Is Time Machine Stupid or is It Me?
I have OS 10.4.11 on my MacBook internal hard drive. I have OS 10.5.2 on an external drive that I boot from. I want Time Machine to back up the external drive with OS 10.5.2. It doesn't see that drive. It wants to back up the internal drive which is futile because you can't restore 10.4.11 from Time Machine.
How do I get Time Machine to back up the external drive?
Is the external drive properly partitioned with a Mac Partition Scheme like APM or GUID? It may not be due to the fact that many USB drives are set up as MBR drives for Windows by the manufacturers.
This works OK for small files, but can't handle really large files and Time Machine won't work with MBR either.
You can check the Partition Scheme by using Disk Utility. Click on the drive (not the indented volume) and then look down at the bottom of the window to see what Partition Map Scheme the drive is set up for.
If the drive is set wrong, you need to re-partition the drive and choose the Option button to choose the scheme. Intel processor - GUID, PPC processor - APM
Format the drive as HFS+ (Journaled)
Repair your Permissions on the boot drive and see if Time Machine see's the external backup drive.
Similar Messages
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I am a complete MAC newbie. This is my first post. Bought an iMAC after 25+ years with PC's.
Yesterday got my Time Machine set up and working with my Time Capsule.
Maybe it's just my memory that is bad. But I thought when I was looking at the display machine in the Apple store that when the Time Machine program was brought up I saw a calendar. And I could click on a calendar to chose a date. Was I dreaming? What I see on my machine when I call up Time Machine is a finder window. Of course I can use the arrow to scroll back to a particular date. Is my memory wrong or can the initial display be changed?
thanks.
DougHi Doug,
First of all congrats with your Mac purchase.
The TIme Machine restore interface cannot be changed. You can only choose a date by navigating back in time with the arrows or by clicking a date in the bar on the right of the screen.
Perhaps someone in the Apple Store left iCal open as the active application and then started Time Machine.
Jimmy -
Forgot password to access my Airport Time Capsule, can't restore Time Machine backup
It is stupid, I know, but after the first time I setup Time Machine in my Airport Time Capsule (6 months ago) i never had to use the password because it stayed stored in my Keychain.
Anyway, couple days ago I had to format the hard drive of my MacBook Pro and I did it thinking that I had a complete data backup stored in my Airport Time Capsule (encrypted data). It was late when I realized that I did not have the password written/stored anywhere. Nothing to do about it, just move on and start all over again.
I need to clean up my Airport Time Capsule and set it to factory default. I already accepted that I will lose all my data and it is okay. So far all I found was how to reset the wifi user/password but nothing about deleting stored data or reset to factory default without having the encrypted password. Can you please help me? Thanks in advance!The encrypted data is not related to the Time Capsule.. that is purely Time Machine.
Very sorry for you.. it is one big danger when you encrypt.
Reset to factory.
Factory reset universal
Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.
N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.
Wipe the hard disk. Open the airport utility go to the disk tab. Click on erase disk.
Select just quick erase.. it just deletes the file table and is not secure but fine for your purposes. -
How restore aol sent mac mail from time machine?
I am using mac mail and an imap connection to aol. I also have a time capsule and use time machine for backing up. Yesterday I stopped receiving incoming mail in mac mail and tried deleting the aol account in mac mail and then setting it up fresh. I was shocked to find that my 25,000 AOL sent emails did not restore! I was told by an apple genius bar rep several months ago that once mail was on my machine that the emails would NEVER be lost. Apparently this is not true. When I open mac mail and go into my time capsule using time machine, however, do not see the SENT mail icon under AOL--it goes away? When I try to restore the aol mail from the day before the incident the only thing that comes up is the one Sent Mail mssg that I sent AFTER the deleting and restoring of my AOL account in mac mail. The only relevant post I have found is the one below which was posted in 2008. Please let me know there is a way to get back my sent messages. I can't get them directly from the aol server because the server does not save messages that are sent from any client but AOL. Thanks.
http://raffyjohn.com/2008/01/29/restoring-apple-mail-and-your-emails-from-time-m achine/
Restoring Apple Mail and Your Emails from Time Machine
filed under: How-To tags: mail, timemachine Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 11:31 am
UPDATE (25 August 2010): Please note that this post is well over 2 years old and as Tim pointed out in the comments below, this method may not be the best solution for restoring emails. According to his restore efforts, changes where made to the timestamp from the date in which they were received to the date in which they were restored. I have not tested this myself.
