How to get Time Machine on a PC?

My MacBook Pro (with OS X Lion) won't log in. When I start it up, I see the login screen but cannot click on my username to enter my password. I have restarted, shut down, charged, left over night. Nothing works.
So I am trying to access my data from my PC at home and cannot find/access my time machine files. I thought Time Machine was backing up normally, but though the "Time Machine" file is visible it is almost empty and the files are unopenable.

The files that have been backed up are only available when using Time Machine. I'm sure there are some other advanced ways to somehow get the data, but I haven't read up on any methods.
Try resetting your SMC. If possible you can try plugging in an external mouse and keyboard to see if you get any response.

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My time machine backup external hard drive has failed. I have a newer external drive already connected to my MAC but can't figure out how to get Time Machine to set up on it?

My time machine backup external hard drive has failed. I have a newer external drive already connected to my MAC but can't figure out how to get Time Machine to set up on it

http://pondini.org/TM/21.html

Time Capsule/usb hard drive- How to get Time Machine to back it up

I installed Time Machine with no problems. A 1 TB LaCie hard drive is attached by usb cable to the TC. The LaCie is seen by finder and I can open, edit and save files to it and so can the Macbook Pro on my network.
Time Machine backed up my internal hard drive on my Mac just fine, but Time Machine refuses to see the external Lacie drive so it cannot back it up.
Here is the situation:
1. If I go to Time machine preferences and click Options there are no volumes or folders listed as Do Not Back Up. nothing is there.
2. If I click Change Disk the name I gave my Time Capsule is listed as it should be but the LaCie drive is listed also as if it were possible for me to back up to that also. The LaCie's name is there with the name of the Time Capsule in parenthesis. Isn't that odd?
3. When I select the LaCie icon on my desktop and select Get Info in the Sharing & Permissions section it says, "You have custom access" below it says
Name Privilege
(unknown) Read & Write
everyone No Access
I am new to Mac in general and this permission and sharing thing is still a bit mysterious to me so I don't know if these sharing & permission settings are usual or weird and could be contributing to why the back up of the LaCie drive is not happening.
This is the final hurdle I have in absolutely convincing my small but vocal office that switching to Macs all around was a great idea.
Any help would be appreciated.

This is a really odd answer.
I have Time Capsule, I add an external drive to it and you say that to back up THAT disk on Time Capsule I need other programs/solutions? This is really a stupid thing.
1 TB of storage space just for local files right now that on every wireless product you can add an external disk?
In other words with Apple products I can have all my laptopsappleTvdesktops all wirelessly connected but I can't use Time Capsule to back up datas if disks are not locally attached? With Airport Extreme/Time Capsule I can share datas (music, pictures, my digital life files) with my family computers but if I do this I can't back up these files.
And just to know how many do I have to spend on other Apple devices, what are these "other solutions" to back up network drives? A server?

How to get Time Machine & Time Capsule to back up external drive

Hi.
I have just consolidated my I-Tunes music library to an external HD due to my I-Mac's lack of space on its own HD (I only had 20Gb left). I have a 1Tb Time Capsule which was doing all the back up via Time Machine. What I need to know is, how do I now get the Time capsule to also back up all my music/films etc, etc which are now on an external HD.
Many thanks for your response.
Regards
Paul

go system preferences > time machine > options and make sure the external is not excluded from backups.
that's it. time machine should automatically backup any drive connected directly to your computer (unless it is told not to and given there's sufficient space on the TC).
JGG

How to get Time Machine to "find" the correct network location

I have a Time Capsule set up to work wirelessly with my Macbook Air. I set it up as an additional network. This network is used for backups to Time Capsule only. It does not have any connection to my existing home network that I use for internet access, printing, etc. Is there a way to make my Mac switch to the correct network when Time Machine is trying to start a backup? Right now, I have to manually select the network in Airport locations. When I want to use the internet, or print to a network printer, I have to manually switch back to the main network. That defeats the purpose of Time Machine's automatic backup capability. I was not able to get TM working when TC was set up on my main network; that's why I had to set up a separate network connection.

Leopard just arrived this morning for me, but I haven't yet had a chance to install it. Is this to say that by default, Leopard ignores any drives that aren't directly attached to your Mac? I don't mind having to do your suggested work around, it just kind of annoys me that Apple would so blatantly ignore the needs of mobile users. My MacBook is not tethered to an external hard drive all hours of the day. But it is on my wireless network any time it is awake. Hence, network drives (in my case AirPort Disk) make sense for me.

How to get Time Machine write to TrueCrypt volume on external HDD.

