Huge amount of backup data on Mac HD even though I use Time Machine on an external HD

When looking at the storage tab on "about this mac", there is a huge (290 Gb) chunk of backup data, even though I use Time Machine to back up on an external hard drive. Does anyone know how to just keep backups restrained to the external hard drive? I have no idea where this 270 Gb chunk of data is even stored on my Mac HD. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

zachnasty19 wrote:
do you know how to remove the snapshot backups? I can't find where they're stored.
open Terminal in the Utilities folder. Copy and paste "sudo tmutil disablelocal" without the quotes and hit enter. You may be asked to enter your admin password. After that, the "backups" will immediatley be gone.

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How can I restore my data from iCal? I didn't make any backup, but I use time machine with an external HD. I deleted iCal when I deleted my gmail account. I have tried to restore, but I can only restore the iCal software and not the data.

How can I restore my data from iCal? I didn't make any backup, but I use time machine with an external HD. I deleted iCal when I deleted my gmail account. I have tried to restore, but I can only restore the iCal software and not the data.

So what is your question?
If you forgot your encryption password:
Warning: Make sure it's a password you will remember or write it down for safekeeping. If you encrypt an iPhone backup in iTunes and forget your password, you can't restore from backup and your data will be unrecoverable.
If you can't remember the password and want to start again, you must perform a full software restore and chooseset up as a new device when iTunes prompts you to select the backup from which to restore.
The above comes from here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years. Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system. Any ideas?

I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years. Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system. Any ideas?
Has Apple recently up-dated my OS (Lion) such that every time the screen saver starts it disables Time Machine. I have to switch-off the computer and re-start in order to undertake a back-up. I have now switched of all screen savers.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine.

Using Time Machine to restore external hard drive data

I have been using a Mac Mini running 10.6.8 for years as a media server. I have always been very careful to maintain backups of everything, and the inevitable did happen - the hard drive containing all my media did fail.
To clarify my set up, my Mac Mini internal hard drive is insufficient to store all my media, so I have been using an external 2TB drive to store it. I then set up Time Machine to back up both the Mac Mini and the 2TB external drive to a second 3TB external drive. Now that the 2TB drive with my media has failed, I seem to be having problems restoring all the media from 3TB drive. This is because the Time Capsule interface is designed to display finder windows at various points in time so you can go back to when your missing files existed and restore them. The problem is that I need the entire contents of the dead 2TB drive restored to a new drive, but I can't open a Time Capsule window that shows the contents of the old drive. I have tried opening /Volumes in a finder window, then invoking Time Machine, but my dead hard drive does not show up in the list of volumes. When I open the 3TB drive in a Finder window I can clearly see that it has backups of the 2TB drive, but they are spread out among 83 different snapshots of various dates.
How can I use Time Machine to easily restore the entire contents of the dead 2TB external drive to a new external drive?

This web site might answer all of your Time machine questions:
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
Ciao.

Can I use Time Machine and an external HDD to move to a new mac?

I'm in the process of selling my MBP. I'm looking to buy a Mini with dual screens for a better photo editing experience. Here's the deal. I have to sell my laptop first, then I will use that money to buy the mini.
I have a portable 1TB HDD, I'm using Time Machine to back up my laptop. After my laptop is sold and I restore it.. Can I plug the portable HDD into my new mini and load the backup as if I didn't get a new computer?

omfgskyler wrote:
... Can I plug the portable HDD into my new mini and load the backup as if I didn't get a new computer?
See Pondini's Excellent information here...
Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC

I have a Macbook which is running Snow Leopard. I back up using time machine to an external drive. If I purchase a new Apple Macbook pro running Lion if I use the backup to this will I be able to use Leopard on the new computer

I have a Macbook running Snow Leopard which I back up to an external drive using time machine. If I purchase a new MacBook pro and transfer backup from time maching to MacBook Pro will it also transfer Snow Leopard as its is my preferred O.S.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
If the new computer did not originally ship with Snow Leopard installed, no, you will not be able to go back from Lion. Snow Leopard lacks the necessary drivers required for newer hardware.

Backing up two Macs to a mirrored NAS using Time Machine, and then on to the cloud

I'm going to be moving home in the next few months, and I want to use this as an opportunity to get my home technology rig set up properly. I wrote a blog post about this at
http://state68.com/content/moving-edinburgh-sorting-out-technology-rig
A few friends of mine have read this over, and the weak link in the chain seems to be my backup strategy. As per
http://state68.com/content/moving-edinburgh-sorting-out-technology-rig
What I'd now like to do is to backup both Macs (a Mac mini that stays on my desk at home and a MacBook Air that travels everywhere with me, in case you haven't read the links above) to a mirrored NAS via Time Machine, and then have the mirrored NAS backup to the cloud. I'm aware of the potential compatability problems between Time Machine and certain NAS drives, but as for the rest, well:
Has anyone got this to work? Is there a specific cloud service that you could recommend? And what do the Time Machine files actually look like: would I be screwed if my office caught fire while the NAS was in the middle of sending data to the cloud?