The hard drive on my PowerBook completely died the other day, but I luckily had been running Time Machine backups since upgrading to Leopard. (I wasn’t all that ****** off seeing as I was eager for an excuse to replace my wimpy 40Gb hard drive with a new 160Gb drive). I fumbled a bit, looking for a specific Apple Mail restore tool. I knew where all my emails lived, but I thought that Apple would have a specific means for restoring apps like Mail. So I created this mini-tutorial on how to restore Apple Mail from Time Machine simply because I could not find this method elsewhere.
Supposedly, If you attach your Time Machine backup drive, open Apple Mail then launch the Time Machine application, you are presented with historical views of Apple Mail. This did not work for me, the historical views were just blank, so the steps below do not take this approach.
Restoring Your Emails from a Time Machine Backup
Warning: If you have already setup Apple Mail with your accounts and preferences, this will negate ALL your doings.
Note: This process will restore all your email accounts, preferences, passwords, smart mailboxes, etc.
The How-To
Before loading Time Machine, open the Finder and navigate to Home Folder (username) -> Library. In there will be a folder name “Mail”. Rename it to “Mail (default)” (Select the folder then hit the Return key to rename).
Mount your Time Machine Backup Drive (ahem, plug it in).
Control + Click the Time Machine Application and chose “Browse Other Time Machine disks…”. This, of course, brings up the historical view of your backups.
Go back to your most recent backup (2nd window back) and navigate to Home Folder (username) -> Library. Select the “Mail” folder and click the restore button (bottom right).
Once the restore is completed, open Apple Mail and you will be presented with an import wizard (below). Simply follow through the prompts and you will be good to go.
That’s it!UPDATE (20-January-2009): After step 4., also restore ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plistThanks Jon C.
If you have multiple mail accounts, you should also restore the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file as well. This will ensure all of your account settings are imported. – Jon C.
Follow me on Twitter here.
40 Comments
Chucho
May 13th, 2008 at 11:11 amThanks it’s a great hint, you should post it in macosxhints.com
Westin
May 19th, 2008 at 3:28 amAwesome content and great instructions even for stupid people like me. Thank you so much for posting this. It worked like a charm and really is appreciated at 2:30 a.m. after hours of reinstalling junk.
Slippery Snake
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:15 amThis worked. However, I had three email accounts, and it only imported one. My Smart Mailboxes were not imported either.
Jon C
July 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pmIf you have multiple mail accounts, you should also restore the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file as well. This will ensure all of your account settings are imported.
Joseph Hurtado
August 26th, 2008 at 11:23 amRaffy,This tip is worth it’s weight in gold! Thanks so much for posting such a well though out recipe for a Mail Rescue operation.Just put Jon’s advice on the article, that is also very valuable!Take care,Joseph Hurtado
from Toronto
Cory
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 amYou saved my life! Thanks!
Drew
January 19th, 2009 at 12:08 amCheers Great tip! Thank you very much for your time!
Lizart
May 23rd, 2012 at 2:00 pmStill working in May of 2012! Thanks so much!
source
May 29th, 2012 at 11:11 amIm getting a teeny problem. I cant get my reader to pick up your feed, Im using bing reader by the way.
Bruno Zysman
May 31st, 2012 at 4:56 pmThanks so much for this tips
I could get back my 170 000 mails in 5 hours thanks to this post, after having tried for few hours without success…BrunoDon't try to restore the file; restore the Note. Go in Mail to the mailbox where the note belongs. Enter Time Machine from there and step back until you find the Note.
