How to copy a networked TimeMachine backup to an external drive and restore from it?

Hi,
I backup my MacBook Air with TimeMachine to my QNAP NAS which offers a TimeMachine backup service and I can restore data from it OK.
Working in IT, and being a bit paranoid about important data loss, I am concerned that if I was robbed or my house burnt down I would most likely lose both the MacBook and the TimeMachine Backup on my NAS :-(
To protect against this I have backup my (linux based) NAS to an external drive that I keep offsite. This drive is encrypted to keep my data secure with a Linux form of encryption (cryptsetup) and hence can't be plugged into a MacBook to try and restore from it - I doubt this would work either as the TimeMachine data is not located in the root of the drive.
So what I have done to test my restore process is to mount the encrypted NAS backup that include the TimeMachine backup folders on a Linux machine and then copy the TimeMachine data to the root of an HFS+ formatted external USB drive.
But, now I am stuck as how to try and restore something from this to my MacBook to see if the copy of the TimeMachine backup is good. If I press the Alt key on the TimeMachine icon, I can select an alternate backup device and when I enter TimeMachine to browse the data, I can browse the structure but there is no option to go back in time !! It seems like it is not possible to restore from this copy of the TimeMachine backup.
Does anyone know if this should be possible, and if so, what am I doing wrong here?
Rgds
Gary

Try un-mounting the drive from the Linux computer and see if you can access it as NAS.

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How to copy a networked TimeMachine backup to a USB drive and restore from it?

Hi,
I backup my MacBook Air with TimeMachine to my QNAP NAS which offers a TimeMachine backup service and I can restore data from it OK.
Working in IT, and being a bit paranoid about important data loss, I am concerned that if I was robbed or my house burnt down I would most likely lose both the MacBook and the TimeMachine Backup on my NAS :-(
To protect against this I have backup my (linux based) NAS to an external drive that I keep offsite. This drive is encrypted to keep my data secure with a Linux form of encryption (cryptsetup) and hence can't be plugged into a MacBook to try and restore from it - I doubt this would work either as the TimeMachine data is not located in the root of the drive.
So what I have done to test my restore process is to mount the encrypted NAS backup that include the TimeMachine backup folders on a Linux machine and then copy the TimeMachine data to the root of an HFS+ formatted external USB drive.
But, now I am stuck as how to try and restore something from this to my MacBook to see if the copy of the TimeMachine backup is good. If I press the Alt key on the TimeMachine icon, I can select an alternate backup device and when I enter TimeMachine to browse the data, I can browse the structure but there is no option to go back in time !! It seems like it is not possible to restore from this copy of the TimeMachine backup.
Does anyone know if this should be possible, and if so, what am I doing wrong here?
Rgds
Gary

For anyone else that may be in a similar situation, I can confirm that this does actually work.
I am unsure why I was not able to mount the original sparseimage that I copied to the USB drive before, but I have gone through the entire process again and I could successfully mount the TM sparseimage onto my MacBook and restore files from within it using TimeMachine to my Mac.
This is a Disaster Recovery solution only needed for if both my NAS and Macbook get stolen or damaged so I am happy with this solution for now.
I will try the restore process several more times from my monthly backups to reassure myself that the first failure to mount the sparse image was an anomaly.
This is the process that I have tested:
Configure MacBook to backup to TimeMachine Service running on QNAP NAS device.
Perform regular backup of QNAP NAS Device (Linux) including the TimeMachine backup data to an external USB drive with encryption enabled and store this device safely off-site
In time of loss of both NAS and MacBook, Time Machine data can be recovered to another Mac without the need of the NAS using the following process:
Mount the external drive containing the backup of the NAS filesystem (ext4) which is encrypted onto a Linux host so it is readable - use the cryptsetup luksOpen options to access the encrypted filesystem then mount it.
Mount a n empty HFS+ formatted USB drive on the Linux host
Use Rsync to copy the sparsebundle from the external NAS drive backup disk to the root of the USB Drive
Insert the HFS+ formatted USB containing the sparesbundle into the Mac's USB port
Double click the sparsebundle to mount it onto the Mac as a Volume
Using Alt button and the TimeMachine icon, select use alternative backup disk and you should see the TM backup in the sparsebundle
Enter TimeMachine and you should be able to restore any/all files
Hope that helps someone else and thanks to LaPastenague for pointing me in the direction of some of the answers I needed.
Rgds
Gary

How do I move imovie 11 events to an external drive and then access through imovie?

