Cross hardware platform image cloning from Time Capsule

Currently have a mid-2009 17" MBPro and will be receiving a new 15" MBPro Retina in August. Question is if there is anything I need to be aware of if I wanted to merely image the new 15" out of the box from the backup image from the 17" via my Time Capsule backup? OS updates done regularly along with weekly virus scans, all clean and no current corruptions when doing a disk health check. Appreciate any and all feedback from the group.

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Deleting Sparse Disk Image Bundle from Time Capsule

Howdy. Thanks in advance for help on this issue to anyone kind enough to spend time answering it.
I've got a 1TB Time Capsule which I use primarily for external file storage - it's currently got just about 120GB of files on it which I have manually copied there. I only sporadically use Time Machine to do automated backups, but since I've had the Time Capsule for a good long while, there have been many backups, and relatively little space left on it. As I am not interested in files that are 8 months old, I have gone into Time Machine and deleted all the old backups I don't want, then done a fresh backup so there's a current copy of everything on my laptop. It's my understanding that deleting backups from within Time Machine clears space off the Time Capsule, and when I did those deletions, saw that the available space on my Time Capsule did in fact increase, but not nearly as much as I would have expected.
Now, there's a file sitting on my Time Capsule called a "Sparse Disk Image Bundle.dmg", which has a filesize of 564GB - so there's where all the "free" space on my Time Capsule is accounted for.
My question is, if I know that I don't want the contents of all the old backups, but I DO want a copy of the files I have manually copied onto my Time Capsule, is it safe to delete the 564GB .dmg file? I use my Time Capsule more than anything else as the repository for my iTunes library, and it'd be a huge bummer if I wiped out my entire music collection by deleting that file.
So far as I can tell, the contents of my Time Capsule and that .dmg file are separate, but I don't know enough to know whether that's really the case.
Any advice is well appreciated!

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Yes, network backups are in an odd container called a +sparse bundle.+ It should be named with your Computer name plus a string of 12 numbers and letters (the hardware address of your Mac).
Do you see your "other" files separate from it? They shouldn't be inside it, unless you specifically copied them into it.
As long as they're shown separately, yes, you can safely delete the sparse bundle. That will delete all your backups, though, and take quite a while. If it seems to be taking forever, see the blue box in #12 of [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
There is an alternative, however. You can limit the +maximum size+ of the sparse bundle, per #A8 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). As noted there, however, if you update to Snow Leopard, 10.6.3 or later, it will be automatically re-sized to the size of the TC's internal HD.
If it's already too large, you may need to delete some more backups and/or "compact" it first. See the pink box in #12 of the FAQ.

Can I remove a specific dated backup from time Capsule?

Sorry for the long story - but I have tried to provide as much detail as possible as to what is going on...
Sadly Lion has been a royal pain in the perverbial for me. It is slow (on a Macbook pro that is still within its warranty period so I don't believe that Hardware can be blamed - especially with upgraded ram and a 7200rpm drive) I recently got so frustrated with its clunkyness that I tried reinstalling on a new HDD and booting off that. Showed improvement (clean install vs upgraded and less apps etc slowing down the OS - however it is nowhere near what Snow Leopard was). But while I was at it I did something stupid. In hindsight very stupid - but balls to Apple for putting me in this situation and balls to Apple for letting me do it with no warning about the consequences...
I connected my old HDD via firewire and tried to access my files that are on it - I couldn't initially as my newly installed user did not have permission. Easy - Add the new user to permissions for folder concerned - apply to enclosed - done - Achieved what I wanted. Files accessed - test complete - sadly I will have to reinstall a clean lion and transfer my files over (restore from time capsule).
Two Major problems have surfaced. The first is directly related to the topic, the second I might try to repost in an appropriate section...
1) What I didn't think about is as soon as I modified the permissions Time Capsule treats all the files in that folder as being modified. So it has backed up an entire new version of every file in that folder - a few hundred GB. That has chomped out 10-20% of my Time Capsule. I have no need for these backups and want to delete - say - every back up made since last Sunday when I committed the dirty deed. Seems minor - but this is a major compromise to my current arrangement.
2) I have MAJOR permissions issues now. Firstly my Aperture library (which was in the folder with added user in the permissions) is fried. Can't be repaired/rebuild or anything. Lion wont do anything so useful as to tell me why - just get the colourwheel of death and the aperture library NEVER opens. Balls to Apple for allowing this to happen so easily. Second I tried to restore the entire pictures folder from Time Machine. It tells me I don't have permission??? WHAT. Double Balls. These are my freakin files - created by this user on this MBP on this install of Lion. I can't see how adding a user can suddenly prevent a long standing user from accessing their files from within their account. By the way the new install on the new HDD is no longer in play - all I am trying to do is continue to use my MBP the way I was before I did the test install.
My long running affinity for Mac is rapidly waning - I have wasted countless hours trying to regain access to ALL of my pictures - 14 years worth. 1000's of images. I cannot access them on my MBP, Can't restore them from Time Machine. This is the worst computing experience of my life.
I have tried booting from recovery, repairing permissions etc etc etc. Nothing mainstream solves this.
Does anyone have some wisdom to address my conundrum - I am seriously desperate here... I have genuinely decided that I will not waste the upcoming long weekend ******* around with this - I would rather forget my 14 years of stored memories and just get on with life... If unsolved by this Friday I will sell my Macbook Pro and iPad and initiate my own version of the post PC world - no computer at all - currently it is doing nothing but wasting my time.

