Finder "Open With..." Menus Seeing Time Machine Backup Volumes

The "Open With..." context menu that is available if you right-click a file in the Finder has gone crazy on my Mac. The list is about a mile long and includes literally dozens of versions of each app.
One clue is that a similar "Open Page With..." menu that is available under Safari's Debug menu includes paths, and each redundant version of the applications that appear there are all located in the Time Machine backup volume.
It's hard to imagine that Time Machine doesn't auto-configure this, but my question to the group is if there's a way to make the Finder (and Safari) ignore the Time Machine backup database? Clearly, I would never, ever want to open a file with an app located in the Time Machine database.
Thanks,
Steve

I have excluded my external USB drive where Time Machine backups reside, and I still get a context menu full of backed up applications.
It's not just plain wrong, it makes the context menu very slow.
MacOS must look for this information elsewhere.

Similar Messages

Opening iPhoto from a time machine backup

Is it possible to open the iPhoto application from a time machine backup? Here is my problem and what I am trying to do:
I created a sample book (prior to an actual book) to practice with some settings--photos, layouts, fonts, backgrounds, etc. Then I deleted it by accident. I am grateful that it was just a practice book. But I wanted to use it as a reference for my real book. I would like to open iPhoto from my time machine backup of earlier today, however when I click the iPhoto app from the backup all I get is the information about iPhoto and can not open it. I definitely do not want to restore iPhoto, but is there a way I can open iPhoto to access this sample book information from my backup? Thanks for any info.
LHM

Thanks LN,
OK, so if I want to restore a previous iPhoto backup to an external drive (or even to the desktop) how do I do that? I don't see how to choose a different location and I am afraid I am going to mess up my original. I tried restoring and "keeping both", and my original iPhoto was labeled as the original and right next to it appeared an iPhoto folder that did not have the iPhoto library. I moved it to my desktop. All it has in it is a contents folder with a bunch of things I don't understand. When I did this I did not see a way to select a different location. It automatically placed this new iPhoto (folder previously described) in my applications folder. If you can walk me through how to accomplish this I would appreciate it. If not, it is not worth taking the chance that I will mess up my beautifully functioning iPhoto library. Thanks!
LHM

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work. Help?

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work.
^^ that's the main problem. Here's the full history.
I bought a new 13" i5 MBP, early 2011 edition. I had an old white Macbook 2.14 ghz core2duo on Snow Leopard. I attempted to port over my time machine backup, but encountered problems in that my User was inaccessible from the new computer after the import finished, and I had to go in and change the root password, etc, and for some reason or another, I couldn't install any programs at all from that administrator's account. By "couldn't" I mean I could install them, but upon installation they would never boot. So, I took it to the apple store and did a clean install from the most up to date Lion OSX. Then, I created a brand new admin account, instead of trying to import the old one, and things seemed great. Then, I just imported my old files from the TM backup, but not any system settings, permissions, or user data. Just my Docs, pics, vids, apps, and itunes stuff.
Here's where things get weird again. I imported this stuff under the name "old", but all of these folders have a red negative sign on them, marking them as restricted. So, from my main admin account, I cannot even peruse these folders. Since I didn't import user data, I can't sign in to the "old" account to change permissions. I already tried to change the permissions from system preferences, but that didn't change anything. And now, for whatever reason, of all the apps that were imported then, MS Office is the only set of apps that does not work. When I click on it, it just says there was a problem and asks if I'd like to send a report to apple. I tried reinstalling it to no avail. I'm an English student, so i really need access to Word. Can anyone help? The Apple store is a major detour for me and would like to fix this issue myself.

Most likely you have Office 2004 which are PPC-only applications and will not work in Lion. Upgrade to Office 2011. Other alternatives are:
Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.)
Open Office (Office 2007-like suite compatible with OS X.)
NeoOffice (similar to Open Office.)
LibreOffice (a new direction for the Open Office suite.)