Hi folks
I have an external HDD that I want to use as the destination for Time Machine's backed-up files.
I want to keep this backup data secure, so I have encrypted the entire HDD by creating a TrueCrypt volume on it (not a file container volume).
When I mount the TrueCrypt volume, Time Machine doesn't recognise it; within Time Machine, when I try to select a Backup Disk, my TrueCrypt volume in not listed.
I can, however, access the encrypted volume through Finder, so it seems to be a drawback of Time Machine, so it appears that TrueCrypt has successfully and correctly created the volume. The problem appears to be on Time Machine's part.
Has anyone successfully used a TrueCrypt volume as the destination for Time Machine backups?
I'm grateful for your help and advice.
Regards,
Ken.

Hi,
Pondini wrote:
I'm a bit confused . . . where is your iMac and where is the external HD? If you encrypt your backups, what about your iMac? Isn't it more likely to be stolen than an external HD?
Both co-located at my desk. iMac is secured with a cable lock, which, granted, is probably quite easy to cut for someone who is intent on taking the computer; somewhat of a deterrent for a burglar who might just grab whatever is easy to take. No slot for cable lock on HDD, so someone can just make off with that.
Do you really need to have all your backups encrypted?
No, not essential. However, the fact that anyone can connect a USB cable to the HDD and access all my files is a little worrying. I can password protect access to the iMac, but I have nothing similar for the HDD.
Also, I was just thinking that if I could write all the backups in an encrypted location, it would be done-and-dusted. No thinking about what files should be encrypted, which disk image do I save them to, no mounting/unmounting of the encrypted disk image when I need to access a sensitive file, etc. Just that little bit simpler—I'm a fan of no hassle.
An alternative would be to created an +encrypted disk image+ on your Mac, and put your sensitive documents in it. The backup of it will remain encrypted, so they're safe in both locations.
Will consider this option. Seems to be the most appropriate for what I'm trying to do.
See [Protecting confidential documents in a secure disk image|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/11.5/en/7102.html]. Note that the disk image will not be backed-up while it's mounted.
Duly noted. Thanks again for your help.
Message was edited by: SmoothBall

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

I am trying to update my time machine backup on time capsule, but time machine keeps trying to create an entirely new backup (evidenced by the 200GB backup size). How can I get time machine to modify my old backup rather than create a new one?

It must have found the old backup corrupt.. so you will more than likely have little choice. You can archive off the old backup if it is still useful.
You can also verify it. See A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
He also has some info on this problem. eg C13.

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

Once you have the drive connected to your Mac, click System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Click Time Machine
Click Options
Be default, the hard drive will be Excluded from backups. Click the drive to highlight it, then click the "-" (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from Excluded items.
The drive will be backed up on the next Time Machine pass
Everything above assumes that the hard drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Time Machine will only backup drives in that format.

How do I get Time Machine to back up my iTunes movies and tv shows?

How do I get Time Machine to back up my iTunes movies and tv shows?

They're backed up automatically unless in a folder in the exclusion list of the Time Machine pane of System Preferences.
(59927)

How does one get Time Machine out of a "Preparing to Backup" loop to actually doing a backup? thanks, AR

How does one get Time Machine out of a "Preparing to Backup" loop to actually doing a backup? thanks, AR

Hi..
Thanks for the reply..
My original I Phone 5 was running IOS 6.12
My I phone 5S currently runs IOS 8..When I upgraded it, it had IOS 7 on it which made the I Photo app compatible with everything below IOS 8...( which the photo app is not compatible with ) so I just connected the I Phone 5S to my computer and thinking the new phone had IOS 7 on it that these was nothing to worry about..I thought all 900 + pictures in the photo stream would transfer but somewhere in the process, I Tunes decides to just go and install IOS 8 which requires that you run a " Photo Migration App" to transfer photos from IOS 7 & below. The problem was is that I didn't want IOS 8 on my new 5S so I thought I wouldn't have to do that part..
Anyway the phone emerged with IOS 8 on it and the only photos that remained were the ones that were actually on the phone..The 900 + I had in the stream didn't transfer because the Photos that works on IOS 7 and below isn't compatible with IOS 8..I guess you have to use the photo migration app that comes with IOS 8 & I phone 6..But I didn't ask to upgrade to IOS 8...It just did it on it's own!
I still have the I Phone 5 Back up that I did just before giving it back to Verizon but if I try to restore the I Phone 5S running IOS 8 those photos in the stream will not go back on the phone because IOS 8 isn't compatible with the I Photos" that ran on IOS 7 and below..
So I have an I Pad mini that runs IOS 7..should I try and erase it...and put that I Phone 5 backup on it and pray the photos that were in the stream come back on it so I can transfer them back to my computer...then erase the I pad mini again and restore it using it's original backup that I have on the computer and the in the cloud?
I know this sounds confusing but I'm at a loss as to what to do..This is what I found ...http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201386
but it doesn't help me..
Steve

HT201250 How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do

How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do?

Uh…you're saying two entirely different things here. If you removed Time Machine from the Dock, it could not be in the Trash. But if you removed it from your Applications or Utilities folder and put it in the Trash, that's a problem.
So, which one did you really do?

How do you get time machine to reset your computer to the specific date you would like?