jameski wrote:
My only concern about resetting premissions (and ACL???) is that it will exacerbate my backup disk space wastage issue as it will result in full backup of my entire home folder (about 400GB).
Yup, if you changed the permissions on everything in your home folder, that will change them all back, so they'll all be backed-up again.
That will leave me with about 1.2TB of a 2TB TC used up with backups (currently should be about 500GB) - my plan was to have about 1.5TB of my TC available to use for files in the medium term until the need for more backup space pushed me to invest in another drive. TC's are just too expensive to waste like this.
Mixing backups and other data on the TC's internal HD will, eventually, cause conflicts. But see #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for some possible workarounds.
If I do a complete restore from TM (entire account)
You can't do that. You can't restore an entire home folder via the "Star Wars" display, because the home folder and default sub-folders (Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, etc.,) are protected. You'd have to restore the contents of the sub-folders, a rather tedious process.
You can do a "full system restore" (OSX, apps, all user accounts & home folders), via a different procedure (Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14).
to the day before this shambles started - will time machine treat my restored account as a modification of all files and try to back up a fresh copy of everything on the basis that it has been modified - or is it smart enought to realise what I have done and carry on doing only incremental backups?
Anything you restore via the "Star Wars" display is considered as changed, so will be backed-up.
A full system restore (usually) results in only an incremental backup, but TM does a "deep scan" to compare everything on your system to the backups, to see what's different. That will find that everything in your home folder has changed, so back it all up anyway.
If yes I will likely put all my historical backups onto a cheap 500GB drive and put it in a drawer and start new backups on TC
Good plan. You probably know you can always view and restore from those, via the Browse Other Backup Disks option, per #17 in the FAQ.
After you do that, in theory, you could run the user home folder permissions reset, delete all the backups made after the original permissions change, then force a "deep scan" so the only differences found would be files that really are new or changed; but that's tedious, error-prone, and "iffy."
Are backups via TC inherently substantially slower than say to firewire drive?
Oh, yes, absolutely. Here's a very rough comparison of full backup speeds (see #29 in the FAQ for details):
There's a lot of variation depending on your hardware and setup, of course.
I am running my TC through gigabit ethernet as wifi (despite having an ethernet extended AEP in my office) is too slow. I simply cannot get over the serious loss of performance since Lion and more recently the introduction of a TC. It is dire!
Some folks report WIFI backups slower under Lion vs. Snow Leopard, some think it's faster, others (including me) don't see much difference.
However, it really shouldn't make a whole lot of difference for normal incremental backups, as they should be relatively small and quick in most cases, and shouldn't have much impact on performance. You might want to check the sizes of your backups -- if they seem too large considering what you've changed, see #D4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. If the sizes are reasonable, but the backups are still slow, or other performance seems to suffer, see #D2 there.
Are these your only backups? If so, consider keeping "secondary" backups, to avoid having "all eggs in one basket." See #27 in the FAQ for some suggestions.

