How do I get older backups off my Time Machine?

Hi! I'm trying to get older backups off my Time Machine hard drive but when using the Migration Assistant I only have the option to transfer the "latest backup" to my new iMac. And when I try to drag and drop the iMovie library (which is the only set of files I really want) iMovie on my iMac states I cannot open the library for either permission reasons (the first time I tried it) or because the file does not exist.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
-CC

Hi CCinAK,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
If you are only looking to get certain data off of your Time Machine backups you would not want to use Migration Assistant. You would instead enter the Time Machine menu and select the file(s) you would like to recover. Please use the following article for the steps needed and as a resource.
Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
Restoring specific files or folders
Choose Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu. The restore interface appears. You can literally see your windows as they appeared "back in time."
You can use the timeline on the right side of the window to reach a certain point back in time. The timeline shows the times of all backups on your backup drive. If you don’t know exactly when you deleted or changed a file, you can use the back arrow to let Time Machine automatically travel through time to show you when that folder last changed.
Note: Dates in pink indicate the data resides on your Time Machine backup device. Dates in white indicate the data resides on your Mac. In OS X Lion v10.7 and later, portable Macs include local snapshots.
You can also perform a Spotlight search from the Finder. Simply enter a search term in the Spotlight search field, and use the back arrow to have Time Machine search through your backups to find what you are looking for.
Before you restore a file, you can also use Quick Look to preview a file to make sure its the one you want. Highlight the file and press the Space Bar to bring up a quick look.
To restore, select the file/folder and click the "Restore" button. The file will automatically be copied to the desktop or appropriate folder. If the file you are restoring has another file in the same location with the same name, you will be prompted to choose which file to keep or keep both.
Have a great day,
Joe

Similar Messages

How do i get files backed up in Time Machine onto a computer with 10.4?

So, i had to downgrade to 10.4 temporarily, will go back to 10.5 very soon, but right now, i have files that were deleted off of my computer, and backed up on time machine. I need a way of getting these files off of time Machine. I checked the time machine folder, the whole folder added up to 7gb, while some of the files i am looking for are 10gb.

You should be able to drag and drop them from the TM backup folder to your Tiger HD. You may have to enter the Admin name/pw combo.

How can I delete undesirable backup files from time machine?

Can anyone give me details of how to delete undesirable backup files from Time Machine,
I'm trying to remove mackeeper which has been running since 2011
And I'm stuck at the first hurdle......
Thanks

The problem I have is that i dont have an option to delete backups of this file on the options menu, and when I click delit or try to drag it to the trash I get a box saying " This operation can't be completed because backup items can't be modified"
Iam really tempted to just delete mackeeper from HD library and Applications but it is stressed that I need to do the TM deletes first?
Am stuck please help

How do I choose a backup disk for Time Machine?

I'm using a 1T Seagate backup disk with 3 partitions to back up on Time Machine. Very suddenly, when it was mounted, the Time Machine icon disappeared, and the Time Machine Partition turned into the generic black Seagate partition-- same as the other two partitions. I ran Disk Utililty; supposedly, everything is fine. I didn't need any of the previous backups, so I reformatted the backup disk. In choosing a disk to use in the Time Machine preferences, I chose a partition. It did perform the backup, and the Time Machine icon was on the desktop while it was backing up, but when I ejected the disk and then plugged it back-- there was the generic icon again.
Also, when I cicked on command e, previously, I was given the option of ejecting one or all three partitions. Now, everything just ejects immediately. Seems like there is a glitch somewhere. In the Time Machine Preferences, the disk with the Time Machine icon at the top of the preferences has an option to select disk and then an option to remove. Why would I remove that disk? Very confusing.

The option to remove the disk in the TM preferences is so you can use another disk if you want.

Installed new SSD. How do I get my files back from Time Machine?

Hi all, if you take the time to read my issue, thanks a lot. I appreciate any help you can offer, and sorry if anything is unclear...
The 1tb drive eventually failed on my 2009 27", quad core i7 imac. I had USB backup using time machine to an external 2 tb disk.
Repair guy took my mac to his shop, and installed a new samsung 1tb SSD.
He had trouble reinstalling from my time machine backup - so he's just installing Yosemite (I was using 10.8.x?) and giving it back to me with a fresh install of Yosemite.
When he tried to use time machine to restore my system to how it was, he started the process, and it said that it would take 13 hours, so he left it overnight.
When he returned, he found a white screen with a frozen mouse pointer. He did a hard reboot, and then could not access the drive at all - the system would not allow him to read the drive and he had to take the drive out, reformat from another mac, and then install Yosemite again.
Now he has suggested that I simply drag and drop all my folders from the USB time machine backup into my computer, and seems to think this will get things back to how they were. I'm not sure that it works like that though...I'd expect certain applications need to be installed, settings changed, permissions granted, passwords entered...that kind of thing.
Now I have a choice - whether to
A) reinstall my applications one at a time, and then copy the data from my backup drive.
B) manually drag and drop all the files from the most recent backup folder into the "computer" folder. (This was his suggestion)
C) attempt some kind of migration using the Migration assistant. (I believe this is what the guy tried- he started it off, it said "13 hours remaining) he left it running overnight, and came back to a static white screen with frozen mouse, he powered down, then when he switched it back on, the screen did not load any OS (not sure whether it had booted into some kind of BIOS, but he said it was so unresponsive that he had to remove the drive and reformat it from another computer).
D) Try some other application for intelligently restoring my apps and data from the Time Machine backup.
To be honest, my main concern is screwing things up badly! I'm veering towards reinstalling my apps, even if it means fixing up preference settings and typing in codes etc... I would rather take a slow and steady approach rather than a "risk having to take it back to the shop/take it apart" approach.
Also, is migration different from restoring from time-machine?
Perhaps you could advise me? Many thanks

Restart the computer and hold the Command & R keys.
Thanks - I didn't know how to do that!
I did that, and it went through the steps for restoring from the time machine backup. I didn't click on "restore" just yet... My concern is that when the guy in the shop tried that, it resulted in the serious failure that required the drive to be removed and formatted from another computer.
I'm wondering what might have caused that - is it possible that the external drive had a failure, or (more likely) that the drive caddy it sits in briefly lost power or something?
Also, can you tell me if simply drag-dropping the files from the time-machine backup would result in everything returning to its initial state? Or is that (as I suspect) a bad idea?
Right now I have a fresh Yosemite install which works. I'd rather have that, and slowly restore my files and apps manually than risk getting the same result as the guy in the shop. Do you think that restoring from the restore partition is worth trying again?

