How do I convert a case sensitive drive to a case insensitive drive?

I have recently purchased a MacMini Server, and installed the 2 internal hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration to obtain the speed and 1 TB capacity, but unfortunately (rather stupidly in retrospect) formatted the drive in case sensitive mode.
On installing the operating system and multiple applications, everything seemed to work well until I tried to install Adobe Acrobat X Pro. This application refuses to install on a case sensitive formatted drive, which I now understand is a common problem.
The question is how can I convert to a case insensitive format without reinstalling all of the software from scratch?
I have a Time Machine backup, and the easiest thing for me would be to reformat the drive, and then restore from the Time Machine backup.
Will this process work? Or will there be some complications and files that will not function if they were originally installed on a case sensitive drive?
Any help is appreciated....

iPartition can do it ( http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php ).
from iPartition Help:
Make Case Sensitive/Case Insensitive
HFS+ now supports a case sensitive format as well as the usual case insensitive format. On a case sensitive volume, the names “Readme”, “README” and “ReadMe” would all represent different files, even if they were in the same folder.
This option allows you to non-destructively change a case sensitive volume into a case insensitive one, and vice-versa. If you are going from a case sensitive volume to a case insensitive volume, some of your files may be renamed automatically by iPartition so that they do not clash. If all of the files in the table below were in the same directory, the right hand column shows the new names iPartition would choose for them:
Old name New name
README.txt README.txt
ReadMe.txt ReadMe 1.txt
Readme.txt Readme 2.txt
README README
ReadMe ReadMe 1
Readme Readme 2
Notice that iPartition puts the number before any file extension.
N.B. iPartition does not transform filenames with numbers on the end back into their original forms. There is no way to tell which files were renamed by the user and which were renamed by the conversion process.

Similar Messages

Copying Files from Case-Sensitive External to Non-Case-Sensitive Internal?

+(Sorry if this is the wrong sub-forum, I didn't know which one this question fit in)+
I just got a new iMac today and I'm trying to transfer some of my old files (specifically iTunes & iPhoto). My old computer was an MBP & only had an 80 GB HD, so these files were run off an external drive.
I know basically how to copy these files onto my new computer. The problem is that my external drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled). So when I try to copy the iTunes or iPhoto folder, I get the following message:
+You can’t copy “iTunes” because it has the same name as another item on the destination volume, and that volume doesn’t distinguish between upper- and lowercase letters in filenames.+
The only option I know of is to reformat my iMac's drive as Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled). Since Macs ship with the drive formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), I assume that's the best option, and would prefer not to reformat if I don't have to. I've also read that some programs won't run on a case-sensitive drive.
*Do I have any easy alternatives to move my iTunes/iPhoto folders?*
*If not, what negatives do I need to consider when reformatting my iMac's drive to a case-sensitive one?*
Thanks.

Joel-X wrote:
I've solved the problem for iTunes, but it was a bit tedious.
Yes, I'll bet! It would be sooo much easier if the Finder would produce a list somewhere.
*Assuming that I solve the "case-sensitivity problem" for my old "iPhoto Library" folder, will a simple drag and drop of that folder to my new iMac allow me to just open iPhoto 9 and have all my photos be there?*
I believe so, as that's how Apple tells you to move it: [Moving your iPhoto library|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229].
I don't want to spend too much time on the case-sensitivity problem until that question is answered, just in case.
It may not be as easy to solve, though. That library is a "package," kind of like an app -- actually a folder, but treated as a single object for most purposes. If you right-click it via the Finder and select +Show Package Contents,+ you'll see the file/folder structure.
See the note in the link above -- it sounds like changing file names will break the structure; it may only affect the files you change, but it might be worse.
If you can find the duplicates, you may be better off exporting them via iPhoto, deleting them via iPhoto, then re-importing them under different names. That should keep the structure intact.
At the very least, make a full copy somewhere before touching it.
Good luck!

