How to find backup on Lion Server time machine backup?

I have a MacBook laptop running Lion that has gotten automated Time Machine network backups by my Mac Mini running Lion Server. Had to do a reformat of the laptop and when I used Recovery HD from the laptop to find the laptop backup files on the server, I can't find them. I can find the server backup file, and the network version of time machine may bundle the laptop backup and mini backup in that file, but Recovery HD claims there are no valid backups.
Am I doing this the wrong way? Any help?

Just found it here:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/19152432#19152432
And it worked.
zeke

Similar Messages

Best Setup for Lion Server Time Machine Backup with Drobo?

I've been thinking about this a lot, yet I don't feel I have a good solution for this, so I'm going to throw it out to the community.
I have a home server setup using a Mac Mini running Lion Server 10.7.2 with a Firewire 800 Drobo attached. The Drobo is used for both Time Machine backups and files. I also have a Powerbook G4 running Leopard and a MacBook 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with Lion 10.7.2 which connect to the Server and the Drobo wirelessly thorugh an Airport Extreme.
I want to use Time Machine to have all of my computers back up to the server & Drobo, but realize there are several ways to go, each with their pluses and minuses:
Server Time Machine Backup:
+ Centralizes backup process, rules, and other elements
+ Currently Mac Mini is backing up to the Drobo correctly using this process
+ Have setup size limit on Server backup so that it does not eat up file space
- Would combine laptop backups with server backup into one sparse image: this would lead to the computer with the largest backup needs taking up too much space
Client-Driven Time Machine Backup:
+ Allows for customization of backup processes by computer
+ Can setup specific space requirements for each computer
+ Backups are separate from each other
- Wireless backup from laptops to Drobo is not functioning currently
Any thoughts or experiences on how best to set this up? I tend to do most of my work on the MacBook, hence I am concerned about it having it's backup space eaten up by the server, but that may be more of a theoretical issue than a real one.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Well I'm not sure if I am following you but I will explain how I set mine up. When I got the Drobo I inserted 2 drives and selected the highest available volume I could (16TB). My drives are 4 TB each and I knew I would soon add 2 more. Then Drobo did its thing and prepared these drives. The Drobo shows up on my mini desktop as an external drive. When I log into my server from my other computer I can see the mini server volume and the Drobo volume. I can access each no problem. They act as regular volumes. Soon after I added the second two drives and everything stayed the same meaning I could still see and access the Drobo on the desktop of my mini. So it sounds like you used the Drobo dashboard to partition yours for two volumes? Are they both showing on the desktop?
"Maybe the Drobo needs to be mounted on the desktop to be considered AFP feature enabled." I could be wrong and hopefully someone will correct me but I think the Drobo (or volumes) have to be mounted on the desktop to work with AFP.

How to reinstall on client from Lion Server Time Machine backup?

I have a Mac Mini running Lion Server and a black MacBook running Lion. I recently needed to to perform a format and reinstall of the MacBook, so I used the MacBook's Recovery HD partition and reinstalled Lion. I then went back to Recovery HD to reinstall apps from my Time Machine backup' which is managed by the Lion Server Mac Mini. On first attempt, I saw the right files, but in the process it hung. I recently tried to do it again, and now it claims that there are no backups found.
My suspicion is that as this is a Lion Server managed backup, it bundles the server backup and the MacBook backup in the same bundle. Revovery HD looks for the latest compete bundle, then finds the matching backup for the MacBook. However, if the Mini is continuing backups of its own, the more recent bundle backups only have mini info, not the MackBook, hence they "disappeared".
I can see older backups when I look at the backup drive, so I suspect that my MacBook files are still there.
Any suggestions on how to recover and get my MacBook files reinstalled? I'm new to this home server thing, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Jason

One partition 2.5TB will be my new Time Machine Backups and the other 2.5TB for iTunes Library so I never have to worry about this again.
Your worry now is what will you do when the single hard drive containing both your library and its backup makes a screeching sound one day and is toast, or get stolen?
from a YouTube video
Uh-oh, those unspecific and sometimes incorrect YouTube videos. I dislike those things. I watched one once and some kid droned on in a barely audible monotone for about 5 minutes to show how to do something to which I could have typed instructions in two sentences.
Downloading (using iOS or computer) past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519

Restore Lion OS from Lion Server Time Machine Backup?

