How do you retrieve files from a Time Capsule backup that was made by a computer you no longer have?

I have a Time Capsule that has backed up five computers over the last six years. Four of those computers I no longer have or the drives are not working. I want to retrieve some old pictures from these backups. They are stored in large ".sparsebundle" files.

The first choice that you should consider is to use Migration Assistant on your Mac.
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant
The last choice would be to try the steps below that work for me......but there is no guarantee that they will work for you. Also, please be aware that there is always a chance that the backups for the Macs that you still have might be damaged in the process if things go wrong.
Proceed at your own risk. The advice mentioned below is worth about as much as you paid to visit this web page.
If you wish to continue......
Pick one sparsebundle file from an "old" Mac and double click on it to see if that will mount the drive icon on the Mac computer that you have there. This will be a white "disk" icon, likely named Time Machine Backups, similar to the illustration below:
You may be asked for a password when you double click on the sparsebundle file. That might be the Time Capsule disk password, or it might also be the administrator password for the "old" Mac.
If you have made it this far, please report on your progress.

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I was able to copy all my files from my Time Capsule, but that is all they are...files. How do I get my new Mac Mini to emulate my other Mac?

I was able to copy all my files from my Time Capsule, but that is all they are...files. How do I get my new Mac Mini to emulate my other Mac?

Doggiemommie,
Copying files is not a good idea.
The "other Mac" was backed up onto Time Capsule using the Time Machine. On your new Mac you should restore the old user - rather than copy files manually.
This usually happens during the initial setup of the new computer or you can do it later using Migration Assistant.
Please note, it is possible to damage backup file on the Time Capsule when you browse it and copy files manually.
Hope this explains.
TZ

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How do I retrieve mails from a time machine backup of a different computer?

I had to reformat my computer because of a trojan file I couldn't eradicate, and I didn't want to restore files from a time machine backup for fear of reinstalling the trojan. After reinstalling OS Maverick, my MacBook Pro from early 2009 is now back to good performance. However, I would like to retrieve my old archived mails from 2009 onwards, excluding the present year, of course. I know those mails are there, but how can I access them?
Thank you.
Domenico

See if you can inherit the backup.
Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)
See 17.
Time Machine FAQ
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How can i get files from my time capsule to my new mac?

Hello there,
I know this topic i much discussed, but searching has not turned up a solution.
I have a new mac book pro 15 on order and want to grab my files from my time capsule. My old mac book pro 15 (3 months old) was encrypted with file safe. In the past i have never had good results with bringing data to a new mac from time capsules; I've tried many times for my self and family. As a result I use the time capsule for day to day old file retrieval needs and do manual backups of my data onto externals and NAS devices for migration to new computers-tedious but it has yet to fail me. This time, I did that with everything except a few folders of my movies and pictures. They are now prisoner on the time capsule.
What is the best way to get files off the time capsule and does it require that my login and user name on the new mac be identical to that which was on my old mac?
(I change my user names each time i get a new mac, not specifically on purpose but i haven't paid attention to what they were when setting up a new computer.)
any assistance is appreciated.
Thanks

Thanks Allan,
Help me understand what question you're referring to. I've been through several new macs and am not sure what specifically you're speaking about.
My old mac had a partition on the drive that I do not want on the new mac, so I am concerned about doing a full restore and prefer a file by file or folder by folder. is this possible?

How do I recover files from a Time Machine backup after a clean system reinstall?

I had a really funky problem with my Japanese input that is too weird (and irrelevant at this point) to go into here. The gist is that I took my 13-inch, Mid-2012 MacBook Air to the Apple Store in Osaka, and one of their geniuses told me he couldn't isolate the cause and that the only solution was to do a complete reinstall. Of course, I had backed up my whole disk to my Time Capsule before going to the store. The problem is, I cannot do a straight backup, because that will simply bring back the unsolvable problem.
I got the MacBook Air home and used the moving assistant utlity (sorry, I don't know the English name for it since my system's in Japanese) to resinstall all my applications. So far so good. The problem is, I have no idea how to get my files, photos, music, and movies from the Time Capsule into my new account. I didn't see any option for that when I ran the moving assistant utility, and I absolutely do not want to resinstall anything from the old Library Folder.
When I go into Time Machine mode, pinks lines on the right side of the screen indicate that Time Machine has all my old backups there, but when I try to navigate to them, I get only an empty black window. I assume that's because Time Machine does not recognize my old account and new account as the same account (and indeed there is no reason at this point that it should, since I don't know how to link them).
Any help would be very much appreciated.

While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.

How do I delete files from a Time Machine backup?

Hi,
I have a Time Machine backup that has a large group of image files on it. How can I delete this data from the TM backup so it is no longer taking up that space on the Time Machine backup drive? Just delete the files in Leopard and run Time Machine again...? I somehow don't think that will work...

hassiman wrote:
Hi,
I have a Time Machine backup that has a large group of image files on it. How can I delete this data from the TM backup so it is no longer taking up that space on the Time Machine backup drive? Just delete the files in Leopard and run Time Machine again...? I somehow don't think that will work...
It would be a disaster.
Only delete TM files from the TM interface. Run TM from the dock, select the file(s) you wish to remove and click the Action Gear. You have the option to delete that particular backup, or all instances of that backup. This is the only way to delete backup files.

New computer: how do I retrieve photos from different Time Machine backups?

I use Time capsule to back up my iMac & my Macbook Pro. My old Macbook Pro "died" last week and right now I'm setting up my new one. I have copied the files & documents I need from my old laptop and my iMac without any problems (though it took a surprisingly long time considering the small amount of docs I copied). I have however not copied any applications or photos.
My question is: how to I retrieve photos from the different Time Machine back ups (iMac & old laptop) to my new computer without messing up? It would be especially "cool" if I could retrieve only some of the photos.
(I don't know if this has any importance, but my old Macbook Pro was & current iMac is running on Leopard and the new Macbook Pro on Snow Leopard).