How do I move imovie 11 events to an external drive and then access through imovie? When I copied to the external, it came through as clips and doesn't play using imovie...is there a way to do this? I have several imovie events and have no disk space left s trying to move them to free up space tp upload new photos and movies. Thanks.

joanne987 wrote:
So, then what do I do if I have files on the external and won't fit back onto my HD? How do I format it for imovie? any suggestions?
buy another HDD ... 500Gigs are ctually around 70-90€, saw yesterday a 1.5TB WD for 140€ ...
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How do I back up my itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary

How do I back up my entire itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary.
Thanks

This is where iTunes stores backups for different operating systems: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946
I do not use a Windows machine, have a Windows Vista Dell I rarely startup now. But, from what I remember with Win boxes is, you will have to create on the external hard drive a file system like that one iTunes normally uses, and then in the iTunes preferences or control panel edit the location for the storage to specify the name of the external hard drive, or its letter code, with the name of that file system you created on the exernal drive.
I would also move all of the files from the internal file system to the external since you have now told iTunes that is where they are...before deleting from the internal drive, test iTunes to see that it goes where you want it to go.

How do I move a back up to another external drive and how does the Mac Book then find the new back up?

how do I move a back up to another external drive and how does the Mac Book then find the new back up?
I currently have the back up on a Time Capsule, I want to move it from the Time Capsule to another external hard drive.

Did you read the link to the Pondidni website? You will have to select the Time Machine HDD for the new MBP and the old one in System Preferences>Time Machine:
Ciao.

How do I move my iTunes Library to an external drive and retain everything?

I'm sure this is a common [stupid] question, but I couldn't find a clear answer and I want to be sure I'm doing it correctly.
To clarify; I want to move/relocate my iTunes Library folder to an external drive (FW800 two-disk RAID1) to free up my system drive and have a backup. Do I redirect iTunes to the new location and use File>Library>Consolidate Library, or, can I just move or copy the 'iTunes' folder to the external drive and then change the iTunes 'music folder location' to the new location? Will this now save all subsequent imported/purchased music, movies,,..etc to the external drive and retain all my library details?
Message was edited by: Sakahara

Hello, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Below you will find more information about your options of relocating iTunes Library and backing it up.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
How to back up your media in iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1382

How do I store my iTunes library on an external drive and can I still access it as I would if it was still all sitting on the mini mac?

The mini mac is full and I want to be able to use the 2 tb drive as storage and time machine. How do I get the content onto the external drive and access it it and hoe does new content get downloaded and stored to the drive not the mac? Also can I have 1 drive playing storeage and back up or do I need a second? Basic questions I suspect but not to me!

1. Drag the library to the external drive, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and point it there.
2. Get a second. Having the backups on the same drive as the original data won't help when that drive fails.
(66929)

Steps to put itunes (50 gb) on external drive and delete from imac. How would I update my ipods and ipad from the external drive if I do this

I am planning to put itunes library on external hard drive. My Imac is running out of room and itunes is 50+ gb of music.
What steps do I take to do this. Also, if I do so, how do I update my ipods and my ipad 2. I do back up my files with time machine. This would be a completely separate new external hard drive. Thanks in advance for any help.

Two ways:
1. After transferring to the external drive create an alias to the iTunes Music folder on the external drive. Copy the alias into your Home folder. Rename the alias to "iTunes Music." Delete the alias from the external drive.
2. In the iTunes preferences click on the Advanced icon in the toolbar. You should see a field labeled, "iTunes Media Folder Location." Click on the Change button and select the /iTunes Music/ folder on the external drive.