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Time Machine and File Permissions
'Twere I to rate this question's technicality on a scale of 1 through 10, it would rate 8. Just warning you. Unix people will be especially useful for this.
Okay, so, before the problems started, my hard drive had three partitions. One for OS X, one for file storage for Ubuntu Linux, and one called the "Swap" partition, which somehow relates to Ubuntu (the Ubuntu installer put it there, I've no idea what it's for). Here's a makeshift diagram of what my partition map used to be:
I ran out of space in my OS X partition. You see, I've recently had the fortune to obtain some rather fantastic software. The downside is that the software (and it's files) take up roughly 53GB. I won't trouble with you what it actually is (though it should have dawned on some people by now). Between OS X and Ubuntu Linux, OS X prevailed. As far as I'm concerned, Linux will have to wait 'till I have a larger hard drive.
So, I fired up Disk Utility, and tried to remove the two Linux partitions. It told me it was "Preparing to erase [insert Linux partition name]". It told me that for an hour. After one hour, I said screw it, I'll do this the "hard" way.
My initial plan was to back up my data, and completely reformat my drive, reinstall Leopard, and have it restore from my Time Machine backup. Now, my external drive is not big enough to hold a complete system-wide backup. I had to leave some stuff out. Here's the list of exclusions, taken directly from the back up logs:
Excluding System files: 16.3 GB (242143 items)
Excluding /Developer: 0 bytes (1 items)
Excluding /Users/Audacitor/Downloads: 7.9 GB (18 items)
Excluding /Applications/Creative Suite 3: 3.2 GB (13214 items)
Excluding /Applications/Disk Images/Macromedia: 240.5 MB (4 items)
Excluding /Applications/Utilities: 484.2 MB (111 items)
Excluding /Users/Audacitor/.Trash: 97.3 MB (2142 items)
Excluding /System: 108.2 MB (5874 items)
Excluding /Users/Audacitor/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache: 144 KB (1 items)
Excluding /Users/Audacitor/Library/Safari/WebpageIcons.db: 52 KB (1 items)
Excluding /Users/Audacitor/Library/Mail/Envelope Index: 680 KB (1 items)
Excluding /Users/Audacitor/Library/Icons/WebpageIcons.db: 20 KB (1 items)
I am uncertain as to why it excluded those last four entries. I didn't ask them to be excluded, so I assumed that was something Time Machine does automatically.
The backup worked normally, or so it seemed. After about a half hour, it told me it was done. I hastily (read; stupidly) unplugged the drive and prepared to reformat my drive. So excited was I to reach my new software, that I made the utter and completely foolish move of not double checking that everything I needed was backed up. If I had, I might never have this problem, and even if this problem were destined to happen, I could have at least saved my Pictures folder (fortunately, most of it's contents are safely residing on my iPod).
So, I wiped my drive. Specifically, I booted into my Leopard Install DVD, and went for the Erase and Install option. The install commenced and finished without a hitch. I brought my "new" computer up, enjoyed the theatrics of the intro movie and started running through the setup. I came to the step where it asks if I want to transfer files from another Mac, from another volume on my Mac, from a Time Machine backup, or not at all. I of course clicked for a Time Machine back up. The first sign of trouble was that my backup didn't show up (despite having my external plugged in). I felt a pang of fear, but it didn't worry me too much, and I thought to myself that I'd just use Migration Assistant later on (the Leopard setup sequence specifically stated I could do this if I so wished).