I am running a Intel Imac 2008 clean install SL then Lion upgrade, followed by Lion Server install. I have multiple home macs, and intnded the server as a way to monitor and restrict kids internet use. In short, it has changes/screwed up multiple programs, and complicated home sharing issues considerably. Mail on the server machine has permission problems (cannot send mail, unable to sign), Spotlight in mail is non-functioning, finder spotlight searches are inconsistent, etc. I want to revert to plain old Lion.
I have done disk utility/verify disk and verified/repaired permissions, and have 'fiddled' (i'm not an expert) in the keychain/certificates areas, but I think the best solution is a clean install of Lion. QUESTION: When I backup to TIme Machine, is there a way to pull a 'Lion' version of my disk image back, and just not upgrade to Server? I understand I can disable Server and turn off applications in Server, but it doesn't fix my buggy machine. My options are to back up my 250GB of music, 100GB of photos, 100GB of movies, etc on to external drives, and clean install and then reimport everything, but even that will probably mean I cant reinstall my single user licesnse of MS office, VMware fusion, etc that I didn't buy on the App store. I'd really love to be able to do this with Time machine. Any chance? or do I need to do the dark deed of 2 days of backup?

Sorry, I don't mean to be stupid, but I want to be sure. My impresion of Time machine disk images (I'm not a computer genius, but I'm , lets say, an expert novice) is that disk images (my term for the 'total view' of a computers main disk), differ depending on the OS. I assume that applications and preferences referenced under SL could not be seamlessly imported into a Lion environment. I'm assumng that the upgrade to Lion server has irrevocaby altered my startup/main volume into a "Lion Server" volume, and that if I try to pull my applications/data/preferences/mailboxes back onto a fresh Lion interface, it won't work. Are you saying I'm wrong, and that I can simply erase my disc, clean install Lion via an internet connection, and re-import my "lion Server- altered' stuff back from aLion-server Time Machine disk image, seamlessly, into a Lion OS environment? Sorry to be so concrete, but my wife will kill me if I %$@ the bed on this. I appreciatre your help.

Moving to Lion via Time Machine backup

Hello!
I am hoping that some of you could provide me with advice.
My primary machine - a 15" macbook pro on Snow Leopard - was very recently stolen. Thankfully I had backups on a Time Capsule and the last was probably done the night before the MBP was stolen. I am in the process of buying a new machine and will probably get one of the new macbook airs. I assume the machine will come with Lion installed.
My concern - I noticed that Apple has issued an update to the Migration Agent on Snow Leopard. I did not get a opportunity to apply this update on the MBP before it was stolen. Will this affect the migration of data/apps/settings to Lion when I get the new machine?
Second question - if I wanted to move the data/settings manually without using the Migration Agent, how would I extract them from the Time Machine backups?
Many thanks in advance for your help.

It should not. The new OS installation should have a fully updated migration assistant, and you will not be interacting with an installation of Snow Leopard since the files will be from your Time Machine backup, so there is no need to have the updated Migration Assistant utility.
You should be able to browse the Time Machine disk from within Time Machine and copy or restore files to your drive from there. Alternatively you can browse through the disk using the Finder to copy items back to your hard drive.

Lion's Time Machine backup crashes Mountain Lion

I have a OS X Lion's Time Machine backup with a few user accounts. Now I need to restore one user account and its data to a MacBook Pro with a replaced hard drive installed with OS X Lion and nothing else. I was told by Apple guys to:
1) upgrade to Mountain Lion first;
2) connect the OS X Lion Time Machine backup, then run the Migration Assistant (Mountain Lion).
The first time I did it, I migrated everything to the MacBook Pro. Then the user accounts and home folders all mixed up. The Lion's applications replaced Mountain Lion's applications of the same names, so and so... Problems gradually surface in two days, that I spent. The Mountain Lion crashed and the MacBook Pro had to reinstall the OS X Lion, then repeat 1) and 2) above.
The second time I did it, I told Apple of my experience, and they told me to uncheck everything else except the user account I wanted to migrate. Then after doing 1) above, and at 2) above, I found that nothing could be unchecked. I told Apple, and they told me to go ahead. After migrated everything, including Applications and the user accounts and data, The Mountain Lion crashed in many native applications, again. (Long story cuts short!)
Now, the thrid time, after wasting my week's time. Apple still tells me to upgrade to Mountain Lion before recovering the user from the TM backup drive. And I have again spent 6 hours in such things as wiping out everything (I guess Apple used Disk Utility to create 1-partition, quickest), install OS X Lion, and I installed Mountain Lion (less than 2 hours inlcuding download and install), then manually "copy" the one user account needed from the last completed (not the "Latest" and not the one with .InProgress) Time Machine dated backup/Machintosh HD/Users to the new INTERNAL Machintosh HD/Users. (The current logged-on account is "test" which is different from the one I need to migrate.)
What next? I shall create a new user account and assign the migrated user as the home folder of the new user account. Does it work? I don't know.
Why not simply restore the user account and data from OS X Lion's Migration Assistant, then upgrade to Mountain Lion? Why?
What about other applications? (e.g. Microsoft Office for Mac 2011), native iPhoto, iTunes....?)
Scenario: If my Time Machine backup was started a year or 2 years ago from Snow Leopard or Lion, and all the way to Mountain Lion. Then one day the drive crashes. Can Time Machine / Migration Assistant give me a one-click-done restoration? Or I need to go through this teasing process again?
Is Time Machine serving its purpose? (Who's purpose? Increase Apple's sales? or Recovering everything for the Mac user with a crashed drive?)

