Migrate time machine backup to Yosemite

I bought a new mac. My old mac was backed to an external disk up using time machine. I connected the external disk to my new machine and powered up. The first thing that launches on first power-up is a special piece of software called migration assistant. The migration assistant re-created my files and everything from the backup external disk. It took a while, but it worked great.
At the end of the migration assistant run, it asked me whether I wanted to use the external disk for future backups. Migration assistant warned that if so then it would have to alter the backup files (probably some indexes is my guess) in a way that the backup could no longer be used with my old computer. Well, I was a little concerned about losing things before I tried my new computer, so I told migration assistant to leave the time machine backups alone.
Now I am happy with my new machine, and I want to migrate the old backup files to become the backup set for the new machine. How do I do that?
If I enter migration assistant (it is in the applications folder) it appears to behave as though it will re-init my new computer. I do not want to do that. I only want migration assistant to convert the save set on my external disk into a save set for time machine under Yosemite.
Thanks for your help.

There is a way to force the backup history to be inherited, but I consider it too complicated for most users to carry out, and it won't do any good if you've already started using Time Machine with the new setup. If you're familiar with the shell and want to try it, search the tmutil(8) manual page for the terms "inheritbackup" and "associatedisk."
Otherwise I suggest you set the backup drive aside and stop using it until you're sure you'll no longer need the data. Then erase it and start over. Meanwhile, start a new backup on another drive. You need more than one backup to be safe anyway.

Similar Messages

Time machine backups disappear Yosemite

Since upgrading (that is a joke) from ML to Yosemite I am seeing backups on time machine disappear from my back up drive. Another oddity is that the icon does not spin around while backing up. Any help would be appreciated.

The Time Machine icon stopped spinning when Mavericks was released in the Fall of 2013. Instead, since that time, there is a bit more of a separation in the lower left area of the circle (near the arrowhead) when the backup is occurring. Further, the arrow turns into a double arrow.
Backups may well disappear as the disk housing the Time Machine backups becomes full.
OS X Yosemite: If your Time Machine backup disk runs out of space

Can't access Time Machine backups on Yosemite

Hi guys
I'm having some trouble with TIme machine. I did a clean install on my mac. Upgraded it to Yosemite. I could then access my backed up files (although Apple hides most of it for any reason). As soon as I chose the same external hard drive to again be my Time Machine backup drive, all the older backups got unaccessible. When I open Time Machine I can see my older backups but they won't show any files. If I manually look for them in Finder I am locked out.
Is there any way to tell OS X to please let me have my files back?

While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.
If you need to restore from a backup of the hidden user Library folder, first select a snapshot, then press shift-command-G. A Go to Folder dialog will open. In it, you'll enter the path to the folder. The dialog will help you by automatically completing the parts of the path when you start to type them.
The path begins with slash character ("/"). Enter that. The rest of the parts will be separated by slashes.
The next part is the date and time of the current snapshot. Enter a "2", and the rest of the date should be filled in automatically. Press the right-arrow key to jump to the end of the path. Enter a slash to start the next part.
Next is the name of the volume (usually "Macintosh HD" unless you gave it a different name.) Start to type that, then jump to the end and enter a slash.
The next part is "Users", followed by a slash.
Next is your (short) user name, which is also the name of your home folder.
Finally, enter "Library", then press return. You should now be in the Library folder. From there you can get around as in the Finder.

Migrate time machine backup to specific user account

Hi:
I want to move my spouse from her own iMac to a user account on my current MBPro. I have plenty of disk space on the MBPro. Can I do a Time Machine backup and then migrate her entire iMac to one user account of my MBPro, leaving my current user account on the MBPro unchanged?
Thanks,
Peter

Use Migration assistant and import her user account from TM backup.
Don't create her user account first. Migrating her account will take care of that.
Shouldn't matter if her previous backup was SL.

