Copy my time machine files to a western digital drive

I am having trouble with my time machine and I need to copy my backups to a Western Digital Passport with Windows format - how can I do it

Create a regular storage / data drive on a new drive and transfer the files manually from within OS X, not TimeMachine.
see here how to correctly format and use such a drive as well as other options and information.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201
However if your desperate and willing to work and pay money, you can extract files from the TM sparse image with this software
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/29553/back-in-time

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    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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    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/

  • I am running my first time machine backup onto a Western Digital MyBook Live.  It is taking forever.  Is there antivirus software running in the background or any other settings I need to change to speed it up?  Also I am on a wireless network.

    I am running my first time machine backup onto a Western Digital MyBook Live.  It is taking forever.  Is there antivirus software running in the background or any other settings I need to change to speed it up?  Also I am on a wireless network.

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  • How do I copy a Time Machine file to WD MyCloud

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  • New Macbook hard drive can't locate Time Machine files of backup on external drive

    I just got my hard drive replaced as it was failing.  Just before I took it to the apple store I backed up my hard drive using time machine, on a separate hard drive: phew!  I checked that time machine was operating fine before I took it in to get the new hard drive - it was fine, I was able to "go back in time" and access my files.
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    Check here, Pondini has extensive info on TM:
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  • Time Machine, File Vault and External Hard Drive

    I use file vault on my well travelled MBP.  When I get home I connect to my EHD for a regular backup using Time Machine.  I am the only user on the MBP.  My questions are:
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    Thanks

    1. Only if the external HD is encrypted, which can be done by formatting it as an encrypted volume with Disk Utility before setting it up with Time Machine, or by checking the option to encrypt the drive in the Time Machine system preferences.
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  • How to delete time machine files from external back up drive?

    When connected to my Macbook I deleted some old backups to the trash.  When I try to empty trash, a message comes back saying there are locked files and files cannot be deleted.  I have turned off time machine, and tried to delete files but get the same message.  Time machine does not delete oldest file when space is needed.  How do I clear these files?  I'm trying to delete 2 years worth of backups.

    You can drag the Backups.backupdb folder to the Trash, hold down the option key, and try to empty, but often it doesn't work. In that case, you'll have to erase the volume and restore the non-backup data from a backup.

  • Time machine file transfer to new hard drive has stalled

    I recently had the internal hard drive on my 2009 macbook pro replaced and OS X 10.9 installed (old hard drive had OS X 10.6). Upon starting it for the first time I was prompted to transfer files from My old hard drive using my Time Machine backup.  The transfer seems to be about 95% complete and has taken about 26 hours so far.  It says it is in the process of transferring files from my Applications folder, but there seems to have been no progress in the last 8 hours or so, and the estimated time to completion (5 hours and 3 minutes) has not changed.   It appears as though the transfer has stalled.  What should I do?  What will happen if I pull then plug on the external hard drive?  Is there another way to interrupt the process?  Is it normal that it's taking this long?

    If I were in your situation, I would erase the HDD and reinstall the OSX.  Then I would use 'Setup Assistant' per the instructions here:
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    Read the directions carefully before you commit.
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  • Time Machine Files - How To Copy

    Short story:  I am trying to transfer my Time Machine files from one external hard drive to another.  I followed the instructions at the following Apple link:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5096?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
    This did not work.  When I started up Time Machine on the new drive, Time Machine indicated that the old backups were there, but when I tried to access them, Time Machine could not find them.
    I could not use the process indicated here:
    http://www.macyourself.com/2008/12/10/how-to-copy-your-time-machine-backups-to-a -new-larger-drive/
    Long Story:  I got a new external 2 TB external to replace my 1.5 TB.  I wanted to use the new one for Time Machine and iTunes.  I stupidly did not partition it.  This is a problem since Time Machine will fill up a hard drive.  I tried using Disk Utility to partition after the fact, but I kept getting an error.  So I followed the instructions in the Apple link and copied "Backups.backupdb" back to my old drive, reformatted and repartitioned my new drive, then copied "Backups.backupdb" back.   Now Time Machine cannot find my old backups, although they appear to exist in the time line.  When I look at "Backups.backupdb" there are a bunch of alias that do not link to anything.
    So I assume there must be some hidden files.
    Have I messed up my year of Time Machine backups and need to start over?

