Manage multiple Time Machines

I have about 10 users with Macs.
Is there any application/tool I can use to manage all of their Time Machines in one place?
I'd love to be able to see success/failure of their backups.

jcolinger3 wrote:
I have about 10 users with Macs.
Is there any application/tool I can use to manage all of their Time Machines in one place?
I'd love to be able to see success/failure of their backups.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
There's nothing built-in. TM is designed more for folks at the novice to intermediate level, so is kept as simple and automatic as possible.
You might, however, be able to something with Automator or Applescript. TM keeps a hidden XML file with the results of the latest backup; you could have a job on each Mac that periodically sends a copy to a central location (or a central job that could go get it on demand), then extracts what you want.
The file is: /Private/Var/db/.TimeMachine.Results.plist
There are probably some alternatives, but that's the one that comes to mind.

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Is it possible to have multiple time machines on the same password protected network?

is it possible to have multiple time machines on the same password protected network? any insight would be helpful thanks

Youshould set one of them up to extend the wireless network. That one would not need an Ethernet connection and would allow your network to cover a broader area.

Restoring a single iPhoto library from multiple Time Machine backups

My daughter traveled for six months in SE Asia with her MacBook Air with the Lion OS. She routinely deleted all iPhoto 11 content after backing up with Time Machine on a 1 TB external drive as the drive on her Mac reached capacity. My question: how can she create a single, complete iPhoto library on an external drive from these multiple backups?

Your daughter will have to restore the iPhoto Libraries by going back in time on Time Machine and extracting the different libraries at the points in time before they got erased.
iPhoto does not have a feature to merge these libraries. So she could either export the images from each library and then reimport those into one selected library or use the iPhoto Library Manager application to extract photos from one library and to import them into another. Using iPhoto Library Manager she could preserve keywords and captions, but this software is not free.
Next time your daughter should simply create her iPhoto Library on her external volume, so that she has enough space to collect all pictures in one library.
Regards
Léonie

Multiple Time Machine Issues

When I tried to mount my backup drive to Snow Leopard, it said backup drive didn’t have enough memory, but it mounted it anyway. Now disk utility says it won’t unmount, and it doesn't have enough memory to function.
So I backed up all the files on my backup drive and emptied my backup drive into the Trash. Now I can’t empty the Trash for multiple reasons. Some of the files are locked. Error -43. Etc. Etc.
When I drag the files back into my backup drive, they go there but they remain in the Trash too.
I can’t erase my backup drive because it won’t unmount.
I’ve got a real Catch 22 going here. How can I empty my trash, unmount my backup drive, and erase my backup drive to I can use Snow Leopard?
Thanks again for your help.
Jim

LambAtLaw wrote:
If I understand what you're saying, TM is my backup drive, right?
yes.
I've put files from my backup drive in the trash with no problem before upgrading to Leopard and Snow Leopard. Are they the problem?
What does delete backups "via TM interface" mean?
you can delete backups via TM interface as follows. enter TM, scroll back in time select a file or folder you want to delete and click on the "gears" action button in Finder's toolbar. there will be two option there
1. delete all backups of this item
and
2. delete backup
the latter deletes the entire system backup corresponding to that time point.
you should only delete backups this way and not from finder as you did. that can lead to various problems.
But none of this is important now. I'm not sure what's going on with your TM drive. try booting from the snow leopard install dvd and erasing the TM drive using disk utility there.
As I said, I can't erase and reformat my backup drive because it won't unmount from Time Machine. That's my Catch 22.

External RAID 0 with multiple Time Machine backups

I have a Macbook Pro (late 2012) and would like to utilize it to its fullest potential. I recently bought a 2TB time capsule, and I have an external WD my passport (2tb usb 3.0). I am a photographer and am starting to delve in HD video editing. I bought an external 2 drive usb 3.0 Raid controller. All my photos are on the WD myPassport and that's were pretty much all of my data is that the macbook accesses. The 128gb ssd that the os and programs reside on has around 30gb left.
I want to transfer all my photos and videos to the external raid enclosure (two 1tb drives) in a raid 0 for quick access of my data over the usb 3.0
I plan on formatting the myPassport and use the time capsule and the myPassport for dual time machine back ups and leave the myPassport at work and bring it home once a week to update the back up.
Does this sound like a reasonable backup solution to my external raid 0? Btw I will be using the WD Red drives in the raid array.

