How do i selectively chose files from time machine to my mac which had to be wiped out by the genius (who I cant get to come to my house to help!)

HELP
How do I selectively select files and programs from TimeMachine to put back on my macbook pro?
it had to be wiped out by a genius who unfortunately will not come to my house to fix - no matter how much cash I offer

This page:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
this section:
• Restoring data from Time Machine backups - Restoring specific files of folders

Similar Messages

How to remove old backup files from time machine? Lion OSx

Hi everyone,
I am just wondering how to efficiently and safely remove the old backup files from time machine? I tried once with command, but it damaged my extra-disk... Does Lion OSx have fixed that?
Many thanks
Hong

Blue-
Time Machine will automatically delete back-ups as the need for space arises. If you want to delete a certain file (application, document, whatever) and have it gone for good you can do that as well.
The best place on the web for information about Time Machine is...
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
...it covers everything!
Clinton

How do you retrieve individual files from Time Machine?

If a file original is lost or becomes corrupted, is there anyway to retrieve that individual files from Time Machine? If so, how?

ElRay (Amazingly, not the 1st) wrote:
SharonZ wrote:
Time Machine finds that file, and not other files that meet the criteria. BUT...
That's not what TM was doing. My search criteria was "by filename", however when I try to go backwards in TM, that limit is lost and it appears to be returning every file in the rolled-up weekly archive. This is especially odd, because I have since determined that the file was actually corrupted before TM was running, so there should be only one version of the file in TM's archives.
No, it was a file sitting on my disk. Email was mentioned, because the fact that every email in every junk folder appears as a separate item to be restored, which is what triggers that little "too many files to show you at one time" issue.
So your name search returned lots of junk mail items. I shudder to think what the file name was that you were searching for! <g>
Also: you can tell Time Machine to ignore your junk mail if you've filtered the junk mail in Mail into a different folder/box.
I figured that one out. I had used Spotlight to find the junk mailboxes, but couldn't, only the messages "labeled" junk. I had to use 'find' in Terminal.app to actually find Mail's junk & spam folders.
Yeah, it's hard to find stuff when you don't know where it is <g>. In general, though, for these kinds of things, always think: "Library" which is where SO many pieces of programs are stored. Of course, there's lots of Library folders, so your first job is to decide: system or user level? Realizing more than one user account could have email setups, you can assume the path you need starts at the User level. So, you start at Home[UserName]/Library. Scanning that Library folder, you see a Mail folder (aha!). Checking out that folder, you might first suspect the Mailboxes subfolder, but you'll soon see that it has the mailboxes you've defined for sorting your mail; so, you continue to scan the Mail folder and you see a folder with your email address on it (or multiple folders, one for each of your emails). Open one of those and, ta da! You see something labeled junk.mbox.
You've already found your Junk mail, of course, but I'm suggesting this as a general approach, especially for other readers of this thread, who might not want to touch Terminal.
But, back to one of your initial problems: TM seemed to lose your search criteria. Do you think it was related to the high number of " hits"? Does it work for you otherwise, when you search for something less general?

How to us iPhone backup file from Time Machine drive to restore iPhone

Stupidly, I deleted my primary account on my iPhone that contained my contacts and calendar. I don't currently subscribe to MobileMe. I took advantage of the free service when I bought my phone, but decided not to subscribe as I synch my iPhone to my computer and back up my computer using a hard drive connected with Time Machine. Unfortunately, when I stopped using MobileMe, a synch to my iTunes wiped out all my contact data in my Address Book on my computer and my calendar. Therefore, all my most current information was on my iPhone.
I went to the Apple store and was told that the iTunes backup file may be used to restore the contacts and calendar information on my iPhone. I synched my iPhone to iTunes and then did the iPhone restore to factory settings. Only then did I realize that the older, correct backup file was not an available option in the dropdown.
So, I'm trying to figure out how to pull an older iPhone backup file and then use it to restore the iPhone. The only thing is that when I go to Time Machine and look at an older Library --> Application Support --> Mobile Sync --> Backup folder, there's a whole bunch of .mdbackup files in there.
How do I select what I need? How do I get the iTunes protocol to run the restore on my iPhone using those files?

Select the folder that contains the .mdbackup files and use Get Info for the folder to check the date the backup was updated. I would forget about trying to extract individual .mdbackup files and transfer the entire folder to the same location on your computer's hard drive - with iTunes quit before doing so.
After doing so, this backup should be available to select when restoring your iPhone from your iPhone's backup.
If this is successful restoring contact info and calendar events on your iPhone, if the Address Book and iCal on your Mac is empty - it does not contain any data, before syncing your iPhone direct with the Address Book and iCal on your Mac, enter one unique contact in the Address Book, and one calendar event in iCal on your Mac. Make these up if needed, which can be deleted later. This will provide a merge prompt when syncing this data, which you want to select.
Does Time Machine include a backup of your Address Book and iCal on your Mac? If so, it will be much easier and faster to restore the Address Book and iCal on your Mac from your Time Machine backup.

