How do I retrieve the MacBook Pro data that I backed up on an external hard drive

I was good and always backed everything from my MacBook Pro on an external hard drive. So, now that I've sold my MacBook Pro, how can I retrieve documents and pictures that are stored on it?

Hello Achaemenid,
Thank you for the question. If you used Time Machine to back up your MacBook Pro, you can restore the backup to a new Mac using the steps in the section titled "Restoring data from Time Machine backups > Restoring your entire system from a backup > Migrating a Time Machine backup to a new Mac" in the following article:
Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

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How do I access on my MacBook Pro data from my iMac stored on Lacie external hard drive.

i am attempting to use my MacBook Pro with the files and data from my iMac which is in the shop. On my iMac I backup regularly with Time Machine to my LaCie external hard drive. When I open my Lacie to my laptop the only data I see is from the laptop--I can't find the iMac data. I tried getting in via Time Machine--same problem. I tried searching through Finder--same problem. I tried logging into my laptop as the other user--same problem. both macs have latest operating system. Both are seriously souped up with plenty of storage and memory.

Connect the LaCie HDD to the MBP. Click on the icon. Is there a folder with the title Backups.backupdb? That is where the Time machine data is stored.
Ciao.

Got a new Macbook Pro today and I plugged in my WD external hard drive to backup with but it didn't allow me to backup.

Got a new Macbook Pro today and I plugged in my WD external hard drive to backup with but it didn't allow me to backup. The problem is that now my computer won't show the drive in finder. I can see it in Disk Utility and cannot access it. Help?

First
Finder>Preferences>Sidebar>Devices>External disk
but it didn't allow me to backup
did you get an error code or error dialog box?

MacBook Pro crashed while deleting old backups off partitioned external hard drive. Now only recognizes windows formatted half of drive. Can the Apple side be saved?

MacBook Pro 15-inch, Mid 2010
Processor 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB
Software OS X 10.9.5 (13F34)
I have an external hard drive:
2 TB Seagate Backup+Desk Media
Partitioned:
1TB - Windows NTFS
1TB - Mac (sorry I can't remember the formatting, whatever Mavricks asked me to use...)
What happened:
I was erasing 3 old backups from the Apple partition and my laptop crashed part way through emptying the trash. (it has done this many times before, where parts of the screen are frozen in square blocks displaced all over the screen. Screenshot not possible unless I use a separate camera).
When I force restarted my computer (holding down the power button) neither side of the drive was accessible. After running the Disk Utility and Verifying and Repairing the Disk Permissions and the Disk Itself (for the Windows side) I was able to access the Windows partition. However, upon attempting to do so with the Mac partition it tells me that it cannot be repaired. I have found many forums discussing SIMILAR situations but none with the same and here is why:
Up until this happening I could access ONLY the Windows partition when the drive was connected to either my Apple laptop in Bootcamp Windows 7 or my HP laptop in Vista, while my MacBook could access both sides of the drive. HOWEVER, after this crash, BOTH my Windows 7 and Vista can access both sides of the drive (so My files are still all there and accessible) but my MacBook Pro swears that the Apple partition is doomed.
Since the Apple side of my laptop is my primary workhorse I really want to figure out how to fix my drive.
So Questions:
1. Anything else I can provide to the experts out there to help me get this fixed?
2. Can I custom fix this via accessing the drive on either of the Windows systems?
3. Why would it suddenly show up in Windows when it became unaccessible to Mac?
Thanks All!

UPDATE:
It has been maybe a month since this happened.
After I made this post and was checking emails, walking away from computer, and then came back my Mac partition of the External Drive has shown up on the Desktop...
So, in the ever immortal way of asking the tech to come check the issue and the issue resolving itself, perhaps I should posted on the forum sooner...
NOTE: The disk still shows up as unusable in the Disk Utility and it appears that the files are read only (cannot make a new folder on this side of the external drive)
I still consider this a volatile issue because I do not want to lose the files on this half of the partition and I have not gotten a replacement drive yet (too much data to move to my computer and then format the current drive)

I need to delete a lot of duplicates on iPhoto. I just bought my MacBook Pro and was so excited I downloaded my external hard drive without thinking through the process. I now realize I had my photos doubled up. So I actually have the same library twice.