"No such file or directory" errors on Time Machine backup volume

I remotely mounted the Time Machine backup volume onto another Mac and was looking around it in a Terminal window and discovered what appeared to be a funny problem. If I "cd" into some folders (but not all) and do a "ls -la" command, I get a lot of "No such file or directory" errors for all the subfolders, but all the files look fine. Yet if I go log onto the Mac that has the backup volume mounted as a local volume, these errors never appear for the exact same location. Even more weird is that if I do "ls -a" everything appears normal on both systems (no error messages anyway).
It appears to be the case that the folders that have the problem are folders that Time Machine has created as "hard links" to other folders which is something that Time Machine does and is only available as of Mac OS X 10.5 and is the secret behind how it avoids using up disk space for files that are the same in the different backups.
I moved the Time Machine disk to the second Mac and mounted the volume locally onto it (the second Mac that was showing the problems), so that now the volume is local to it instead of a remote mounted volume via AFP and the problem goes away, and if I do a remote mount on the first Mac of the Time Machine volume the problem appears on the first Mac system that was OK - so basically by switching the volume the problem switches also on who shows the "no such file or directory" errors.
Because of the way the problem occurs, ie only when the volume is remote mounted, it would appear to be an issue with AFP mounted volumes that contain these "hard links" to folders.
There is utility program written by Amit Singh, the fella who wrote the "Mac OS X Internals" book, called hfsdebug (you can get it from his website if you want - just do a web search for "Mac OS X Internals hfsdebug" if you want to find it ). If you use it to get a little bit more info on what's going on, it shows a lot of details about one of the problematic folders. Here is what things look like on the first Mac (mac1) with the Time Machine locally mounted:
mac1:xxx me$ pwd
/Volumes/MyBackups/yyy/xxx
mac1:xxx me$ ls -a
. .DS_Store D2
.. Documents D3
mac1:xxx me$ ls -lai
total 48
280678 drwxr-xr-x 5 me staff 204 Jan 20 01:23 .
282780 drwxr-xr-x 12 me staff 442 Jan 17 14:03 ..
286678 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 21508 Jan 19 10:43 .DS_Store
135 drwxrwxrwx 91 me staff 3944 Jan 7 02:53 Documents
729750 drwx------ 104 me staff 7378 Jan 15 14:17 D2
728506 drwx------ 19 me staff 850 Jan 14 09:19 D3
mac1:xxx me$ hfsdebug Documents/ | head
<Catalog B-Tree node = 12589 (sector 0x18837)>
path = MyBackups:/yyy/xxx/Documents
# Catalog File Record
type = file (alias, directory hard link)
indirect folder = MyBackups:/.HFS+ Private Directory Data%000d/dir_135
file ID = 728505
flags = 0000000000100010
. File has a thread record in the catalog.
. File has hardlink chain.
reserved1 = 0 (first link ID)
mac1:xxx me$ cd Documents
mac1:xxx me$ ls -a | head
.DS_Store
.localized
.parallels-vm-directory
.promptCache
ACPI
ActivityMonitor2010-12-1710p32.txt
ActivityMonitor2010-12-179pxx.txt
mac1:Documents me$ ls -lai | head
total 17720
135 drwxrwxrwx 91 me staff 3944 Jan 7 02:53 .
280678 drwxr-xr-x 5 me staff 204 Jan 20 01:23 ..
144 -rw-------@ 1 me staff 39940 Jan 15 14:27 .DS_Store
145 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 0 Oct 20 2008 .localized
146 drwxr-xr-x 2 me staff 68 Feb 17 2009 .parallels-vm-directory
147 -rwxr-xr-x 1 me staff 8 Mar 20 2010 .promptCache
148 drwxr-xr-x 2 me staff 136 Aug 28 2009 ACPI
151 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 6893 Dec 17 10:36 A.txt
152 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 7717 Dec 17 10:54 A9.txt
So you can see from the first few lines of the "ls -a" command, it shows some file/folders but you can't tell which yet. The next "ls -la" command shows which names are files and folders - that there are some folders (like ACPI) and some files (like A.txt and A9.txt) and all looks normal. And the "hfsdebug" info shows some details of what is really happening in the "Documents" folder, but more about that in a bit.
And here are what a "ls -a" and "ls -al" look like for the same locations on the second Mac (mac2) where the Time Machine volume is remote mounted:
mac2:xxx me$ pwd
/Volumes/MyBackups/yyy/xxx
mac2:xxx me$ ls -a
. .DS_Store D2
.. Documents D3
mac2:xxx me$ ls -lai
total 56
280678 drwxr-xr-x 6 me staff 264 Jan 20 01:23 .
282780 drwxr-xr-x 13 me staff 398 Jan 17 14:03 ..
286678 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 21508 Jan 19 10:43 .DS_Store
728505 drwxrwxrwx 116 me staff 3900 Jan 7 02:53 Documents
729750 drwx------ 217 me staff 7334 Jan 15 14:17 D2
728506 drwx------ 25 me staff 806 Jan 14 09:19 D3
mac2:xxx me$ cd Documents
mac2:Documents me$ ls -a | head
.DS_Store
.localized
.parallels-vm-directory
.promptCache
ACPI
ActivityMonitor2010-12-1710p32.txt
ActivityMonitor2010-12-179pxx.txt
mac2:Documents me$ ls -lai | head
ls: .parallels-vm-directory: No such file or directory
ls: ACPI: No such file or directory
... many more "ls: ddd: No such file or directory" error messages appear - there is a one-to-one
correspondence between the "ddd" folders and the "no such file or directory" error messages
total 17912
728505 drwxrwxrwx 116 me staff 3900 Jan 7 02:53 .
280678 drwxr-xr-x 6 me staff 264 Jan 20 01:23 ..
144 -rw-------@ 1 me staff 39940 Jan 15 14:27 .DS_Store
145 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 0 Oct 20 2008 .localized
147 -rwxr-xr-x 1 me staff 8 Mar 20 2010 .promptCache
151 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 6893 Dec 17 10:36 A.txt
152 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 7717 Dec 17 10:54 A9.txt
If you look very close a hint as to what is going on is obvious - the inode for the Documents folder is 152 on the local mounted case (the first set of code above for mac1), and it's 728505 in the remote mounted case for mac2. So it appears that these "hard links" to folders have an extra level of folder that is hidden from you and that AFP fails to take into account, and that is what the "hfsdebug" shows even better as you can clearly see the REAL location of the Documents folder is in something called "/.HFS+ Private Directory Data%000d/dir_135" that is not even visible to the shell. And if you look closely in the remote mac2 case, when I did the "cd Documents" I don't go into the inode 135, but into the inode 728505 (look close at the "." entry for the "ls -la" commands on both mac1 and mac2) which is the REAL problem, but have no idea how to get AFP to follow the extra level of indirection.
Anyone have any ideas how to fix this so that "ls -l" commands don't generate these "no such file or folder" messages?
I am guessing that the issue is really something to do with AFP (Apple File Protocol) mounted remote volumes. The TimeMachine example is something that I used as an example that anyone could verify the problem. The real problem for me has nothing to do with Time Machine, but has to do with some hard links to folders that I created on another file system totally separate from the Time Machine volume. They exhibit the same problem as these Time Machine created folders, so am pretty sure the problem has nothing to do with how I created hard links to folders which is not doable normally without writing a super simple little 10 line program using the link() system call - do a "man 2 link" if you are curious how it works.
I'm well aware of the issues and the conditions when they can and can't be used and the potential hazards. I have an issue in which they are the best way to solve a problem. And after the problem was solved, is when I noticed this issue that appears to be a by-product of using them.
Do not try these hard links to folders on your own without knowing what they're for and how to use them and not use them. They can cause real problems if not used correctly. So if you decide to try them out and you loose some files or your entire drive, don't say I didn't warn you first.
Thanks ...
-Bob