How do I upload pictures to my blog from time capsule?

Hi,
I just started using Time machine, or time capsule (not sure what the difference is). I had to back up my laptop because I only have 185 GB on my computer. I'm a photographer so I take tons of pictures. I started backing up my computer to the time capsule and then had to delete the original files off my computer to make enough space. Currently I have 1 GB of space left on my computer. I need to delete basically all of my photos on the computer so I have more room to even load new pictures onto the computer.
My problem is I need to access these pictures in time capsule so I can load pictures to my blog or website. I know how to look at the pictures in time capsule by going to iphoto and clicking the file thing, but there must be an easy way to upload pictures to the web from time capsule.
Basically if I can't use my pictures to upload them onto my blog/website my business is doomed... Please help me!

Suggest that you consider a few things here:
The Time Capsule (which is hardware) uses Time Machine (which is software) to make backups of the original files on your computer. The reason that you need backups is to have a copies of your important data in two different locations.
The reason for this is that when....not if....a disk drive fails on either your computer or Time Capsule, you at least still have a good copy of important files on the other drive.
If...you move the "original" files on your computer to the Time Capsule drive......all of your images are on the Time Capsule.....and you have no backups. When....not if....the Time Capsule drive fails, you lose everything.
I suggest that you consider the following:
Add an external hard drive that will attach directly to the USB or FireWire port your computer and move your the iPhoto library to that location.
Then, Time Machine will backup both your computer and the external drive, so you have your "originals" on one drive and backups on another.
The bottom line here is that the Time Capsule and Time Machine should be used for backups....not for everyday use. With an external hard drive attached directly to your computer, it will be a simple matter to navigate to the image file using iPhoto and "export" it to the desktop or another folder for uploading.
The Time Capsule is not meant for this type of use.

I recovered photos from time capsule files show but are empty

I have a macbook pro that needed a new harddrive. I backed up iphoto and put it on my new harddrive from time capsule. The photo files show up and the correct number of images but no images show up. How can I retrieve them?

We are not iPhoto experts here......they are over the iPhoto support area.
So, your best bet is to ask over there......iPhoto
In general, you need to restore the entire iPhoto library from the Time Machine backups on the Time Capsule. It is located in your Pictures folder.
Once the iPhoto library has been restored to the Pictures folder on your Mac, you will need to "point" iPhoto at that library by holding down the option key on your Mac while you click to start the iPhoto application on the dock.
These are general guidelines, not specific instructions, which should come from the iPhoto experts.

HT3275 What if my error message is the following: The backup disk image "/Volumes/********'s Time Capsul/****'s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. (I have redacted the name of the computer with asterixes)

What if my error message is the following: The backup disk image “/Volumes/********'s Time Capsul/****’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use. (I have redacted the name of the computer with asterixes)

This is a complex procedure.
Pull the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule
Wait a minute or two
Plug the power cord back in to the back of the Time Capsule
This will fix the issue 98% of the time. If you are in the unlucky 2% category, more help is here from Pondini, the Time Machine guru:
The Backup disk image ... sparsebundle ... is already in use.

Restore from Time Capsule using Migration Assistant

When I try to restore my backup from Time Capsule using Migration Assistant it cannot find any backups on Time Capsule HDD.
Time Capsule works just fine, using TC Application I can restore single files, there is also XXXXXX.sparsebundle file on Time Capsule HDD which I can mount with no problem and see all of my backups.
Where is the problem?