Hello All!
I am so excited about my new computer and I didn't know that my external hard drive had so many pictures duplicated on it. So I downloaded the entire hard drive. I thought iPhoto was going to be my answer, and now after reading a lot of discussions, it seems I have royally screwed up. Please help me fix this problem. I am a computer novice. An even more Mac novice. I need very simple directions. I would just start over with iPhoto, but I downloaded my digital camera with brand new photos on iPhoto and also downloaded my digital camera software on my new MacBookPro. I am afraid if I "start over" with iPhoto I will lose my digital camera pictures. I bought the Mac to finally get my pictures straight, and look at the mess I have made. I had AVG PC cleanup and used that program last night to delete duplicates from my PC. I also used it to delete duplicates from my external hard drive. I omega. I know, I know, too late huh? But I am teachable. And I now have my external hard drive fixed. But now, my question to the community is how to fix my new Mac, and my iPhoto.
Thanks,

SweetThunder73 wrote:
When you say to remove the photos out of the iPhoto folder, then import the clean single copies, I am understanding that the "original" file that the decloner was run against is now the "clean" single copies?
Ok, you've got iPhoto Library that you have imported everything into, you can't delete the iPhoto Library and start over because you have only one copy of some pictures in there, combined with a lot of duplicates.
You want all the duplicates out, but it will take you ages to do it by hand.
What you do is.
1: Right click on the iPhoto Library and "Show Package Contents"
2: You will see a folder called Originals, these are all your original photo's, copy this folder to a external drive someplace, it's your backup.
3: Select the Originals folder again and from the Finder Menu > File > Duplicate.
4: Now you will have a OriginalsCopy folder, move that OriginalsCopy folder onto the desktop area out of the iPhoto Library folder. Close the iPhoto Library folder/window.
5: Download the Decloner software and install it, use it to find all the "real" duplicates, via it's content on the OriginalsCopy folder.
6: From the Finder menu > New Folder, now send the duplicate files to that folder, so all that is left in the OriginalsCopy folder is 1 copy of your pictures, minus all the duplicates which are now in New Folder.
7: Open iPhoto and remove all your pictures in there. The iPhoto Library will update to become empty.
8: Now import the pictures from the OriginalsCopy folder, these will now have only one copy of each picture.
9: Open your New Folder, from the Edit menu > Select All and
10 From the Finder > File Menu > Open With > Preview.
Now you have one copy in your iPhoto Library and the duplicates in a New Folder opened with Preview which you can compare to make sure.
Make as many backups of your pictures as you think you need during this prcess, but eventually you only want 1 picture of all you have in the iPhoto Library.
Some pictures may be the same thing but a little smaller etc., these obviously are not duplicates, and you can weed those out by hand in iPhoto.
Good Luck.

Macbook pro for reading and writing NTFS for my external hard drive

Hello,
I have the new Macbook pro with retina display and I tried transfering some of the files on my macbook to my external hard drive (WD My Passport). Of course, it didn't let me. I did some research and found out that Mac only "reads" NTFS systems, but doesn't write. I did some more research to see if there was a way around this. There are several options and I need help with deciding which option is best.
1. Formatting my external hard drive to the FAT32 file system - however, it says that there are limitations with writing file sizes larger than 4GB. Is that true?
2. Formatting my external hard drive to the exFAT file system - is this a better option?
3. Downloading MacFuse - is it really discontinued?
4. Downloading OSXFUSE - is this better than MacFuse?
5. Downloading fuse4x - I don't know about this one
Aside from all this individual questions listed, which option is the best?? And, which option will give me less damage or data loss, and which is very reliable?? All I want to do is be able to transfer my documents or files on my MAC to my hard drive, but be able to read/write files on any other PC. I bring my hard drive everywhere and I always need to access my files with any computer I see (like in a computer lab at school/library).
If you can answer all of my questions, YOU'RE AWESOME!
Thank you!

