Dealing with my husband's laptop crash with Time Machine?

My husband's mac laptop has had a catastrophe of some kind while he is in the middle of some important work. He has it backed up on an external hard disk using Time Machine. If I set up an account for him on my desktop wil he be able to plug in his external hard disk and find the files he was working on? Then back up using Time Machine and recapture any changes on his laptop when it is repaired?

Margaret Cushing1 wrote:
Thanks Bobby. I haven't got room for all his files on my desktop. So total migration woud not be good! So, I haven't got the answer to his problem. Darn!
Migration Assistant allows you to omit some broad categories of stuff, such as any of the default "sub-folders" in a home folder, such as Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc. The advantage is, the user account and home folder are transferred "as is" (minus anything omitted), just as on his Mac, not mixed in with your stuff. See Using Migration Assistant on Mountain Lion or Lion for the gory details.
But it sounds like your best bet may be to restore selected items via the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display), using the Browse Other Backup Disks option, as Barney says.
If you have a problem with that (such as, the items have red badges and you can't open them), post back and we'll find a workaround.

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Laptop crash with i tunes library. Have recently sync with my work mac but I am missing all my old songs. Please help. I tunes novice.

My laptop crashed with mine and my husbands I tunes Library. I have sync my i phone with my work mac but I am still missing some of my songs.
My husband was unable to do this as his i phone broke too and he has no music at all.
Please help.

Apple devices are designed to sync with a single library. If you move the device to a new library iTunes will suggest wiping the device and reloading it with the contents of the library on the new computer, even if most of the content is identical. For an iOS device this process would also delete and reinstall any applications which would discard and settings or saved data associated with the apps. You probably don't want to do this.
Ideally you would have migrate the working library from the computer previously used to manage the device (the laptop) to the computer you now want to use (the desktop) before adding other new content into the new computer's library. That way the device would have easily moved from syncing with one machine to the other.
I'm not quite sure what the best next step is at this point. Does the desktop library sync with any other devices?
tt2

My other laptop crashed with adobe lightroom installed on it. How can i de-authorize that computer (not able to boot up) and install it on this computer?

My other laptop crashed with adobe lightroom installed on it. How can i de-authorize that computer (not able to boot up) and install it on this computer?

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How to use airport time capsule on a dell portable pc with windows 7 taking in consideration that Time machine doesn't run with Windows ?

how to use airport time capsule on a dell portable pc with windows 7 taking in consideration that time machine doesn't run with Windows ?

TM does not work like that.
If you want files to use later.. do not use TM.
Or do not use TM to the same location. Plug a USB drive into the computer and use that as the target for the permanent backup.
Read some details of how TM works so you understand what it will do.
http://pondini.org/TM/Works.html
Use a clone or different software for a permanent backup.
http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html
How to use TC
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
This is helpful.. particularly Q3.
Why you don't want to use TM.
Q20 here. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

I cannot able able to start my macbook and then i started my mac in a recovery mode now mac os X utility window opens with 4 options 1. Restore From Time Machine Backup 2. Reinstall Mac OSX 3. Get Help Online 4. Disk Utility if i try to restore my mac wit

i cannot able able to start my macbook and then i started my mac in a recovery mode now mac os X utility window opens with 4 options 1. Restore From Time Machine Backup 2. Reinstall Mac OSX 3. Get Help Online 4. Disk Utility if i try to restore my mac with time machine no option appears if i reinstall from Mac OSX error comes and cannot able to recover from disk utility please help how can i reinstall mac OSX

Guitar21,
your MacBook Pro has booted into its Recovery mode. From the OS X Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. On the left-hand side of the Disk Utility window, select your internal disk’s boot partition (typically called “Macintosh HD”). On the right-hand side, press the Verify Disk button if it’s not greyed out; if it is greyed out, or if it reports that errors were found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu to restart in normal mode. Does it get to the login screen now?

I have an old Minimac with a 100GB HD. I run Time Machine to an external HD. I want to update my Lion software but need 8GB of HD capacity to do this. I only have 5GB. My photo library is 4GB so since this is backed up I deleted this to Trash. But I still

I have an old Minimac with a 100GB HD. I run Time Machine to an external HD. I want to update my Lion software but need 8GB of HD capacity to do this. I only have 5GB. My photo library is 4GB so since this is backed up I deleted this to Trash. But I still have only 5GB of capacity on the HD. Why ?

You need to empty the trash to get the space back.

