Initial setup probs - importing data from older imac or time machine backup

i just bought a new imac and in the initial install, trying to import the data from older imac. i've tried both firewire and ethernet direct to the older imac (it says it has identified it) and to an external hard drive containing my time machine backups, but the new imac sticks on the "transfer your information" screen calculating both the data and time remaining.
it has been nearly an hour. am i not giving it long enough? any other advice?

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Just got new macbook pro (13inch) and restored all data from old mac via time machine. Now whenAudio drop out for 3-4 secs every 10 - 15 secs!! What is going on and what can I do?

Just got brand new macbook pro (13inch) and restored all data from old mac via time machine. Now when I p/back a track in logic I get audio drop out for 3-4 secs every 10 - 15 secs!! What is going on and what can I do? Its the same version of logic and all other functions seem fine!

First of all, why did you say yes to Nero Back up before researching what it does with files already on the HDD? When I install Nero, the Back Up is the first thing I disable, it is a nagging pain, there are much better backup programs available. There are several file recovery programs out there to recover deleted files, that is, if that is what happened. Also, if you haven't overwritten the files, so you should be able to find them.

How do i retrieve photos from iphoto on a time machine backup?

how do i retrieve photos from iphoto on a time machine backup?

To restore the entire library do the following:
For a single photo you need to know the file name? If so you can extract photos one at a time out of the TM backups for import into iPhoto. You would do it as follows:
1 - download and launch Find Any File.
2 - select the Time Machine external hard drive.
3 - enter the file name and search. It will take longer than a normal search due to the nature of the Time Machine structure, maybe up to 1 miinute.
4 - select the file that is in the Masters or Originals folder in the search results window and drag to the Desktop where it can be imported into iPhoto:

Can i revert to snow leopard from lion without a time machine backup?

can I revert to snow leopard from lion without a time machine backup?

You can with a Snow Leopard DVD, but if you don't have that or a Time Machine backup there's no way.

Macbook Pro to Mac Mini data sharing, sync, and/or time machine backup?

I currently have a MacBook Pro and am about to buy a Mac Mini. I do a good deal of multitasking on the MBP I and would like to use the Mac Mini as the "home base" of my dealings and my MBP as an extension of it, the way it should be. In short, I will have a desk for the new Mini but I don't really intend on ever being physically at it. Rather, I will be on my MBP or remoting in to it from a PC. At any rate, as an example, is it possible / what would be the best solution for being able to work on my iWeb site via my MBP if it's housed and stored on my Mac Mini?
Secondly, since I will now have 2 mac machines, there is a data question at hand. Specifically, is there a good way to sync all information and settings bewteen two macs running Snow Leopard? If so, what/how, if not, what would be the best option for accomplishing this type of goal?
Lastly, since I will now have 2 mac machines, how should I handle the time machine backups? I have a 2tb ext hard drive serving as a time machine backup for my MBP right now but how would I go about doing the same for the Mini? Should I / can I use the same drive for the mini or does it have to be a seperate time machine backup?
(For the record, I do have an additional 2tb ext hard drive that I would be happy to use as a sync point for all of this data if needed should it be possible to "share" data, apps, etc between the 2 machines. I would be able to broadcast it wirelessly via a device called pogoplug.)
I feel like there is a better and more efficient way to integrate what it is that I'm trying to do here. Any thoughts on the matter?

There are numerous solutions to sync information on two or more Macs. Try doing a google search for "Mac sync" or something along those lines.
As for Time Machine backups, you could connect an external disk drive to your Mac mini and use it as a Time Machine disk for the Mac mini and if you share it out, you can probably also use it to do Time Machine backups of your laptop, but I personally have not tested that yet so I cannot say with certainty that the sharing part will work.

Cant get time iphoto pictures from my portable harddrive time machine backup

Hi
I m trying to get my photos from a Time Machine backup on a portable hard drive. When i get to the pictures folder and press it I get the "iphoto (original)" icon. When I press it I get the iphoto screen but a "Caution" box comes up that says "the iphoto library is a Time MAchine Backup and so cannot be used as the main library. Reopen iphoto with the option key held down to choose another library". You have to press "quit" to get out which takes you back to the iphoto (original) icon. I have tried opening with the option key held down but I get the same pop us caution. Can anyone help. Thanks

Time Machine does nto simply copy files - it copies changes to files and keeps track of how to reassemble the files on request for a specific time
So you NEVER access TM backups directly - you always use the Time Machine program and have it restore the backup
see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US for details on TM operation and http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html for FAQs
LN

Can I just delete a previous date from my list in Time Machine?