Time Machine Case Sensitive Restore to Non-Case Sensitive

I have a MacBook 2.4GHz white laptop with OS X 10.5.5. Previously I formatted the drive as Mac OS Extended Journaled Case Sensitive. I have determined that I cannot install Photoshop CS3 onto this drive without doing some fairly tricky work-arounds.
To fix this problem "fast", I used my Time Machine backup to restore my primary drive after I had reformatted it as Mac OS Extended Journaled. However, as part of the restoration process, time machine formatted the drive again (as case sensitive) and copied the software. This puts me back where I started.
Is there a way to alter the settings of time machine such that it does not format the drive or does not format the drive as case sensitive?
Is the only way for me to do this to reinstall OS X 10.5 on the formatted drive (not case sensitive) and copy the files over from time machine? Is is possible to copy (not restore) files from the time machine drive?
I would appreciate any help. Thanks for your time.

Glenn Carter wrote:
Unfortunately, an Erase and Install is probably the only way you are going to fix this. As you have discovered, it appears that "Restore System From Backup..." reformats the destination drive to match the state in which the backups took place.
The TM backup may not have the ability to rename dupes that might occur if some files have identical names save their case.
Even a reformat and reinstall may not work unless any pseudo-identical files are first renamed.

How can I backup data from a case-sensitive volume to a NON-case-sensitive volume?