So I went straight to my desktop and fired up Migration Assistant, and went through the steps till it asked me to select a Time Machine backup. But there were none to select from. I waited a full minute, my fear growing steadily to terror. Finally, I realized that my data was gone, and flipped out. My inner geek, which was screaming at me to calm down and look inside my external, was shackled and thrown into a tiny corner of my now completely panicked mind. This lasted for roughly two minutes. After regaining myself, and opened my external. It contained one folder named Backups.backupdb. I opened it, and inside I found Neomiranda (Neomiranda is the name I gave my computer). So far so good. Inside the folder of Neomiranda, I found 2008-02-20-060526.inProgress. Another 30 seconds of flipping out over the idea of .inProgress. After awhile, I had the sense to right click on it, and hit the "Show Package Contents" option.
Inside were three folders, with three corresponding log files. I quickly realized that each one was a backup. The first two were empty, which I anticipated. Those were my two attempts while figuring out what to exclude, so I could get a backup to fit on my external. The third contained another Neomiranda folder, which contained all my data. Everything except my Pictures folder was there.
So, I went back and forth, manually restoring my data. When I'd finished, I started up a few apps to check that everything worked. Not everything worked. Mail wouldn't even get a bounce from the dock, Firefox told me there was a copy of itself already running, and iTunes complained that I had either a locked disk or insufficient permissions. Acting on iTunes' advice, I set out comparing the permissions of various folders I'd copied to the permissions of their equivalents on another, fully functional, system. Everything checked out. Nothing was locked, and everything had the correct permissions. I fired up Disk Utility and had it a run a permissions repair. It spat out a great deal of stuff that it apparently found wrong, and apparently fixed, but ultimately, it had no effect.
I cannot find anything wrong with any permissions, but I've got a feeling that's where the problem is. Why? Because any time I want to do anything to a folder I've copied, or anything inside a folder I've copied, it wants my admin password. Despite no apparent differences in permissions between folders I don't need a password for and between folders I do need a password for, I need a password for folders I have copied from my backup.
I've not looked into file ownership, as I couldn't find a way to even find out who a file belongs to, much less actually change ownership to anything. If I end having to use chown at a bash, fine with me, but I'm not a Unix man. I'll still need help with it (though I do know how to use the man command).Same problem and for months now. I haven't been able to find a solution, but I suspect that's because I don't know exactly what's wrong.
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How to us iPhone backup file from Time Machine drive to restore iPhone
Stupidly, I deleted my primary account on my iPhone that contained my contacts and calendar. I don't currently subscribe to MobileMe. I took advantage of the free service when I bought my phone, but decided not to subscribe as I synch my iPhone to my computer and back up my computer using a hard drive connected with Time Machine. Unfortunately, when I stopped using MobileMe, a synch to my iTunes wiped out all my contact data in my Address Book on my computer and my calendar. Therefore, all my most current information was on my iPhone.
I went to the Apple store and was told that the iTunes backup file may be used to restore the contacts and calendar information on my iPhone. I synched my iPhone to iTunes and then did the iPhone restore to factory settings. Only then did I realize that the older, correct backup file was not an available option in the dropdown.
So, I'm trying to figure out how to pull an older iPhone backup file and then use it to restore the iPhone. The only thing is that when I go to Time Machine and look at an older Library --> Application Support --> Mobile Sync --> Backup folder, there's a whole bunch of .mdbackup files in there.
How do I select what I need? How do I get the iTunes protocol to run the restore on my iPhone using those files?Select the folder that contains the .mdbackup files and use Get Info for the folder to check the date the backup was updated. I would forget about trying to extract individual .mdbackup files and transfer the entire folder to the same location on your computer's hard drive - with iTunes quit before doing so.
After doing so, this backup should be available to select when restoring your iPhone from your iPhone's backup.
If this is successful restoring contact info and calendar events on your iPhone, if the Address Book and iCal on your Mac is empty - it does not contain any data, before syncing your iPhone direct with the Address Book and iCal on your Mac, enter one unique contact in the Address Book, and one calendar event in iCal on your Mac. Make these up if needed, which can be deleted later. This will provide a merge prompt when syncing this data, which you want to select.
