How do I restore Time Machine of my iMac Apps & Files to my MacBook?

My situation:
I have 2 computers (iMac and MacBook Pro).
My MacBook Pro has a suite of software that I cannot transfer to my iMac. Why? Because the liscencing was computer specific (foolish me for thinking I could use one lisnence and have it used on one machine meant that I could unregister the former and register the other machine).
My iMac has Time Machine backups. I recently lost anything and everything purchased on iTunes. I now have that restored thanks to iTunes Support. The now up to date Time Machine backup files are up to date and regular for my iMac.
*The Situation*
My iMac had a harddrive failure. It was replaced twice. then the graphics card failed. It was replaced. So I finally get my iMac back yesterday, now it makes a High Pitch SQUEEEEL!
iMac is back at Apple Store. I was polite.
*What I Want to Happen*
I want to move my iTunes and all my other documents over to my MacBook, via the Time Machine backup.
*What Happened*
Following the instructions found on this forum and the apple troubleshooting/faq sections for Time Machine, it transfered.
*My Issue*
After the little progress meter finished, I cant find the files.
Now my computer directory looks stupid with (copy of copy of copy of copy of MacHDD)
*My Request*
Type of Help that Could Work for Me:
1. Tell me where the files are?
2. Tell me how I should set up my files and time machine and stuff!
3. or, if the above is not possible buy my computers from me, give me CDs and DVDs of my music, movies, and documents.

PowerfulLamp wrote:
Following the instructions found on this forum and the apple troubleshooting/faq sections for Time Machine, it transfered.
Exactly how did you do that? You should have used +Migration Assistant,+ but it sounds like you didn't.
After the little progress meter finished, I cant find the files.
Now my computer directory looks stupid with (copy of copy of copy of copy of MacHDD)
Assuming MacHDD is the name of one of the internal HDs, it does sound like you did the transfer incorrectly.
1. Tell me where the files are?
Probably in one or more of those copies of MacHDD.
2. Tell me how I should set up my files and time machine and stuff!
That's going to depend on exactly what's where, and what you want to do:
Do you want to erase everything on the MacBook and copy everything from the iMac's backups, or do you have things on the MacBook that you want to keep?
When you got the second Mac, did you set it up from the other one? If you did, then you should have identical user accounts on both Macs (they may have different data, but the exact same names and passwords).
And, do you have an iTunes library, and/or the other files you want to move, in the same places on both Macs?

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How can I use time machine to recover my iWeb09 files?

I read that iWeb stores one's website pages in the domain folder which can be located at ~/Library/Application Support/iWeb. Can I use time machine to recover my iWeb09 files? If so, how? -I tried. I entered my Time Machine back up, and went back in time and brought the domain file forward but it opened only my current site pages, not the ones I am trying to recover. And it says the Domain file was last modified in October 2007 which is crazy because I've been using iWeb a lot and have published many pages. It seems like the uncorrupted pages, which I am trying to recover, existed somewhere on my computer at one point in time and space, less than a week ago, becuse I just published my site to a new hosting service since Apple will soon stop web hosting. So why can I not find them using time machine?

I continued searching and read another person's advise to down load an app named "Find File," then search for .sites. She said spotlight doesn't always find all files. So I did and sure enough, when I searched for .sites I found another Domain package, which I have no idea how it was created but which, it ends up, was the one actually being used by iWeb. So I went to that package then did the time machine and went back to before my web pages became corrupted. I had to delete corrupt blog pages out of my website menu to get iWeb to upload the other page changes even to a local folder.
So I went to that newly found Domain, went back in time, then brought that forward and as you pointed out the domain package had the parts of the pages, the files and jpegs, but not the structure/layout of the pages. So, I guess I gave up on finding the old pages.
Those pages still exist on the Apple hosting server but iWeb doesn't not reverse publication. Cyberduck would bring back the files and bits and peices but again not the pages as a total entity. I'm preparing for the end of Apple website hosting (next month?) and am republishing my old site. I decided to use a new domain name. So my entire original site is still totally intact on the web under the original domain name, on my mobile me site, I guess it will be there till sometime in June?
My problems started when I tried to publish my website to the new server. It just would not publish the whole website in one session. So I decided to do it a few pages at a time. Some pages went up, but as I added more, for some unknown reason the, blog pages, (about 70 subpages), which had aleardy uploaded just fine to the new server, became corrupt and locked up iWeb. Of course once I deleted the corrupt pages I didn't want to continue publishing the site to the host until I found and reinserted uncorrupted pages, knowing publishing changes would delete the already published pages.
At first I thought it was the hosting server's fault, but when I discovered that it wouldn't publish even to a local fold I was able to locate the cause within iWeb, deleted those pages then tested by publishing to a local folder. iWeb worked locally, so I knew I had found the problem pages. Well this is way more than you wanted to know. Thanks for your advise but I'll just start the blogging pages over.

