Adding a 2nd Mac on Time Machine

Greetings! I've owned my Time Machine for a year now and never had any problems with it, until now. I'm using it as a wireless network and for my backups.  My wife's Mac is full and I want to use it to back her computer up for the first time. When I try and back it up it says I'm using the wrong username or password. When I type in the same password from my laptop, everything works fine. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

She needs to set up Time Machine on her machine using her username and password. She can backup to the same Time Machine backup drive. Be sure your backup drive has adequate capacity. A Time Machine volume should be at least twice the capacity of the volume it backs up or you will quickly run out of space.
Note that if you backup using Time Machine that this is not a permanent storage backup. If you erase files from the source computer then eventually those files will be deleted from the backup. See:
About TM "Backup Drive is Full"
Alert TM only deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source and when TM needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.
So, how long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before being deleted, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room.
Note, that on a Time Capsule the sparsebundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's view of the TC it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparsebundle.
Once TM has found it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start your backups anew or replace the drive with a larger drive.

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  • Shut down Mac while Time Machine backs up

    Since I don't always check if Time Machine actually backs up, I was wondering if it matters to shut down your Mac while Time Machine is doing a backup. I guess Apple would make it more obvious, if it would matter, but anyway, does anybody know for sure?

    it does not matter. so long as you shut down properly (from the shut down menu and not by holding the power button) TM will stop cleanly and resume the interrupted backup when you power up the computer.

  • 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?

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    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.
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  • I migrated info from a hard drive to a new mac under time machine. It says I have shared files, but I don't see the old info on the new machine. Where do I look for it ? How do I make the old backup the base for my new macbook ?

    I migrated info from a hard drive to a new mac under time machine. It says I have shared files, but I don't see the old info on the new machine. Where do I look for it ? How do I make the old backup the basis for my new macbook ?
    The old OS was Mac X 10.5.8.   I think the new one is  10.7.2     Lion.

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  • Sharing a hard drive between two Macs with Time Machine

    can I use the same hard drive to back up two different Macs with Time machine? I'm ok with hot swapping the cables.
    Message was edited by: Brian Monson

    Brian Monson wrote:
    can I use the same hard drive to back up two different Macs with Time machine? I'm ok with hot swapping the cables.
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  • Working in adobe illustrator - computer crashed - will not soft boot or reset PRAM - should i reinstall from CD snow leopard 10.6.3? I have an extra hard drive in my MAC with time machine on it set to do auto back ups. How do i recover ?

    working in adobe illustrator - computer crashed - will not soft boot or reset PRAM - should i reinstall from CD snow leopard 10.6.3? I have an extra hard drive in my MAC with time machine on it set to do auto back ups. How do i recover ?

    Well first you have to figure out what is wrong with the machine and solve that problem first.
    Your post is very vague on what occured, and there are many types of "crashes" it really depends upon what see on the screen and what the hardware does, we can't see it to tell you, so you have to tell us.
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    Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's

  • Access the local Mac's Time Machine without its external USB HDD?

    Hello.
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    Thank you in advance.

    Eric Root wrote:
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    Local Snapshots on Portable Macs
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  • HT201250 I've just used an external drive to back up my Mac with Time Machine. I have Lion, but didn't click and check the "Encrypt Backup Disc". What should I do? Can I delete the external drive and start again, or can I encrypt later?

    I've just used an external drive to back up my Mac with Time Machine. I have Lion, but didn't click and check the "Encrypt Backup Disc". What should I do? Can I delete the external drive and start again, or can I encrypt later?

    I guess if stolen or lost it would protect my "stuff", and if I'm travelling would protect my privacy.
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    Encryption locks your data with a password. If you forget that password, the data is lost beyond any chance of recovery. Neither Apple nor anyone else will be able to help you recover that data if you don't know the password.
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    Another point to remember is that if you encrypt your data on one storage device, you must also encrypt it on all other storage devices that would be accessible to the same attacker. Otherwise the data isn't protected. For example, if you keep your computer and your backup drive in the same room, and the internal drive of the computer is not encrypted, then there's no point in encrypting the backup drive.