Try the following:
Restore Lion to your HDD. During setup, use setup-assistant to restore your data from TM-Backup.
When this is done upgrade to ML.

My Time machine won't back up. Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5. Error message is as follows: "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use." What is wrong and how do I fix it? Thanks.

My Time machine won't back up. Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5. Error message is as follows: "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use." What is wrong and how do I fix it? Thanks.

Have you tried restarting the computer? Also, see Time Machine Error from this pages sidebar under More Like This.

Recover OSX Mountain Lion using Time Machine Backup

Hi,
Can anyone help me to recover OSX Mountain Lion using TIme Machine backup as i accidently corrupted the recovery HD and the Macintosh Drive?
Regards,
Sanil

As Linc stated, you can boot from your Time Machine backup of OS X Mountain Lion.
Restart your machine and hold down the Option key. Select the Time Machine backup drive to boot from. When it boots into the TM drive you will get the same OS X Utilities screen like in the recovery HD. You can use Disk Utilities to erase your Macintosh HD then restore your Mac OS X from Time Machine.

Since upgrading to Lion, my time machine backups are failing - error message: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Jackie Scanlon's Time Caps/Jacqueline Drabczynska's MacBook.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1). Any ideas?

Since upgrading my Macbook to Lion, the time machine backups are failing - error message: "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Jackie Scanlon's Time Caps/Jacqueline Drabczynska’s MacBook.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1)." I have rebooted the TIme Capsule and it worked OK, but don't want to do that every time. Any suggestions? Thanks

Any new info on this?
I had the exact same problem and went crazy and spent a hecka lot of time trying to deal with my brand new 2TB Time Capsule and almost brand new MacBook Pro. Then I thought I fixed it...and I tried SO MANY things, I don't really know what did it...except taking out any apostrophe's in names of stuff that Apple puts in there...BUT...now it's back.
Grrr...

How do I create more space on Time Machine backup disk?

How do I create more space on Time Machine backup disk?

since time machine in Snow Leopard stops backing up when there's no more space on the disk,
That is has not been my experience, and does not appear to be agree with this Time Machine documentation:
Backup drive fills up
As your backup drive begins to fill up to its capacity, Time Machine intelligently deletes the oldest backups to make room for newer ones (and will alert you if the "Notify after old backups are deleted" option is selected in Time Machine preferences).
from : Mac 101: Time Machine

How do I empty my Trash of Time Machine backups?

How do I empty my Trash from Time Machine Backups? I manually moved them there trying to delete them but the Trash will not empty.

Hi,
These Links may be of Assistance to your Issue...
See Here
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/E6.html
From Here
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html

Where do I find the Library in a Time Machine backup after Lion installation?

Where do I find the Library in a Time Machine backp after Lion installation?

You can access the backups of another computer by holding down the option key and selecting "Browse other Time Machine disks" from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. As for getting to the Library folder, you would have to use something like the free application "Tinker Tool" (not "Tinker Tool System") to make hidden files visible in the Finder, then enter Time Machine.

How do you access data on a Time Machine backup for a different computer?

The hard disk on my daughter's computer is having problems - it may be broken. If so, it may take a while to get the computer working again.
The information on the disk has been backed up to our Time Capsule using Time Machine. I can see the backup file sitting on the server.
How can I get access to the information in the file from my computer?
I have read that it is possible to browse other user's backup files from Time Machine by holding the Option key when clicking on the Time Machine icon in the status bar. This produces the menu choice "Browse other backup discs ...". When I select that option, I am given a choice of backup files, including my own file and my daughter's file. When I select my daughter's file, I go into Time Machine.
However, there is no data available to me. There is no timeline, and the windows behind the current finder window are all black. The same thing happens if I select my own backup file. (Entering Time Machine the normal way works fine.)
So, as far as I can tell, the "Browse other backup discs..." option is non-functional.
Is there some other way to access the data in that file?
I'm also concerned that when I finally get her computer working again, which may involve erasing the disk and re-installing the OS, or perhaps even replacing the disk entirely, that the repaired computer won't be able to access her backup file because I might not be able to recreate here username/uid with the same credentials as originally setup.

