Can I Use Time Machine Restore Files to a New Computer?

I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
Two Questions:
If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings? Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Dan D\'Errico

Dan D'Errico wrote:
I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
Two Questions:
If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings?
Yes - see my comments below regarding "Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another".
Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
No
If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
Then you should choose to Migrate your personal data over but NOT Applications. They may likely not be compatible with the new system.
*_Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another_*
*Firewire Disk Mode*
If you have a FireWire cable, you can connect one Mac to the other via FireWire Disk Mode. Then use Migration Assistant to transfer all of your files and applications over from the older Mac. It should result in a virtually identical setup as your previous Mac. Follow the instructions in this KB article:
“How to use FireWire target disk mode”
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
*Using Time Machine Before Initial Launch of New Mac*
Before starting the new Mac for the first time, attach the hard disk that contains the Time Machine backups from the old Mac.
Start the new Mac and begin the setup process. At some point it will ask you if you would like to Migrate/Import user data from another computer or a Time Machine backup disk. Follow the prompts and select the date of the backup you would like to restore your user data from. Once the migration is complete use Disk Utility to repair any permissions issues.
*Using Time Machine After Initial Launch of New Mac*
If you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using a DIFFERENT Username and Password from the old Mac, then do the following:
Attach the hard disk containing the previous Macs' Time Machine backups to the new computer.
Go to Applications --> Utilities --> and launch Migration Assistant.
At the welcome dialogue click "Continue." You may be required to enter your Admin password.
For Migration Method chose "From a Time Machine backup or other disk".
Select the hard disk containing the previous Time Machine backups. (Give Migration Assistant some time as it scans the disk for eligible data to migrate.)
Now select which User Accounts you would like to migrate over.
However, if you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using the SAME Username and Password as the old Mac, then you will need to do this:
Create a new User Admin Account on the new Mac with a completely unique name.
Now, delete the first User Account you created on the new Mac - The one that is identical to the old Mac. (Of course, backup any important files that were created using the new User Account before deleting it.)
Finally, use Migration Assistant as described above to move the old User Account data over from the Time Machine backups.
*Full Backup After Restore*
Bear in mind that in all cases Time Machine will perform a full backup after a full restore. This is normal. Time Machine will resume incremental backups after the full backup has completed. To view previous backups, Control-click or right-click the Time Machine icon in your Dock or Option-click the Time Machine menu extra and Choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks," then select your previous backup volume. You will enter Time Machine and be able to browse your previous back ups and restore files. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338)
Let us know if this was helpful.
Cheers!

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Can you transfer files using Time Machine back-up to a new computer?

I have an early 2006 iMac and would like to get a new one. Would I be able to copy the files that I want moved to the new computer by using my Time Machine back-up? I would only want to transfer a handful of items including my iTunes and iPhoto libraries as well as my iWork files.

You most certainly can. What you want to do is to go to System Preferences>Time Machine>Advanced> and exclude everything except the files you want to bring over. Then, plug the Time Machine Backup into the new machine and use Setup Assistant; It'll walk you through the rest.
Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

Can I use time capsule to transfer data to new computer?

Is ti possible to pull a backup or parts of backup from Time Capsule to upload to a new mac?

Sure, that is what TM is all about.
Just read the info in Pondini about restore.. he covers all the different angles.. Q14-17 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
He has a huge amount of really useful info.. from the top menu it covers problem troubleshooting and theory of operation .. piles of stuff.

I have a powerbook G4 with macosx10.5.8 (as far as I know the latest possible OS with powerPC). Can I use Time Machine to restore my data on an Intel Macbook?

I have a powerbook G4 with macosx10.5.8 (as far as I know the latest possible OS with powerPC). Can I use Time Machine to restore my data on an Intel Macbook?

Well the newer TimeMachine model as stated in current Support pages isn't directly compatible on OS X 10.5 now, as noted in above link provided.
What OS X does your newer MacBook have running in it? (Not linux?)
With the current setup you have there may be a way -among other details in the support page- to do the migration of data from Mac, including a subnote on Time Machine, in a section below the main article with triangle by it, from links here:
•OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks 10.9:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5872
•OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mountain Lion 10.8 and Earlier:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4889
In the support articles there are various troubleshooting and help items about the technology, some data back some time and whatever still stands would be there. Some archives are no longer current and say so.
Perhaps someoone still using older PPC Macs and Leopard 10.5, will say how to backup into a G4 PowerBook, from a Time Machine.
Unless the TimeMachine backup from the older PPC G4 PowerBook is used in the migration process of transferring personal account files from there to a new MacBook running (?) OS X. This probably could be done. You may be able to access older libraries, such as iPhoto, iTunes, etc and import them from the archive, to a newer Intel-based MacBook.
Sorry for any confusion.
I'll more carefully reply in the future.
Good luck & happy computing!
PS: a different direction on archives, time machine, clones, and other devices:
•About Time Machine - Time Machine vs. Clones and Archives:
http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html
•Apple OS X and Time Machine Tips:
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
{edited to add link details}

How can I use time machine to recover my iWeb09 files?