How do I restore time machine alias files cloned from broken hard drive

My external hard drive broke (a tiny transistor broke off after the drive fell two feet to the floor) so I purchased a new one and had the Geek Squad clone what was on my old hard drive onto my new one. I was using Time Machine to backup my files. My external hard drive had a much larger capacity than my macbook pro, so I deleted a number of the files saved on my Macbook Pro, knowing that I could access my files whenever I plugged my ext. hard drive in.
After plugging my new external hard drive into my computer, however, I am finding only alias files and I do not know how to restore my data so I can access all of the files again.
Does anyone know how to restore my time machine data from the cloned data I had transferred from my broken external hard drive to my new external hard drive?
Thanks!

morrisck wrote:
An update - I finally took both of my HDs in to an Apple store and they confirmed my fear: only alias files had been transferred from my old drive, meaning Geek Squad charged me $100 for 850 MB of unusable files.
That has been clear since early in this thread.
Geek Squad has agreed to retry the process
Why pay them to do what you don't need done??? Get a refund and buy an enclosure, which you should have anyway for backups.
but I'm now wishing that I had received more sound advice when I brought the drives into them in the first place.
Don't know who gave you that advice, but I sure wouldn't trust them with my data!
The Apple rep. informed me that my HD works perfectly fine and that it just needs a new enclosure (which I can buy for $20 online, as opposed to paying $100 for a data transfer).
Ummm, the action to take seems very clear to me . . . .

Macbook was stolen, how do I restore time machine to new Macbook?

My Macbook Pro was stolen recently. Luckily before that I backed up all of my files onto a USB external hard drive, and I also recently bought a new Macbook Air. How do I restore all of my old Macbook Pro settings from the USB hard drive onto my new Macbook Air? I tried using Migration Assistant but the Migration Assistant won't detect my external hard drive as a time machine backup. I've tried right clicking on Time Machine in the dock and clicking "Browse other time machine disks" but it still won't detect my external hard drive as a time machine backup. I can see my old username and folders (ex. desktop, applications, downloads, library, etc.) but they all have a red thing next to them and when I click them it says "you don't have permission to access this content". My old macbook was stolen so I don't know how to grant permisions for me to access it. What is the best way to load all my old settings from my USB hard drive onto my new Macbook Air?

Pondini's excellent resource provides some useful reading:
http://pondini.org/OSX/Setup.html

How do I restore Time Machine backup files (from TC) to an external HD?

I did a full Time Machine backup of my machine to a Time Capsule. All told, around 500GB. The MBP to which I'd like to transfer the files doesn't have a big enough hard drive. However, I do have a 1TB External HD that I could use. Can I use Time Machine or Migration Assistant to move/access the files? I'm using Lion.

See: Mac 101- Time Machine, Time Machine - 101 Tutorial, Pondini's Time Machine FAQ - All You Need for Time Machine, and Pondini's Time Machine FAQ.