Thanks, Linc. Is that a marketing decision by Apple (possibly to push sales of Time Capsule) or is there another reason why Apple doesn't support third-party NAS solutions?
All that being said, I'm happy for the fallout from a NAS meltdown to hit the vendor so I'm happy to continue this line of enquiry with regards to putting together a backup strategy. I'm also open to completely different backup strategies that will work for my scenario, if people would like to share these.

Installed my SSD from my Windows 8 PC onto it getting the bootmgr is missing. I formatted the SSD but when I try and plug in my external harddrive to restore my mac settings I backed up using time machine, the computer doesn't show it as an option.

I recently bought a MacBook Pro. I had a windows 8 pc that had hardware issues that didn't deal with the harddrive. When I got the mbp, I installed the SSD from my windows 8 pc into the macbook. Before doing this, I made a time machine backup on my external hard drive. When I booted up the macbook pro with the windows 8 SSD in it, windows 8 started up. I tried formating the harddrive from within windows but it wouldn't work. From there, I put a spare windows 7 ultimate disk into the macbook and formatted the hard drive using that. Now, bootmgr is missing error keeps coming up and I can't put my time maching backup onto the macbook. Quick replies are appreciated, thanks!

You need to boot from an OS X installer disc compatible with this model's hardware or you must connect it by Target Disk Mode - Target Disk Mode - so you can re-partition and reformat the hard drive before you can install Mountain Lion on it or any other version of OS X. Here's the process:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
If you are preparing an external or a non-startup drive, then open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. 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.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

After changing my mac mini 2009 with a mac mini late 2012, and using Time machine for the reinstallation, Lightroom is operational but Photoshop elements is said to have a license no more valid (code error 150:30). I tried all solution I found to no avail

After changing my computer from a mac mini 2009 to a late 2012 version, all reloaded with Time machine, Lightroom works fine but Photoshop elements refuses to start (error code 150:30; "license no more valid"...). No solution found on the internet works. Any advice ? possibility to reload the application (I have kept the number of license etc.) ? Thanks in advance to anyone who could help.

Alain Picard this error often occurs due to incorrect file permissions or corruption of licensing data during the Time Machine restore. What version of Photoshop Elements were you using? I would recommend that you remove and reinstall it using the uninstaller located in the Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers folder.

If i back up my mac using Time Machine and an external hard-drive, can that same hard-drive be used on another computer and on a PC?

Hi!
I hav just got a macbook pro and am used to using a HP pc and am a newbie! I have backed up my macbook with my elements external hardrive and was wondering if i can transfer the music i have purchased and is now on my external hard-drive back onto my other laptop purely because i use both laptops for different things and want to use my music on both. how do i do this? and do i need a particular software to do so?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated
thanks
alex xxx

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You can do it, but it's not recommended to use a Time Machine volume to store other files. In this case, you can create a second volume on the external drive, so you will be able to use it to store data and transfer it to other PCs.
As you are going to use the external drive with other PCs, you can make the volume and format it in "MS-DOS (FAT)" with Disk Utility > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html Finally, you will be able to copy files to the external drive.
If you copy files to a Time Machine disk, you may damage the Time Machine file structure, so you shouldn't do it. It may not happen, but it's better not to try that. Also, you won't be able to read the Time Machine drive in a PC

Transferring data from old imac to new imac using Time Machine.

Old imac is a 2006 that does not take Lion. New Mac just purchased this month is a 27in imac. I tried to set it up using firewire, but old imac wont join new imac to to the different versions of Snow Leopard and Lion. I wnt back in and used the Time machine to start my back up. New imac keeps going to sleep, bu I think it is stilll trasferring. Old imac shows msg that Time Machine is unable to complet this task, but after clicking OK. It continues to march. I think I have 10 hours left on the transfer. Is there an easier way to do this?

you are welcome. and here is a link to a pic of firewire connectors. the one on the left is FW800 and on the right is FW400
http://www.smelectronics.com/images2/FIREWIRE96.jpg

Is there a way i can restore my mac to a previous date without having previously backed it up using time machine or disk utility?

So over the past few days out of nowhere my macbook pro has started behaving very erratically, i have yet had time to properly set up time machine on an alternate device and i was wondering if it was possible to restore my system to a few days ago? i have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the most problematic programs but they still crash on open. My largest issue has been firefox which deleted all of my bookmarks and would not show a url in the navigation bar. as well as neither my trackpad or usb mouse would allow me to left-click until after i had restarted my laptop 3 times. Anyone have any ideas?