I read that iWeb stores one's website pages in the domain folder which can be located at ~/Library/Application Support/iWeb. Can I use time machine to recover my iWeb09 files? If so, how? -I tried. I entered my Time Machine back up, and went back in time and brought the domain file forward but it opened only my current site pages, not the ones I am trying to recover. And it says the Domain file was last modified in October 2007 which is crazy because I've been using iWeb a lot and have published many pages. It seems like the uncorrupted pages, which I am trying to recover, existed somewhere on my computer at one point in time and space, less than a week ago, becuse I just published my site to a new hosting service since Apple will soon stop web hosting. So why can I not find them using time machine?

I continued searching and read another person's advise to down load an app named "Find File," then search for .sites. She said spotlight doesn't always find all files. So I did and sure enough, when I searched for .sites I found another Domain package, which I have no idea how it was created but which, it ends up, was the one actually being used by iWeb. So I went to that package then did the time machine and went back to before my web pages became corrupted. I had to delete corrupt blog pages out of my website menu to get iWeb to upload the other page changes even to a local folder.
So I went to that newly found Domain, went back in time, then brought that forward and as you pointed out the domain package had the parts of the pages, the files and jpegs, but not the structure/layout of the pages. So, I guess I gave up on finding the old pages.
Those pages still exist on the Apple hosting server but iWeb doesn't not reverse publication. Cyberduck would bring back the files and bits and peices but again not the pages as a total entity. I'm preparing for the end of Apple website hosting (next month?) and am republishing my old site. I decided to use a new domain name. So my entire original site is still totally intact on the web under the original domain name, on my mobile me site, I guess it will be there till sometime in June?
My problems started when I tried to publish my website to the new server. It just would not publish the whole website in one session. So I decided to do it a few pages at a time. Some pages went up, but as I added more, for some unknown reason the, blog pages, (about 70 subpages), which had aleardy uploaded just fine to the new server, became corrupt and locked up iWeb. Of course once I deleted the corrupt pages I didn't want to continue publishing the site to the host until I found and reinserted uncorrupted pages, knowing publishing changes would delete the already published pages.
At first I thought it was the hosting server's fault, but when I discovered that it wouldn't publish even to a local fold I was able to locate the cause within iWeb, deleted those pages then tested by publishing to a local folder. iWeb worked locally, so I knew I had found the problem pages. Well this is way more than you wanted to know. Thanks for your advise but I'll just start the blogging pages over.

Can I use Time Machine to back files on an External Hard Drive

My MacBook Pro hard drive filled up with movies, pictures, and music, so I bought a 2TB Time Capsule. I have a external hard drive that is about the same capacity as my MacBook hard drive. Sine the Time Capsule is by far the largest drive I have, I moved all my movies, music, and pictures to the Time Capsule and am using it as an external hard drive. I attached a 500GB external hard drive to the Time Capsule and I use that as the backup drive for Time Machine. However, the problem I am encountering is that I can't seem to direct Time Machine to include all of my files on my Time Capsule in the back up on to the other external hard drive.
Can I use Time Machine to backup data that I store on my Time Capsule to a external hard drive? If not, what is hte best method for backing up my files that are on my Time Capsule?
Thanks,
David

You need to use a different utility .. eg CCC or Chronosync to backup from the TC to yet another drive.. the problem is, that drive should be connected to the computer.. if you use a USB drive on the TC.. the file copying will be slow as slow as you will not believe.. all files are copied to the computer, then back to the TC.. it cannot copy directly to the TC..
As Neil said.. one way or another you need to use an external drive on the computer, even if you don't use it all the time.. the danger of course is not doing regular backups.. and forgetting their importance.
A true NAS will have automated backup incrementally of the files stored.. The TC is not a NAS in that sense.. it is a backup target for TM above and beyond anything else.