Migrate Time Machine backup (10.6.x) to MacBook Pro (10.8.x)

On a USB drive, I have a Time Machine backup--from a Macbook running (10.6.x).
I'd like migrate this account from its TM backup to a Macbook Pro (10.8.x)
I've plugged in the USB drive to the new machine, it mounts and works perfectly.
But using Migration Assistant, I select "From a Time Machine backup or Another disk".
The disk is never found, the "Looking for other Comuters" spinner never stops.
How the heck do I get this account to the newer machine?
Thanks!

On a USB drive, I have a Time Machine backup--from a Macbook running (10.6.x).
I'd like migrate this account from its TM backup to a Macbook Pro (10.8.x)
I've plugged in the USB drive to the new machine, it mounts and works perfectly.
But using Migration Assistant, I select "From a Time Machine backup or Another disk".
The disk is never found, the "Looking for other Comuters" spinner never stops.
How the heck do I get this account to the newer machine?
Thanks!

Still cannot access time machine backups after Yosemite install

Can anyone tell me what to do to be able to access my time machine backups. When I enter time machine nothing except apps and desktop are accessable. Thus I cannot restore anything that was "backed up" even this morning, much less any other day this year. Yosemite was installed on Oct. 19, took 2 days to download to an 2013 iMac. The first time machine backup took over 24 hours. I have made 1 backup per day since, only problem is that I cannot access any of this data. Please help me.

A bit more information would help figure out the problem. Maybe a screen shot of what you're seeing or not seeing (use Command+shift+4 to save an area of the screen or a window -type space first to capture an entire window- to a file and then attach that file to your posting reply). You might look at the Console app to get more information about what actually happened during your backups - suggest putting "backupd" (without the quotes) in the search field at the top right of window in Console - with the "All Messages" query selected on the left part of the window). Console is located in the /Applications/Utilities folder. After you enter the backupd in the search field only those messages that contain that string will appear which helps a lot since so many messages are normally shown without any search field string.
Depending on how long ago the backups happened, you might need to select previous versions of the system log files - they get archived and compressed to files like system.log.0.bz2 or system.log.1.bz2 (these are in the /var/log query choice if you don't see them in the existing query choices - just click on the triangle to the left of the "/Var/log" entry if needed). Console knows how to show the messages that are in these compressed files, so you don't need to do anything other than click on the query name.
Also if you look in TimeMachine in System Preferences are there any exclusions (click on the Options button in TM System Preferences to show what the existing exclusions are)? A screen shot of those would be helpful also.
Is there only one drive with the single Mac OS partition on it?
Hope this helps a bit...

Migration / time machine backup not seen- help!

I have been using time machine for years and have never had to use it until now- and it does not work. White screen of Death indicated a dead HD. New HD installed on my computer today, I reboot....after the start up video I ask to transfer everything from Time Machine on an external WD HD. The computer sees the backup HD, but does not access it for some reason. when it prompts to check which files to transfer, it says "calculating" for everything except Network. Even when I tell it to TRANSFER, it does not, spins the ball then eventually goes into video mode again.
Ok, so I try Migration assistant.
It does not even see the backup when asking for which system to transfer.
I am kinda freaking out...I hope you can help.
thx

I have no idea why you are posting in a Networking forum about a Migration problem with Time Machine. I would recommend reposting in the Time Machine forum. Assuming you are still running Leopard you can find it at:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1227
Roger

Trouble Migrating Time Machine Backup & File Vault

I recently spilled coffee on my MacBook Pro, which had an up-to-date OS X as of April 6, 2014. My old computer had File Vault turned on, and when I received my new Macbook Air and migrated the files I get an error message trying to log in. I know the password is correct, and though I tried going on, enabling a root acct, deleting and then re-adding the account, I still do not have access to my backed up files or documents.
I've seen a lot of work arounds for this issue, many of them rather in-depth, and so my question is this: to avoid all of that, is it easier if I can access my old Mac (the keyboard and screen don't work, but with some external hardware I think I can get into the hard drive) and turn off File Vault, back up the computer one more time with Time Machine, and then try to migrate it again. It seems like this would be the quickest fix and require the least amount of headache.
If, for some reason that does not work or I cannot make a new backup file, what is the best way to solve this problem that the community has seen?
Thanks in advance!