The case-sensitive volume in this instance being a desktop-mounted disk image volume.
A tragi-comedy in too many acts and hours
Dramatis Personae:
Macintosh HD: 27" iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (iMac10,1), 12 GB RAM, 1 TB SATA internal drive
TB1: 1 TB USB external drive
TB2: 2 TB USB to Serial-ATA bridge external drive
Terabyte: a .dmg disk image and resulting desktop volume of the same name (sorry, I don't know the technical term for a .dmg that's been opened, de-compressed and mounted -- evanescently -- on the desktop)
Drive Genius 3 v3.1 (3100.39.63)/64-bit
Apple Disk Utility Version 11.5.2 (298.4)
Sunday morning (05/08/11), disk utility Drive Genius 3's drive monitoring system, Drive Pulse, reported a single bad block on an external USB2.0 1TB drive, telling me all data would be lost and my head would explode if I didn't fix this immediately. So I figured I'd offload the roughly 300 GB of data from TB1 to TB2 (which was nearly empty), with the intention of reinitializing TB 1 to remap the bad block and then move all its data BACK from TB 2. When I opened TB1's window in the Finder and tried to do a straight "Select All" and drag all items from TB1 to TB2, I got this error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
The error message didn't tell me WHICH volume had "the wrong case sensitivity for a backup," and believe me, or believe me not, this was the first time I'd ever heard that there WAS such a thing as "case sensitivity" for a drive. I tried dragging and dropping some individual folders -- some of them quite large, in the 40GB range -- from TB1 to TB2 without any problem whatsoever, but the majority of the items were the usual few-hundred-MB stuff that seems to proliferate on drives like empty Dunkin' Donuts coffee cups on the floor of my car, and I didn't relish the idea of spending an afternoon dragging and dropping dribs and drabs of 300GB worth of stuff from one drive to another.
Being essentially a simple-minded soul, I had what I thought was the bright idea that I could get around the problem by making a .dmg disk image file of the whole drive, stashing it on TB2, repairing and re-initializing TB1, and then decompressing the disk image I'd made of TB1, and doing the "drag and drop" of all the files in resulting desktop volume to TB1. So I made the .dmg of TB1, called "Terabyte," stashed that .dmg on TB2 (no error messages this time), re-initialized and then rebooted the iMac from my original Snow Leopard 10.6.1 disks and used Disk Utility to erase and initialize TB1 -- making sure that it was NOT initialized as case-sensitive, and installed a minimal system on TB1 from the same boot. Then I updated that 10.6.1 system to 10.6.7 with System Update, and checked to see that Disk Utility reported all THREE drives -- internal, 1TB, and 2TB -- as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and no "case sensitive" BS. I also used Drive Genius 3's "information" function for more detailed info on all three drives. Except for the usual differing mount points, connection methods, and S.M.A.R.T. status (only the Macintosh HD internal, SATA 1TB drive supports S.M.A.R.T.), everything seemed to be oojah-***-spiff, all three drives showing the same Partition Map Types: GPT (GUID Partition Table.) Smooth sailing from here on out, I thought.
Bzzzzt! Wrong!
When I opened the Terabyte .dmg and its desktop volume mounted, I tried the old lazy man's "Select All" and drag all items from the desktop-mounted drive "Terabyte" to TB1, I got the error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
I then spent the next three hours on the phone with AppleCare (kids -- when you buy a Mac ANYTHING, cough up the money for AppleCare. Period.), finally reaching a very pleasant senior tech something-or-other in beautiful, rainy Portland, OR. Together we went through everything I had done, tried a few suggestions she offerred, and, at the end of three hours, BOTH of us were stumped. At least I didn't feel quite as abysmally stupid as I did at the beginning of the process, but that was all the joy I had gotten after two solid days of gnawing at this problem -- and I mean SOLID; I'm retired, and spend probably 12 hours a day, EVERY day, at the keyboard, working on various projects.
The AppleCare senior tech lady and I parted with mutual expressions of esteem, and I sat here, slowly grinding my teeth.
Then I tried something I don't know why I was so obtuse as to not have thought of before: I opened Apple's Disk Utility and checked the desktop-mounted volume Terabyte (Mount Point: /Volumes/Terabyte), the resulting volume from opening and uncompressing the .dmg "Terabyte".
Disk Utility reported: "Format : Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)." Doh!
Obviously, TB1, the 1 TB USB external drive I'd actually bought as part of a bundle from MacMall when I bought my 27" iMac, and which I had initialized the first day I had the iMac up and running (late November 2009), had somehow gotten initialized as a Case-sensitive drive. How, I don't know, but I suspect the jerk behind the keyboard. Whatever the case, when I created the Terabyte disk image (the drive's original name: when I erased and re-initialized it -- see above -- I renamed it "1TB" for quick identification), the original drive's "Case-sensitive" format was encoded too. So when I tried to drag and drop EVERYTHING from the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" to the newly initialized and "blessed" (now THERE's a term from the past!), the system recognized it as an attempt as a total volume backup, and hit me with "The volume [the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" -- BB] has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup." And, of course, the reinitialized TB1 was now correctly formatted as NOT "case-sensitive."
Well, that solved the mystery (BTW, Disk Utility identified the unopened Terabyte.dmg as an "Apple UDIF read-only compressed {zlib}, which is why the .dmg file could be copied to ANY volume, case sensitive or not), but it didn't help me with my problem of having to manually move all that data from the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" to TB1. I tried to find a way to correct the problem at the .dmg AND opened-volume-from-.dmg level with every disk utility I had, to no avail.
Sorry for the long exposition, but others may trip over this "case-sensitive" rock in the road, and I wanted to make the case as clear as possible.
So my problem remains: other than coal shovel by coal shovel, is there any way to get all the data off this case-sensitive desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" and onto TB1.
Not that I know whether it would made any difference or not, one of the things that got me into this situation was my inability to get "Time Machine" properly configured so it wasn't making new back-ups every (no lie) 15 minutes.
Philosophical bonus question: what's the need for this "case-sensitive," "NOT case-sensitive" option for disk initialization?
As always, thanks for any help.
Bart Brown