Can i use time machine instead of restore discs

alright so i bought a g4 imac 1.25 ghz 1 gb ram, and it has leopard on it right now from the previous owner. i have the panther restore discs but id rather have leopard. so my question is if i use the restore discs on my mac mini(new 09 model, leopard) and restore it to new then can i use time machine on my external hard drive and then plug it into my imac and use that data and make the imac with a fresh install of leopard? sorry if its hard to understand it is hard for me to describe. please help! thanks

John.Kitzmiller wrote:
Time Machine backups are not necessarily computer specific, however TM does not back up the OS
Yes, it does, unless you've specifically told it not to. That's how you can do a full restore of an entire system from a TM backup, even if it's a previous version of Leopard.
, so there's really no way to do what you're trying to accomplish.
That's not the practical issue. As pointed out earlier, the practical issue is, the TM backup for one type/model of Mac won't run on another, as the hardware drivers, etc., are different. Worse, the 2009 Mac Mini has an Intel processor; a G4 has a PPC processor.
Plus as already pointed out, it would be a violation of the EULA.
Correct.

HT201250 I have done my back up using time machine, now I have a new mac and I need to access the files that I had saved from my old mac. How can I do that?

I have done my back up using time machine, now I have a new mac and I need to access the files that I had saved from my old mac. How can I do that?

Use Migration Assistant on your new Mac:
Click Continue:
On the next screen, choose your Time Machine backup disk.
Don't bother to migrate Applications unless you know they will work on your new Mac. For example, PowerPC applications won't work. Just migrate your user account which will copy all your photos, music, movies, and other documents.
Note: you will not be able to migrate the information to same account in which you are already logged in. Migration Assistant will tell you that and recommend what to do. It can migrate the information to a new account, but you will have to give it a name you might want to change later. One way around this is to create a temporary account, log in to it, and run Migration Assistant which will replace your normal account. Then, log out of the temporary account, log in to your usual one, verify everyting works as you expect, and delete the temporary one.
All this can be avoided when you set up a brand new Mac by running Setup Assistant which essentially does the same thing to create your new account, but most people are too excited to do that and elect to migrate later.

How can I use time machine to back up and play media?

I just bought an external hard drive that I wanted to back up some media files onto (music and photos). I also want to stove videos/movies on the hard drive and play them from there. A few questions:
1. Is that the same as backing up with time machine or is it referred to as something else?
2. Can I use time machine to add new files, or should I do that manually?
3. Once the files are on my hard drive, can I remove them from my computer or should I keep them there?
I know that these questions may seem obvious, but I'm concerned about losing files because I don't understand what time machine actually does. Please feel free to ask me questions if you need to understand my question better. Thanks!

Time Machine makes a backup of your hard drive, which you can restore from, but not use as a repository of data.
Time Machine automatically makes incremental backups as you change things on the Mac HD.
Time Machine is not an archive, meaning if you make a backup, and then delete the originals from your Mac, Time Machine will eventually delete the copies it has made.
However, if you copy the files directly to the external, then you can remove them from the computer. But, those will be your only copies. If that disk dies, they'll be gone. So, that's really not a backup. It's the only source.
You can back up to Time Machine and also store other files on the same disk.

Can I use time machine to get rid of Lion?

Lion has been a total disaster for my iMac. After installation, everything went very buggy very quickly. Now it is freezing every few minutes. I just want rid of it. Can I use time machine to restore the old system? If so, how? Will my files be OK? thanks.

I point you to Pondini's TimeMachine restore page however you should also printout my instructions as something may go wrong and you need to do it the hard way.
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/14.html
Back to Snow Leopard from Lion install method
Read and print out these instructions, your computer is going to be offline and you wil be cutoff from help until your machine is restored.
Clear the Desktop, Downloads and Trash of anything you wish to keep by placing their files in the respective Documents, Music, Pictures, Movie folders.
Disconnect other drives except the sole backup drive.
Backup ALL your Users folders (Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music etc) manually (drag and drop methods) to a (not TimeMachine) external powered drive (HFS+ journaled formatted in Disk Utility) and disconnect, your going to be wiping the entire boot disk of ALL DATA.
(warning, everything will be gone and not recovered, OS, programs, files, Windows etc all gone.)
Note: You might want to hold c and boot off the 10.6 installer disk and use Disk Utility to format the new blank external drive instead of using OS X Lion if that's hosed. Then reboot into Lion and copy files, may be safer that way.
Here we go!
Hold c and boot off the 10.6 installer disk that comes with your computer and second screen in just STOP there, don't install OS X yet.
Look at the Utilities Menu for Disk Utility.
On the left is the name of your hard drive maker, click it and Erase (format HFS+ Journaled), give it the same drive name as before, and click Erase...
(note: if you want to "scrub" the drive of old files that haven't been overwritten yet, then use the Security Option > Zero Erase, takes a lot longer)
This should wipe the drive of ALL partitions (GUID, OS X and 10.7 Recovery, Windows if present)
When it's done, quit and install OS X 10.6. Then install all your programs from fresh sources and validate/update.
When you setup a first account, use the same user name as before, this way you can simply drag and drop the content of your previous Users folders from the external drive right back into the new Users folders and everything should work peachy. Links in iTunes to music, playlists and iPhoto links especially.
Update OS X to 10.6.8 using the Combo Update for best results.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
(Note: If your original machine had 10.5 and you want the free iLife that comes with the disks with the computer, then you'll have to install 10.5 first using the same c boot/erase/format methods as above, then update to 10.6 via the disk, then Combo Update 10.6.8)
Final step optional but highly recommended.
A lot of people use a Carbon Copy Clone of their boot drive to a new HFS+Journaled external drive (used only for this purpose) as a "hold the option key" bootable backup in case something goes wrong with their boot drive or need to restore to a previous OS X version.. (in addition to TimeMachine drive for more immediate backups.)
It's not advised to have a Bootable Clone and a TimeMachine partition on the same external drive, as two drives gives hardware protection in case one fails.