I have a 1TB hard drive from LaCie and it's almost full. Is it possible to go back to earlier this year and just delete the back up for a certain date?
I can see in the data in the file tree and it looks like Time Machine has literally copied my hard drive for each saved back up...
That's a LOT of data to be saving.
Am I right? It's not compressed in any way?

Here's the problem - I sent my laptop in for repairs, and when it came back, the system no longer recognized the "Backups.backupdb" file that had been running since January - it created a new instance of my computer (2) - and did the whole copy again! (1million+ files) Now I have an old backup file that runs from January 08 to Oct. 10, 2008 and a new one that started October 15. Can I just delete their original one and continue with the current one?
I really don't need to keep stuff since January and I've archived important stuff on DVDs for storage.

How do I retrieve data from a 500 GB Time Machine used as external hard drive?

I have a very particular situation. For several years I used a 500GB Time Machine as a wi-fi broadcaster, a back up, and also as external storage for iTunes - I 'partitioned' it to allow for it's use as an external drive.
Fast forward, and I've replaced the Time Machine with a new 3 TB Time Machine, as well as purchased a separate external drive (3 TB Western Digital) to store my iTunes files (so I no longer need to partition). The new Time Machine is my wi-fu hub.
The problem: I need to retrieve the 300 gb of audio files that are on my old partitioned Time Machine, and move them to my new WD external drive. I've already set up the new Time Machine as my wi-fi broadcaster, and de-activated the old Time Machine.
(I had tried to move the files previous to setting up the new Time Machine, but I realized after de-activating it that I wasn't as thorough as I thought, so I need to go back and move them again.)
I've tried to re-connect to the old Time Machine using an ethernet cable, but when I do, it recognizes it as my wi-fi hub, and it screws up my network - it suddenly allows me access to the old Time Machine, but blocks access to the new WD external drive.
So in a nutshell - I need to be able to connect the old Time Machine to my laptop (a Macbook running OS X 10.7.5) and have my new network see it as just an external drive - so I can then move the 300 GB of audio files directly on to my new WD external drive.
Any thoughts on how I can do this?

Why not connect both drives to the computer, turn off the wi-fi, and then copy the files over. Or you can use Disk Utility/Restore to move the files. See the note - it will erase the WD drive.
You can then set things back to the way you want them. You should have more than one back up as hard drives do fail. In this case, you could use a clone and keep it on the WD drive.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
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Can't restore my data from hard drive with time machine

So basically I recently backed up my things on an external 1TB Seagate hard drive via Time Machine on my Mac. I then restored my Mac to its factory settings. However when I plugged in my hard drive it didn't show up in my finder. I opened Disk Utility and it shows up there but when I tried to restore my data it wasn't able to find it. This is so weird and I'm so scared can someone please help me

vanessayu wrote:
And another thing, my mac is randomly turning off and then displaying a gray screen saying your mac shut down because of a problem. does this have someting to do with the disk
Sounds like the TimeMachine drive is defective.
Uplug it and reboot and see if your problems go away.
If your TimeMachine is broken it might be possible to do data recovery on it, you can take it to a local PC/Mac tech and they will image it so the files are accessible, then you can pick through the mess as long as it wasn't encrypted or Filevaulted.
TimeMachine uses a lot of placeholder files, basically the same name but minus the content of the files for each saved state.
It's a lot of work going through all the folders to find your original files but as long as the drive works the files should be able to be recovered.
Sorry about your problems, TimeMachine hasn't quite lived up to it's expectations and I try to warn everyone NOT to completely trust it.