    I wanted to use the new one for Time Machine and iTunes.  I stupidly did not partition it.
    I know it's tempting to want to use all the vast space on a large drive your not using, the problem is when your hardware fails, it takes both backup partitions with it when it goes.
    Have multiple copies of your personal data on separate hardware, in separate locations, using easily accessible means and maintain two copies of your personal data off the machine at all times.
    Your at that stage where you need more options than TimeMachine provides, you might want to consider cloning.
    With cloning you could have just cloned the entire drive to another one no sweat, also you can access the files directly from any computer, Mac, Windows or Linux machine. Plus you can boot from cloned drives and do other things, like data recovery etc.
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  • 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?

  • Overly large time machine files

    Hi There,
    my disk that I use for Time machine (120GB Lacie USB) has recently become corrupted, so that it is currently 'read only' So I decided to copy my Time machine files to another drive, so I could format my main one, and then put them back. But this is proving harder that it looks. My temporary drive is a Lacie NAS (250GB), connected via a switch to my iMac, but I can't drag and drop the files as it wont let me.
    So I used another backup program to make a copy, but when I got home from work it had copied 2 of the 49 folders, amounting to 150GB of data, but my main drive is only 120GB!!! How can Time Machine have created 49 (nearly) identical folders containing 90GB of data in each one on a 120GB drive?
    And perhaps more importantly, how can I make a backup of my Time Machine files, so that once I have reformatted (or maybe replaced) my main drive I can copy them back and pick up where I left off.

    Time Machine backup files cannot be copied in the normal way. TM uses hard links and what they call "multi-links" so as to keep only one copy of each unique version of each file.
    For example, if you have a file called "MyFile", if you navigate to it in the backupdb in the Finder you will see it in every timed/dated TM backup folder, and "Get Info" will report the file's true size if restored, but you are really only seeing a hard link; the actual file data is stored invisibly in the backupdb, and the file data is retained as long as there is at least one (hard) link to it.
    Apple has taken this technology one step further, and does the same with entire directories (folders).
    Thus, the total amount of space used for a TM backupdb directory will be far less than the total of the "Get Info" reported size of all its dated folders.
    SuperDuper! can clone a TM backupdb directory and maintain all these special links. There may now be other utilities which can do this, such as CCC, but I'm not sure which.
    I'd suggest first using SuperDuper! to clone your corrupted read-only TM backup to a disk image stored elsewhere for safekeeping. If you want to be able to continue building upon your TM backup it will need to be retained with all its links intact.
    Another consideration is that TM creates a backup on a NAS drive as a sparsebundle, essentially a "size-adjustable" disk image.
    Once you have that clone of your TM backup disk as a SuperDuper! disk image you can then restore that disk image to your new TM backupdrive. If you then need to restore to a new or reformatted main drive you should then be able to do so from the restored TM backup.
    Make sense?

  • How do I copy old Time Machine back-up data onto my new (second) back up drive?

    I recently bought a second back-up drive for use with my MacBook Pro (running 10.9.4).
    I'm successfully backing up my computer to both drives on a regular basis using Time Machine. (a Seagate drive and a Western Digital drive respectively)
    I was wondering if there's an easy way to add the old back-up files from the old drive to the new drive as well. That is to say, I wish I had all the data that precedes my new back-up drive on BOTH drives. There's plenty of space on the new drive.
    Again, I'm already running Time Machine successfully to both drives, is it perhaps as easy as connecting both drives to my computer and copying the older dated back-up files over to the newer drive within the Backups.backupdb folder for my profile?
    Thanks for any help!

    Although the documentation says you can copy Time Machine backups in the Finder, it's very slow and sometimes doesn't work at all.
    This technique will only work if the volume you're copying to is the same size, or larger than, the one you're copying from.
    First, open the Time Machine preference pane and click the Options button. You may have to unlock the settings first by clicking the padlock icon in the lower left corner of the window. Authenticate as an administrator.
    Delete the volume you're going to copy from the list of backup destinations. Then turn Time Machine OFF.
    Launch Disk Utility, open the built-in help, and search for the term "Duplicate." Follow the instructions. All existing data on the destination volume will be erased.
    If the volume you're copying was encrypted by Time Machine, you may have to unlock it first. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar of the Disk Utility window.
    Turn Time Machine back ON and select the new volume as a backup destination. You can also continue to use the old volume, if you wish. The two will be alternated when both are available.
    CAUTION: If the volume you're copying is corrupt, as shown by Repair Disk or Verify Disk in Disk Utility, then that corruption will be copied to the new drive. Don't copy data from a corrupt volume on a malfunctioning drive. Put the drive aside and don't use it until you're sure you'll no longer need the data. Then securely erase it and take it to a recycling center. Do the same if the Restore operation fails with "disk errors."

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