How do I restart Time Machine back-up from scratch?

How do I restart Time Machine back-up from scratch? I have a MacBook Air that was my wife's - now given to my daughter for school. My wife never used Time Machine to back up (she simply copied files to an external drive), so before clearing her files off the Mac HD, I tried using Time Machine for the first time with an external HD. However, the Time Machine back up repeatedly failed after about 2GB of 28GB of files. I manually copied my wife's 28GB of files to another external HD and deleted all the files off the Mac HD. I then reformatted the external Time Machine drive. But when I try to use Time Machine to back up the MacBook Air as it is now with my daughter's files on the Mac HD to the external TM drive, Time Machine acts as if the 28GB of my wife's deleted files are still on the Mac HD and fails back-up after counting to about 2GB, even though there aren't even 2GB of files on the Mac HD now and nothing on the external TM drive. I don't need to save any back-ups of how the MacBook used to be - I just need to start from scratch with how the computer is now. Can anyone please tell me how to get Time Machine to think the MacBook is a brand new computer and act as if it's a first time ever back up? I tried updating to Yosemite, and tried renaming the computer in System Preferences>Sharing, plus (as noted above) deleting all the old files off the Mac HD and reformatting the external Time Machine drive - none of that worked. All I can do at the moment is manually copy my daughter's files to an external HD - very frustrating.

Hmmm.. Office is not hard to restore.
You have something major wrong (Yosemite being the primary one).
Do a verify of the source drive.. to do that you will need to boot to the recovery.. and run the disk utility from there.. it sounds like your main disk is corrupted.
Once that is complete, delete the current setup of TM and try again.. use the widget to find out why it is failing..
See Troubleshooting.
A1, A4 and A5 for further info.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Good luck with it..
I would also download carbon copy cloner.. it is $40, but you can use it free for a time.. forget if a week or a month??.. to try out.. and make a proper backup before you start.. CCC is far more reliable than TM.. and in fact you might decide to simply forget about TM if it works and pays the $40.. because you can produce a bootable clone on the external drive which is a heck of a lot easier to use than TM.

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How can I delete time machine back up from my computer hard drive

How can I delete time machine back up from my computer hard drive?

How to Delete a Time Machine Backup - YouTube
If you want to remove an entire Time Machine backup on a backup drive, then the easiest way to do that is to erase the backup drive using Disk Utility. However, this will delete everything on the disk:
Drive Erase Snow Leopard and Earlier
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
If you are preparing an external or a non-startup drive, then open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select the volume you wish to format from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

HT201250 How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do

How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do?

Uh…you're saying two entirely different things here. If you removed Time Machine from the Dock, it could not be in the Trash. But if you removed it from your Applications or Utilities folder and put it in the Trash, that's a problem.
So, which one did you really do?

I would like to access an old Time machine back up from a Core 2 Duo Macbook, but no longer have a Mac. Can I access the backup from a cheaper old ibook, or would I need a Macbook. Is the OS important?

I would like to access an old Time machine back up from a Core 2 Duo Macbook, but no longer have a Mac. I am going to buy a used machien to acess this. Can I access the backup from a cheaper old ibook, or would I need a Macbook. Is the OS important?

right click on the folder that shows with the red negative sign, and select to "get info". In the long skinny window that appears, look in the "sharing and permissions" section. In the "name" column, you should see your current user name. Ensure the "privilege" is set to Read and Write. If your user name is not in the name column, click the + sign, and add it, ensuring the privileges are set to Read and Write

How to save SOME time machine Mac backups from the TM disk to other disk WITHOUT formatting the destination disk?

Hi,
How to save SOME time machine Mac backups from the TM disk to other disk WITHOUT formatting the destination disk?
I have a Time Machine disk (A) including the backups of several different Macs (B, C, D & E) generated with an old Mac OS X 10.5.8 (iMac PowerPC) over the years.
I have transferred the old Mac contents to a new Mac with OS X 10.8.3 using Migration Assitant. All OK.
Now, I want to erase such TM disk A to use if for other purposes, but first, I would like to RECOVER the backups of some Macs inside it (D and E). Is that possible WITHOUT formatting the destination disk and selecting only some Macs from the TM disk and not the fulll TM disk? How?
Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I do not think that is messy, anway. I simply used the same external disk as Time Machine disk for different Macs. And that worked OK all the time for years.
The ExternalTimeMachineDisk contains the folder Backups.backupdb
which contains the following folders (each one corresponding to the Time Machine backup made from each Mac):
Mac1
Mac2
MacBook1
MacBook2
In relation to my message above, is it possible to select specific files, folders or full Mac backups from such Time Machine disk and save them to other disk? How?
Thanks.

How do I delete a Time Machine back-up from my trash?