"Am I to understand that you have a case-sensitive volume with data that you want to copy to a case-insensitive volume? And the Finder won't let you do it? If that's what the problem is, the reason should be obvious: on the source volume, you may have two files in the same folder whose names differ only in case. When copying that folder to the target volume, it's not clear what the Finder should do."
Yes, I understand all that... NOW.
What I had (have) is a USB external 1TB drive (henceforth known as "Terabyte") that I bought with my 27" iMac. I formatted, and put a minimal (to make it bootable) system on Terabyte the same day back in late November 2009 that I set up my 27" iMac. Somehow -- I don't know how -- Terabyte got initialized as "case-sensitive." I didn't even know at the time that there WAS such a thing as "case-sensitive" or "NOT case-sensitive" format.
Sunday morning (05/08/11), Drive Pulse, a toolbar-resident utility (that's Part of Drive Genius 3) that monitors internal and external drives for physical, problems, volume consistency problems, and volume fragmentation, reported a single bad block on the volume Terabyte, advising me that it would be best if I re-formatted Terabyte ASAP. I thought I could open Terabyte in a Finder window, Select All, and drag everything on the drive to ANOTHER USB external drive of 2 TB capacity (henceforth known as TB2). When I tried to do that, I got an error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
First I'd heard of "case sensitivity" -- I'm not too bright, as you seem to have realized.
Oddly enough (to me), I could move huge chunks of data, including a folder of 40GB, from Terabyte to TB2 with no problem.
Then the scenario unfolded per my too-convoluted message: several hours of trying things on my own, including making a .dmg of Terabyte (henceforth to be known as Terabyte.dmg) -- which left me with the exact same problem as described in the previous 4 paragraphs; and my 3 hours on the phone with AppleCare, who at least explained this case-sensitive business, but, after some shot-in-the-dark brainstorming -- tough to do with only one brain, and THAT on the OTHER end of the line -- the very pleasant AppleCare rep and I ended up equally perplexed and clueless as to how to get around the fact that a .dmg of a case-sensitive volume, while not case-sensitive in its "image" form (Terabyte.dmg), and thus able be transferred to TB1 or TB2 with no problems whatsoever, when opened -- either by double-clicking or opening in Disk Utility -- produced a desktop-mounted volume (henceforth known as the volume "Terabyte," the original name of the case-sensitive volume from which TB1.dmg had been made) that had the same case-sensitivity as the original from which it was made.
In the meantime, having gotten the data I needed to save off the physical USB "case-sensitive" volume Terabyte in the form of Terabyte.dmg, I erased and re-initialized the physical USB "case-sensitive" volume Terabyte, getting rif of the case sensitivity, and renaming it TB1. But it all left me back at square one, EXCEPT I had saved my data from the original "Terabyte" drive, and reformatted that drive to a NON- case-sensitive data now named TB1. The confusion here stems from the fact that problem case-sensitive drive, from which I made Terabyte.dmg, was originally named "Terabyte". When I re-initialized it as a NON case-sensitive drive, I renamed it TB1. I'm sorry about the confusing nomenclature, which I've tried to improve upon from my original message -- usual text-communication problem: the writer knows what he has in mind, but the reader can only go by what's written.
So, anyway, I still have the same problem, the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" still cannot be transferred in one whole chunk to either my internal drive, TB1, TB2, as the Finder interprets it as a volume backup (which it is), and reads the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" as case-sensitive, as the original volume -- from which the disk image Terabyte.dmg was made -- had been at the time I made it.
"As long as that situation doesn't arise, you should be able to make the copy with a tool that's less fastidious than the Finder, such as cp or rsync."
I'm afraid I have no idea what "cp or rsync" are. I'd be happy to be educated. That's why I came here.
Bart Brown
Message was edited by: Bartbrn
Just trying to unmuddy the water a bit,,,

Time Machine suddenly refuses to backup to non case-sensitive drive

There is another thread on this which for some reason is marked as resolved, so I thought I'd post a new thread. Suddenly after months of no complaints I get the following error:
*+Time Machine Error+*
+A volume you are backing up is case-sensitive, but the backup volume is not.+
+To Select a different backup volume, or to choose not to back up the case-sensitive volume, open the System Preferences and choose Time Machine.+
The only thing I've changed is that yesterday I ran Software Update. Unfortunately I can't remember exactly what was updated, but I suspect Quicktime was one of them since I needed to reboot. So now I'm at 7.4.5 in Quicktime.
Time Machine refuses to backup my drives now complaining about the case sensitive filesystem. The thing is, *NONE of my drives are case sensitive.* Looking at the Change Drive window in Time Machine, I see that most of the drives on my system say "reforat required" if I am to use them with Time Machine. All drives on my system are *Mac OS Extended (Journaled)*. The fact that some drives are not requiring a reformat and some are, even though they all are the same format is quite puzzling.
I took a spare drive and allowed Time Machine to reformat it for it's use. It has now reformatted the drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Case-Sensitive).
Can anyone shed any light as to why TM would suddenly require my backup drive to be case sensitive when none of my drives are?
This make no sense...
-K