Your best bet is to start over; erase the new Mac's internal HD, reinstall OSX, then use Setup Assistant to transfer your stuff. It's the fastest and most reliable way to do it. See How do I set up a new Mac from my old Mac or its backups?, especially the green "Second Chance" box.
Otherwise, to see the backups for a different Mac, see #17 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. To restore selected items, see #15 there.

Can I retrieve files from a Time Capsule data hard-drive if I completed a simple-erase on it?

I have a 2TB Time Capsule. I stored files on the hard drive within the Time Capsule. I did a quick-erase of the hard drive (Time Capsule) via Airport Utility on my MacBook Pro and forgot the files were on it. Is there anyway I can retrieve these files? The Time Capsule's 2TB capacity was hardly used at all, I used it for Time Machine but apart from that I just stored some files on it. Thank you in advance if you could help.

As per Bob's comment.. BUTT.. big fat one.
The disk has to be out of the TC to do it. You need to directly access the disk so you need to remove the disk (voiding warranty) and place it in a usb holder and plug into a computer. If you are very careful pulling up the rubber mat. Using lots of heat from heat gun or hair dryer with half the inlet blocked.. and carefully pull up the mat leaving the label last and not stetching it.. the mat should go back with nobody knowing.. !!
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Replacing-Apple-Time-Capsule-HDD/2750/1
I hope you stopped using the TC immediately. Any new files will overwrite the old ones.
I went through this exercise recently to help a customer with a dead WD hard disk in their Gen 4 TC.. The data partition had lost format. Using just the demo of data rescue 3.. as I could not find a demo of Disk Warrior and I refuse to pay for something that offers no refund.. $100 is not too much if it works.. but it is expensive if you get nothing. But it will very likely work. Certainly the files were still available and correctly named.. but the demo does not allow much of a test.. but still looked hopeful. Customer wanted the hard disk changed wanted to do the recovery herself.. which is fine.
BTW if you have a choice find a tool that allows you to copy the files... you might need to buy another USB disk so you have a suitable target that is big enough. It is possible to repair a drive and so just recover the files.. the fast erase simply wipes the allocation table. Files should not be affected.. but any changes to the disk are permanent and if it goes bad will make it even more difficult to recover.. It can take a long time to copy files off but is safest route.
TC is a backup target.. the whole idea of backup is having at least 2 locations for your files.. by placing files on the TC.. there is no automated backup.. the disk could have died and you will lose everything.. this is kind of a warning.. don't do it.

How do I restore notes from a time capsule backup in Yosemite?

All I want to do is restore previously deleted notes form a time capsule backup - something you could easily do in previous releases (I probably haven't tried this for a few years but it used to be really simple)

This procedure will revert the whole Notes database to a previous version. It's not possible to restore individual notes.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)
from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item named "com.apple.Notes" selected. Quit the application if it's running. Move the selected item to the Trash, then restore it from a backup that predates the unwanted change. If you back up with Time Machine, enter it and select the snapshot from which you want to restore.
Log out or restart and empty the Trash.
If you synchronize Notes with iCloud or another network service, the notes you restored may be immediately deleted after you restore them. In that case, temporarily disconnect from the Internet, for example by turning off your broadband adapter, and restore again. Copy the contents of each note to a document in another application, such as TextEdit. Reconnect to the Internet. If the notes are deleted, recreate them from the TextEdit document. They should then synchronize to the network.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

How do I pull files from my Time Capsule after I reinstalled Mac OS X?

I use Time Capsule/Time Machine to back up my files for my Macbook. I have been having problems with my user account so made sure eveything was backed up, reinstalled and selected to delete all files (since it was backed up). Now, how do I retrive my Time Machine files? Do I need to configure Time Machine again? I was able to go into the Time capsule but it only showed today's data. Did I delete all previous Time Machine updates my reinstalling OS X?

iCloud does not provide general file storage in the manner of the late lamented MobileMe iDisk; it only handles syncing of calendars, contacts, bookmarks and photos taken on one device which are shunted onto the others. iWork and TextEdit documents can be shared to other devices by storing on the iCloud server but not other types of files (barring the odd fiddle).
If you want online storage of other types of files you will need to find a third-party alternative. This page examines some options:
http://rfwilmut.net/missing3

How do I remove files from my Time Machine Backup and then how to exclude external hard drives from Time Machine?

How can I remove external hard drives from the Time Machine and exclude them in the future?

For deleting backups from Time Machine: http://pondini.org/TM/12.html
For excluding things from backups: http://pondini.org/TM/10.html
For general Time Machine advice (all courtesy of Pondini): http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

HT201250 how do I delete files from my time capsule to make space available for backup?

I'm getting a "not enough room to complete backup" type message. I thought timemachine cleaned up its own older backups but seems to need help. How can I manually remove older files?

Thanks Allan,
Help me understand what question you're referring to. I've been through several new macs and am not sure what specifically you're speaking about.
My old mac had a partition on the drive that I do not want on the new mac, so I am concerned about doing a full restore and prefer a file by file or folder by folder. is this possible?

How do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer

how do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer?

Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

How do you access files on your time capsule from your mac?

how do you access files on your time capsule from your mac?

i had an old macbook pro that i had all the pictures on and i backed it up to my time capsule through time machine. i got a new macbook pro retina display recently and im wanting to see if i can get some of the pictures off of my time capsule now but i dont want all of them.

How do you retrieve files from a Time Capsule backup that was made by a computer you no longer have?

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