tin2x58 wrote:
1. Formatting my external hard drive to the FAT32 file system - however, it says that there are limitations with writing file sizes larger than 4GB. Is that true?
Yes, exFAT is better.
2. Formatting my external hard drive to the exFAT file system - is this a better option?
Yes, you won't need any third party software, one less hassle.
3. Downloading MacFuse - is it really discontinued?
4. Downloading OSXFUSE - is this better than MacFuse?
5. Downloading fuse4x - I don't know about this one
Don't bother.
Aside from all this individual questions listed, which option is the best?? And, which option will give me less damage or data loss, and which is very reliable?? All I want to do is be able to transfer my documents or files on my MAC to my hard drive, but be able to read/write files on any other PC. I bring my hard drive everywhere and I always need to access my files with any computer I see (like in a computer lab at school/library).
Take a copy of all the data off the drive. Formatting the drive will erase all existing data.
Take the drive to the oldest Windows OS your going to use it with, if Windows XP there is a free exFAT update from Microsoft, install it first, then right click on the drive and format exFAT, it will create the appropriate partition table (either GUID or MBR) automatically.
Take the drive to the Mac, it will read it just fine whatever it is,.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's

TS3297 Is it possible for itunes on my MacBook Pro to play songs off my networked WD external hard drive and sync to my iPhone? I prefer to not keep all my music on my laptop and I don't want to pay $25 a year to access my songs if I don't have to.

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Hi turingtest2,
Thank you for replying. I've been looking at your posts about setting up iTunes using an external drive. A bit of background info. My old computer broke down, so I got a new one from work. I've always kept my music files on my external drive (I have around 170GB of music). I didn't follow the suggestions in the "migrate iTunes library" post because my old computer died on me. However, I've looked at your posts about lay out of the iTunes folders. Before connecting to iTunes on the new computer, I had reorganized my iTunes folder on my E: external drive, and created an iTunes folder which contains an iTunes Media subfolder. The music files are in a Music folder, which is in the iTunes Media folder. I've also put the following files in my iTunes folder: iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, iTunes Music Library.xml, as well as sentinel. I then followed the advice you gave bmw99 on 2 Nov 2013 at 9.58 (sorry, can't copy the exact answer).
Just to clarify: I'd like to keep all my music media on the E: external hard drive (the computer hard drive is too small), and I'm aware i might never have my playlists back, and that all the songs in my library might be ticked. However, I don't want my library to be duplicated.
I'm at work at the moment, but will be back home in about 10 hours, so I can be more specific about folders / files names.
I'm glad you picked up my message and greatly appreciate your help.
Patrice

HT1751 I have recently purchased a MacBook Pro. My iTunes library is on an external hard drive. What do I do next ?

Recently purchased a MacBook Pro.
I am currently setting it up to use. My entire iTunes library is on an external hard drive. What do I do next?

Quit iTunes.
Sign into another user account.
Hold Option, launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Do this for all users.
NOTE: You must quit iTunes when switching users as the library can only be opened by one user at a time.

MacBook Pro is not recognising my WD my passport external Hard drive

PLEASE PLEASE HELP
I have 200GB+ of data on my HDD and I DO NOT WAT TO FORMAT IT
I partitioned my WD my passport external Hard drive on Mac through Disk Utility
i then plugged it in to a windows XP computer
and when it did'nt recognise it i went to
right click My copmuter > Manage > Disk management > then i right clicked on the hard drive's name > convert to GPT disk
i though by doing that windows will recognise it .. it didnt
BUT .. when i reconnected it to my mac thats what i got
it still shows in my disk utility but all the options are greyed out
PLEASE if someone knows a way to fix this i'd really appreciate if you would tell me
i have really important documents on that hard drive
Thanks you in advance

I have fears that you data may be gone.
Did you try to see if you could access data on the Windows PC?
I am not versed in Windows but based on the steps you describe suggests that you formatted the disk and erased it. What you might try is to look for recovery software and see if there is anything to salvage.
Ciao.

How do I access photos that were backed up onto an external hard drive using Time Machine?

I used to own a PC. When my computer got too full, I would back up some of my photo albums onto an external hard drive (simply by copying and pasting what I wanted to save on the hard drive) and then delete them on my computer to free up space. Occassionally, I would still plug in my hard drive to access and use those photos when needed. I now own a Macbook Pro and after having issues with my old hard drive, I bought a hard drive compatiable with Macs. I plugged in the hard drive and backed up my entire computer using Time Machine. Now I would like to delete some of my photo albums to free up space on my computer. Before I do that, I would like to double check that they are indeed on the hard drive, but every time I try to open my iPhoto Library from the hard drive I get this error message: "The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iPhoto with the Option key held down to choose another library." So I tried doing that, but the only option that comes up is my main iPhoto library on my computer. I can't seem to access what is on my hard drive.
I don't plan on deleting ALL of my photo albums, just a few. So I also want to make sure that the next time I plug in my hard drive to back stuff up, it won't copy just what is on my computer and override the last backup, because that would mean losing missing albums I had already deleted. I just want to be able to access photos on my hard drive when I want and occassionally manually add a few more albums to it. I don't intend to keep backing up my entire computer. My main concern are my photos.
Can anyone help?