How can you restore your backup files from time machine?

Hi how can you restore your backup files on your mac book pro from time machine? i lost all my pic and files on my phone and then restored it from the last back up which was when i lost all my files i dont know what i did? someone please help!
Thank You
Jon

YOu might get more info if you post in the MAC forum.

I performed a "Clean" Install of Lion. How do I get my keychain back from Time Machine?

I erased my hard drive and installed Lion. I did do regular back ups to a USB hard drive. I can see all the old files and applications on my backup drive. How do I get the back up keychain passwords into my newly created Lion keychain?

Hold down the option key and select Go > Library from the Finder menu bar. That's your home Library. With that Finder window open, try to enter Time Machine. If you can, navigate to a snapshot of the Keychains folder and restore it. You may have to hold down the option key and select "Browse other Time Machine Disks" from the Time Machine menu.

How do i get my contacts back from time machine?

Today i restored my macbook pro and backed it up on an external disk (My passport for mac). Now i'm putting some files back on to my mac and put most of the stuff i wanted got back on, but i cant find the way how to get my contacts back.

Bring the Contacts or Address Book window forward, then enter Time Machine and scroll back to a snapshot that includes the contacts you want to restore. Select the contacts and click the Restore button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Lost iPhoto. How do I get it back. The Time machine not far enough back

Installed iLife 11 so I could use the IDVD program. This may be coincidence, but I have lost the IPhoto program. The library seems intact, its the program itself. How do I get it back?

Go to the Mac App Store.
Look on the Purchases page
See if there is a version of iPhoto for you there, waiting to be downloaded.

How can i change the backup intervals on time machine

how do i change the backup intervals on the timemachine? i found one answer that told me to go into system>library>launchdaemons, but i dont have the file com.apple.backupd-auto.plist in the launchdaemons folder to change the second increments. what am i missing and what can i do to change it like others have?

Hello Oilfield Dan:
This will change your TIme Capsule backup intervals:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 14400 To every four hours. My issue is that when I run this it won't change it.. Still does it every hour.. Do you have any thoughts on WHY this will not change... Even with reboots, resets, poweroff. UNIX should do what you tell it but this is not working. I do not want to use the GUI Time Capsule interval changer. I want to have total control. Does anyone know???? THANK YOU.

How do I get photos from iPhoto via Time Machine?

Hi,
I have iPhoto '09 version 8.1.2 and am unable to find my photos through Time Machine. I tried following the previous discussions on how to do this but I did not find a Master's folder when searching on package contents after right clicking on iPhoto in Time Machine.
I accidentally deleted some photos in iPhoto the other night and was hoping that I could easily retreieve them from my Time Machine Back-ups but this is not the case. Where the heck are the iPhotos photos stored? I have a MacBookPro running version 10.8.5.
Thanks in advance for your help-
Sheri

Thanks, LN
I only need to retrieve a few photos...not the entire library. Where is the master's folder located, specifically? I was unable to find it and I looked very thoroughly through all of the folders.
Sheri

How do I get a backup off iCloud onto my iphone4

I repeated my contacts and need to go into the iCloud to restore them to both my phone and pad

icloud: backup and restore overview http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4859

How do you retrieve saved bookmarks off of Time Machine? I tried to do it the same way I retrieve Safari but it doesn't work

Recently my Mac 0S X 10.6.8 was reconfigured to the original settings and I lost all my Firefox bookmarks.
I was able to restore my Safari bookmarks from my harddrive and using the same method attempted to restore Firefox.
That method didn't work.
My harddrive does seem to have a Firefox Bookmark folder - how can I restore these?

See:
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
You can try to restore an older copy of the places.sqlite file.
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox
You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:
*Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder

How do i get icloud backup message off of my ipad

How do I get Icloud backup message off my ipad

Try a reset:
1. Hold the Sleep and Home button down (together)
2. For about 10 seconds
3. Until you see the Apple logo (very important)

I lost my library and backups to a fire but had my Itouch with me , how do i get my "stuff" off my ITouch to my new library ???

I lost my itunes library and backups to a fire but had my Ipod Touch with me, how do I get my "stuff" off
my ITouch to my new computer and new Itunes library ?????

Connect iPod to PC
Ignore iTunes prompt to sync.
Find ipod device in 'My computer'
Open the ipod drive and click on ORGANIZE. Then folder and search options tab. Then View and Show hidden files and folders. (You may have done this before)
A folder called "ipod_control" should appear. Open it
Within this folder there should be another "ipod_control" folder. Open that too.
Copy and paste everything in this folder to a folder in "My Music", name it so you can recognize it.
Return to iTunes, then go to File -> Add folder to libary.
Find that folder you pasted to my music. Highlight it and press select.
Wait. iTunes will recognise the code of the files and begin importing it all to your libary.
Thats it! Your files are moved. ^_^
(PS. you may want to look over them as some of the code will not have been translated, but if you recognise the songs then it should not be a problem.)

How do I get older backups off my Time Machine?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for