Can I use 'Macintosh HD' folder time machine creates like any other hard drive folder?

Very simply, is it possible, after using Time Machine to back up my Laptop, to use the 'Macintosh HD' Folder it creates like I would any other hard drive by selecting and extracting specific folders and backed up items as I see fit instead of going in to the Time Machine software and asking it to restore the drive to one of its 'backups' -essentially governing what exactly goes back in to my freshly cleared out laptop's internal hard drive? Will I run in to any problems? I am asking as I have picked up a software bug that I need to wipe off laptop hdd that would still be in the backups I have done and go back on to the laptop if I just asked Time Machine to restore.

See Pondini's site for all of your Time Machine questions http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
In your case specifically http://pondini.org/TM/15.html

Similar Messages

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    I am just wondering. Please help.

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    i am tired of buying externals that just die in a year.
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    can i use icloud to back up all my stuff, not just docs made for apple apps?
    iCloud: What you need to know | Macworld

  • Is there any way to create a time machine backup to an external hard drive with content already on it?  I have a hard drive that i have used for pictures but when i try to run a backup it says i need to start from a blank drive. Can i get around it?

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    It would be much better if you had separate drives for the pictures and Time Machine backups.....but, if you want to use the same drive for both purposes, temporarily move the folder with the pictures to another location for safe storage.
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    zoominnana wrote:
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  • Can I use a mountain lion time machine back up on new mavericks macs?

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  • HT201250 How can I migrate a Time Machine backup from an external hard drive to a new TimeCapsuls?

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    Rather than do that, which means starting over from scratch, losing all your edits, organisation and so on, why not simply use iPhoto Library Manager to revert the Library to the older version? Easier, less destructive.
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  • Re Time Machine I have an external  hard drive with files I backed up manually over the past 2 years 1TB of memory. I am finally taking the leap to use Time machine to back everything.   will I have to reformat that drive, thus wiping my previous bac

    Re Time Machine
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    will I have to reformat that drive, thus wiping my previous back ups?
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    You CAN use a drive with files already on it to store Time Machine backups. But long term, that is not recommended. You do not need to reformat or re-partition the drive to do this. Once Time Machine Backups are established, you could remove the old files.
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    With the cost of backup drives under US$100, it might be a better idea in the long run to get another drive. Best results from Time Machine is a drive about 3 times larger than the drive(s) you are backing up.

  • I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and i can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help

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    OSX treats the reformatted drive as a different one; it's the same as replacing it, and the old one is no longer connected.
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  • I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

    I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my IMac desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

    Since you didn't mention what type of error message you were seeing, I'm going to guess on what is happening.
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  • I have a power pc (g5) computer that I will soon be replacing with a current i5 or i7 mini. How do I transfer the Time Machine files from the internal hard drive on the G5 to an external drive that I will later use with the Mini?

    I have a Power PC G5 computer that I will soon be replacing with a current i5 or i7 Mini. How do I transfer the Time Machine files from the internal hard drive on the G5 to an external drive that I will later use with the Mini?

    Hi, likely the easiest is to just poll the drive & get something like this...
    Get MacScan...
    http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/macscan.html
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/
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    Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
    http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
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  • TS1338 I have 4 Trojan Horse viruses on my external drive I use for Time Machine.  My MacBook Pro hard drive is clean.  I have eased the external drive 3 times using Disk Utility and it still has the 4 Trojan Horse viruses. How do I get rid of them. Wayne

    I have 4 Trojan Horse viruses on my external drive I use for Time Machine.  My MacBook Pro hard drive is clean.  I have eased the external drive 3 times using Disk Utility and it still has the 4 Trojan Horse viruses. How do I get rid of them. I am using 10.8.3  Wayne

    ksu62 wrote:
    The infection names are:  classload.jar-719ef6a5.zip
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                                              ar3.jar-6ce3b2f-45l483f.zip
                                              classload.jar-lef99412-63bsd3fl.zip
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  • Time Machine  "Backing up to multiple hard drives"

    I had problems when switching between two external hard drives using Time Machine.
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    That all helped solve a problem that even Disk Utility with the Installation Disk didn't help. The problem arises when trying to back up Time Machine between 2 different external hard drives.
    Hope this helps some of you...

    filterfactor wrote:
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    This will keep TM from objecting to the new drive, but you need to be sure the right things are getting backed-up to both drives. This has been discussed here before, and never confirmed, as far as I know. You can be a big help to us by confirming whether this actually works.
    Do this please, both for us and so you're confident that both drives contain complete backups:
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    1. Turn TM off temporarily (so it doesn't interfere by doing a backup).
    2. Perform backups to both drives.
    3. Add a small test file to your home folder.
    4. Do a +Back Up Now+ to the first drive.
    5. Using +Time Tracker,+ confirm that the test file was backed-up to the first drive.
    6. Do a +Back Up Now+ to the second drive.
    7. Using +Time Tracker,+ see if the test file was backed-up to the second drive.
    Post the results here. If it actually works (the file gets backed-up to both drives), we'll put this into step-by-step instructions for others who want to do this.

  • Time machine doesn't see external hard drive on network

    I have a pair of external hard drives connected to my iMac, which is connected to my 2WIRE modem/router via Ethernet. I'm using one of them as a Time Machine drive. For the past couple years, I've been backing up the laptops in the house to that Time Machine drive without fail.
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    That should say "Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) will see either external drive..."  I hate typos.
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