How do I transfer files from time machine to new mac?

I have owned my own imac since 2009, we have recently inherited a newer imac from a family member and I would like to transfer all of my files from my time machine to the new imac. How do I erase the files currently on this "new" imac, and then transfer my files from my time machine?

What version of OS X does the new iMac have installed. Do you know exactly which model it is?
Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Can I copy files from Time Machine to another Mac (or flash drive, etc)?

I hosed my hard drive yesterday (dropped the MBP on a hard floor). Fortunately, I have a TM backup that was done only an hour or so before the accident. It will take me a couple of days to get a new HD and install it, so I'm wondering if it will mess up the TM backup if I copy some of the files onto another system so I can continue stuff I need to do until I can restore the system.
I do *not* intend to do any work, change files, etc on the backup drive, just want to work on them on another system, then copy back *after* the MBP is restored and functional.
Thanks,
Chuck

That is very useful info! Thanks. I have a new drive in and the TM restore went fine, so I'm in business again.
So you are saying that this method will not damage TM access to the backup file, as for example in needing to do a complete restore?
Thanks again,
Chuck

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

Delete large file from Time Machine backup drive?

I recently selected to exclude my Aperture.library file from Time Machine, but only after it had done about 8 backups already... the file doesn't exist in the latest folder on my TM hard drive but it is there in previous ones.
how can i delete this file from my TM backups and regain 40gb? (it won't let you delete it in finder)

Ewen,
Let me make my self more clear.
Because of the Apple KB article regarding Aperture and Time Macine, that's exactly why i chose to EXCLUDE my aperture.library file from time machine.
Please don't read any negative tone in this, i'm just trying to explain myself.
But hind sight is 20/20, so i was looking for a way to delete the old previous version of the aperture.library that was sitting on my backup time machine drive (useless taking up space)
I apologize for not searching out that KB article, but i didn't think i'd have to do that. I assumed Apple would know how to have Aperture play nice with Time Machine....
Any way all is good. we're all educated now

How do you delete file from time machine back up?

How do you delete file from time machine back up?

This from Apple KB Article If Time Machine is not in your Dock, you can enter Time Machine from the Menu Bar or System Preferences.
Deleting data from a Time Machine backup
To delete all backups of one or more items from a Time Machine backup, follow these steps:
Click the Time Machine icon on your Dock to enter the Time Machine restore interface.
Click on the item you would like to delete. Command-click to select multiple items.
Control-click (or right click) the highlighted item(s) and select "Delete All Backups of..." from the contextual menu, or select "Delete all backups of..." from the Action Item menu.
Authenticate with an administrator password when prompted.

How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks

How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks. I know the data is there but seems unaccessable because I may have changed the Computer or Owner name. Is there any way to fix that now?

Hi Linc,
my back-up data is managed by Time Machine; the actual data is on a second internal Hard Drive with a capacity of 1TB - not partitioned. I am using Time Machine and have access to all data backed up since Mavericks Clean Install but not the data prior to this date.
When I open the 1TB drive in Finder I can see a folder "Backups.backupdb/Sigi's Mac Pro/ followed by many folders of backup dates going back to 2010-09-20-103441 and up to 2014-02-07-142414 all followed with folder Macintosh HD. February 7th 2014 was the date of the clean install.
These Backups are followed by backup date folder 2014-02-08-075554 with a subfolder of MacPro-320GB (this is the name I assigned to my Boot Drive during formatting; I suspect I should have assigned the same name as before ie. Macintosh HD) and 2014-02-11 with a subfolder Macintosh HD, these are the ones I get access to by way of Time Machine > Restore.
Weird thing is on Febr 11 when I relised my possible mistake and renamed the Bootdrive back to what it was initially ie. Macintosh HD despite this I have access to all backup data since the Clean Install in both folders MacPro-320GB as well as Macintosh HD but not to any data prior to the Clean Install.
Is there something that Time Machine knows and prevents access or is it simply a matter of renaming the subfolder 2014-02-08-07554/MacPro-320GB to ........./Macintosh HD?
I like to restore selectively and not everything - It was hard work reinstalling apps that were supposed to be the troublemakers (ref my discussion on Maverick problems) but I now need to get onto data specific to some of these apps as well as other data I may have missed. Long story? Yes and sorry.
Sigi

I upgraded my macbookpro hard drive to 1 TB then migrated my files from time machine. I'm now locked out of the computer because the password is not the same as my usual one and one that was years old and not retreivable. How do I work around this?

I upgraded my macbookpro hard drive to 1 TB then migrated my files from time machine. I'm now locked out of the computer because the password is not the same as my usual one and one that was years old and not retreivable. How do I work around this?