Try Pondini's articles;
http://pondini.org/TM/15.html - scroll down to the pink box for iPhoto restoation.
Also http://pondini.org/TM/15A.html to clarify how to use the timeline.

2006 iMac died, new iMac to arrive today, will my files that are backed up on my external hard drive (a My Book for Mac) transfer to the new computer?

2006 iMac died, new iMac to arrive today, i have my files/music/pictures backed up on an external hard dirve MyBook for Mac. Will these files transfer to the new computer? I was also using Time Capsule on the old Mac but cannot migrate because it is dead!

Yes. Use Setup Assistant when you first set up your new iMac. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5872

Is it safe to keep downloaded movies in the Macbook Pro or do I need to use an external hard disk for those ? Please suggest.

Is it safe to store the downloaded movies from iTunes in my Macbook Pro or do I need to store those separately in an external hard disk ? Please advice.

It will be no better or worse than any other video file and should not be responsible for any system instability. As I alluded to earlier, video takes up a lot of space and you can quickly use up that 200 GB of space. Download a few files to you MBP and see what impact it has. I have a couple of external HDDs dedicated to video files (and backups of same) due to the large file sizes.
If you find that space is getting tight on your MBP, then get an external for the video files and another one to back them up. I have a couple of external HDDs dedicated to video files (and backups of same) due to the large file sizes.
Ciao.

Please..how do you clean the Macbook Pro silver-coloured (aluminum?) outer case?

Please..how do you clean the Macbook Pro silver-coloured (aluminum?) outer case?

CailinGaelach wrote:
Vodka -- alcohol. Makes sense. I guess Irish whiskey wouldn't work as well due to the colour, because Jameson's would be my bevvy of choice if I were to down a few shots before.
Drink the Irish, and as for the cleaning Vodka, buy the absolute cheapest one in the store, the one you wouldn't want to drink.
They all meet FDA standards for human consumption unlike alcohol in the drug store.

HT4927 I have just downloaded iPhoto from the app store. The photo library from my old laptop was backed up on an external hard drive and I retrieved the photos from there. Now when I open the photos on my new Mac Book Pro, they are small - am I missing

I have just downloaded iPhoto from the app store. The photo library from my old laptop was backed up on an external hard drive and I retrieved the photos from there. Now when I open the photos on my new Mac Book Pro, they are small - am I missing something?
I am using 10.8.2 Mountain Lion btw

I dragged the Photo library icon from the backup drive on to iPhoto on the laptop
That means you imported one Library to another.
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.
So the reason you're seeing small photos is because you're seeing the iPhoto thumbnails from the back up library.
So, what to do?
Do you still have the back up? If so, trash this bunged up library and restore from the back up again. HOw to restore will depend entirely on how you made the back up, but no version of restoring includes importing the library.
Regards
TD

Does anyone know how to set up a macbook pro so that other computers can join me and use my internet connection?

Does anyone know how to set up a macbook pro so that other computers can join me and use my internet connection?

Have you set up any security on the Mac Connection Sharing?
Sorry but I don't use that so I'm not familiar with the settings.
But if you haven't setup and security the iPhone might not mind but I know most Windows computers do not like to connect to Open WiFi. and make sure it is WPA or WPA2.
Then again it may be a setting in the connection sharing like some type of MAC filtering or it may simply be that Mac OS X connection sharing only allows one connection at a time. Try disconnecting your phone and then connect the PC.
As to Linc's response about Windows.
Windows basically does care about connecting to open, unsecured, WiFi. But it will normally pop up a windows asking "Are myou sure you want to connect to this open network". And a simple click on yes will get you connected and an IP address.
So this is clearly a Mac OS X problem.

How do I retrieve the MacBook Pro data that I backed up on an external hard drive

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