Failing imac and time machine backup reliability?

my imac is having some issues - symptoms include 10+ minute start up time, spinning ball during simple tasks such as opening a folder, disk utility failure to repair, even disk warrior consistently froze. apps freeze. calendars disappear from ical. time machine is reporting lots of errors (viewed in console), and it's running pretty hot. plus, when i ran disk utility from the install disk, it failed as well.
so i'm bringing my imac back to the genius bar again. the initial thought from my first trip to the genius bar was the fan was failing. once they opened it up, they said it was just dusty, and after cleaning it up, assured me it would be fine.
so a few weeks later, it's acting even worse. so i called apple care again.
the apple care people first said it was something to do with the directory being very badly damaged since disk utility and repair attempts were failing and unable to complete. the most recent apple care person said the hard drive was failing since it wasn't mounting (and showed up light gray) during the most recent disk utility / repair attempt.
i bought two new external d2 quadras, and i'm in the process of making a second back-up via time machine.
console is reporting odd errors. here are a few:
CoreEndianFlipData: error 4940
unable to rebuild path cache
event store UUIDs don't match for volume: HD
Journaling is disabled on the backup destination volume
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume
my biggest question is, how reliable will these back-ups be on my external drives from time machine if there's something going on internally with the imac?
if they need to install a new hard drive, or install the OS again, and we do a restore from time machine, would the back up be reliable? on my first external, the back up initially failed. but after leaving it on for a day, and repeated attempts, it finally became successful. still with those same messages in console, but it completed the back up nonetheless.
thanks for any advice. i'm disappointed that disk warrior couldn't help, which makes me think there's something else more serious going on perhaps.
thanks for any advice.
susan

ungabunga wrote:
CoreEndianFlipData: error 4940
unable to rebuild path cache
event store UUIDs don't match for volume: HD
Journaling is disabled on the backup destination volume
Was that followed by a message about enabling it, or if you check it via Disk Utility, is it enabled now? If so, it's fine.
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume
None of those are real error messages. If the backup completes normally, it's fine (as long as you didn't exclude anything important, and as long as the iPhoto app wasn't open, as that can prevent Time Machine from backing-up the changes to your iPhoto library.)
See #A1 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum) for a handy widget that will display the backup messages from your logs.

Can't copy some files from FileVault Sparsebundle in Time Machine backup

I've got filevault turned on for my mac Mac Mini (10.6.2). I'm using Time Machine to back up to a firewire drive. There's plenty of space - my Mini hd has 250 Gb of 500 used, and I'm backing up to a 750Gb partition on the external drive. The initial backup went OK, and when I logged out it backed up my filevault-protected home directory. When I logged back in, I was able to browse the Backups.backupdb on the external drive, go to the users directory, and open the sparsebundle that was my filevault-protected home directory (after entering the password). I can browse through this backup of my home directory. However, when I try copying files from the backup of the home directory, I get an error:
The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "(filename)" can't be read or written. (Error code -36).
I get this error for some files, but not all of them. I've tried running BatChmod to reset permissions on all files in my home directory, and then erasing the backup drive and having Time Machine recreate the backup. However I'm still having this problem.
I have also tried restoring the entire hard drive (to a 3rd external HD) by booting from the 10.6 DVD and going through the full-restore process. All of my files are fine when I restore using this method.
Is there something I should do so that I can restore individual files from the backup of my filevault sparsebundle? It is extremly inconvenient to have to do a full hard drive restore if all I want is a file or two, and of course if the motherboard on my mini dies and I can't get a close enough replacement computer, then I could really be up a creek.
Thanks,
John F
New York

feinberj wrote:
I've got filevault turned on for my mac Mac Mini (10.6.2). I'm using Time Machine to back up to a firewire drive. There's plenty of space - my Mini hd has 250 Gb of 500 used, and I'm backing up to a 750Gb partition on the external drive. The initial backup went OK, and when I logged out it backed up my filevault-protected home directory. When I logged back in, I was able to browse the Backups.backupdb on the external drive, go to the users directory, and open the sparsebundle that was my filevault-protected home directory (after entering the password). I can browse through this backup of my home directory. However, when I try copying files from the backup of the home directory, I get an error:
The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "(filename)" can't be read or written. (Error code -36).
I get this error for some files, but not all of them. I've tried running BatChmod to reset permissions on all files in my home directory, and then erasing the backup drive and having Time Machine recreate the backup. However I'm still having this problem.
I have also tried restoring the entire hard drive (to a 3rd external HD) by booting from the 10.6 DVD and going through the full-restore process. All of my files are fine when I restore using this method.
Is there something I should do so that I can restore individual files from the backup of my filevault sparsebundle?
Don't try to restore files individually by hand using finder. TM backups are protected by very restrictive ACLs and are not designed to be accessed that way.
you can restore the whole sparse bundle with the home directory from TM interface. you should be logged in as a different user when you do this. the easiest is to be logged in as root so as not to deal with any permissions issues.
another thing you might try is doing it from command line instead of finder. this is also not the designed way but might work where finder copy doesn't.
to do this run the following terminal command after you mount the sparse bundle with backups of the home directory
ditto --noacl path/to/source/file /path/to/target/directory
here path/to/source file is the path to the file in the sparse bundle you want to restore and path/to target directory is the path to the folder where you want to copy it to. an easy way to get the path to an item is to drag that item to the terminal window. make sure that you have all the spaces correctly in the command.
It is extremly inconvenient to have to do a full hard drive restore if all I want is a file or two, and of course if the motherboard on my mini dies and I can't get a close enough replacement computer, then I could really be up a creek.
Thanks,
John F
New York