The problem is Mac to Mac - the volume that I'm having the issue with is not related in any way to Time Machine or to TimeCapsule. The reference to TIme Machine is just to illustrate the problem exists outside of my own personal work with hard links to folders on HFS Extended volumes (case-sensitive in this particular case in case that matters).
I'm not too excited about the idea of snooping AFP protocol to discover anything that might be learned there.
The most significant clue that I've seen so far has to do with the inode numbers for the two folders shown in the Terminal window snippets in the original post. The local mounted case uses the inode=728505 of the problematic folder which is in turn linked to the hidden original inode of 135 via the super-secret /.HFS+... folder that you can't see unless using something like the "hfsdebug" program I mentioned.
The remote mounted case uses the inode=728505 but does not make the additional jump to the inode=135 which is where lower level folders appear to be physically stored.
Hence the behavior that is seen - the local mounted case is happy and shows what would be expected and the remote mounted case shows only files contained in the problem folder but not lower-level folders or their contents.
From my little knowledge of how these inode entries really work, I think that they are some sort of linked list chain of values, so that you have to follow the entire chain to get at what you're looking for. If the chain is broken somewhere along the line or not followed correctly, things like this can happen. I think this is a case of things not being followed correctly, as if it were a broken chain problem then the local mounted case would have problems also.
But the information for this link in the chain is there (from 728505 to the magic-135) but for some reason AFP doesn't make this extra jump.
Yesterday I heard back from Apple tech support and they have confirmed this problem and say that it is a "implementation limitation" with the AFP client. I think it's a bug, but that will have to be up to Apple to decide now that it's been reported. I just finished reporting this as a bug via the Apple Bug Reporter web site -- it's bug id 8926401 if you want to keep track it.
Thanks for the insights...
-Bob