Does Time Machine include a backup of your Address Book and iCal on your Mac? If so, it will be much easier and faster to restore the Address Book and iCal on your Mac from your Time Machine backup. -
I just turned on time machine, firewall, firevault after a year and a half
I've had my mac for over a year now, i got it in february 2010, and i just activated time machine, it said it will take 'about a day' now it says 14 hours [the time changes].... the size of it is 30.86 GB, which i understand is a lot, i wanted to know if the backup process will resume if i turn off, then turn on my macbook, because i can't have it on for that long, also does it need internet connection to operate.
i also just activated firevault, and it says it will take 5-8 hours to encrypt. will the epcryping process continue if i decided to turn off my mac?
because i didnt have any protection on my laptop, does that mean people were able to view my files/folders? was this very dangerous? i feel so stupid for not acting sooner.
and on my shared network it used to have another computer user there, and whenever i would click on it, it said connecting failed or something. i just turned it all off. how did that other user get there? were they able to view my files?. now the shared list from my sidebar is gone, but when i click on 'finder' and 'network' that person still comes up, how do i remove them completely?
i recently upgraded to lion, and i my laptop crashes/become slow/unresponsive a lot more than it did before, is anyone else having this problem? im thinking its a bug with every lion user. am i wrong?Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then repair the backup/TM drive. -
How do I restore an adjusted version from Time Machine?
I use time machine.
How do I restore an adjusted version?
E.g. I take a 1000 pix, bring them into a project, spend a few days making adjustments.
Client cancels project.
I delete project.
Month later I figure out a new market for that project. (Yeah, I shouldn't have been so quick to delete...Work with me)
I can restore the masters from Time Machine. (I use referenced images)
How do I recover my adjustments, without overwriting my library? Groveling through the .aplibrary they are stored as xml files, but there is a chane of references and set of encoding that is not transparent.
At this point the ONLY way I can see is to:
* Rename my present library
* Restore the entire library, whcih if I have lots of images can take hours.
* Find the project.
* Export the project.
* Delete extra library.
* Rename my original library.
While this gets my adjustments back, it does NOT get them back in an editable form. they are now locked in.
Is there a way to export versions as version info? E.g. as an xml file that sits in the same directory as the master?
Spin the question differently. How can I send YOU a set of versions of a particular master, WITHOUT copying the data of the master for each version.
Say we have referenced files on a network server. I want to send you a version, but NOT the master.
E.g. I send you ONE master, and 6 versions of it. In YOUR version of aperture how can you load the 6 versions to continue tweeking them.There is another, huge thread on TM backups on this forum and exactly this issue has come up. Sadly, no one has a perfect answer. I do not have a spare drive available to test this myself, but I would try something along these lines.
-- Ask TM to restore your full Library and the Masters, if Referenced. I believe that TM will give you the option to not overwriting your current Library, but be careful. However you do, stick this "Recovery Library" out somewhere. (Yes, this is gonna take some time, run it overnight.)
-- Open "Recovery" with Aperture and select the Project(s) that contain the images you want. Export these "Projects as New Library." (Don't export as either Versions or Masters.) I would select the box "Consolidate Masters" and I would probably discard the Previews. Stick this somewhere.
-- Now open "Original Library" and import the "Library" that you exported back into your Original Library as something like "Stupid Lost Project."
-- You should now have a Project full of adjusted, and adjustable images. (N.B. this is basically the technique I use with my laptop. I shoot, load into AP3 on the laptop, noodle, and then export/import into AP3 on the MacPro when I get home.)
-- Clean up. (Delete "Recovery", convert the recovered Project back to Referenced Masters, if you wish, etc.)
One good argument for never throwing those old USB drives away.
I have missed some of the details in the process, so be careful, but I believe that this will work until Apple lets us run Aperture inside Time Machine.