Can't restore Time Machine backup after iMAC (Lion) Refresh

I recently did a refresh of my iMAC with OSX Lion. I have been using time capsule to back up my iMAC as well as my Mac Mini for the last 6 months with what I perceived to be no issues.
When I got to the part in the MAC start up to restore from backup it couldn't seem to find the iMAC backup, only the Mac Mini backup so I skipped that part. I then tried to use Migration Assistant later and the same thing, I couldn't find it. I used finder to locate the Time Capsule and was able to find the backup, but when I double clicked on it said "Mac OS X can't repair the disk "Time Machine Backups". you can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to the files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can".
Even though it said that it open a new finder window and I was able to find the backups and I proceed to copy of the files over. All seemed well until I opened iPhoto and it wouldn't open (just hung). I did a library restore/repair by clicking Option + Command when opening and after it ran iPhoto opened. When I browsed around though some recent pics that I uploaded either weren't there or corrupted and all my faces were gone.
I did a fresh install again and tried all over and the same thing happened. Any help on getting back my old backup? Seems to be corrupted or something, but I'm not sure.
See previous post before this... I was told to post my problem here - as I originally posted on the iPhoto forum before I realized I had a time machine / capsule problem.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/22248885?ac_cid=op123456#22248885
Help would be appreciated.

lonniebrunet wrote:
Hi there,
I had a look through and I tried to do option A5 - which is repair or verify disk. I dragged the sparebundle for the mackup to disk utility and after trying to do a repair I got the message "disk utility stopped repairing "Time Machine backups".
Does this mean that my backup is corrupted and useless for a restore with time machine?
Yes.
And that also means copying via the Finder may not get everything. Corrupted is corrupted.
Assuming you copied from the most recent backup, you might want to try copying just the iPhoto Library from an earlier one -- that might not be damaged. If you have room, put it somewhere else, like your desktop. Or if you have an external HD, that would work.

How do you copy time machine photos from a G Drive back onto Macbook?

I have a white Macbook that was loaded with over a thousand photos. I bought a G Drive external harddrive and used time machine to backup the files. However, now that the photos are off of the copy, and on the harddrive, when i plug in the harddrive, i can no longer find the photos.
Suggestions?

If you have a Time Machine compatible version of iPhoto, you should be able to just select the Time Machine icon while iPhoto is open to look back in its history. If you don't have a Time machine compatible version of iPhoto, you'll need to search for the photos you are looking for by file name while viewing your Time Machine backup. If they don't appear, make sure the hard drive is indexed first by Spotlight by making sure it is not in the Privacy section of Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Spotlight.

How can I get my time machine to allow me to recover files again? After upgrading to OS X, the time machine still backs up the files; but, I'm not able to navigate within the time machine or select any folders or files for restore.

How can I get my time machine to allow me to recover files again?
After upgrading MBA to OS X, the time machine still backs up the files; but, I'm not able to navigate within the time machine or select any folders or files for restore.
I've searched and can not find a solution to the problem that's being encountered.

Yeap that all makes sense now.
Do you only have the current backup showing in the TM display?? Won't it fill in the rest?
Over wireless are you waiting for the indexing to finish.. ??
Previous backup may not show for a couple of hours.
Long short of it.. Mavericks version of TM is a pain.
Sometimes it is easier to completely ignore the TM backup and do the restore manually.
I have posted the details here. See if this helps.
Can't access old files on time capsule

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.

Getting a new macbook to replace old one...how do i use time machine to res

my current mac book is acting strange
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9527774#9527774
i bought a new one i should get tomorrow
how do i use time machine to restore my email, safari book marks etc?
thx

ironknee wrote:
caroly do you ever sleep?
I thought i clicked on the link... this link no??
vk yes i bought a white macbook just like my old one with more stuff
i'm just a designer... i have no idea wht u are talking about
there are two ways to restore your data from a TM backup.
the first is the one I described. you don't need to do anything, just follow the instructions during the setup assistant when you first turn the computer on. it will ask you if you want to import your data from a TM backup. say yes and follow the instructions. this method only restores your user data and applications but does not touch any system files.
the second method is different and it was suggested by the other posters. it wipes the hard drive and restores the entire computer including system files and everything to the exact state it was in at the backup time. this should only be used when restoring on the same computer or on the same EXACT hardware model. the fact that your new computer is also a macbook is not enough. the processor and the graphics card may have been upgraded since you bought your old computer. this happens all the time. if they did then the old install will lack necessary drivers for the new hardware and it will not work if you restore the entire system from the old computer to the new one.
Bottom line is, unless you are absolutely sure that your new computer has exact same specs and exact same hardware as the old one, use method one outlined above.