Whether or not you are able to recover the data off the drive yourself will depend on if the drive suffered any impact damage in the crash. You can buy USB SATA or IDE adapters (Intel and almost all G5 use SATA) that will let you connect your hard drive to a computer (like a flash drive) to see if you can recover the data. If the drive has suffered physical damage if may not mount.
If you know someone who has one of these adapters you could try using theirs, otherwise you could buy one but you take the risk of the data on the drive being non recoverable. Regardless, both are much cheaper than $1699!
(Alternatively, if you know of someone with a Mac Pro or PowerMac G5 they may be able to install the drive in their machine and try to boot from or mount it and copy the data off.)

How do I restore files from time machine backups made before reformatting macbook air?

How do I restore files from time machine backups made before reformatting macbook air?

The section titled "Restoring data from Time Machine backups" in the following may help: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

Delete outlook file from time machine?

am trying to install a back up of Outlook Main Identity from time machine. it stops running midway, saying there is a read/write error (Error code -36) and that the offending file is ###_#####.olk14MsgAttach, which appears to be an attachment to an email. Can this file be deleted from Outlook on the backup disk, with out messing up the overall reinstallation of Main Identity? Thank you.

Ewen,
Let me make my self more clear.
Because of the Apple KB article regarding Aperture and Time Macine, that's exactly why i chose to EXCLUDE my aperture.library file from time machine.
Please don't read any negative tone in this, i'm just trying to explain myself.
But hind sight is 20/20, so i was looking for a way to delete the old previous version of the aperture.library that was sitting on my backup time machine drive (useless taking up space)
I apologize for not searching out that KB article, but i didn't think i'd have to do that. I assumed Apple would know how to have Aperture play nice with Time Machine....
Any way all is good. we're all educated now

I can't restore 'library' with support files from Time Machine

backup - I can't restore 'library' with support files from Time Machine - Ask Different
Due to an accident, my entire applications folder with all the support files, including plists and caches got deleted.
I tried restoring by files from the most recent Time Machine backups but I cannot retrieve my applications with the support files.
I even tried it with migration assistant on a new image.
Is this impossible?
Must I start from scratch?
Details of the ‘accident’
I was using this app called ‘AppCleaner’ that also automatically deletes related support files which are normally left behind if one simply trashes an Application.
In the search view, I typed the app name and I selected all the apps in the results using Command + A. Unfortunately, this selected every single Application in the Applications Folder in the background and I trashed and deleted all files.
Anyway.
I tried to restore the applications and library from my Time Machine Back-ups but failed to do so because I didn’t have enough space to restore. (I have a 11inch Macbook Air 2012 64GB SSD
When I tried to restart in recovery mode, I had the same problem, I was disallowed the option to restore using my time capsule backups because my SSD didn’t have enough space for the backup.
I then tried to restore it to a totally different but new image on a 64GB USB3.0 Sandisk USB Stick, but the process stopped after hours of being stuck around 30.4 percent and the computer was unable to boot, leaving me with a persistent verbose message suggesting it couldn’t identify the os, kernel or anything.
I finally tried restoring the state using migration assistant on the very same SSD that had my files missing. This happened successfully and I have all my applications in the applications folder.
But now I have 13GB free (I had 2GB before) and all my application support files, saved states, preferences, caches and customizations are gone.
Basically, it feels like I just got a new macbook with my documents and itunes folder loaded on to it.
How can I get my apps back to the pre-deletion state or is this impossible? Do I have to start from scratch? I thought my Time Machine Backups would restore it to exactly the same state, am I wrong?
Screenshots:
Message was edited by: Arsenenger

Can you simply navigate to your Time Machine backup with the Finder? Treat it like an external hardrive and just look for your old Applications folder. /Applications/
Also, quite a few apps put config and support files in ~/Library/Application\ Support/
So you may be able to get the files from there as well.

Is it possible to delete files from time machine?

Is it possible to delete files from time machine? I had a drive crash, restored the files to a new drive, and now the old versions and the new versions of the files are both backed up, taking up a mountain of drive space. Do I just have to wait 'til the drive gets full and then tell it what to delete first?

Hi, I need help in a related problem. I have 500gb time capsule. I needed larger hard drive, so I now use TM to back up to a different 1tb hard drive. So I don't need the TC as a TM back up device. But I want to use the TC's hard drive as an extra external hard drive. I deleted the files that were on it. but it still shows it has a sparsebundle file with a size of over 400gb ( probably the size of the old backups). When I use disk utility to try to erase it, I am not offered the erase tab. This "disk" does show on the desk top as a mounted disk (I think) with only 53 gb free. How can I set this up so all the disk space is free and I can use it for storing files, not as a back up? Thanks

How do i selectively chose files from time machine to my mac which had to be wiped out by the genius (who I cant get to come to my house to help!)

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for