How do I move itunes to an external drive and use from there

Mid July 2010 Mini running 10.9.4, 320 gig HD, about 95 gigs left on drive and I need to add bootcamp/windows7 which will need about 90 gigs, maybe a little less for what I need to do with win7. Next problem will be figuring out how to make bootcamp work. Like how do I make a ISO out of a dmg? That's for another post. Excuse me.
What do I move to an external drive? The media folder? Do I move iTunes? Seems to me iTunes needs to be on the MacHD and it pulls media from the drive to be rendered or played. Do I drag and drop? From where? Why doesn't Apple have simple easy to understand certified answers to issues ordinary people have? Something about once "it" is moved, do you restart and then I think hold control down while starting iTunes? What about iTunes Match? Should that be off? If it is off during the change over and then after restating Match will it matter that now the media is all in a different location? Absolutely at a loss.
Can someone please shed light on this?
thanks,
tom

Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the option (alt) key (shift on Windows) so you get a prompt to select a library, then guide it to the 'iTunes Library.itl' file in the moved iTunes folder.
If this is to a new computer and you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.

I tried to copy my iPhoto library to a second external drive and now the pgm, running on an iBook with 10.5.8 does not open the original library on launching?

Hi Guys, I copied my iPhoto library to a second external disk. Now my version of iPhoto (5.0.4) does not display the original library on the orignal external drive. I have reinstalled the iPhoto and it seems to make 2 attempts to find the library but fails. The iPhoto menu bar is available but does not function. The screen is blank. Any help appreciated,
Gethin

Are you indicating that you don't get this window when you hold down the Option key while launching iPhoto?
What do you mean by "nothing happens". What library opens when you launch iPhoto normally?
OT

Sorry folks, I did something bad, I was looking how to save my current iphoto library to my external drive and I hit a wrong button, lost my current iphoto and now have only the backed up version from 2007, Woops I never was the quick witted one... PLEASE

I switched my current iphoto library out for the saved one on my external drive by mistake. It said, Switch Libraries.... Do you want to switch the current iphoto library from AAA iphoto library (what I called the old one I guess - in my OWC) toOWC Mercury on-the-go and relaunch iphoto? cancel or relaunch
Sorry, I was looking for a way to save my current iphoto images to my hard drive. Yeah, I guess just drag something over right? Anyway, now I cannot retrieve my last 2 or 3 years of photos, Can You HELP me?
Mac os X version 10.6.8
2.66 GHz Intel core 2 Duo
etc

Depress the option key and launch iPhoto = use teh select library option and select the correct one
yes to move your library to an external drive
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

How do i reformat imac hard drive and restore time machine backup?

How do I reformat my iMac internal hard drive and restore from a Time Machine backup?
I have an iMac 20" Mid 2007 with a problematic hard drive.
IntelCore 2 Duo, Processor speed 2 Ghz
800 Mhz Bus speed
4 GB RAM
250 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
10.6.3
Was getting a question mark upon booting up, so I booted from a 10.6.3 Snow Leopard CD and ran disk utility. Repair disk was interrupted with an error message. 'Disk utility can't repair disk. Backup files, reformat disk and restore backed up files.'
1. Should I select Erase, Mac OS Extended Journaled, Erase?
2. If I do this, won't I lose my networkability, and therefore lose access to Time Machine backups?
3. If it were you, would you go ahead and replace the hard drive? Not sure I should trust this hard drive!
4. If I need to replace the hard drive, can you send instructions?
Thanks!

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
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         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
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     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
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     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
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Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
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Can I use Time Machine to backup ONLY an external drive?