HT201250 I backed up my iMac with a "WD My Passport" using the Time Machine option and tried to restore my iMac but it only saved my applications none of my documents, photos nothing else! What happened?

I backed up my iMac with a "WD My Passport" using the Time Machine option and tried to restore my iMac but it only saved my applications none of my documents, photos nothing else! What happened?

There should be two sparse bundles on the TC, one for each Mac. If you click the TC in a Finder sidebar, you should see something like this (in Column View):
If you see the sparse bundle for the iMac there, but not on the window where you do a full system restore (after starting from your Recovery HD or OSX Install disc), they may be corrupted (especially if your iMac was failing at the time of the last backup).
Try repairing those backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
Then try the full restore again, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14. Note that if you suspect problems on the most recent backup, you might want to select an earlier one.

Restoring computer with new hard drive & Logic Board using Time Machine

My MBPro totally crashed and just got it back from Apple with a new hard drive, logic board, optical super drive, one new 1GB ram chip, and a new video display panel. My questions are two fold, first, have I had so much replaced on this machine that I need to use Migration Assistant instead of Time Machine to restore it?
Second, If I am suppose to be using Time Machine, I'm having no success! My TM backups were done on a network drive via Airport Extreme with a HD attached to it. Through the Snow Leopard disk utility, I can access the partition with the backup on it, but then it hangs on "opening TM backup". After about a half hour, I had to do a hard shut down (no other option). I did this several times, same result. So the question is;
Can I plug the HD directly into my MBPro and restore it that way? I'm not sure if I can do this as I know the backups are different for hard wired and networked drives.
Or can I use an ethernet cable and plug Airport Extreme with the external drive attached into my laptop?
Thanks for any help!

Arlee wrote:
My MBPro totally crashed and just got it back from Apple with a new hard drive, logic board, optical super drive, one new 1GB ram chip, and a new video display panel. My questions are two fold, first, have I had so much replaced on this machine that I need to use Migration Assistant instead of Time Machine to restore it?
no. you can do a full system restore from TM using the restore utility on the snow leopard DVD.
Second, If I am suppose to be using Time Machine, I'm having no success! My TM backups were done on a network drive via Airport Extreme with a HD attached to it. Through the Snow Leopard disk utility,
snow leopard disk utility?? what exactly are you doing? disk utility is not involved in restoring from TM in any way.
I can access the partition with the backup on it, but then it hangs on "opening TM backup". After about a half hour, I had to do a hard shut down (no other option). I did this several times, same result. So the question is;
Can I plug the HD directly into my MBPro and restore it that way? I'm not sure if I can do this as I know the backups are different for hard wired and networked drives.
no, this is not how you should do it. connect the AEBS by ethernet. then boot from the snow leopard dvd and use "restore system from backup" from the Utilities menu. it will let you find the backup on the network and do a full system restore from it.
Or can I use an ethernet cable and plug Airport Extreme with the external drive attached into my laptop?
Thanks for any help!

Mail.app 4.1 does not work with 10.6.1 after restore from time machine

After I restored my complete system from time machine backup using the original snow leopard install disc. My Mail.app won't start up anymore. It shows me the message:
"You can't use this version of Mail with this version of Mac OS X"
"You have Mail version 4.1 (1076/1075.2). It can't be used Mac OS X Version 10.6.1 (Build 10B504). For more information, click the Help button"
I don't understand the error message as mail 4.1 was installed as part of Mac OS X 10.6.1?
Detailed event log:
2009-11-03 06:00 AM: Backup succeeded successfully via time machine on my time capsule
2009-11-03 11:00 AM: Original laptop was broken. (Screen didn't work anymore)
2009-11-03 03:00 PM: Got a temporary new Macbook Pro from my System Administrator.
2009-11-03 09:00 PM: Successfully restored complete system on new temporary macbook using time machine with data of my time capsule. Everything looked the same (login image, installed applications, etc...). But when I tried to start Mail.app it gave me the above message.
Can someone help me with this???
Kind Regards,
Niels

I've seen two possible solutions to this:
1. Easier, but less likely to work - try to start mail from the Finder, rather than the Dock. If it works, replace the Dock Mail with the Finder one.
2. More probably the solution: download and reinstall the 10.6.1 combo update. I know you shouldn't need to after a TM restore but ...