HT201250 how do I disable time machine? I want to use my external drive as additional storage. But it mirrors everything I edit. If I remove a document, it removes it from the external drive as well.

how do I disable time machine? I want to use my external drive as additional storage. But it mirrors everything I edit. If I remove a document, it removes it from the external drive as well.
I purchased a 1 TB WD passport drive, formatted for Mac. I set it up originally (mistakenly) to backup time machine. I went back and set it to "do not backup" It still backs up evey document I edit. If I add a document when the drive is disconnected, it automatically adds it to the external drive the next time connect to the passport drive. If I remove a document the same thing happens.
I need additional storage to free up space on my laptop hard drive. This is not working the way I want it to. Help!

Do not backup your startup volume to another partition on the same drive. If the drive fails you have nothing. Always backup to another drive or volume on another drive.
The I/O error usually means there's a problem with the drive. Clone ASAP, then repartition and reformat the main drive. Then restore the clone. Here's the basic process:
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive.
Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the external one.
Boot from the external hard drive.
Erase the internal hard drive.
Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your internal hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Do not quit Disk Utility.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.

How can i use time machine with a network drive

I have a Western Digital Net N900 wireless router with a 2TB internal H/D. How can I get Time Machine to reconize it?

Relying only on TM to me is iffy but I would bet you have clones in addition to TM like I do. I agree with everything you said but to the OP question, it is possible. A time capsule or AEBS+HD are pretty similar but one is officially supported while the later is not.
Since I'm rambling a bit I will add this. I only use TM for the times I delete something and then wish I had it back. All my restores or migrations are done from my clones. One clone is made weekly and is a snap shot of my system. One clone I keep remotely located and is updated monthly.
My system:
Internal 1TB
Ext HD1 2TB (1TB data, 1TB clone)
Ext HD2 2TB time machine backup (internal + HD1 data, not the clone)
Remote 1TB clone
I'm fully redudant with my method and it has saved me before.

How does one get Time Machine out of a "Preparing to Backup" loop to actually doing a backup? thanks, AR

How does one get Time Machine out of a "Preparing to Backup" loop to actually doing a backup? thanks, AR

Hi..
Thanks for the reply..
My original I Phone 5 was running IOS 6.12
My I phone 5S currently runs IOS 8..When I upgraded it, it had IOS 7 on it which made the I Photo app compatible with everything below IOS 8...( which the photo app is not compatible with ) so I just connected the I Phone 5S to my computer and thinking the new phone had IOS 7 on it that these was nothing to worry about..I thought all 900 + pictures in the photo stream would transfer but somewhere in the process, I Tunes decides to just go and install IOS 8 which requires that you run a " Photo Migration App" to transfer photos from IOS 7 & below. The problem was is that I didn't want IOS 8 on my new 5S so I thought I wouldn't have to do that part..
Anyway the phone emerged with IOS 8 on it and the only photos that remained were the ones that were actually on the phone..The 900 + I had in the stream didn't transfer because the Photos that works on IOS 7 and below isn't compatible with IOS 8..I guess you have to use the photo migration app that comes with IOS 8 & I phone 6..But I didn't ask to upgrade to IOS 8...It just did it on it's own!
I still have the I Phone 5 Back up that I did just before giving it back to Verizon but if I try to restore the I Phone 5S running IOS 8 those photos in the stream will not go back on the phone because IOS 8 isn't compatible with the I Photos" that ran on IOS 7 and below..
So I have an I Pad mini that runs IOS 7..should I try and erase it...and put that I Phone 5 backup on it and pray the photos that were in the stream come back on it so I can transfer them back to my computer...then erase the I pad mini again and restore it using it's original backup that I have on the computer and the in the cloud?
I know this sounds confusing but I'm at a loss as to what to do..This is what I found ...http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201386
but it doesn't help me..
Steve

My time machine backup disc has apps from Mountain Lion that won't open now that I have Yosemite. They all say need to be upgraded to Yosemite. Go to app store. But app store sees that I have yosemite so doesn't even show me an udate option. How can

My time machine backup disc has apps from Mountain Lion that won't open now that I have Yosemite. They all say need to be upgraded to Yosemite. Go to app store. But app store sees that I have yosemite so doesn't even show me an udate option. How can Update these files??