Best wishes. -
Actual problem:
I reinstalled all my programs that I need without a hitch. Meanwhile, I've been trying to recover the few files (mostly music) I actually store on my computer's hard drive as opposed to on my external HDs. I use one external HD for my graphic files and the other is strictly for Time Machine backups. I tried to recover my iTunes music, but I got a message that says: "The file: "iTunes Library.itl" cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes." I restored (I thought) my iTunes library Username/Music/iTunes." Additionally, I was going to upgrade to Mountain Lion, but I have seen that there were issues with Lion and iTunes libraries so I'm a little wary of this.
Excuse the long explanation, but I figure the problem may possibly be in the details of the weeks prior this problem:
I have recently been having issues with my iMac. I brought it in to see a Genius twice within the past month and they couldn't seem to find the problem. (It would restart Finder of it's own accord while I was using Adobe CS programs) I figured it was worth backing everything up via Time Machine and doing a complete erase/install/factory reset. I did so and had a problem again, and brought it in again, third time. The Genius did another diagnostics tests and found nothing and said my erase/install probably did the trick, but time will tell. I am, after the erase/rewrite and upgrade running Mac OS X 10.6.3 and previous to this was still running Tiger.So, I didn't update iTunes and the rest of it after installing Snow Leopard. My stupidity, I figured that the OS was more up to date than the one I had previously so that all the programs that come with it probably were more current than the ones I was using. However, now that I have updated all my software, I am still getting the same message from iTunes that I was previously. I cannot open iTunes at all, same "The file: "iTunes Library.itl" cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes." message. I'm confused again. Checked a few other threads and whatnot and cannot seem to figure this out.
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How to I restore missing StickiesDatabase file from Time Machine?
I have looked all over for a solution to this. Basically, I am trying to restore a stickiesdatabase file from a Time Machine backup. I put in a new HD and am slowly pulling files over in pieces. The thing is, the backup that had the stickies I want to restore did not seem to back that file up. I navigated to user/library to find StickiesDatabase, and it is not there, even though I went into the terminal and unhid invisible folders and files (other greyed out invisibles showed up so I know it worked). But here's the weird thing, when looking on my current hard drive, I could find that file for my new, empty stickies just fine. Also, I went further to a Time Machine backup from a year ago, and I found the stickiesdatabase file in the library as well. It's like these last two backups I did that had the stickies I want did not include that file in the backup. Any thoughts? Am I doomed? Oh, and I am currently on Mavericks and the backup in question was also Mavericks. And I have a 2008 Macbook Pro if that info is helpful.
There is another, huge thread on TM backups on this forum and exactly this issue has come up. Sadly, no one has a perfect answer. I do not have a spare drive available to test this myself, but I would try something along these lines.
-- Ask TM to restore your full Library and the Masters, if Referenced. I believe that TM will give you the option to not overwriting your current Library, but be careful. However you do, stick this "Recovery Library" out somewhere. (Yes, this is gonna take some time, run it overnight.)
-- Open "Recovery" with Aperture and select the Project(s) that contain the images you want. Export these "Projects as New Library." (Don't export as either Versions or Masters.) I would select the box "Consolidate Masters" and I would probably discard the Previews. Stick this somewhere.
-- Now open "Original Library" and import the "Library" that you exported back into your Original Library as something like "Stupid Lost Project."
-- You should now have a Project full of adjusted, and adjustable images. (N.B. this is basically the technique I use with my laptop. I shoot, load into AP3 on the laptop, noodle, and then export/import into AP3 on the MacPro when I get home.)
-- Clean up. (Delete "Recovery", convert the recovered Project back to Referenced Masters, if you wish, etc.)
One good argument for never throwing those old USB drives away.
I have missed some of the details in the process, so be careful, but I believe that this will work until Apple lets us run Aperture inside Time Machine.
Best wishes. -
Two Questions - A Time Machine Restore, and Ipod Touch Wiping
A few days ago, my macbook started acting strangely, so I restarted it. The problem was, it never fully restarted. After a long stall on the screen with the apple logo and a very slow login process, I managed to log into my account but not load the finder. I tried to restart several times, and this was always the case. I tried removing the batteries and resetting the pram, but neither of these fixed the problem.