Need some help with backing up external hard drive using Time Machine

Hi all, I'm trying to work out the best way to back up multiple iPhoto libraries using Time Machine.
At the moment I have got an iMac and Macbook Pro, both of which have an iPhoto library (with different content). Currently these are not backed up at all. So what I want to do is back both up to an NAS drive, which I know is straightforward.
What I also want to do is create one iPhoto library on an external hard drive that I can use with my MBP, and then delete the iPhoto library on my MBP to free up some hard drive space (it's running slower and slower and I'm hoping that this might help it run quicker).
So, as I want to have the library on two seperate drives in case one fails, what I want to know is whether I could use Time Machine to back up my external hard drive as well as the internal drive of my MBP? Also, would I need to have the external drive connected at all times for Time Machine to "see" it?
I hope that makes sense, all I seem to be doing currently is going round and round and can't work out whether what I want to do is possible or not.
Thanks in advance

If I understand your goal correctly, you're considering using Time Machine as external storage, and it doesn't work that way. Time Machine keeps around what it can, and older stuff gets flushed as the storage available to Time Machine reaches its lower threshold due to the addition of newer stuff. When the older stuff gets flushed is not predictable.
It is possible to have several Time Machine backups aimed at the same target (this can be done with Apple Time Capsule, for instance), though you might want to partition the disks to ensure that the intended amount of storage is available. Different NAS drives have different features here.
NAS is only as fast as your network connection, and that's almost always much slower than the in-box I/O connections; a local disk will be far faster than a NAS disk, just because of the bottleneck that is wired gigabit Ethernet, and most WiFi is slower and sometimes far slower than wired gigabit Ethernet. FWIW.
If your MacBook Pro is old enough and you have $$ but aren't in a position to spend $$$$$ on a newer model, then consider an in-place drive upgrade.
If your network connection is fast enough to transfer the amount of data you're dealing with in a reasonable time, there are also hosted storage options.
You can use a NAS drive as storage independent of Time Machine, and relocate stuff there. (You'll still want to have backups of that data, as NAS drives — even NAS with RAID — can still lose files, become corrupted or otherwise ruin your data day.
As for your performance, keeping about 10% or so free on the disks is the local preference, but it's worth reviewing the performance of the whole system — Performance Monitor, Console.app, etc — to see if there's something else going on, or if your system load and personal performance expectations are exceeding what your MacBook Pro can provide.

Problems with new iMac and Maverick: ITunes and Time Machine

Just upgraded from an old to new iMac, migrated my data from my old machine and installed Maverick. Couple of major problems.
1. My iTunes library won't open. I've been into the library folders but can't work out how to get the old library to load. Decided to try a sync back from my iPhone but while the phone tells me that it has synced with my Mac, the music hasn't moved across.
2. Time Machine doesn't work. On my old machine I was using an external Omega hard drive but when I plug it into the new Mac it isn't even showing up on the desktop. Clearly there's a connection of some sort as the disc is powering from the Mac. Prior to upgrade, I was getting messages that Time Machine couldn't be updated but I put that down to my failing elderly Mac, which kept crashing, freezing and needed replacing. Perhaps the external drive was dying too.
Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks,
Mike

I dragged the installer from the install disk to my desktop and was more successful in installing problem CS2 apps. Make sure to update everything as well. Some times it takes a restart to get the finickiness out of PS.