How do you know they won't run in Yosemite? You're not trying to fiddle with stuff in your backup from the Finder, are you? If so you are likely to render that backup unusable.
WHen when you restore them from your backup, they should be updateable.

Post-restore Time Machine/bundle backup problem

Earlier this week the HD in my iMac died. I had the drive replaced and performed a full restore from my Time Machine backup. The four hour restore went fine.
The next day I turned Time Machine back on. I expected it would want to perform a complete backup of the restored machine. It appeared to start okay, calculating changes and deleting old backups. But then it started doing that in a loop: checking changes, deleting backups, cleaning up, checking changes, deleting backups, etc. After about five cycles I just left work and let it do its thing. Twelve hours later when I got home it still hadn't done a backup, and appeared to be stuck in 'deleting old backups.' So I went ahead and stopped Time Machine.
Now, if I turn TM on or initiate a manual backup, it checks for changes, spends a long time at 99% during that process, then eventually unmounts the bundle, goes to cleaning up, and then hangs there until I manually stop it.
I've tried disk utility, but anytime the backup bundle is mounted, Disk Utility locks up with the spinning beach ball before I ever get to drag the bundle into the window and try to verify/repair.
Any suggestions? At this point I'd be fine erasing the entire bundle and starting new backups from scratch, but I'm not sure how to properly "reset" Time Machine, and of course I can't the bundle to appear in Disk Utility.

blevenstein wrote:
Earlier this week the HD in my iMac died. I had the drive replaced and performed a full restore from my Time Machine backup. The four hour restore went fine.
The next day I turned Time Machine back on. I expected it would want to perform a complete backup of the restored machine. It appeared to start okay, calculating changes and deleting old backups. But then it started doing that in a loop: checking changes, deleting backups, cleaning up, checking changes, deleting backups, etc.
Yes, that cycle could go on for a very long time. Assuming the TC's disk was near full, TM would have to delete a whole lot of backups to make room for a new full backup. Unfortunately, it has to mount the sparse bundle, delete a single backup, dismount the sparse bundle, compact it, then mount it again to see if it's made enough room. The word "excruciating" isn't enough!
Now, if I turn TM on or initiate a manual backup, it checks for changes, spends a long time at 99% during that process, then eventually unmounts the bundle, goes to cleaning up, and then hangs there until I manually stop it.
It's probably still deleting old backups, although it's possible there's one that it can't delete, and is stuck on it.
I've tried disk utility, but anytime the backup bundle is mounted, Disk Utility locks up with the spinning beach ball before I ever get to drag the bundle into the window and try to verify/repair.
That does sound like the sparse bundle is now hopelessly corrupted.
Any suggestions? At this point I'd be fine erasing the entire bundle and starting new backups from scratch, but I'm not sure how to properly "reset" Time Machine, and of course I can't the bundle to appear in Disk Utility.
First, of course, turn TM "off" via TM Preferences.
If there's nothing else on the TC's disk, erase it. Use the +*Airport Utility+* app, in your Applications/Utilities folder. Select +*Base Station > Manual Set-Up+* from the Menubar, then Disks in the tool Bar, then Erase.
If there's other stuff there that you want to keep, and can't copy elsewhere temporarily, just delete the sparse bundle via the Finder.
Then you should be able to turn TM back on and have it start fresh (I'd strongly recommend connecting your Mac to the TC via an Ethernet cable to speed up the initial backup, if at all possible). If there's a problem, you can try the "reset" procedure in #A4 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

How do I restore Time Machine of my iMac Apps & Files to my MacBook?

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