OS X doesn't have a "system restore" like Windows has.
You have to use TimeMachine or a external clone previously made.
My largest issue has been firefox which deleted all of my bookmarks and would not show a url in the navigation bar.
Uninstall all your add-ons, remove Firefox for now and use Safari
Use a external drive to make a copy of your user files only (not Timemachine) and disconnect all drives.
If you've installed crapware like MacKeeper you need to uninstall it here
http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/
If you've installed a always on anti-virus you need to uninstall it using the devlepers uninstaller
as well as neither my trackpad or usb mouse would allow me to left-click until after i had restarted my laptop 3 times.
Stick in your 10.6 install disk and reboot holding the c key down, boot off the disk and simply reinstall 10.6
reboot holding the Shift key down, then Apple menu > Software update to 10.6.8
reboot and try running all your third party software, a few may not work and have to be reinstalled as they insert kext files into OS X which you just replaced.
check the status of your plugins like Flash and Silverlight here, update if needed
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/
Now go to System Preferences and create another new user and log into it, does things seem fine?
Now log into your original user, does it seem fine?
Now install Firefox by itself, does it seem fine?
Add add-ons one at a time in FF, does everything seem fine?
Try FF in the new user, everything seem fine?
It should be, you've just replaced your OS X, bundled programs and replaced Firefox.
If something still is occuring but only in that first user then you need to transfer personal files to the new user and delete the old one it's corrupted. You can re-create the first user again and transfer files back so things work again (itunes playlists etc.)
Next time make a TimeMachine drive or a Carbon Copy Cloner which is bootable and updates on your scheduale.

HT201250 If using Time Machine with an external drive, can I just use it occasionally for back up, say once per week and have it disconnected in between backups?

When using TM with an external drive, can I connect and use it occasionally for backup and disconnect it between backups, say one backup per week? Or does it need to be connected all the time when the computer is on?

TimeMachine works better if it's nearly always connected.
For addtional backup like what your needing, consider a bootable clone in addition to TM.
Most commonly used backup methods

Using Time Machine to setup new Mac

I have just bought a new Mac and need to take all the data for 3 users from the old one. The old Mac is backed up using Time Machine to an external 500Gb Firewire drive.
The problem is that I can't do all the data transfer in one go and due to space and time restrictions I will need to take a couple of sessions to complete all this. This is what I was thinking of doing ...
Backup old Mac using Time Machine
Create a Root account on new Mac
Log in as root and run Migration Assistant and restore user1 and user 2 and user3 from FW drive
Pack away new Mac and plug Time Machine drive back onto old Mac
Old Mac continues updating this Time Machine drive until a few days later ...
I can either just plug in the Time Machine drive to the new Mac and restore back to just after the point I was on the first installation or I could just repeat the whole thing again. There is over 300Gb of data to transfer which is why I would prefer to not have to run the whole restore again and just pick up the changes.
Thanks

Trying to mate a TM backup to a new computer is an exercise in futility, IMO. See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1872713 for caveats upgrading a PPC (your G5) to an ICBM (Intel-chip-based Mac). SuperDuper!, Carbon Copy Cloner, Disk Utility, etc. can create a bootable backup/clone of your existing system to an external, bootable FireWire (recommended)/USB 2 external HD (usable with the new machine, but won't boot the old one, and is about 40% slower than FW). Once that's finished and tested to ensure it looks and acts as the original, just walk it over to the new machine, boot it up, and use the Migration Assistant to move your stuff, as described in the above link.
What I just did with a new 24"iMac and transfer stuff from a G4 (which was running Leopard) was to initially boot the machine, enter the same username/password combo, internet settings, and finish up. When the machine pops up the Desktop, Software Update will run an offer a host of updates. DON'T install them, but go to System Preferences, launch SU, and disable its auto-check and install option. That comes later. Then, I manually transferred my G4's user folder to the iMac's Desktop. Next, I started moving stuff from that folder into its appropriate places in the new user's folder. For instance, I replaced the current login.keychain with the former (thus bringing over all previously saved username/password combos), replaced the new Safari folder with the old (preserving all bookmarks, history, etc.), replaced the cookies.plist in Cookies, all preference files (except those in the ByHosts subfolder), merged everything in the other Library folders, mergee\d the Documents, Desktop, Music,Movies, and Pictures folders.
Launched System Preferences and opened each prefPane, checking and modifying as necessary. Note that one significant change is the mouse—the iMac ships with a Mighty Mouse, which has many new functions over the previous single-button mouse. Once that was finished, I restarted, repaired permissions, launched Safari to ensure it workedjust like the old versioni, checked e-mail (I use Eudora), and when I was satisfied everything was working as intended, I made another clone, so I could forego the previous if something went wrong. Note that many Dock icons will showup as plain files with a question mark (since you haven't installed the missing 3rd-party items—just ignore that—but they will identify what they should be pointing to.
After recloning, launched Software Update and let it install everything, except the Time Machine and Airport updates, since I don't use them, and repaired permissions. After ensuring that everything worked as expected, I updated the second clone, launched the Migration Assistant.app, only selected applications, and migrated them. Next, I replaced the ? Dock icons with their real aliases, launched each to ensrure they worked, restarted, and did one more permissions repair.
The only complication I ran across was that QuickTime lost its Pro registration information, so I had to putit back in. About the only thing that ran on my old machine under Tiger runs under Leopard, but I've been updating them for the past 20 months while beta-testing Leopard. AppleWorks 6.2.9, Quicken 2005-07, Eudoira 5.2.1, MS Office 2004, TurboTax 07, and just about everything except Unsanity's haxies (nonbetas) runs under Leopard.

Huge amount of backup data on Mac HD even though I use Time Machine on an external HD

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