Hi,
I just ran into the same problem, neither the Migration Assistant nor "Restore from Backup" from the 10.5 Install DVD would find a valid backup on my Time Capsule (which kinda renders it useless).
After some googling and trial and error I found a workaround using Terminal. I don't know why mounting the sparebundle image with Disk Utility wouldn't work, but it isn't available when your computer crashed anyway... So here is my method:
-Boot from the System DVD, choose the language
(-Goto Utilities and start the Disk Utility and reformat your drive, if on Intel check that you partition it with GUID, NOT Apple Partition Scheme NOR MBR, restart from DVD) only if something went wrong with your disk like in my case
-Goto Utilities and start Terminal
-In Terminal first make a directory for the mount, type: mkdir /Volumes/MyBackup
-Then mount the Time Capsule and link it to the folder you created, type: mount -t afp afp://myuser:mypassword@IPAdressOfMyTimecapsule/VolumeWhereMyBackupIs /Volume/MyBackup
-The AFP-Volume is now mounted, but you can't see anywhere.
-Quit Terminal, this will bring you back to the 10.5 Installer.
-Goto Utilities and choose "Restore System From Backup"
-The Dialog will ask you for a Backup Source. You should now see your Time Capsule and an already mounted Time Machine Volume at the location you specified in Terminal.
-Select the Time Machine Volume and press Continue, it'll take a while you show you all the backups, choose the one you want, choose a destination, drink tea.

Why Migration or Restore Utility doesn't find any Time Machine backups from Time Capsule ?

Hello,
After a big issue on my system (Lion), I had to do a full restore from Time Capsule and my problems started.
Here is my setup:
Time Capsule configured with account-based authentication
MacBook with OS X Lion (x2) (1 needs a restore)
I booted from Lion's restoration partitions, then I selected "Restore from Time Machine backup", my Time Capsule is detected. I hit "Continue", the utility asks my login/password. Then...nothing ! It seems that no backup is detected.
Well, from another computer, I tried to connect with the same login/password and mount the sparsebundle backup...no problems
To go further, I launched Migration utility from the working computer, then tried to restore from Time Machine backups....no backup is detected again !
Solution:
I had, from Lion's restoration partition, to mount the Time Capsule drive, then the sparsebundle image (the backup) from Terminal.
After that, the restoration utility was able to detect the "local" mounted sparsebundle backup image.
Aftermath:
Not a single Apple utility, designed to restore my computer, was able to detect my Time Capsule's backups.
I was able to use the command line utility to be able to restore my computer.
Question:
Did I miss something ? Am I the only one to do that to restore from a Time Capsule configured with account authentication ?

I'm sorry I didn't get your point. I didn't find any answer in this FAQ.
For the record, I checked my backups with Disk Utility, no damages were found, so it should work out of the box.

Restoring files from Time Capsule after upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard.

I just purchased Time Capsule so I could back up all 105GB of data from my 2 year old, iMac 24 running Leopard.
I've been having issues, especially with Safari, so I'm (finally) upgrading to Snow Leopard.
My Time Capsule is being used as a SAN and is joining my already existing network via ethernet connection.
When I install Snow Leopard, I plan on blowing out Leopard and running Snow Leopard fresh from scratch, not doing an upgrade.
Will I be able to restore my files, iTunes, and photos from Time Capsule like if I were moving them from a flash drive, even though my iMac has changed?
I don't know if I'm thinking that Time Capsule is getting an image of my iMac and when I blow it out and load Snow Leopard on it, it won't be able to read it again...
But I'm thinking if the answer if yes, which mean I could move files backed up from my iMac to my MacBook Air. Right?
Thanks

Anyone has an answer?

HT5022 How to share my photos from time capsule external drive over the internet.

I saw some article that, i can share my photos from time capsule drive over the internet. Also, heard it can be done through manual configuration of time capsule. Firstly, i do not see such option in my time capsule configuration. I did a factory reset assuming, i might have configured through auto mode for the first time (that could be the reason why i don't see manual option). Now, i don't know, how can i share my images over the internet frome time capsule drive, without using my mac book system up and running all the time.. I wanted to create a secured user id/password to let the other users to access my network share drive. Is that possible?

Please check out the following AirPort User Tip on how your Time Capsule can be accessed from the Internet to get you started.