I use an external hard disc for my Time Machine back-ups.
In order to make some room on the external hard disc for some other files I wanted to store while I reformatted their original disc, I moved the Time Machine bach-ups into my iMac Trash.
Now when I try to delete thes old unwanted back-ups I get this message -
There are some locked items in the Trash. Do you want to remove all the items, including the locked ones, or just the unlocked items?
I've tried selececting Remove All Items but they just stay there.
I tried to darg them out onto the desktop but although that creates a new folder, the back-ups stay in the trash.
I've tried switching Time Macine off in the preferences bu that doesn't help.
Can anyone help me with emptying them?

dear Sue
i've tried the alt solution to empty trash but it does not work
I still got the -8003 error
for emptying time machine backups that i foolishly put in the trash
i've also tried this solution using terminal and it did not work either
http://www.imore.com/how-force-empty-trash-your-mac-using-terminal
any help you might offer would be greatly appreciated
i am using a 24 inch iMac
OSX 10.6.8
Message was edited by: summer_laughter

How do i restore all my data from a time machine back up from an iMac to a Macbook Pro?

How do i restore all my data from a time machine back up on an external hard dirve???
From an iMac to a Macbook Pro.

I tried this but my external drive is not appearing for some reason. Although it is accessible through finder.
Is ther perhaps another way of doing this??
Your help is massively appreciated!!

How do I delete Time-Machine back-ups on external HD

Hello everybody, I would like to delete all the Time Machine back-ups on my external hard drive and create a new full back-up. This is because after several months my HDD is quickly filling up and I would like to clean out all the old back-ups. What is the best way to do this? Sould I simply delete the old back-ups through finder, or is there another and better way to do this? Many thanks for your help!

peiper1 wrote:
....... the suggestion to enter the TM "Star Wars" display only applies to back-ups residing on my internal SSD, right? ...
No.
peiper1 wrote:
...Also, if TM is backed up to an external HDD, why does it also keep back-ups on the MBA's internal SSD?
As far as I know it doesn't. You may be meaning this...
Time Machine Local Snapshots Laptops
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878
peiper1 wrote:
.. I would like to delete the back-ups on my external hard drive, do I still do it the same way? ...
Follow Pondinis Instructions for Deleting Backups on the TM external Drive.

Trying to restore Time Machine back-up from WD MyBookLive - whats the Password?!

Hi all,
my son has a Macbook Pro running Lion. Yesterday it hung when downloading the 10.7.3 update and wouldn't reboot properly.
We logged in via safe mode and managed to sort this out, however I was initially looking at doing a restore from his time machine back-up. I had booted the recovery partition and chosen the 'restore from a time machine back-up' - then it had prompted me for a username and password to gain access to the back-up...
When I set up the Time Machine Back-ups I always have selected (as recommended by Apple and Western Digital) the Guest user. Therefore I have no idea what the username or password should be??? I've hunted on the web for any kind of answer however theres no certain answer...
I'm hoping someone out there will know what username and password it is expecting? Is this from Time Machine, or a default username/password set by the Western Digital NAS???
I hope someone can help - my time machine backs up both my own, my wifes and my sons macbooks, its all very well having the back-ups but not worth it if I can never get access to them when I need to!
thanks in advance

I think you are not restoring your files in the correct way.
If what you want to do is to restore a complete Time Machine backup, you have to do it in OS X Recovery, so first hold Command and R keys while your Mac is starting up. Then, choose the option to restore a Time Machine backup, and follow its steps.
If you want to restore individual files, you cannot restore that type of user files because you are using them. Instead, you can restore individual files in your user folders. Read > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

New MacBook Pro Can I set up from a time machine Back Up from my Macbook?

I have a 3 month old Macbook (white) that I have been happy with so I've decided to upgrade to a Macbook Pro. Is there any disadvantage up transfering the data from a Time Machine Back Up since the systems are physically different?

Is there any disadvantage up transfering the data from a Time Machine Back Up since the systems are physically different?
Use the Migration Assistant to migrate from the backup instead of restoring the whole system; it will appear when the MacBook Pro is started up for the first time.
(45788)

Access individual files on old Mac time machine back up from new Mac

Hi
I have a never Mac Book Pro with 10.9.1 I am using now. I have a old time machine on a external drive that was made with a old Mac Pro The time machine back up is over 15 TB and I no longer own the Mac Pro used to make the time machine backups. I want to access the old time machine back up and copy over a only a few files I need about 500. I cannot use migration assistant because I cannot move the entire back up as the entire back is too big.
Thanks

right click on the folder that shows with the red negative sign, and select to "get info". In the long skinny window that appears, look in the "sharing and permissions" section. In the "name" column, you should see your current user name. Ensure the "privilege" is set to Read and Write. If your user name is not in the name column, click the + sign, and add it, ensuring the privileges are set to Read and Write

How do I protect a Time Machine back up from being automatically deleted during new backups?