HT201250 I use Time Machine to back up my entire computer with my external hard drive. I am getting a brand new iMac this month and was wondering what is the process of using this back up to restore my new computer exactly how my old computer was?

I use Time Machine to back up my entire computer with my external hard drive. I am getting a brand new iMac this month and was wondering what is the process of using this back up to restore my new computer exactly how my old computer was? I want to make sure I will still have various important files on my new computer, like my songs in iTunes, my photos in iPhoto, etc, etc. Thanks so much in advance!

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
When you turn on the new iMac for the first time, Setup Assistant will ask you to restore a backup, so connect the external disk and follow steps to restore all your files to your new iMac. Your new Mac will have the same settings and programs as your old computer.
In other cases, I would recommend to restore the whole backup without using Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant, but a Late 2012 iMac uses a special OS X build, so the OS X version that you're using on your old Mac won't work on the new one. For more information, see > http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

Can't use time machine due to corruptness even after reinstalling snow lepoard how to fix?

Yes, someone stole my original apple id in 2009. Now i bought another iphone in late 2012 , Created another apple id due to Apple not being able to help me access my original apple id. Which now since 2 months ago someone or company, or bank stole my second apple id. My iphone 4s with Sprint has no celluar connection supossedly due to no internet that is what sprint said but I looked it up on apple and it stated that there is a cellluar block on my iphone4s.
So I guess I will have to go in person to Sprint so they can explain that to me and why I was lied to on the phone earlier. Back to my 2nd stolen apple id that I registered my macbook,airport express router, and iphone4s and apple TV. So who ever stole this apple id obviously took over all my mac products I had registered to it. Enough about that back to trying to use time machine....Everytime i do, my macbook just starts acting all screwed up. I bought a WD external drive for Mac but I believe someone must have claimed it too. Since there is 75gb on it that I can't access. Kind of like my Macbook stating I can't save or have access to the Root . That is another thing after reinstalling snow lepoard which works great until I update it. Which is a problem because everytime I update it to 10.6.8 All the permissions are changed the graphics look horrible and I get redirected so bad its not funny. The email account is a joke. Also I notice my stationary for email is in Spanish not sure why and on Iworks the document samples are also in spanish. Now I dont speak any other language except ENGLISH AND HAVE LIVED IN UNITEDSTATES MY ENTIRE LIFE. But my internet provider Fibrant which swears they are local shows it is in the UK also when i try to access my email for that account it states it is not safe , certificate is expired and someone might be trying to impersonate my server. Needless to say it is getting old. I had this same problem with Timewarner and Att except att would just remove my ethernet driver then laugh when i would call and ask what the problem was. Then later I find out when I had DSL that somehow the phone number they had listed was change to being a digit off from my DSL account which again they laughed and thought it was funny. Enough about that. I need to know how to get access to my Apple id. I gave up on the first one but the second one I did have access to until I registered all my apple products. What is up with every thing I have with a usb port being corrupt. I have also notice anywhere in town where I live my phone is English until I come home it is arabic,hebrew , spanish any language except English. Shouldn't I be safer in my home??????????????? But I am not I am safer in town or anywhere but my home. EVerything states international in my home and this has been going on since 2009.....No one can tell me why. My power from Duke reads that OTHER Is costing me the most $$ every month what ????? This is a joke. But yet no one can tell me why or how to fix the problem. Going on 5 years , I have been cut off from everyone I know. Can't keep contacts on a phone or email accts. They all disappear. All so I am in Eastern time zone but all my computers and tv seems to think I am in pacific timezone. No one can fix this problem either. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to fix at least one of my 5 year problems I would be grateful. I try to create a new email account but either I am locked out right after or someone turns it into an alias account which doesn't help me. When I was layed off in 2009-2010 I went back to school/college. Needless to say they took my School email acct too.
Back to my iphone 4s problem. My icloud email account gets alot of spam starting about 2 months ago and I can't stop it. I try to foward it to Spam @ me but it hasn't helped.My iphone can only connect to the internet with wifi. Sprint swears that there is not a block but according to apple there is.
About my macbook and apple ID how can I upgrade my Macbook from 10.6.3 to 10.6.8 with out all the permissions being changed and corrupt?? I have tried several times and it is always the same. I won't to connect my iphone to itunes to try to restore it but it states I have to update it to 10.6.8. When I do that my computer is alot worse off. Also how can I use TimeMachine with out my Macbook getting messed up? Something in my house has taken over anything with a usb port actually years ago and probably now something kept turning all my computers and phones or any electronic I owned it to a printer. I actually can't even use a printer in my home thats the funny thing. When I try to connect one when I used windows it stated I had no rights to it and couldn't use it. Since I switch to Mac not much better. When I try to print a test page it is all crooked and too small of half off the page. So it is upsetting that I can't use a printer but something keeps turning all my electronics into printers. If anyone knows how to fix this problem that would be great or to stop all this international stuff going on in my home that would be wonderful. I try to buy brand new pcs but soon as I start them up something had already taken over. This is with nothing electronic in my home on. Turn everything that a power switch off or unplugged it. Still I lost rights and access to anything in my home. Now if I am away from my home and try to use one of my laptops they look completely different and almost usable. Unfortunately I can't afford to move. I thought about it but I am still in bankruptcy and don't have the money. In the last 4 years I have not been able to reinstall in backups that I have created. Not sure why oh wait it states I have no rights to do that. My macbook I lost access to a week after I bought it and connected my iphone too. You don't know how many times I wish I had never backed my iphone 4s to my Macbook. Right after I could not log into it. Even used the disk to reset the password nope still couldn't log into it. Try to type the formula for resetting the password and nope it didn't work either.
Any suggestions would be appreciated---Need to gain access to my apple Id that would be a great start
Thanks, Suzanne
UnitedSTates
Eastern timezone