Ok - Running Disk Utility Verify on both the system disk and the TM disk seems to have magically stopped this error. Note that Disk Utility didn't actually find or fix any problems with either disk. The problem just went away....
It doesn't make any sense.
-K

Can't restore from case sensitive TM back-up

I'm in the final stages of restoring my system following a complete rebuild, and am having an issue stop me from restoring all of the files from my TM backup.
Prior to the rebuild it appears that I had my main drive formatted as Extended (case sensitive). Likewise, my TM backup drive was also formatted as case sensitive.
Since the rebuild my main drive is now not formatted as case sensitive, and while I can restore most of the files from the TM backup, there are a small number that won't restore, giving the error message:
+"You cannot copy 'ABCDE' to the destination because its name is the same as the name of an item on the destination, except for the case of some characters."+
As I'm restoring to what was an erased drive, the files can't already exist somewhere else on the drive. Also, it seems odd that most files aren't affected by this, while some are - both data and applications.
I've tried to restore to another case sensitive drive, change the file name something unique so that I could then copy to the non-case sensitive drive, but in the process of copying, the same message appears and the copy fails.
Is there some way to restore individual files from a case sensitive TM backup to a non-case sensitive drive, or to change whatever is causing this within Terminal (note that I'm a complete Terminal novice)
Thanks in advance.

+"You cannot copy 'ABCDE' to the destination because its name is the same as the name of an item on the destination, except for the case of some characters."+
As I'm restoring to what was an erased drive, the files can't already exist somewhere else on the drive.
The files weren't on the drive before the restore started. The restore created them. If the case-sensitive backup has multiple files of the same name (except for case) in a folder, the first will be restored, then you will get the error message when it tries to copy the second.
Also, it seems odd that most files aren't affected by this, while some are - both data and applications.
Most files have different names.

Not able to install adobe due to Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)?

My harddisk is Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) and this does not support adobe aplications. Is there a way of changing the format?

No, not easily.
How and why is it case-sensitive? Macs are case-ignorant by default, but a few 3rd-party apps require it. Do you have another app that requires it?
Assuming you already have data on your Mac that you want to keep, you'll need to start with at least two full backups on two separate external HDs, because you'll have to erase the internal, reinstall OSX, and put your data back (that may be rather tedious).
What version of OSX is your Mac running?

Case sensitivity error

My external hard drive for my time machine broke. I can copy but not write. So I need to backup my data onto a new drive. For some reason, my old time machine is formatted "case-sensitive".
I bought a new drive and formatted it for Extended Journaled and I unchecked the "ignore ownership on this volume". When I drag the backup folder from old to new I get an error that says "the volume has the wrong case-sensitivity for a backup".
Ok, well I just want to get my data off before my old time machine fries. So I changed the volume on the new time machine to be "case-sensitive" so it is the same as the old. Now when I drag the backup folder I get an error that says the volume is the wrong type for a backup.
With either formatting on the new time machine, I am able to manually copy a file to it.
What do I to do to move my backup folder from the old time machine to the new time machine?
Thank you!! If it makes any difference the old time machine is a 1TB seagate and the new one is a 2TB seagate.

Anne McKinnell wrote:
I tried to repair and got "invalid node" error.
That's the problem. The +file system+ is damaged.
I'm glad I have another copy of my important files on a different external hard drive.
Yes, "secondary" backups are always a good idea. See #27 in [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) for some suggestions.
I just started a brand new time machine and I'm going to put the old one in a box and hope I never need it. I think it's fried for good now. I probably should have backed it up when it started making clicking sounds.
Yup, it sure sounds like it. There's a chance a heavy-duty 3rd-party app like +Disk Warrior+ could repair the file system problem, but if the disk is failing physically, it's very unlikely anything can resurrect it.

ORACLE_SID case sensitivity & Downtime.