Problems with Safari (4.0.5) Mail and Time Machine

For some time I have been experiencing every day issues with Safari and Mail. These apps constantly crash i.e. several times a day. Recently I noticed also some issues with Time Machine. Please find below extract form Console that may say smething about the reasons for it:
10-03-22 00:58:33 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 82: Error 13 (Permission denied)
10-03-22 00:58:33 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 82: Error 13 (Permission denied)
10-03-22 00:58:33 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 82: Error 13 (Permission denied)
10-03-22 00:58:33 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 82: Error 13 (Permission denied)
10-03-22 00:58:33 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 82: Error 13 (Permission denied)
10-03-22 00:58:33 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 82: Error 13 (Permission denied)
10-03-22 00:58:33 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 82: Error 13 (Permission denied)
10-03-22 01:00:53 [0x0-0xd00d0].com.apple.JarLauncher[1341] Exception in thread "Thread-3" java.lang.ClassCastException: java.lang.String cannot be cast to youtubedownloader.C
10-03-22 01:00:53 [0x0-0xd00d0].com.apple.JarLauncher[1341] at youtubedownloader.r.run(Unknown Source)
10-03-22 01:02:22 mds[47] (Warning) Server: No stores registered for metascope
"kMDQueryScopeNetwork"
10-03-22 01:02:26 mds[47] (Warning) Server: No stores registered for metascope "kMDQueryScopeNetwork"
10-03-22 01:02:30 mds[47] (Warning) Server: No stores registered for metascope "kMDQueryScopeNetwork"
10-03-22 01:02:56 Firewall[91] java is listening from ::ffff:0.0.0.0:0 proto=6
10-03-22 01:05:21 Firewall[91] java is listening from ::ffff:0.0.0.0:0 proto=6
10-03-22 01:06:25 com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[208] ([0x0-0x93093].com.apple.iTunes[939]) Exited: Terminated
10-03-22 01:23:09 com.apple.backupd[482] Compacting storage: 617.85 GB requested (including padding), 34.00 GB available before compacting
10-03-22 01:23:09 com.apple.backupd[482] Stopping backup.
10-03-22 01:23:11 com.apple.backupd[482] Backup canceled.
10-03-22 01:23:15 com.apple.backupd[482] Ejected Time Machine disk image.
10-03-22 01:23:15 com.apple.backupd[482] Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
10-03-22 01:23:43 diskimages-helper[1485] Reclaimed 1.5 GB out of 36.0 GB possible.
10-03-22 01:23:44 com.apple.backupd[482] Completed backup disk image compaction
10-03-22 01:23:44 com.apple.backupd[482] Starting standard backup
10-03-22 01:23:44 com.apple.backupd[482] Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Time Capsule
10-03-22 22:09:35 mDNSResponder[17] ERROR: mDNSPlatformTCPConnect - connect failed: socket 23: Error 13 (Permission denied)
Please give me some advise of what should be done to cure the stability of my iMac.

If you have any, they'd be in that folder, in either your User directory or your root directory. If you have no such folders, then you have no Input Managers and they wouldn't be the cause of the problem.
In that case, I'd suggest going to Users/Username/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari and deleting the contents of that folder, then locking the folder via the Get Info window.
Then go to Users/Username/Library/Safari and delete these files:
Downloads.plist
History.plist
LastSession.plist
Restart Safari and see if things improve.
If not, then the last thing I would suggest is downloading Onyx (http://www.titanium.free.fr/index_us.html) for your version of Mac OS X; install and launch it, select Automation, then select "Maintenance Scripts" and under Cache, select "System" and "User" (or "System and Kernel"), depending on options what your version gives you. Uncheck everything else and click the Execute button. Restart your Mac when it's done, then test Safari again.

I have a time capsule that has worked flawlessly for several years. I recently upgraded my iMac OS to 10.8.4 and coincidently (or not) have started having some issues with backups. When I go into time machine, it struggles to find the time capsule disk

I have to unplug my time capsule and reboot it. Is there a diagnostic routine I can run or any error detection I can look for?

You are absolutely right.. when apple changed significant features in Lion and Mountain Lion .. they introduced a bunch of issues into networking which are bugs to this day..unacknowledged.. and without much that will fix them.. other than your reboot strategy.. which is like.. well that other OS.. where continual reboots are considered normal.
Old TC may also just suffer from age.. we continually tell people they have a lifespan.. 3years is the reliable span.. after that expect anything.. sudden death.. slow decline.. continual hassles and problems. If the backups are important to you.. then it is telling you in a very clear way.. replace me.. I am no longer happily providing services promised.
Now to specifics.. we don't know what the problem is.. if we knew we could give some work around.
The problem is odd in that it doesn't affect everyone.. if it starts .. people find it starts several months in to ownership.. it is never cured.. or even curable.. something like DNS or ARP table is being lost.. but it is not either of those things.
Is there a diagnostic routine I can run or any error detection I can look for?
Nothing much shows up anywhere. Including the TC log or local logs. It simply has lost the TC disk but not internet.
So.
Some things do help.
I don't know if you have pondini's resources.. TM is a complex piece of software.. it has multiple issues.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Look at A1 .. load the widget.
A5 .. verify the backup.
A4 .. reset TM.
All of those things can help.. look at some of the typical problems.. C12 and C17 being the most common since Lion.. and exacerbated in Mountain Lion.. not fixed.
Some suggestions.
1. Keep names short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. See C9 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
2. Do not use 7.6.3 firmware... go back to 7.6.1 or even better 7.5.2 on an old one.
Firmware downgrade is easy in new utility. Hold down the option key whilst selecting version.
3. I recommend a very short dhcp lease time.. 20min for example. In whatever device is the router .. that can help keep things up to date.. and use dhcp reservation again to see if the address info helps to keep things updated.
4. Do turn on ipv6 local link.. which you need to anyway with 6.3 utility.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4597
5. If you are using a desktop.. an external drive is faster.. more reliable and easier than TC for Time Machine backups..
6. Consider using CCC or another backup software.. if you want to continue to use network drive.
7. Although using 6.3 airport utility has some advantages.. it is also devoid of a lot of tools that are in v5.6 airport utility.. well worth loading into at least one computer on the network.. if you only have Mountain Lion now here is one method.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
Leave the package open on the desktop so you can see the file. AirportUtility56.pkg
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. If your Mac refuses to run the software, because it wasn’t downloaded from the Apple store, go to security in preferences and allow other software to work.. this is limitation of trade methinks. You can set back later if you like.
Now drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. in finder, open the new directory, drill down.. applications, utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall version 6 (now 6.3 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. although I have had no problems when doing so.
For screen shots see this post.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0