Restore from Time Capsule after Hard Drive Crash

The HD on my iMac crashed Christmas Day. I have been running backups on Time Machine to a Time Capsule since I purchased the iMac (and also backing up a MacBook Air), but never had any occasion to see if it worked.
I yesterday got the computer back with a new HD installed. When I tried to do the restore from Time Capsule from the Setup Assistant which ran on start up, I could not get past the initial screen. It kept hanging up on "Opening Time Capsule," and then on one occasion it found only the MacBook Air back up volume.
After some research here, I tried running the utility after booting from my Snow Leopard disk. This time, it immediately found the backups from both computers, but hung up on opening the iMac backup.
After more research, I ran the disk utility and repaired the HD on the iMac. It finally worked -- I woke up to a "Restore Complete" message (it started around 10:00 pm last night). The iMac started up without a hitch to the way it looked Christmas morning. The only problem I have noticed is that my most recent events in iPhoto are empty. The thumbnails are there, but no pictures. I tried to rebuild the library using iPhoto Library Manager, but no luck. Any ideas?
The other thing I noticed is that I had to reauthorize the computer for my iTunes purchases. Will Apple fix that so it doesn't chew up my last remaining authorization?

think about the speed of wifi here
speed at 802.11n = a theoretical 540Mbps (less in real world scenarios)
Mbps = Mega bits per second
MBps - Mega bytes per second
8 bits = 1 byte
8 mega bits = 1 mega byte
How long would it take you to download a 1 gig file from the internet wired into your modem? About 10-20 min? And that is taking into account that the info is being uploaded hardwire. Now imagine that same file over wireless in your home being upload by the Airport card in your computer. People over look upload speed when considering these things. The wireless upload speed of your Airport card is what is limiting this. Just a limitation of the technology, not a fault of Apple just stating the numbers here.

How do i use a Time Machine from another computer from Time Capsule with multibackups

Can Iuse a Time Machine from another computer from Time Capsule with multibackups

Not sure what you are asking here.
Time Machine is software on a Mac that is used to backup that Mac to a Time Capsule hard drive.
Are you asking if another Mac can backup to the same Time Capsule that other Macs are already using?
Or, if not....please clarify on exactly what you want to do.

Recovering data from Time Capsule after conversion from Snow Leopard to Lion

Had a problem with my iMac, which was running Snow Leopard O/S. Data was backed up on Time Capsule using Time Machine, although recent back-ups had failed (but earlier back-ups had been OK). Apple support determined that I needed to re-install the O/S and they walked me through it. After blowing away all data (believing that once O/S reinstalled, could recover from Time Capsule), the reinstall failed. Took to Apple store, where they installed Lion at my request. Then tried to recover from Time Capsule, but couldn't do so. Sparse file doesn't work (it shows 10GB, which is wrong as it had several hundred GB's before due to lots of photos). Apple Support couldn't solve issue, believes it was corrupted with the last backup. Ultimately recommended that I have professional data recovery service recover data from the iMac hard-drive (as opposed to Time Capsule). Spoke to recovery service recommended by Apple, and it is very expensive (also, given the O/S reinstall, anything they recover will have new file names and no directory structure). They also said getting data off the Time Capsule is even more difficult and expensive to recover. I'm not a happy camper.
I would welcome any thoughts on what to do. FWIW, I live in South Florida and there appear to be lots of data recovery companies locally, but Apple support had said that they have only a few authorized vendors that can do it without voiding warranty, so I'm reluctant to even call them. Thanks. Steve

Your backups may be corrupted.
Try to repair them, via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder).
Mount the sparse bundle by opening the TC in the Finder and double-clicking on the sparse bundle. Drag the sparse bundle into Disk Utility's sidebar, and do a +*Repair Disk*+ (not permissions) on it. If it finds errors it can't fix, run it again (and again), until it either fixes them all, or can't fix any more.

How can I copy programs (iWorks) and files from Time Capsule to my HD manually? The problem is that the migration assistant does not recognize my backup file and the user on the TC. (If I open the TC on finder, it it there though)

How can I copy programs (iWorks) and files from Time Capsule to my HD manually? The problem is that the migration assistant does not recognize my backup file and the user on the TC. (If I open the TC on finder, it it there though)

How can I copy programs (iWorks) and files from Time Capsule to my HD manually? The problem is that the migration assistant does not recognize my backup file and the user on the TC. (If I open the TC on finder, it it there though)

How can I restore my iPhone from time capsule (OSX and ios5)?

How can I restore my iphone (ios5) from time capsule (OSX).

So much got deleted... how can I get it backk????

Cross hardware platform image cloning from Time Capsule

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