@FreddieMurry
All my photos are on the WD myPassport and that's were pretty much all of my data is that the macbook accesses.
1. Mistake number #1 anytime "all of ..." and "are one (a single)...." are used to describe someones priceless data
You dont need dual TM backups, ....you need a TM backup and a data archive, and a final optical archive (and more if possible)
use your WD HD for your TM and your 2 X 1TB RAID0 for perpetual data (your pics and vids as you indicate and all other vital data) secondary backups.
and third, a routinely connected and removed HD(s) archive stored away in a fireproof vault, box (40$ Walmart) etc.
and fourth optical storage on professional grade DVD media that is not prone to ferromagnetic degradation and rated for 100+ years (Taiyo Yudun DVD pro-grade blank media or other mfg.)
explained here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Data redundancy (copies) makes all HD crashes inconsequential, an irrelevancy.
Compartmentalize your system (OS) hub backup vs. that of your data hub archives, in so doing any failure in your computer (system [OS], data, computer) becomes quick to recover from!
Never consider any computer a data storage device at any time under any circumstance, rather a data creation, sending, and manipulation device. Anyone who thinks data is safe on any computer, even copied upon multiple partitions is making a mistake that will, without fail, strike.
Never backup your data exclusively upon magnetic hard drives or flash storage, nor consider same since magnetic storage degrades over time, roughly 3-8 years, even under ideal storage conditions.
Burn important data onto multiple copies of professional grade archival DVDs (Taiyo Yuden or likewise) and store them in cool dark fireproof safes, a safety deposit box, or multiple places.
Most importantly know that 2 copies of your data is 1, and 1 is none, and 100 copies stored in one place or building is also the same as none due to fire or natural disasters.

Multiple Time Machines on One Mac

I have an iMac with two volumes.
I would like to use two "Time Machines" consiting of the two external FW 800 drives (one is 1TB; the other is a 2TB).
Can I the 1TB external drive for one (1TB) volume on my iMac, and the 2TB external drive for my other (2TB) volume on my iMac?
I f so, how?
Thank you.

Time Machine backups up everything on the MacPro, so both user accounts are being backed up.
Each user can only access their own respective backups....unless they have the log on password for the other user and log on as the other user.
When the MBP comes back from repair, then it will resume backing up to the "other" backup drive that is normally used with the MBP.

Any way to automate multiple Time Machine profiles?

I have 9 drives. 5 drives for data (1,2, 3, 4 & 5) and 4 drives to back them up (1/2B, 3B, 4B & 5B) using Time Machine. I have a lot of photos and video, drive 1 is a SSD boot, drive 2 is a SSD for work, the rest are hard disk drives.
I reset Time Machine manually for each profile every so often like so:
Profile Task
1 Backup Drives 1 and 2 to Drive 1/2B
2 Backup Drive 3 to Drive 3B
3 Backup Drive 4 to Drive 4B
4 Backup Drive 5 to Drive 5B
I wish I could set it up so time machine knows the profiles and does the backup tasks one after another in a continuous loop. That would be great!
If there is no practical way for me to do- then this post is my wish list for next operating system!

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Short of something like an Applescript or Automator that would swap various versions of the preferences file (/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist), which would be a serious problem if done while a backup was in process, no.
A better solution might be to use Time Machine for your boot volume, and perhaps another (1 and 2 in your example, apparently).
Then use another app, such as CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or the like, for the other backups. CCC is donationware; SD has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling. Either is easily found via Google.
And/or, see Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.
Feel free to post the suggestion here, though: http://www.apple.com/feedback/timemachine.html

Using multiple Time Machines for network with bup

Hi Filks
Here is what I am looking to do. I have 3 buildings on 1 property.
I have eathernet wired to all
I have a closet with all wires terminating there.
I have 4 2T Time Machines, 1 Comcast Modem, 1, 24 port switch
I want to put one Time maching at the modem then connect switch to that and then all others to the switch so that I have one network behing the Time Machine.
I want to set up the other time machines so that they are the same wireless but not entending the wireless as they will be wired to the number 1 Time machine.
I need the wireless for all the items that are not connected to network obviously.
Do I set the additional Time Machines to be new wireless but use same info as #1?