Trouble with restoring an iPhoto library from a time machine backup.

I'm having trouble restoring my iPhoto library from a time machine backup.
I have created a new library in my pictures file.
When I try to restore the library the restore process is trying to copy it to an external drive that no longer exists - it failed and I had to have it recovered and all the recovery (including backups) data is now on a different external hard drive.
iPhoto had been using that old external drive location to start. iPhoto is now pointed to the newly created iPhoto library in my pictures file on my MacBook Air.
Is there a way to have the restoration process point to that new iPhoto library that is now empty and not to the old external drive?

You might try this with the restored library:
Starting over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Open the library package like this.
2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.
This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

I'd like to use iPhoto '09 with Lion. Tried to install from time machine back-up no go. Tried to install from iLife '09 DVD no go.

I'd like to run iPhoto '09 on Lion. Tried to install on Lion from Time Machine backup. Got message iPhoto won't work because of a missing Library file. Tried to install iPhoto '09 from iLife '09 DVD. Got message that it cannot be installed on my system. iMovie runs previous versions and iTunes runs previous versions.
Why can't iPhoto run on Lion? My wife has over 10,000 photos in her library and she's taken the time to sort them into folders. I've recovered the library with the folder sort but have to use it on an external drive with a Snow Leopard system on it. The latest iPhoto ('11) has no provision for organizing into folders. I'd really like to have everything in one place with one OS (Lion) and two iPhoto apps '09 and '11 and I suppose 2 photo libraries. I've been trying to resolve this ever since iPhoto '11 came out and I installed it. I can't begin to tell you how difficult it is to answer the question " Where are my folders?" brian25

I tried to check the Library setup on iMovie and iTunes. The iMovie Libraries seem to be part of the applications and my iTunes applications have become Russian so I have another problem. I tried to install iPhoto '09 again from my iLife '09 disk. When I selected "Custom Install" to load iPhoto only, the box I got said " A later version of this application is already installed" The iPhoto item which I would choose for a custom install says "skip". Yesterday I ignored this and went on with an install. The final screen said "Installation Successful" There was no iPhoto '09 on my hard drive. As far as I can tell, you cannot load iPhoto '09 from a Time Machine backup. There is no Lion compatable iPhoto '09 in the App store, and iPhoto '09 will not install onto Lion from the iLife '09 disk.I don't understand exactly what you mean by "load my backup and convert again" Do you mean go to the app store and access my purchases and re- download iPhoto '11 and reinstall it and re-convert my iPhoto library? I suppose what I should have done originally was to duplicate my iPhoto '09 library and put it on an external drive for safekeeping. Who knew it wouldn't install on Lion from Time Machine? When I downloaded iPhoto '!! from the app store I should have duplicated it and saved a copy to an external hard drive for safekeeping and then proceeded with installing iPhoto '11 on my hard drive.I suppose when the Thunderbolt concept is fully realized and monster Thunderbolt external droves are in common use this will seem a lot easier. I have rebuilt my iPhoto '09 library and have it on a hard disk that has a bootable copy of Snow Leopard and a working copy of iPhoto '09 also. I think you are telling me to reinstall iPhoto '11 on my internal hard drive and reconvert the iPhoto library used by iPhoto '11. Right? brian25

Dealing with my husband's laptop crash with Time Machine?

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