I am having problems with the internal HD on my iMac and Disk Utility is telling me I need to reformat the drive and restore from backup. Only problem is that my 3TB Lacie Thunderbolt drive I was using for Time Machine recently failed (think it may have happened during an electrical storm brownout). Yep, I know, ***** to be me
The issues with the internal HD are preventing the iMac from booting and I would prefer not to have to purchase various repair software to find one that really works such as Disk Warrior or similar ((despite it getting very good reviews). I suspect it make be HFS corruption but no way to really tell that I am aware of.
I have setup an external drive with Yosemite and booted from that so now my old internal drive is seen as an "external drive".
I am using Disk Utility to make an image copy to a new 3TB external drive I purchased. Writing the DMG is going to take some time.
What I would like to do is to set up Time Machine to backup to a separate external 3TB hard drive (the second one I purchased) and have TM create a backup of ONLY the old internal drive - not the new system as well as the old internal unit.
Is this possible and if so can anyone advise how to do this. Does not seem I can exclude the system drive I am now booted from so that it is not backed up. (This makes sense that TM would be designed this way given its primary purpose is to backup a system).
If TM cannot be configured in this way, is there another option I can use?
Thanks
Andrew

Thanks for that advice. I have heard of it but a friend who does IT support at a University nearby suggested using Disk Utility to save an image - hence this is currently underway at present. Once this is finished I will try Carbon Copy Cloner.
I have another friend who has an older version of CCC - do you know if an old version will work ok or if only the latest supports Yosemite?
Also once I have the clone completed from CCC, is the process then to reformat the old internal drive and then clone from the CCC external drive back to the internal and then reboot and trust all is well?
Appreciate your help Csound1.
Regards
Andrew

Hi there! How much of Logic can I Install on an external drive ?

I decided to see how far I could take my beloved eMac G4, 1.25Mz, 2G work horse, so I decided to load it up with as much of Logic9 as poss.
Now I'm also using a 320G external HD, so I was wondering how much of the Logic I could install on it to ease matters on my 80G internal?
Many thanks for any pointers.

If you want to, you can install your OS and ALL of logic on an external drive and boot from it.

How to permanently disable local TimeMachine backups?

Hi,
I have disabled the local TimeMachine using:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
That all works fine but after a reboot, the local backups are back again. For some reason this setting doesn't survives a reboot.
Can nayone give me some advise on how to permanently disable local TimeMachine backups?
Dennis

Here's how I permanently disable TM local snapshots:
1. create ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.wfiveash.disable_tmlsnaps.plist containing:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.wfiveash.disable_tmlsnaps</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/willf/bin/disable_tmlsnaps.ksh</string>
    </array>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>
2. create a shell script ~/bin/disable_tmlsnaps.ksh:
#!/bin/ksh -p
# This script is supposed to be run via launchd (see
# ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.wfiveash.disable_tmlsnaps.plist) when launchd
# detects a change to the TimeMachine.plist file. This script will determine
# if TM local snapshots has been enabled via the MobileBackups property and if
# it has it will run the setuid disable_tmlsnaps binary.
# prevent launchd throttling respawn warning, must wait 10s before this script exits
sleep 10
integer lsnaps=-1
lsnaps=$(defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist MobileBackups)
if [[ $lsnaps -eq 1 ]]
then
    exec "${HOME}/bin/i386/disable_tmlsnaps"
elif [[ $lsnaps -eq -1 ]]
then
    # there was an error running defaults
    exit 1
else
    exit 0
fi
3. Lastly compiled this C program and named it ~/bin/i386/disable_tmlsnaps. I set the permissions so it was owned by root and setuid:
* To build: gcc -o disable_tmlsnaps disable_tmlsnaps.c
* sudo chown root:wheel disable_tmlsnaps
* sudo chmod u+s disable_tmlsnaps
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int
main (int argc, char *argv[])
    int rc;
    rc = setuid(0);
    if (rc == 0)
        rc = system("/usr/bin/tmutil disablelocal");
    return rc;
=================================================================
Now when /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist is modified (which happens when TM is enabled or disabled) launched will run my disable_tmlsnaps.ksh script which will check to see if it needs to disable TM local snapshots.

How to copy a networked TimeMachine backup to an external drive and restore from it?

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