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  • How to backup Mac Pro 2nd HD onto Time Machine

    Hi, I have a Mac Pro with 2 internal HDs (1 x 500GB containing system and app files) and 1 x 1TB containing documents, pictures, etc.
    I want to use Time Machine to store hourly versions of my work (especially changes to documents and pictures). How do I configure time machine to do this - at the moment it looks like it will backup everything from my home directory but not my second internal drive?
    If I can't do this, what are the performance implications of having my documents (pages, keynote, numbers) being accessed from the boot drive - I understand that it is better to keep these separately.
    Thanks for your help.

    Actually, T.M. backs up any and you use to have to exclude a volume to not be included.
    Also, I would still use another method for making a backup copy of your system and documents, like SuperDuper.
    I don't see the need to backup the system except before making changes, patches, and updates or installing programs and such that I'm not 200% confident of, but otherwise I would not want to have the system and apps being backed up.
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  • Can both an intel and a PPC mac use time machine on the same TC?

    I just got a TC and have successfully used time machine with a MBP. I was about to install Leopard on my PPC eMac in order to use time machine on the TC but I wondered if they could both use the TC hard drive as it is currently formatted.
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    Am I deluded?

    I don't think there is a problem, and I believe others have reported in these forums that they're doing it.
    There is a lot of confusion in this area compounded by a number of people who say that some of the Apple KB articles are wrong/misleading.
    But in this case it's more a case of it doesn't matter - here is why.....
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    Message was edited by: Steve Holton

  • When I restore my Mac with Time Machine and then want to partition my disk, Disk Utility always says incorrect number of extended attributes

    When I need to restore my Mac from a time machine backup and then partition my hard disk (the disk inside the computer not the time machine disk), Disk Utility always says "Incorrect Number of Extended Attributes". I then boot into Recovery HD and run disk repair. The result? "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK". So then I reboot into normal OS and try the partition again, still Incorrect number of extended attributes. I have even tried /sbin/fsck -fy in single-user mode but it still says the volume is ok. I have tried partition my disk in the recovery HD and it still fails.
    Can anyone please help me solve this problem?

    Try something stronger, such as DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro.
    iMac refurb (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), SL & ML, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

  • Restore Mac from Time Machine, after grey screen

    I'm working with an iMac running Mountain Lion from 2011 with Intel chip
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    Reintsall OSX
    Get help online
    Disk Utility
    I try to restore from Time Machine but after i " select a backup" date it keeps seacrhing for disk and stays stuck on page that says Select a Destination.
    This is my fathers Mac and I'm trying to help him fix it. Any help would be greatley appericated
    Thanks

    Most likely, some folders were inadvertently excluded from your backups, and as a result you can't restore your data in Recovery, Setup Assistant, or Migration Assistant.
    Starting from a fresh installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. You should now be able to enter Time Machine and restore your user data from a snapshot.* I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
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    Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
    Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
    You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
    You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: Time Machine won't continue your previous snapshot series, but will instead try to begin a new one, starting with a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
    *If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
    Browse Other Backup Disks...
    from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
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  • Mac Crash, Time Machine won't restore different osx?

    Hey All,
    Yesterday my beloved Mac decided to die in the *** after an OSX update, it was running fine before I put in the dreaded update.
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    Driving to an apple store, is a 5 day drive or a 6hr flight... so not really an option.
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    Thanks in advance for any advice

    Since you have both machines connected why don't you use Migration Assistant to transfer your Home folder? Or you can simply drag your documents from the old computer's connected hard drive.
    I hope you realize that Migration Assistant will not transfer your Home folder if you have a new Home folder with the same name. Instead it will create a whole new Home folder with a different name. Have you checked to see if you have two user folders located in your /Users/ folder?

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    Hello...
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    I'm a member of a freelance graphic artist team and have been scraping by with my MacMini and CS3. I recently obtained a used iMac (approx. 2 years old) and, instead of painstakingly transferring everything left on the Mini to the iMac, I wanted to know if it's possible to turn the MacMini into a pseudo external hard drive using the FW800 port.
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