Sorry meant Folks

Multiple Time Machine backups to one external drive

I have a MacPro with an external hard drive that I use exclusively for Time Machine (the external drive is mirrored RAID).
I now have a MacBook Pro as well. Can I set the Time Machine on the laptop to backup to the same external hard drive that I currently use for my desktop? When I look at the Time Machine set up on the laptop I can see the desktop's external drive but don't know if I can have Time Machine backups from two different computers writing to the same external drive.
Thank you

yes you can do that. this is a supported configuration. although it's better to keep TM backups for different drives on separate partitions. probably not an option here though. the remote backups will be stored in a sparse bundle. while remote ones are stored directly in a folder on the drive.

Managed computer Time Machine setting blocks login

I have seen this a couple of times with 10.7 clients bound to 10.6 servers, and now with 10.8 clients and servers.
I have machines bound w/ authenticated binding to the server so I get a machine entry in WGM / OD. I create a machine group and set a preference for the group for Time Machine (set disk and quota). Now, on the client side, I log out (so the MCX settings refresh) and all logins are blocked (both network and local users). I get the spinning gear and have to reboot with ARD.
I'm not sure what it is in the process that is stopping the login process - any ideas of where to look?
Thanks,
Miles

Just reset the Admin password for my account using the system disk and everything works now.

HT201250 Can I back up multiple volumes using Time Machine on Snow Leopard?

I have a fault with my time machine software where it is no longer able to perform incremental back ups of the volumes (partitions) I have created on my internal hard drive - every attempt results in a full back up. However incremental back up of the Mac HD is working. I have had it working perfectly in the past. I'm backing up to a dedicated external hard drive.
I have just been told by an apple support manager that Time machine on OS 10.6.8 is not designed to back up multiple volumes (partitions) on my internal hard drive, only the current Mac HD drive - is this correct? He said it shouldn't be backing up the other volumes and the reason it is doing so and has done so in the past is because of bug!
Surely this is not the case?

I would read and try this. Pondini is very knowledgeable about Time Machine:
http://pondini.org/TM/32.html
Ciao.

How does this work with multiple systems backing up with time machine

I was wondering as Apple states that this will do multiple time machine backups as in multiple computers, how does this do this? I am assumng that it will require me to partition the srive in the unit as multiple partitions. 1 for each time computer with time machine running.

I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure how to interpret your answer so I'll ask for clarification.
Do you mean that the backup belonging to each user will be protected by filesystem perms? In other words Alice's backup will be owned by Alice and only readable by her, ditto for the hyperthetical Bill?
I guess in other words, does Time Machine preserve file ownership perms?

Time Machine with Multiple Disk

I wanted to know if it is possible to have multiple time machine disk. I was thinking about have one disk at home, and taking another disk offsite. I was thinking about switching these disc out like once a month or something like that so I always have a copy of my Itunes Library and other important files off site, and also so that I have another backup incase both my Imac hard drive, and my backup drive both stop working at the same time.

Can you "fool" Time Machine into backing up to two separate volumes by giving them the same name?
You wouldn't connect them at the same time... you'd connect one at work during the day and the other at home at night time.
That way one backup (the one at work, say) stores all your changes during the course of the day and then the other one (say at home) backs up all your changes made at night.
They would each, of course, back up all changes made since last connected (for example, as soon as you connect your "home" drive it will automatically back up all the changes you made during the day in one fell swoop, then make incremental backups during the rest of the evening).
PS: I am using SuperDuper right now to clone a TM backup to another drive but I want to be able to use both drives in turn to make incremental backups (once I've completed the clone).