The ORACLE_SID variable should either be completely case sensitive or completely not case sensitive per platform.
Red Hat Linux 3.3 - Oracle Standard Ed. 9.2.0.5
I managed to cause some down time by a typo.
All of our database name were upper case, execpt for one, which we fixed recently.
So now all of our database names are uppercase.
An Oracle Database server was rebooted and did not have an auto startup script.
I went to start up the database that used to have a lower case name.
I set the ORACLE_SID variable to the lowercase name (incorrectly).
I entered SQLPLUS and issued STARTUP.
****************Here is the message I got*****************
ORA-00202: controlfile: '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/arcsde/control01.ctl'
ORA-27037: unable to obtain file status
Linux Error: 2: No such file or directory
***************A better error message would have been****************
SPFILE -- spfilearcsde.ora not found based on ORACLE_SID = arcsde
-Hmnn I thought, the SPFILE is wrong... that path should be
'/u01/app/oracle/oradata/ARCSDE/control01.ctl'
I made a pfile from the spfile and fixed all the refrences to .../oradata/arcsde/.. to be .../oradata/ARCSDE/..
Then the block size in the PFILE did not match the database....
So I fixed the block size in the PFILE.
Then I got the message that the password file was corrupt
Then the control file was older than the datafiles.
Now I got suspicious....This can't be....
Ahh the ORACLE_SID is wrong....
Ok. Fix the ORACLE_SID
Startup nomount
re-create control file from trace backup.
restart the database and recover...
This whole miss adventure was caused by my typo in setting the ORACLE_SID.

You can't.
The only way to get round case-sensitivity is to ensure that the columns in question have an UPPER() or LOWER() applied, or to use interMedia ConText, which isn't case-sensitive.
null

Is Oracle9iAS Relase 2 case sensitive????

Hi all,
I am new to oracle9iAS. I wolud like to know whether oracle9iAS is case sensitive towards the JSP names accessed. If so, is there any option to make it insensitive.
Thankx in advance
kishor

Right. And for resource names, case sensitivity depends on operating system used. That's why it's better to use case sensitive system like Unix* than insensitive like Windows*. It cannot happen one resource has many different names and thus, your JSP compilations (you mentioned in another topic) will get always the same name.
Daniel.

How do i reformat a case sensitive external hard drive without losing data

I know there are a lot of posts about this, and i have spent hours trying to find a soloution / understand what people have responded to others, but i can't work this out.
I also have a Buffalo HD (let's call it HD1) that stores my itunes library.
I have a WD My Passport for Mac (let's call it HD2) that backs up my Mac Book Pro.
I have an older WD that has older TM back ups on it from previous computers (let's call it HD3)
I have one spare completely 'clean' WD hard drive (let's call it HD4).
My laptop was really slow and full so i went to Genius bar, they sold me the Buffalo HD and they moved my itunes to it and set it up so it now has my itunes. I used this disk to run two TM Backups before i realised the drive was nearly full, so i bought the WD My Passport HD2.
I now use WD My Passprt HD2 for TM.
I want to MOVE the backups on HD1 to My Passport HD2 as there is lots of space on it. I also want to move my itunes library from HD2 as a back up.
But i can't!!!
After reading for hours, apparently this is because my HD1 is case sensitive, journaled. And it needs to be Journaled to work with TM/OSX or something very confusing. I have read lots of threads about re-formatting / partitioning and all things that are way over my head. But the one thing i do understand is if i reformat HD1, it erases the data.
This is NOT an option as it holds my WHOLE itunes. The Itunes is WAY too big to drag onto my mac book pro and then move it over to HD2 and make that my itunes folder.
HOW THE **** ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BACK UP THE CASE SENSITIVE DRIVE BEFORE REFORMATTING IT IF IT'S TOO BIG TO FIT BACK ON YOUR COMPUTER? Surely that's the whole point of having an external drive... to back up AND give you more space?
I'm so mad that the apple store did this to me... they should know that case sensitve wouldn't work with a passport... that i would have problems. UGh.
I have options to move the files from HD1 as i have HD2 and HD3 and then also the completely unused HD4... but i can't move anything anywhere due to this case sensitive nightmare.
Someone PLEASE HELP ME.
thanks.