Hi, any help would be appreciated.
I used an external hard drive Time Machine backup to restore my music and photos after losing nearly everything during an update. I followed the instruction from Apple Support and turned on TM so I could enter and recover the needed libraries. Unfortunately I wasn't aware that TM would continuously backup for the next 7 hours as I searched for duplicate music files, merged iPhoto libraries, etc...until I received the message that TM had deleted all my backups (all the way back to 2010).
Just to head off the "how could you not know?!" comments - I had previously left TM off and just selected backup now when I attached the external drive.
The good news is that the backup I used to restore my music and iPhoto library from May still appears to be intact, so how do I make sure it doesn't get deleted the next time I back up? My concern is, once I've removed all the duplicate music and photo files I would like to back up again prior to upgrading to Yosemite - just in case I experience the same issues with losing files again I'd like to be prepared.
My external hard drive is an Iomega with 83.1 GB free of 320 GB.
I'm on a Mid-2009 MacBook Pro / 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 / 43.76 GB free of 159.18 GB
OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks
Any help would be greatly appreciated. If it's written for someone who is not very technologically advanced (read: step-by-step instructions) that would be even better! Thanks in advance!

You need to get a bigger external drive, 2 to 4 times the amount of data you are backing up. I would also recommend a minimum of 2 backups. You can do that with 2 Time Machine drives or use a clone to give you a bootable backup.
Time Machine FAQ
Try E1 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems
Time Machine Versus Clones and Archives
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Commonly Used Backup Methods

How do I copy my time machine back up from a smaller Hard disk to a larger hard disk; so that I can then continue to back up, through Time machine, on the larger hard disk?

I am using time machine for backing up on an external hard disk. This has now become full and every back up results in the deletion of the first back up on the hard drive.
I have bought a larger hard drive now and am trying to copy the back up from the smaller hard drive to the new larger hard drive, using Finder. This is not happening and the message I am getting is
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a back up"

Hello UmeshNB,
Thanks for the question. Based on what you stated, it seems like you are not able to move a backup to another drive. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help you isolate or resolve the issue.
Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive - Apple Support
If it is not formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), reformat the drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition. If you do not know how, see the steps in this article.
If the drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended but without journaling, OS X may state that "the volume has the wrong case sensitivity" to be used as a back up disk.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Mario

How do I use Time Machine to downgrade from Snow back to Leopard?

I have a MBA and optical drive, and I use Time Machine to backup.
I'd like to revert back to pre-Snow, and pre 10.6.1. Where/how do I do this with time machine? Do I go to a previous date that had the old OS, and just select the System folder and then restore?

If you want to go back to Leo, then you have two options at this point (ignoring what's above): erase and install (A&I) and archive and install (A&I). I am assuming that you know how to go back with an E&I, but probably don't want to do so now. Post back if you need help with this method. Note that you will need your original Leo install DVD to do either type of install.
A&I is a good play, under your current circumstances, given that you are not ready, if ever, to do an E&I. Note that Apple doesn't recommend going backwards this far (i.e., going back beyond the current major version, say, 10.6.2.x back to 10.6.1.x) via A&I. But, regardless it is a way to get back to Leo and to pave the way for an restoring with your TM or doing an E&I of Leo in the future assuming your E&I fails to produce an acceptable installation.
Note that if you go backwards, then you will not be able to preserve user and network settings--which may be a good thing. Fortunately, there is a way to extract anything needed from a prior user home folder. [Here is the explanation|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2196].
Even though you don't want Sno any more, it would be nice to have a bootable clone of your Sno installation on an external for safety purposes--as mentioned above. On the other hand, your TM backup takes much of the need to have a clone away. Also, I would repair disk and permissions before archiving and installing and unplug all peripherals during installation, but not your Ethernet connection if you have one.

How do I use time machine back up with airport extreme

I want to use my airport extreme to back up with time machine, I am not that good with computers, so could some one please explain to me how to do this.
Thanks
Ben

Unfortunately, Apple does not support Time Machine backups to a hard drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme due to corruption issues.
Despite this, some users who have tried this have success with this, some limited success and some no success.
Our recommendation would be to connect the hard drive directly to your computer and use Time Machine that way.
To do this, you would need to make sure that the hard drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or buy a hard drive that has been pre-formatted for Mac. Then connect the drive to the USB port on the Mac.
After that, you would open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock), then open Time Machine to turn it ON, click Select Disk to select your hard drive and then click Use For Backup. That will get Time Machine backups going.

How do I restart Time Machine back-up from scratch?

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