How do you get time machine to reset your computer to the specific date you would like?

Hey carlleeh,
Thanks for the question. The following resource may guide you through that process:
OS X Mountain Lion: Recover your entire system
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11192
Thanks,
Matt M.

How can I get time machine to use a previous backup db

I back up my school macbook pro once every few months. I'd like to use the older backup DBs but time machine keeps creating a new one using the computer's name and adding a number to it. For example School Computer (3) 2. Is there a way to get time machine to just use the old DB so I don't run out of room on my external drive.
Thanks in advance.

Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Mobile backups: OFF
          Auto backup: YES
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
          Destinations:
                    Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
                    Total size: 999.86 GB
                    Total number of backups: 64
                    Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
                    Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Too small
                              Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
          /sbin excluded from backup!
          /usr excluded from backup!
          /System excluded from backup!
          /bin excluded from backup!
          /private excluded from backup!
          /Library excluded from backup!
          /Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy

Getting Time Machine back up to a Sparsebundle on external HDD (Drobo)

Hey,
I've been chasing this issue around for a while but can't seem to find the answer.
There are a lot of resources out there describing how to get your Mac to backup to a Sparsebundle on a NAS, and more resources telling you how to write protect the Info.plist file so that Mac OS doesn't resize the image to take up all of your NAS.
However I've got a Drobo connected directly to my Mac Mini. The Drobo pretends to have a 16TB drive so that you can add storage as and when you need it.
I am already using it to back up my MBP over the network to a Sparsebundle and until recently I was using the same scheme (a size limited sparsebundle) to back up the Mac Mini that the Drobo is connected to.
I achieved this by following the excellent directions on http://anitechtalk.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/time-machine-dns323/ (one of the only sites that mentions the new way that Apple handles Time Machine Sparsebundles)
However this has recently stopped working and no matter what I do I still cannot get my Mac to see the Sparsebundle as a TimeMachine aware 'drive'- instead it just backs up to the root of the '16TB' Drobo- and at some point it's going to get rather full.
Argh.
(And yes, I know that the other solution is to re-partition my Drobo to have a small partition at the start of the disk for Time Machine to use- but it's too late for that as I've already got 1.85TB of data on there and I doubt that I can re-partition that without losing all of the data.)
Can anyone help me get Time Machine to accept my Sparsebundle as a 'disk' that it can backup to?
Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the video link. I did it pretty much exactly the way the young man explained. The one thing I didn't do was click "customize" as he does and unclick the multiple language support and he also clicks "rosetta" to support older programs. I wonder if that's the issue? The guys at Macmall told me that I would need to update the o.s. before I restored. I did that originally but have since (as mentioned before) erased the main drive. I noticed that when he does his install, his external drive does not show up on the list in which you want to install the o.s. on... should I unplug my external? I'm just trying to look at ever detail. I know the recovery file is there. The one thing it (the external) did say before I started posting here was "in progress". I'm not sure what that means? I promise I'm not an idiot. I consider myself an above average user. I usually help other that have issues... but I've yet to restore from a Time Machine back-up and I'm looking forward to learning how to do it.... the right way. I appreciate all of the advice. I have some pretty important files on my external back-up. I am really hoping that this is possible. I'm beginning to think the external is where the issue lies. The "in progress" next to the file name concerns me. I know there's a lot of data on the drive because it's nearly half full. So there's stuff there....
Deep breath in...... reeee laaaaaaaxxxx

How to stop Time Machine from backing up Temp Files?

Hi folks!
I am trying to find out how to stop Time Machine from constantly backing up 'useless' temporary files accumulated from web browsing? Although I don't change or add large files to my HD, Time Machine backs up hundreds of MBs every hour. Those file amounts make sense when I consider that I browse a lot to YouTube, SoundCloud, etc to watch videos or listen to music - I just don't want them to be backed up.
Under Time Machine Options I already excluded the following items from backups:
~/Library/Caches
/Library/Caches
~/Downloads
But even though I did this weeks ago, Time Machine stills finds large files to be backed up every hour and my only guess is that I am still missing a location where either Safari or Firefox - the two web browsers I use - store temporary files.
Can you help?
Thanks a lot in advance!

oas2103 wrote:
they come from my anti-virus software
Are you sure you need that? There are no viruses that run on OSX. None. Zip. Zero.
If you're running Windoze on your Mac, that's the same as running it on a PC, so it needs all the same anti-everything stuff you'd use on a PC.
There is some "malware," such as Trojans, for Macs, though. But (unlike viruses that can get onto your system without your knowledge), you must approve their installation (via your Admin password) and/or operation (via the "This application was downloaded from the internet ..." prompt).
Appropriately enough, some of these Trojans are included in pirated versions of Apple software, such as iWork!
For the gory details, see Thomas Reed's [Mac Virus Guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/macvirus].
Thanks a lot again!
You're quite welcome, and thanks for posting back.

How to get Time Machine on a PC?

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