aschmid wrote:
Yes you are right, I know it isn't supported - as so many other things but they work!
This one is notorious for working for a while, then . . . not.
In addition to the problems above I got a pop-up from Time Machine saying the backup file is broken and it needs to create a new one. I told it to go ahead and what happened is that it actually proceeded to DELETE the old backup file before creating a new one - there goes my several months of backup history!
Yes, just as it says in the message. See #C13 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
All I can say do now is connect my drive directly to my iMac and figure out a way how I can backup my other iMac and the MacBook I have. On the AE this just worked remotely.
Yeah. Until it didn't.
Really not much options here to backup a home with 3 Macs!?!
Sure there is. Back the others up to the same drive, over your network, via sharing. See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for details and setup instructions.

Mavericks Time Machine Backup in Yosemite?

They say there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who backup and those who wish they did. I am the backup person, but when I did a clean install of Yosemite on my HD for a number of reasons, I cannot find my iphoto files (1000s of pictures). And I can't seem to utilize Time Machine at all. I have been able to manually drag files (music, documents, etc.) from the backup folder on the disk to the new system. But nowhere are my iphoto pictures....
So, where do I get the iPhoto files so I don't lose all my pictures? Is there a way to access a Mavericks Time Machine in Yosemite? Any help would be appreciated.
rog

While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.
If you need to restore from a backup of the hidden user Library folder, first select a snapshot, then press shift-command-G. A Go to Folder dialog will open. In it, you'll enter the path to the folder. The dialog will help you by automatically completing the parts of the path when you start to type them.
The path begins with slash character ("/"). Enter that. The rest of the parts will be separated by slashes.
The next part is the date and time of the current snapshot. Enter a "2", and the rest of the date should be filled in automatically. Press the right-arrow key to jump to the end of the path. Enter a slash to start the next part.
Next is the name of the volume (usually "Macintosh HD" unless you gave it a different name.) Start to type that, then jump to the end and enter a slash.
The next part is "Users", followed by a slash.
Next is your (short) user name, which is also the name of your home folder.
Finally, enter "Library", then press return. You should now be in the Library folder. From there you can get around as in the Finder.

Networked Time Machine Backup in Yosemite (10.10.1)

Hello Everyone!
I am having issue using a networked Time Machine volume with my Debian Box. Prior to 10.10.1 Yosemite update Time Machine was working just fine. Even issuing the command sudo tmutil setdestination "afp://<Remote Server Address>/Time\ Machine/<sparsebundle>" and defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1, Nothing seems to work. Time Machine doesn't recognize the drive. I am able to connect to the drive by going to Go, but Time Machine still doesn't see the drive. My Debian Box is using Nettalk in conjunction with AFP. I followed this link as a guide. If anyone know a work around that would be greaaaaat.
Thanks!

A "Netatalk" server is unsuitable for use with Time Machine, especially if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want. I know Time Machine accepts the server as a backup destination. I know that the developer says the server will work with Time Machine, and I also know that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
Apple has published a specification for network devices that work with Time Machine. The incomplete, obsolete Netatalk implementation of Apple Filing Protocol doesn't meet that specification.
If you want network backup, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external storage device connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
Otherwise, don't use Time Machine at all. There are other ways to back up, though none of them is anywhere near as efficient or as well integrated with OS X. I don't have a specific recommendation.

Initial time machine backup crashes Yosemite 10.10.3

I have a 15" Macbook Pro 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 running Yosemite 10.10.3 (14D136). I previously had a 1TB Time Capsule that ran pretty much without a problem. I recently upgraded to a new 3TB time capsule (http://store.apple.com/us/product/ME182LL/A/airport-time-capsule-3tb) .
I have attempted numerous times to complete the initial backup both via wifi and hardwired into the thunderbolt port. It will run for an hour or so then just says (stopping). After that the computer gives me the pinwheel of death. After a restart everything runs fine and can restart process but same things happens. I have about 720GB to transfer so it takes a while (10 hrs or so). Every time I return it has stopped. I have erased and reinitialized the time capsule disk several times.