Hi,
Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, following the directions on that page does not help.
As I interpret it, I should be following the steps in the green box. I can get to the point where I am asked to select a backup file, and my daughter's backup file is one of the options. When I select that file, I am taken to the Star Wars interface.
In that interface, I can see a finder window in front. Behind that finder window are a series of other finder windows, as one would expect in the interface, but instead of being normal finder windows, they are simply black rectanges of the same size. I can browse within the front finder window, but that browsing is limited to the contents of my computer.
However, I did discover something interesting. If I follow the instructions in the pink box, which tells how to mount the disk image of the backup file, I am able to browse within the mounted backup file using a Finder window without entering TimeMachine at all. (Which to me is a big plus, since I think that the "Star Wars" interface is very bad.)
Of course, my daughter's file system is a mess. I'm going to have to give her some organizing advice. I'll also have to sit down with her after school to see if we can access the files that she needs.
Bottom line - I don't know at this point whether this is going to work, but mounting the backup file seems to have produced some progress.
Thanks,
Geoff

How to restore just Mavericks from a Time Machine backup

Macbook Pro 15", (early 2011) 2.0 GHz, 8GB memory
After having my WD 750GB HD crash, I decided that I would opt for a smaller (256GB) SSD drive and just put Mavericks and my apps on the new drive and keep my user files on an external drive. I've installed and formatted the new drive but I can't figure out how to install just OSX from Time Machine since the entire backup is too big for my new drive. Before the drive failed, I had installed the latest update for Mavericks (10.9.3?) Thoughts?

I think you should do the following:
Install Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion Using Internet Recovery
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. 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. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion. Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
You can find more about restoring from a Time Machine backup at Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
You

Lion Server Time Machine sparsebundles

Subject indicates where I think my problem lies, but for background:
MacBook Pro got bit by Thunderbolt firmware upgrade snafu last week. Contacted Apple Store the next morning, saw Genius at 11:00. Concuded hardware and firmware were OK and because I had a Time Machine backup less than an hour old I gave permission to install a fresh 10.7.3 image on my bare metal.
Got home and booted Command-R. Happily saw my Time Machine shares on Mac Mini Server running Lion Server 10.7.4. Yes, "shares." A Backup and Backup-1.
As a Lion Server novice I found a tip here to "defaults write /private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/sharepoints/Backups timeMachineBackup '(1)' to make my shared mountpoint work with Time Machine over the network. Perhaps thats how one does it if one doesn't have Server. I later found the Time Machine panel in Server and turning that on gave me a Backups-1 share as well.
So back with Command-R my MacBook Pro saw both the Backups and Backups-1, I navigated to Backups and it saw its previous Time Machine archive. I started a bare metal restore and happily went to bed. Next morning found the restore stopped at about 20% of the progress bar and message instructing me to reboot the computer. Repeated, same results.
Back to Command-R I reinstalled a new copy of Lion from Apple over the internet. Did minimal configuration until I could get into Time Machine and try to manually pull files. Again it quit unexpectedly no matter holding the Option key to Verify Backups passed.
So back to the Mac Mini Server I turn off Sharing from System Preferences and Time Machine from Server. The /private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/sharepoints/Backups file disappears when Server Time Machine is turned off.
I have attempted to move "David Kelly's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" from "/Volumes/Macintosh HD2/Backups" to "/Volumes/Macintosh HD2/Shared Items/Backups" where Server Time Machine seems to expect it. The problem now is that the MacBook Pro doesn't see this Time Machine archive in that location, or see it at all.
I have performed the Disk Utility verify tasks listed in the Time Machine FAQ with no errors found or repaired.
I have seen a -6584 error this week but don't remember exactly when: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3123920?start=0&tstart=0
How can I get the sparsebundle back under Time Machine Server?

Finally figured it out on my own 2 weeks later.
You have to open the Lion Server app and then turn on Time Machine on the server.
It will then ask what disk you want to use, which in my case was an external 2tb USB.
My confusion was that this is not they way you had to do it on Snow Leopard Server.
On SLS, I never used Time Machine, but had to partition my external disk individually for each user. e.g. 2tb disk was partioned into 4 separate volumes. This was necessary to keep one user's Time Machine backup from taking up the whole disk and not leaving room for the other users.
You then setup these partitions as Time Machine Sharepoint which would then show up as a choice on the users machine under Time Machine preferences, select disks.
Therefore, under SLS, a user could select from any number of partions to backup to on the server. On Lion Server, it appears you do not have a choice and can only backup to the one disk you selected on the Server App.
At the risk of carrying on a conversation with myself online, my concern is now about limiting the size of the individual user's sparse bundle to again keep one user from taking up the entire disk for their Time Machine. I guess that is another fight for another day.

How to find backup on Lion Server time machine backup?

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