Didn't really read much at all of your post. Much, much too long, irrelevant details and & no paragraphs.
Can't use time machine due to corruptness
Post over here -> Mac OS X v10.6 - Snow Leopard forum
About my macbook and apple ID how can I upgrade my Macbook from 10.6.3 to 10.6.8 with out all the permissions being changed and corrupt??
Same as above. Post in the correct forum.
Need to gain access to my apple Id that would be a great start
-> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5625

Can we use Time Machine to back up data on Time Capsule from the outside of network?

I have Time Capsule at home. Can I use Time Machine to back up data of portable nootebook when I am working at office?

If you mean over the internet, you can but it will be so slow and more than likely so unreliable it is a poor method to use. Remember all internet is limited to upload speed.
Lion does a temporary backup onto local hard disk.. which is useless of course if the hard drive is damaged.. but helps if you delete an important file. Then when you go back home and it discovers the TC is available it will then backup again from where it left off.
I think it is only a major issue if you are away from home for major lengths of time, weeks or months.

Can I use time machine to back up via a hard drive connected by USB to a HomeHub router?

Can I use time machine to back up via a hard drive connected by USB to a BT HomeHub router? Is there a better way to back up and store files than via the USB port on my new MacBook Pro? I'd like storage to be accessible from my earlier version MacBook too.

I think you want to make backups without connecting a hard disk via USB. In other words, you want to have the data storage be shared in your home wirelessly.
If this is the case, I recommend using a Time Capsule.
Time Capsule works great with Time Machine. You can set up all your devices to automatically make backups on the Time Capsule wirelessly and effortlessly.

Can I use Time Machine to retrieve mail that was in Trash on my MacBook Air, after I emptied Trash?

Can I use Time Machine to retrieve mail that was in Trash on my MacBook Air OS X Yosemite, after I Emptied that Trash?

Interesting question. I don't think you can because Time Machine would have deleted the data in subsequent backups because it was removed from the computer. But you never know about these things until you actually try it, which I've never done. So, why don't you give it a try. Worst that can happen is it's not there and you're no worse off than now.
If you need help with restoring mail from Time Machine: Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine. Also open Mail and select Mail Help from Mail's help menu. Search for 'restore mail' and see if you don't find some instructions there, too.

Can I Use Time Machine Restore Files to a New Computer?

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