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Step 1
For this step, the title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Initially the words "String Matching" are shown in that box. Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes.)
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Select the BOOT_TIME log message that corresponds to the last boot time when you had the problem. Now clear the search box to reveal all messages. Select the ones logged before the boot, during the time something abnormal was happening. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
For example, if the system was unresponsive or was failing to shut down for three minutes before you forced a restart, post the messages timestamped within three minutes before the boot time, not after. Please include the BOOT_TIME message at the end of the log extract—not at the beginning.
If there are long runs of repeated messages, please post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Step 2
In the Console window, select
          DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION ▹ System Diagnostic Reports
(not Diagnostic and Usage Messages) from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
There is a disclosure triangle to the left of the list item. If the triangle is pointing to the right, click it so that it points down. You'll see a list of reports. A crash report has a name that begins with the name of the crashed process and ends in ".crash". A panic report has a name that begins with "Kernel" and ends in ".panic". A shutdown stall report has a name that ends in ".shutdownstall". Select the most recent of each, if any. The contents of the report will appear on the right. Use copy and paste to post the entire contents—the text, not a screenshot. It's possible that none of these reports exists.
I know the report is long, maybe several hundred lines. Please post all of it anyway.
If you don't see any reports listed, but you know there was a crash or panic, you may have chosen Diagnostic and Usage Messages from the log list. Choose DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION instead.
In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.)
Please don’t post other kinds of diagnostic report—they're very long and rarely helpful.
When you post the log extract or the crash report, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

Can Yosemite read a snow leopard Time Machine backup

Can Yosemite read a snow leopard Time Machine backup. Once I installed Lion over SL and it was a disaster since I could not get any docs or photos back, so had to put SL back on my old iMac.
Will 10.10 give the same problem or is there a way to migrate the old 10.6.8 data to 10.10?
Thanks

Yes, you can do that. The only limitation is that you can't encrypt the backup volume.

How to do a clean install go yosemite and then just install certain files, apps, documents, phopt's, etc...from time machine backup?

How to do a clean install of yosemite (have Mavericks 10.9.5 now) and then just install certain files, apps, documents, phopt's, etc...from time machine backup?

Do a backup before doing anything.
If you want to make a clean install of Mountain Lion, boot into the Recovery Volume (command - R) on a restart, use Disk Utility to Verify/Repair the disk and run Repair Permissions. Then erase the hard drive using Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format using the Options button. Reinstall Yosemite. Restart normally and test. Use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to import what you want.
Clean Install

Time machine was not working. I bought a new time machine and migrated time machine files to new time capsule; not recognized by yosemite

Time machine was not working after yosemite upgrade on new and old MacBooks in my house. I bought a new time machine and migrated time machine files to new time capsule. I changed the names of the older sparse bundles to the default values. Yosemite still does not recognize them.

I presume the bought a time machine means a time capsule.
How did you migrate the Time Machine files?
From where? A Time Capsule or external drive?
It is difficult to get TM working with Yosemite.. since it doesn't work after the upgrade on the old TM backup.. it will not work on the migrated files either.
You simply start a new backup and store the old backups for a few months until you are ready to dump them.
The instructions for inheriting old backups is B5 and B6 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
However it is just unlikely to work.. TM in Yosemite is very different. Broken even.
I also strongly recommend people to use Carbon Copy Cloner or some other 3rd party backup until Apple get the bugs fixed. And after several months.. they are still rampant.

Macbook Pro -yosemite install stalls at disc select with ''This disc is used for Time Machine Backups' - help !

Having downloaded Yosemite it installed fine on my iMac but on my Macbook Pro installation has frozen at the Disc Selection stage (where you want it to install) with the message 'This disc is used for Time Machine Backups'.
I cant find a way past this to complete the installation.
Any ideas anyone ?
Many thanks.

Time machine needs its own partition to operate. So you are not going install a OSx Lion on that volume.
If there is enough room you may be able to partition the drive on the fly with DiskUtility
Are you saying you clean installed Lion and you are trying to move your user Data over with TM via the migration Assistant? Please explain.

Migrate time machine backup to Yosemite

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