Hi Kappy,
Just wondering if you had any advice for my situation . . .
My time machine backup was backing up to a drive that was "Mac OS X Enteded Journaled, Case Sensitive." I had no idea what this meant, or that it would even cause issues.
I took my computer to the Apple store yesterday, and they wiped it clean. When they tried to restore it from the Time Machine backup drive, it would not work. Their guess is that Time Machine cannot restore from a drive that is "case sensitive."
Any thoughts on how I can convert my time machine backup data from a "case sensitive" state, to a "non-case sensitive" state? I've tried to just drag and drop the files from the case sensitive formatted drive to a new drive that I have that is formatted non case sensitive, but I get the following error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup"
I just really want my data back - I thought TimeMachine was the way to go (and was supposed to work) but unfortunately it is not.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

How to convert case-sensitive to extended journal format

I have two apple computers (extended journal format) that have been backed up via a time capsule. I have just noticed that the TC is formatted as case-sensitive. I do not know why case-sensitive. In an effort to ensure consistency of file format then I seek to somehow remove case-sensitive formatting. I presume no/minimal underlying case-sensitivity issues within file names as source data is not formatted in case-sensitive manner.
I have tried SuperDuper to clone the TC to an external HDD but the application cloned the formatting in addition to the data.
I have attempted use of Disk Utility to copy content from source (TC) to destination (HDD) but this yielded error messages that noted different file format types.
It there a way to convert/remove case sensitive formatting from TC?
I appreciate that I could simply reformat TC to extended journal format but this would presumably erase all my backup data.
Any guidance most welcomed.

RossM wrote:
So I guess my choice is to "leave well alone" as Pondini suggests and accept the fact that cloning TC onto HDD has now formatted my new HDD as case-sensititive.
Actually, you may have two choices, depending on how you're going to be backing-up to the new HD:
Your best bet, by far, is to back up to it directly, rather than connecting it to the TC. That's much faster and more reliable. If so:
* Leave the TC backups alone. Reformat the HD as case-ignorant and let Time Machine start fresh on it. You can always see and restore from the old ones via the Browse... option, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17.
* Format the HD as case-sensitive and copy the backups from the TC to it. But don't copy the whole sparse bundle; copy the Backups.backupdb folder from the sparse bundle to the top level of the HD. (Sparse bundles are used only for network backups.) See #18 in the FAQ; you'll need the 4th procedure (copy network backups to be used locally.
But if you're going to connect the HD to the TC and back up to it that way, it doesn't matter how you format the HD, since the backups must be in a sparse bundle, that has its own format. Two choices for that:
* Leave the TC backups alone. Connect the HD to the TC and select it as the TM destination, and Let Time Machine start fresh on it. You can always see and restore from the old ones via the Browse... option, as above.   (There is a way to speed up the first backup; see the blue box in #Q2 of Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule.)
* Copy ("Archive") the TC's internal disk to the external HD, per the green box in #Q6 of the same article. Then select the external as your Time Machine destination via Time Machine Preferences.
Is this simply deferring a problem issue to another time (aagh)? Or to somehow try and remove this inconsistency and remove case-sensitive formatting from all tech items, even if this might mean reformatting and losing old backup data?
No. There's not really a problem, unless you change the case of file/folder names and try to restore the old ones to the same place via the TM browser, per the link in my earlier post. That's the only possible downside.
Does Time Machine require case-sensitive formatting on its destination drive?
No. It's the default, but case-ignorant is fine, unless you ever want to add a case-sensitive volume. Then you're in a pickle.
Or does Time Capsule only function witih case-sensitive formatting?
No. The TC's actual disk is case-ignorant; it's only the Time Machine sparse bundle that's case-sensitive by default.
The benefit of case-sensitive formatting as Apple default seems rather unclear to me
It's the default only for Time Machine backups. Everything else defaults to case-ignorant.
The advantage is, once you've been backing-up your internal HD for weeks, months, or years, and want to add a case-sensitive external HD to be backed-up, you can.   If the backups are case-ignorant, you can't.

I recent la format the drive and create a case sensitive jornal and put a password. How I undo it if I just see the whole drive as the recovery disk

I want to format my computer and I start to do that but I fondo a copy of the boot folder on the drive, not the recovery drive. I formated and make it case sensitive jornal with a password. Then I put a password in main too. So the drive the entre drive become my recovery drive.So I have two recovery drive I think.I learn almost all the diskutil comando and I don know how to fin it. The disks are not showing the one with the passwords.