Cannot see time machine backups with 10.8.1, server

Hello,
I am running 10.8.1 on an iMac 27", recently upgraded to server. I was going to erase my internal drive and restore from the latest time machine backup to defragment, but when I go into the recovery partition, choose 'restore from time machine backup', I do not see any of my server backups. The latest backup shown is prior to the ML upgrade with server. The backups appear to run normally. Could someone provide any guidence on how to actually see the latest backups? I am now concerned that I don't have accessible backups.
Thanks!
Eric

You can only do a full restore from snapshots that include a complete, bootable system. If you excluded system files from backup, the snapshots are not restorable in Recovery.

Can't start with Snow Leopard Time Machine backup in Lion

Hi,
I have seen coverage in MacWorld (http://www.macworld.com/article/161421/2011/07/migrate_time_machine_backup_to_ne w_mac_in_lion.html) of using my Snow Leopard Time Machine backup as the starting point for my Lion TM backup. This saves all my revision history of all my documents and makes them available in Lion. However, when I follow the steps given in the MacWorld article, I don't get the same set of dialog boxes and am never given the option to use a previous disk.
Any hints to getting this to work would be much appreciated.
-Eric

A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Pondini's Time Machine FAQ

Problems with creating a Time Machine backup on external HDD

Hello!
I tried to make a new Time Machine backup file on my external harddrive today.
Unfortunately it stopt after about 6 or 7 gb with the popup:
''the backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk. The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk''
I'm certain that the HDD (Western Digital 1Tb) was correctly formatted (Mac Os Extended (Journaled)). It's the same type as my internal harddrive.
I also have a Time Machine Buddy logfile. Maybe that will help in finding the problem.
Also noticable is that after the backup failure, I can't seem to restore or format the external HDD. Once I connect it to a regular pcc and remove and reinstall the driver, I can use it again.
here is the logfile from the latest backup try:
Starting manual backup
Error determining directory contents for /Volumes/Time Machine: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “Time Machine” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7faa73422f70 {NSFilePath=/Volumes/Time Machine, NSUserStringVariant=(
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Error -36 applying backup protections to /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/MacBook Pro van Rolf Perdok
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/MacBook Pro van Rolf Perdok size:37
Error -36 applying backup protections to /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/MacBook Pro van Rolf Perdok
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/MacBook Pro van Rolf Perdok size:37
Backup failed with error: 2
Thanks in advance!

And I spoke too soon, backup just failed with:
22/10/2012 15:44:24.266 com.apple.backupd[555]: Stopping backup.
22/10/2012 15:44:24.267 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Invalid argument
22/10/2012 15:44:24.267 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error: (-47) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_ Reference_Library.DeveloperTools.4_5.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/recipes /xcode_help-project_editor/Art/BuildingTargetsintheCorrectOrder.m4v to /Volumes/Storage/Backups.backupdb/cizin/2012-10-22-152514.inProgress/ED608989-4 CF3-4713-8E62-3A32E8CC3917/Cizin/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Docum entation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_Reference_Library.DeveloperTools.4_5.docset/Conte nts/Resources/Documents/recipes/xcode_help-project_editor/Art
22/10/2012 15:44:28.221 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Invalid argument
22/10/2012 15:44:28.222 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Invalid argument
22/10/2012 15:44:28.222 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Invalid argument
22/10/2012 15:44:28.222 com.apple.backupd[555]: Copied 249786 files (10.64 GB) from volume Cizin.
22/10/2012 15:44:28.222 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Invalid argument
22/10/2012 15:44:28.222 com.apple.backupd[555]: Copy stage failed with error:11
22/10/2012 15:44:31.231 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Resource busy
22/10/2012 15:44:34.239 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Resource busy
22/10/2012 15:44:34.239 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Invalid argument
22/10/2012 15:44:34.358 com.apple.backupd[555]: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Storage/Backups.backupdb/cizin size:37
22/10/2012 15:44:44.739 com.apple.backupd[555]: Backup failed with error: 11
Time fo a bug report.