Restoring sent email from IMAP account using Time Machine backup

I see others are having trouble with sent mail after Snow Leopard upgrades, but I think I have a different issue.
After my domain host's most recent 12-hour downtime, I shifted my domain's email hosting to Google. Everything's working fine sending and receiving, but now I'm missing a year's worth of sent email from that account. It's all backed up on Time Machine, but I'm looking for advice on how to restore the backed up sent mail from Time Machine while preserving the couple of weeks' worth of sent email that's in the Mail app's sent box for that account now.
Thanks!

Sorry for the lag time closing this question out. I eventually shut everything down, including the external hard drive, spun everything back up and tried again. (I had been on the correct, earlier backup file and not on the current day, which was why the grayed out restore button was so disconcerting.)
The second attempt worked, but it took two or three tries to retrieve all the sent emails. The first two outings only recovered about 10 days' worth despite having months of sent email selected and available to recover. The third time it grudgingly worked correctly.
The whole experience has left me very wary about Time Machine, frankly. I do thank everyone for their help. I'll post this note in the other forum and so there's a resolution to bot

How to unload my iPhoto library from other computer's Time Machine backup?

A couple of months ago we could tell my Macbook Pro was biting the dust (bum HD) so I made sure to back it up via Time Machine onto an external hard drive. The HD then crashed and we purchased a Mac Mini in the meantime. I partitioned the external hard drive and started backing up the Mac Mini on the external. I manually pulled a few files out of the Macbook Pro backup with success, but trying to unload the iPhoto Library has been unsuccessful.
When I enter Time Machine, it only gives me options for the Mac Mini backup and I'm unable to select anything remotely related to the Macbook Pro backup. However, all of my personal photos are locking inside the iPhoto Library and I'd like to take them out! We have a wedding coming up shortly and, well, we need the classic slideshow.. I've searched many threads and tried their suggestions, but nothing is working. Please help!

Check to see if you can find your situation in this Time Machine site: Time Machine - Troubleshooting
OT

Restore iMac Time Machine Backup to Mac Mini

I've struggled to find a discussion that covers what I'm trying to do. I have a Time Machine backup from a G5 iMac that was stolen, not exactly certain which model. A friend of mine has lent me a Mac Mini to use but unfortunately when he tried to wipe his data from it, he didn't do a great job and wiped the machine entirely. It needs a FULL fresh install as it won't boot on it's own, however it won't allow me to restore from the iMac's Time Machine backup as it states it was 'created on a different machine'. The Mac Mini is the MB138LL/A model. I obviously don't have the original machine's installer disks to use so am a bit stumped. Thanks in advance for any help!

Order replacement discs from Apple customer service, if applicable, or buy a retail disc if the original OS was upgraded. Install, then import the data from Time Machine in Setup Assistant.

Retrieving work files/data from a time machine backup off another computer

If I create a time machine backup on one imac (imac 1) onto an external drive, I want to know if I can use this backup on another mac (imac 2) and restore or retrieve the old work files as and when required work from the external drive (time machine backup)? onto imac 2?

You can't use Time Machine for Restoring on iMac 2 (if you made an TM Backup with iMac 1), but you can easily drag files from the "Time-machine-Backup-volume" in Finder on your iMac 2!

Initial setup probs - importing data from older imac or time machine backup

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