I had been using the latest version of leopard, with my external happily backing up periodically with time machine. However, I won't be anywhere near my leopard install disc for the rest of the summer. I did have the tiger install disc that came with the laptop, so I tried to restore from that one instead. Unfortunately, the time machine utility doesn't come with this disc, so all of my back ups were unrecognizable by disc utility. This is the only computer that I have access to during the summer, so I really need to be able to use it. Because of this, I did a fresh install of tiger with the disc and am running fine with this. I don't have any vital files, but it would be quite nice to be able to restore from my backup. Is there any way of doing this without having my leopard disc available?
This is even more pressing for me in light of an even more recent problem. I have a fresh install of tiger, which comes with a fresh install of itunes. I plugged my ipod touch into the computer to charge and sync, before I realized that I had a blank itunes library. I stupid clicked yes to the notice window, and so now I have a blank ipod with all of my music gone. Normally this would be no big issue, as I can just restore from my music library on itunes, but that is with the rest of the back ups in an unreadable time machine format on my external hard drive. Is there any way to undo my wiping of its drive, if there is no easy way to restore from my time machine back ups? I don't have any other versions of this music elsewhere, so it'd be gone for the summer otherwise.
Thank you very much for your help,
JackHi Jack,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. There is no way to "unwipe" an iPod.
But the good news is that you can access your backed up files without Time Machine. All you need to do is plug your external hard disk that you were using for Time Machine into your computer. Then, open it in the finder. You'll see a folder called "backups.backupd.something" (depending on the name of your computer). Go into that folder and down at the bottom you'll see an alias to "Latest." That's your most recent backup. Go into that folder, then navigate to your documents folder, music folder, etc.
Just copy the files back to your hard disk and you'll have your files and music again. Be aware, that this can cause some permissions issues. You may have to reset the permissions of the files using the terminal. If so, come back and post here and I'll walk you through it. -
Can I use a PC's hard drive for Time Machine?
I have upgraded my Apple iBook G4 to Mac OS X Leopard and want to take full advantage of all the applications on the OS. I am wondering if it is possible to use a Microsoft Windows PC's hard drive as the medium upon which Time Machine can use to back up my data. I know that external hard drives will work with Time Machine and so will wireless hard drives, such as Time Capsule.
So, would it work if I was to:
1 - Partition the existing C drive in my PC
2 - Share this partitioned C drive on the Network (my PC has wireless card in-built)
3 - Set up Time Machine to recognise this hard disk as a medium which it can use to back up my data
Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, but if there is a chance I can use a PC's hard drive, especially when the existing PC is hardly ever used, as something which Time Machine can use, then it would make sense to use that then spend money on an external or wireless hard drive.No. This is not possible on the PC drive without wiping the drive.
Requirements to use Time Machine
Time Machine is only available with Leopard (10.5.x)
1. External FireWire or USB 2.0 drive
2. Time Capsule
3. Drive shared by a Mac running 10.5 or later using File Sharing
4. Drive shared by a Mac running 10.5 Server
5. SAN volume managed by Apple's Xsan file system
A TM drive must be partitioned with either APM (PPC) or GUID (Intel) and formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) -
I have an external hard drive of the brand Western Digital.
Before I got my iMac I moved a lot of my important files from my PC to the hard drive and today I went on and connected it to my iMac to move my files over to it.
When it had connected a window popped up that asked if I wanted to use this hard drive with the program Time Machine and create backups. Without thinking it trough enough and reading the warning properly (I'm stupid I know) I clicked "yes". I then realised how stupid it was and cancelled the formatting of the hard drive. But somehow the program still managed to delete all my important files and can't find any way to get them back. Neither can I connect the hard drive to my PC anymore so I can't check if the files are still there (which I doubt they are since I can't see them on my iMac either).
And now I wonder: is there any way for me to get back my lost files or are they lost forever?