Help with configuration of Time Machine backups on a wireless network

Hello,
I was wondering if someone could help me with the configuration of Time Machine on a wireless network. I have it working some what but I am unsure if this is the best way or if it is the right way.
I have a G4 Mac mini connected to a Airport Extreme base station via ethernet.
I have a Lacie 500GB USB drive connected to the Mac mini (Lacie is formatted GUID)
I have a Macbook that I connect via wireless to the Airport and perform backups to the Lacie 500GB via wireless.
I initially had the USB drive connected to the Macbook and Time Machine worked flawlessly.
Now that I have the setup mentioned above configured, Time Machine works but... now instead of creating folders under the Backups.backupdb folder it is doing a initial backup of everything and creating a .sparsebundle file.
I am not sure if this is working correctly? Have I configured it correctly?
Permission on the Lacie? I am also controlling the Mac mini using ARD.
Perhaps I should format the drive and start from scratch and identifying the Lacie 500GB as the Time Machine backup drive for the Macbook.
I am NOT backing up the Mac mini to the Lacie 500GB
Another question is of course the initial backup over wireless will be very slow but after that it should be quicker as only files that change are backed up correct?
Hope to have some feedback on this as I believe a lot of people are trying this setup as a workaround to not being able to backup to a Airport USB drive.
Macbook and Mac mini are both using latest Leopard with updates.

James I think what you've done is correct. The thing to be aware of is that TM backs up to a directly connected HD using a Folder and deposits data into this folder in Finder format making it easy to navigate. When TM backs up to your networked HD attached to the Mac mini as you've configured for your MacBook a sparsebundle disk image is created by TM.
Now when TM on the MacBook executes it will auto mount that sparsebundle disk image on the MacBook to perform the backup and then dismounts it.
If you invoke the TM browser on your MacBook while the TM backup is in progress the TM browser has something to work with and will display the TM history. If however, on your MacBook you launch the TM browser when the TM backup is not executing you will see no history. What you need to do is to mount that network Mac mini LaCie 500GB USB HD on your MacBook and I believe you can then see the TM history.
This is very similar to the AirDisk feature that Apple dropped off from the TM feature list just prior to Leopard GM release on Occ 26.
Now having said all that, I'm a little puzzled why the TM browser launched on the MacBook isn't auto mounting your backup volume (the LaCie USB HD) as this is clearly what's required. This maybe a bug that should be reported to Apple via their Feedback process.
Hopefully I've understood your configuration and what you've posted as an issue(s).

Help with Restoring from Time Machine Backup with new Hard Drive

Hello. Recently, my hard drive died in my 24" Early 2008 Aluminum iMac. Luckily, I had a time machine backup, and I took it upon myself to replace the 320 GB Hard Drive with a 2 TB Seagate Barracuda disk. The hardware replacement (although difficult) went fine. Now, I'm having a bit of trouble restoring the new drive from my time machine backup. The new disk shows up in Disk Utility with the correct capacity. I formatted the new drive with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using my installation disk. My only problem is that the drive isn't showing up when I am choosing which drive I want to restore my time machine backup onto. I can pick out the backup I want perfectly fine, but I can't find the new drive. Any help?

UPDATE: I restarted it (Classic IT Crowd "Have you tried turning it off and on" moment) and the drive shows up on screen. Right now, I'm waiting for it to "Calculate disk size needed for restore" and I'll keep you posted.
UPDATE 2: Currently restoring. Let's see if it's successful.
Message was edited by: funman895

Renamed home folder but now can't see time machine backups

Per instructions from Apple forum , i renamed my home folder from Home to <myname>. In so doing, the home folder did not get renamed on my time machine backups backed up over time capsule. How do I either rename my home folders on my backups or "connect" my new account name to my old account name backups?

Pondini has some instructions for inheriting old backups.
See B5 and B6 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
In the end.. you might find nothing works.. and directly altering the TM backup is really not going to work.. so you may end up needing to do a wipe and restart with a fresh clean backup.
You need to realise you have made a major change to the system.. and the backup is not going to work, if the home folder name is changed. What it probably will do is backup the new home folder in the next incremental backup.. so you will still have both your old and new names.. this is correct btw.. you cannot make that sort of change and have the TM forget the old name.

Why is Migration Assistant not seeing Time Machine backup?

Had year old iMac with Snow Leopard and recently was lucky enough to have it replaced with a brand new model with Lion. Had the previous iMac backed up on external drive with Time Machine.
I know I can't restore from that Time Machine backup since I am now on Lion but shouldn't I be able to migrate my old user account from the Snow Leopard Time Machine backup to the new Lion system? The Lion Migration Assistant will not recogize or show the drive or backup from Time Machine though even though it is mounted in the Finder in Lion.
Any ideas?