How to delete files from time machine volume

Before selling my old MacBook Pro, I had backed up all my data on to an external WD hard drive using Time Machine. I had since switched to a desktop but since I did not have any need for the MacBook Pro files at the time, I had put aside that WD hard drive. Recently, I wanted to clear some space on that external drive to make way for some of my present files. I drilled down in to Backups.backupdb and tried to delete files, but was met with the error "
An error occurred.The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -5000.) Insufficient access privileges for operation".
It did prompt me for a username and password before showing that message. I tried both my current user/pass as well as (what I remember to be) my old user/pass on the MacBook Pro. Both presented me with the same error message.
I also did try to mount the drive as Time Machine on my present system, and then try to enter Time Machine and delete it from there. However, clicking on "Enter Time Machine ... " does nothing.
Any ideas?

Hi Linc,
my back-up data is managed by Time Machine; the actual data is on a second internal Hard Drive with a capacity of 1TB - not partitioned. I am using Time Machine and have access to all data backed up since Mavericks Clean Install but not the data prior to this date.
When I open the 1TB drive in Finder I can see a folder "Backups.backupdb/Sigi's Mac Pro/ followed by many folders of backup dates going back to 2010-09-20-103441 and up to 2014-02-07-142414 all followed with folder Macintosh HD. February 7th 2014 was the date of the clean install.
These Backups are followed by backup date folder 2014-02-08-075554 with a subfolder of MacPro-320GB (this is the name I assigned to my Boot Drive during formatting; I suspect I should have assigned the same name as before ie. Macintosh HD) and 2014-02-11 with a subfolder Macintosh HD, these are the ones I get access to by way of Time Machine > Restore.
Weird thing is on Febr 11 when I relised my possible mistake and renamed the Bootdrive back to what it was initially ie. Macintosh HD despite this I have access to all backup data since the Clean Install in both folders MacPro-320GB as well as Macintosh HD but not to any data prior to the Clean Install.
Is there something that Time Machine knows and prevents access or is it simply a matter of renaming the subfolder 2014-02-08-07554/MacPro-320GB to ........./Macintosh HD?
I like to restore selectively and not everything - It was hard work reinstalling apps that were supposed to be the troublemakers (ref my discussion on Maverick problems) but I now need to get onto data specific to some of these apps as well as other data I may have missed. Long story? Yes and sorry.
Sigi

How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks

How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks. I know the data is there but seems unaccessable because I may have changed the Computer or Owner name. Is there any way to fix that now?

Hi Linc,
my back-up data is managed by Time Machine; the actual data is on a second internal Hard Drive with a capacity of 1TB - not partitioned. I am using Time Machine and have access to all data backed up since Mavericks Clean Install but not the data prior to this date.
When I open the 1TB drive in Finder I can see a folder "Backups.backupdb/Sigi's Mac Pro/ followed by many folders of backup dates going back to 2010-09-20-103441 and up to 2014-02-07-142414 all followed with folder Macintosh HD. February 7th 2014 was the date of the clean install.
These Backups are followed by backup date folder 2014-02-08-075554 with a subfolder of MacPro-320GB (this is the name I assigned to my Boot Drive during formatting; I suspect I should have assigned the same name as before ie. Macintosh HD) and 2014-02-11 with a subfolder Macintosh HD, these are the ones I get access to by way of Time Machine > Restore.
Weird thing is on Febr 11 when I relised my possible mistake and renamed the Bootdrive back to what it was initially ie. Macintosh HD despite this I have access to all backup data since the Clean Install in both folders MacPro-320GB as well as Macintosh HD but not to any data prior to the Clean Install.
Is there something that Time Machine knows and prevents access or is it simply a matter of renaming the subfolder 2014-02-08-07554/MacPro-320GB to ........./Macintosh HD?
I like to restore selectively and not everything - It was hard work reinstalling apps that were supposed to be the troublemakers (ref my discussion on Maverick problems) but I now need to get onto data specific to some of these apps as well as other data I may have missed. Long story? Yes and sorry.
Sigi

Manage multiple Time Machines

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