks, but my problem appears slightly different from the ones I've found. I can see that my Time Machine is actually backing up since the upgrade as it was before the upgrade. The issue I'm having is that I can't access the backed-up files in any way.
When I try to open time machine it launches the "space view" with all of the historical tabs lined up for me to scroll through, but imediately closes that window and gives the error message: "Can't connect to a current Time Machine backup disc". It's so weird, because it says that there have been backups completed since the upgrade (most recently this morning). If it wasn't writing to the disc, it would have showed me an error of some sort.
What I am, specifically, trying to accomplish is that I need to restore some iTunes playlists that I somehow managed to delete this past weekend. I figured that I would easily be able to access the library file that contains the playlists from Saturday morning, when I KNOW that playlist was still there, and just restore it. Now that I am seeing that I can't access any of my time machine files, I'm realizing that I have an even bigger problem, and that all of my files are, essentially, going without backup at this time (assuming I can't access the files that have already been backing up).
If anyone has some insight as to how I can fix this problem, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi John, (The above was for your attention) I'm 72 and must've hit the wrong button!!!
I followed your instructions to the letter, but sadly, no success...all my backups are showing on the TM external HD, but I cannot access them after instsalling 'Mavericks'
I spent the entire day on and off the phone with Applecare (they are very nice, and I'm sure they know most of the stuff needed; but not this problem. They are phoning back tomorrow as the senior chap was not available.
I love my apple products, and like you, have been using their gear for well over 25 years...not studying the things, but using them all the way through.
My present Mac, a 24" iMac is nearly 7 years old, bought on December 11th 2007, and this is the first time I have had a significant problem, and never a virus..got bless em!. I bet there are not many Windows users around who can say the same!
However, if I cannot access my backups, I'm a bit lost, as all my accumulated stuff is there!
I guess the worst case scenario is that I revert to OS X 10.7.5, and wait 'til the bugs are ironed out in Mavericks....Ho Hum
Message was edited by: briinoz

HT201250 Will using Time Machine on my external drive, reformat or wipe my external drive?

I need to backup my whole computer, and was wondering if I can do this with Time Machine using my external hardrive. The problem is, that I am using this same external hardrive for other things and I don't want to lose that data. Will using Time Machine wipe my external hardrive? Apple did not make it so clear in their guide on using Time Machine, but I have a feeling that it must reformat the hardrive. If my hunch is correct, is their any other way I can backup my computer using an external hardrive without having to wipe it? I was thinking about just dragging Macintosh HD into a folder on my hardrive and letting the file transfer. What are the downsides of doing this?
NOTE: Don't know if this makes a big difference, but I am running OS X 10.8.3

If the drive is not formatted correctly for Time Machine, then it will have to format it. But, it won't do that automatically. It will ask if you want to use that disk for Time Machine when you attach it.
You can have Time Machine on a drive with other data. See Pondini's Time Machine FAQ: http://pondini.org/TM/3.html

Time Machine, iPhoto and External Drives

Hi!
My Mac Info:
Macbook Pro Retina OS X, Version 10.8.5, Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, Memory 8GB
I have 0KB out of 120.47GB.
Audio - 2.33GB
Movies - 37.12GB
Photos - 28.66GB
Apps - 6.98GB
Backups - 0KB
Other - 45.38GB
Ok...the scenario, let's say...
I backed up in Jan '14 on Time Machine on a G/Drive 1GB. (got it.)
In Feb '14, I ran out of space on my Mac, so I deleted photos to make room and did another backup, photos and everything. (got it.)
In Mar '14, I backed up again.
Question 1.
In the Mar '14, back up, it only backed up the photos from my iPhoto library that were current, it did not back up the deleted photos.
So how do I see a complete photo library? The deleted photos and everything on my G/Drive? This scenario was fictitious, however I'm in a situation where I've been deleting photos in iPhoto and backing up to make space since Dec 2012. I don't know how retrieve a true library that has everything! (The photos that I have deleted, btw, have not been duplicates.)
Oh, the reason, why I want a complete photo library is because I want to externally print a album of our 3 yr old son. But when I go to the back ups, I can't tell which files have still have the photos that I deleted. So, how can I piece together all of the photo libraries for 1 comprehensive library without showing duplicates?
Question 2.
My external drives
G/Drive, S/N 7DGVE8MA - 1TB (I use this for Time Machine).I have used 295GB
WD My Book, WD P/N WD5000h1Q-00 - 500GB, (Backup to my G/Drive).I have used 45GB
Are these good external drives?
Many, many thanks!

Your profile shows 10.6.8 - you might want to update it.
If you are backing up using Time Machine, do you have a backup prior to when you started deleting photos that you could restore?
There seem to be multiple problems with WD drives in the discussions, but whether WD is a bad brand is hard to say.

Help w/ Time Machine and 2 External Drives + Main Drive

I need some help on the best possible setup with the tools on hand...
Currently I have the following:
iMac with 500GB Hardrive
My Book with 2 TB Hardrive
My Book with 1.5 TB Hardrive
What I want to do (in my head anyways) is have my main drive for my normal applications (ilife, iworks and everything else under the sun) and use the 1.5 TB for my iTunes as i have alot of movies and music and then use my 2 TB to back up the main drive and 1.5TB drive that way if my 1.5TB drive dies my iTunes are still in tack and likewise for my main drive with my applications.
before I go ahead and do this... is it best just to use time machine on my 2TB drive? or should I parition it say 1.5TB for Time machine and 500 GB for Carbon copy so I can boot off of that drive if need be?
I have done some research on the subject but just want to make sure I'm not missing a step or if there is a better set up I should do with my current gear (500MB main drive, external 1.5 TB and 2TB drives)
thanks!

Narayan9 wrote:
total data that needs to be backed up isnt that much... probably around 600-700 MB currently
I'm sure you mean 600-700GB
(but it is growing). I'm in the mitts of ripping my purchased DVD's to itunes so I can watch them VIA Apple TV.
The whole reason for me buying the 2 external drives was to ensure my itunes files wouldnt be lost in a hardrive failure as I have a very large DVD collect (around 300) and as you know its very time consuming to copy them to itunes in the first place and if my main drives dies Im not sure if I would have the patients to re-copy everything to my iMac.
you can use the 2TB drive to back up everything you have now via TM. but if it grows much more then I would suggest using a different backup solution as outlined in my first post. TM needs space for incremental backups and some overhead just to operate. most other backup tools don't.

Accessing Time Machine files on external drive

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