I just had a similar problem to this. I have a MacBook Pro (Lion) that has been backed up to an attached USB Time Machine disk that was formatted on this same machine. I had a major crash, and had to reinstall Lion, and my Time Machine backup drive did not show up in the list. I do see several drives on my network, but not the locally attached USB drive. I rebooted and tried several time, no joy.
The backup drive passes all disk tests, and shows up when plugged in to other machines, and even shows up in the boot menu (but will not boot) when the MacBook Pro starts. And it has the secret flag file (if you do not know, the drive MUST have a zero length file titled ".com.apple.timemachine.supported" (note the leading .) at the root of the drive or the drive will not be recognized) and it should just work. It did backup to it just fine, but I cannot restore.
I finally made this work (I think) by actually getting another external USB drive, formatting it, and then using another machine to copy the Time Machine backup from the old drive to the new drive. I added the myster flag file to the new drive (see above) and connected it to the MacBook Pro. This time, it did recognize it.
I am trying to do a restore now, and looks like it should work just fine. What a pain in the butt.
I would love to hear from Apple what causes this. There must be an easier solution than to spend 6 hours copying a full back from one 2 TB drive to another! SIgh!
UPDATE: OK, it showed up as a restore disk in the "restore utility" in the energency partition, but I need to install a new OS (there was some curruption) and after installing a New OS, and getting to the migration screen, once again, this new drive does not show up. ARGHHHHhhhhhhh
Message was edited by: orubin after thinking it was working.

Migration assistant cannot see time machine backup

I have used internet backup to reinstall Lion on my early 2011 MBP, having installed a SSD drive.
I now want to recover all of my data, which is stored on a time machine backup on a USB external drive.
I ran migration assistant, but I just get the spinning logo and it does not see any data; the time machine backups drive is mounted and I can open the volume in finder.
What is the best way to get my data back? I want to selectively recover certain folders- I dont need to restore applications or the system (I purposely wanted to perform a clean install).
Thanks
Charles

I have used internet backup to reinstall Lion on my early 2011 MBP, having installed a SSD drive.
I now want to recover all of my data, which is stored on a time machine backup on a USB external drive.
I ran migration assistant, but I just get the spinning logo and it does not see any data; the time machine backups drive is mounted and I can open the volume in finder.
What is the best way to get my data back? I want to selectively recover certain folders- I dont need to restore applications or the system (I purposely wanted to perform a clean install).
Thanks
Charles

Issues with restoring a Time Machine backup onto new Macbook Pro Retina

I recently got a new Macbook Pro Retina and I've been trying to restore a Time Machine backup made today from my old Macbook Pro laptop. I didn't restore from the first start up (foolishly, seemingly) simply because of the trivial reason of wanting to see the system all clean and new.
I've tried the Migration Assistant but it gets stuck on "looking for source..", despite having the ex.HD plugged in and double checking the existance of the backup itself on the ex.HD.
I've also tried booting the laptop up in the 'restore' mode (cmd R) and restoring from there but it sends me in a constant loop of 'this backup was from a previous model of laptop' or something to that affect. It also doesn't display the recent backups at all, only displaying those from the beginning of this year for some reason. All backups are in the same place on the ex.HD so its not an issue with locating the backups.
Really stuck on this one! Would really appreciate some help!
Thanks a lot, and merry Christmas

Yes, you can restore to another machine if needs be.

Where do I find the Library in a Time Machine backup after Lion installation?

Where do I find the Library in a Time Machine backp after Lion installation?

You can access the backups of another computer by holding down the option key and selecting "Browse other Time Machine disks" from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. As for getting to the Library folder, you would have to use something like the free application "Tinker Tool" (not "Tinker Tool System") to make hidden files visible in the Finder, then enter Time Machine.

Miggration assistant does not see time machine backup disk

I recently had a power surge that fried my hard disk. Erased the disk, reinstalled Mountain Line and when I get tot he dialogue box for Migrating all my setting and files etc from my Time Machine Backup it cannot see the disk. It sees the Bootabel backup I made on a partition on that disk but not all my Time Machine Back-ups. The bootable disk is in Lion not Mountain line and does not contain all the latest settings, applications etc. How can I get to the latest Time Machine Back-ups? Help Please!

See Pondini's Excellent information here...
Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC
Also See the Second Chance to Use Setup Assistant here...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/SetupLion.html

Finder "Open With..." Menus Seeing Time Machine Backup Volumes

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