Thank you in advance!
//GinaA data recovery specialist or some data recovery programs should be able to help. Most format simply rewrite the directory tree saying no files are on this disk. The bits that represent the files are still flipped appropreiately so they still exists, you just don't have the location info to get at them. Secure formats and erases rewrite each bit to a zero or 1 or random so the data is then truely gone. This type of format takes a long time to complete.
I'm not making a recomendation of a particular program but here is one company that does what you ask:
http://www.remosoftware.com/mac-recovery The cost is pretty high but I'm sure they don't sell many copies and need to cover their development costs.
Good luck and don't write anything on the freshly formatted disk until you decide what to do. -
I desperately need to access my User Library folder in Time Machine (Lion so = not visible).
Hi. I installed Lion a few months ago and got a new external drive to back up Time Machine.
Nobody told me the User Library would be made hidden in the new OS. I have been backing up regularly in the belief that all my work, settings and so on was safe.
Yesterday my iMac (27" 2.8 Ghz Core it with 4 gib memory) suddenly went mad. Message saying finder had quit whilst trying to restore windows. Desktop was flashing, no icons clickable, no external disks readable. Could access some progs and terminal, but nothing else. Could not get into the history folder to trash various plists and so on as the folder is hidden and the alt Go wouldn't work. The Finder just wouldn't do anything.
I have sorted it out BUT I have lost my address book entries, my browser booksmarks, my desktop shortcuts and my iCal entries. I need to access my User Library on my Time Machine. Is there a way?
I cannot believe I have been religiously backing up my stuff but Apple has made it so I can't access my backup of one of the most important folders on my Time Machine???
Is there anyway of getting into this from Terminal or something? I will never be able to get back all the bookmarks and stuff I've been researching for years. I have it backed up on two different hard drives, both of which have 'invisible' library folders. I have make the folder visible now, for future backups, but it's after the horse has bolted. I am furious, and just feel like bursting into tears because of all the time it's going to take me to get all my work back. I can't tell you how stupid this was, Apple.
If someone could help I'd be really grateful. I've got older backups but they are so old they won't get back my recent stuff.
Thanks.select Finder
hole option key and select Go in the menu
Select Library
Enter Time Machine
You should be seeing all the versions of you Library folder. -
Cloning (Time Machine) a hardrive from an older Macbook to a new One
I'm looking to purchase a new Macbook Pro. My current one is about 3 years old.
I'm set up with Logic, lot's of other plugins and software as well as a offloaded sample library on an external drive.
Do not want to reinstall software and figure out all the little details that went into filing things, drivers, etc.....and mostly because I've forgotten most of it over the years. Right now my Macbook works the way I want it too....
Question: Can I use Time Machine to basically clone my current drive and bring this "clone" onto the new Macbook drive, plug in my sample libary external drive (that's aliased in all the right places...) and be off and running like nothing ever changed....or is there more to it than this?
Before I drop the $$$, I need to assess how hard this is going to be.
thanks in advance....If that's the case then I assume there's no need (or point) to clone anything and if I did it sounds like I couldn't boot up anyways. This is not a good thing....correct? You're saying I just need to hook up the two computers, "migrate" thru setup and I'm done, but that sounds too easy. Don't know anything about this migration process, but the concern is the same....does it put everything in the exact same location and/or order as the old drive (ie: this is what I understand cloning does which is what allows it maintains all the pointers to data, etc....). For some reason I'm not convinced that I'll be able to just pick up and run like I did in SL once this is done.
Here's a stupid question. Is there anything that would prevent me from wiping out Lion, installing Snow Leapord on the new machine, Clone my old machine onto the new hardrive and then update the OS back to Lion?
Sounds like a roundabout way of acheiving the same thing, but at least the location and pointers would be maintained....or should be anyways.
Am I making this more complicated than it needs to be??
thank you for your input....much appreciated. Just want to make sure I got this straight before wiping everything out and pulling the trigger
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