Hi Kappy,
Just wondering if you had any advice for my situation . . .
My time machine backup was backing up to a drive that was "Mac OS X Enteded Journaled, Case Sensitive." I had no idea what this meant, or that it would even cause issues.
I took my computer to the Apple store yesterday, and they wiped it clean. When they tried to restore it from the Time Machine backup drive, it would not work. Their guess is that Time Machine cannot restore from a drive that is "case sensitive."
Any thoughts on how I can convert my time machine backup data from a "case sensitive" state, to a "non-case sensitive" state? I've tried to just drag and drop the files from the case sensitive formatted drive to a new drive that I have that is formatted non case sensitive, but I get the following error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup"
I just really want my data back - I thought TimeMachine was the way to go (and was supposed to work) but unfortunately it is not.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

How can I transfer my iphoto library from a Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) harddrive to a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) hard drive?

Community,
Every time I try to transfer my iphoto library from a Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) harddrive to a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) hard drive, I receive the attached message: "You can't copy 'iPhoto Library' because it has the same name as another ideon on the destination volume, and that volume doesn't destinguish between upper- and lowercase letters in filenames."
My theory is, if I am able to unpackage my iphoto library, I can transfer each folder one at a time so that I can trouble shoot any "duplicates." Will this work?
Let's say that works. How can I repackage the library so iphoto recognizes it?
Is there a better way?
Thank you,
Jonathan

Can we assume that I don't have any naming conflicts? Clearly there are or else I wouldn't get the error I'm getting.
The error doesn't mean you have name conflicts. It means that the Finder won't take the chance that you might have them.
You're suggesting that all I would need to do would be to use Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer the files from the case-sensative harddrive to my Extended Journaled harddrive?
Yes. But I would just use the built-in rsync shell command. First, back up all data if you haven't already done so. Launch the Terminal application by entering the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Copy or drag -- do not type -- the line below into the Terminal window, then press the space bar:
rsync -aE --delete
Now drag the iPhoto library you want to copy into the window. You should have something like this:
rsync -aE --delete /Users/you/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library
Drag the Pictures folder on the destination volume into the window. Now you have this (line will wrap on the page):
rsync -aE --delete /Users/you/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library /Volumes/something/Users/you/Pictures
Press return. The copying operation will start. When it finishes, you'll see a new dollar-sign ("$") prompt below what you entered. If there were no errors, you're done.

How do I move my large iTunes collection from a case-sensitive hard drive to a case-insensitive hard drive?

I currently keep my iTunes media on an external hard drive because it takes up too much space on my machine. I recently discovered that it was formatted as case-sensitive when I bought it, and now months later I'm having issues. When attempting to back up my files on a case-insensitive hard drive, the operation failed due to conflicting file/folder names (Artist and artist are now considered the same file name and one would have to overwrite the other). I now have a large iTunes file collection that is stuck on the case-sensitive hard drive, and I want to save a backup on a case-insensitive drive.
Is there a way to identify all cases where multiple files/folders have the same title/album/artist but different spelling so there will be no conflicts? The folder/file names would have to be crossed referenced to highlight any cases where File/fiLe/file would cause a problem.
I imagine there is a way to do this using iTunes script or Automator or a command in terminal or something rather than going through and checking/fixing all the information for thousands of songs by hand. I'm at the limits of my minimal development skills, so any help would be appreciated.

You should be able to use either "Carbon Copy Cloner" or "SuperDuper" (free for this purpose) to copy your case-sensitive volume to an empty case-insensitive one. Make at least two such copies on different drives. One is not enough to be safe.
If there are any name conflicts—that is, files in the same folder with names that differ only in case, such as "File" and "file"—then you will either get an error or one of the files won't be copied. You must ensure either that no such conflicts exist, or that the consequences are not important. How you do that is up to you. Unless you went out of your way to create conflicts, they probably don't exist.
Then erase the source volume in Disk Utility as case-insensitive. This action will remove all data from the volume.
Restore from one of your backups using the same application you used to create it, or use the "Restore" feature of Disk Utility, which will be faster. Search its built-in help for the term "duplicate" if you need instructions.

How do I convert a case sensitive drive to a case insensitive drive?

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