Re-Creating Entire System on New Mac From External Drive Using Time Machine
Hi all -
Sorry if this question has been posted, I've look extensively and haven't seen it in this exact form, and I'm paranoid about this stuff. I also can't get a straight answer from Apple store employees.
I travel extensively with my MacBook, and when I'm home, I use Time Machine to back up all data from my MacBook onto an OWC external hard drive.
My question is, if my MacBook is ever lost, stolen, or damaged, and its internal hard drive is no longer accessible, and I have to buy a new MacBook, can I use Time Machine to access the backup data on my external drive and transfer it to my new MacBook's internal drive, thus re-creating my entire system on my new MacBook, including all settings, preferences, files, absolutely everything exactly as it was on my old MacBook?
This is by far the most likely need I'll ever have for this backup data, so if Time Machine doesn't help me to re-create my system exactly as it was on a new laptop, it's not of much use, and I'll switch backup software.
Related question - I read somewhere that Time Machine keeps making backups on your external hard drive until it runs out of space. Does that mean it literally uses up every bit of space on the external drive? Because overstuffing my old external drive is what killed it, and cost me a huge chunk of change and several weeks to get the recoverable data off the drive. Or does Time Machine know enough to stop backing up when there is only "X" amount of space left on the drive, and if so, at what amount of remaining free space does it stop?
Thanks for your help!
If you need to restore everything to a new Mac, you simply have your TM drive connected when you start up the new Mac and during the Welcome routine that runs when you start up a new Mac for the first time you will be presented with the option of migrating your user info, settings, files, applications, etc., from a Time Machine backup. You just click "Yes" and all your backed-up info will be transferred to your new Mac.
Time Machine continuous "cleans up" backups so you do not need to worry about TM pushing a drive to its capacity limits, or even close to that.
Similar Messages
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HT3275 New macbook, old external drive for time machine
I got a new macbook pro a few weeks ago and set it up using my last backup from time machine. I want to use the same external drive for backups but there is no room. Can I delete all of the old files from the old computer or do I need to keep them?
kat.hayes wrote:
I want to use a 3 TB external drive for Time Machine to backup multiple 500GB hard drives in my Macpro. I have lots of large video files from HD cameras.
1. Will Time Machine backup all of the hard drives in the Macpro?
As long as they're formatted HFS+, yes. Be sure there's enough room, though -- Time Machine needs considerably more room than the data it's backing-up. See #1 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. -
Best way to back up mac and external drive to time machine?
My LaCie external Time Machine drive crashed on me somehow and I had to repartition it. I have a second back up (different external drive) through CCC so Im not worried about data loss, but for the life of me, I cant remember how I had time machine configured to back up. I have a second separate external drive that contains my iphoto, imovie and itunes libraries on it. I think I had time machine set up to back that drive up along with my mac separtely somehow, but after thinking about it, isnt that a little redundant. Am I not backing up my iphoto/imovie/itunes external drive through my mac back up? Seems like before I could go into time machine and open that drive from there. If so, is there any reason to back up the iphoto drive separately along with my mac back on time machine, or is that even possible? Would it be easier to restore the iphoto hard drive if it were backup up separately, not as a part of my mac backup? I have had my CCC back up (a second external back up drive) set up to back up the mac and the pic/video/itunes drive separately.
If you open TimeMachine's preferences and click on the Options button you'll see that it works with a simple exclusion rule. It assumes it should back up everything on every drive connected to it except for those files, folders, and drives you exclude.
Like you, I have a separate external drive for media. After playing around with TimeMachine way back when I realized that each time I edited the meta data for music the song or movie got backed up again. I also discovered that at that time TM didn't play nice with iPhoto's library. Given these issues I decided to exclude my media hard drive from TimeMachine and back it up using ChronoSync (on an automatic schedule) once a week.
After some thought I decided I didn't want a simple clone because if a song or movie became corrupt I didn't want to overwrite a good song with a corrupt version. ChronoSync does archiving. When doing a backup if it finds a file has been changed it archives the old one and overwrites with the new one. I look at the logs each week to see if any archiving took place. If I didn't do any editing that week there shouldn't be.
BTW - being a belt and suspenders kind of tech, I have multiple backup drives so one TM drive and one media drive is always off site. A backup is no good if the thief steals it. -
How can I back up a MacBook Air on a Mac Pro Hard Drive using Time Machine?
Want to back up a MacBook Air on a Mac Pro with a spare hard drive. Sharing allows Time Machine to find the hard drive, but get a drive busy message when time machine tries to back up onto the drive.
Any suggestions?If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an 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. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message that corresponds to a failed backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showning, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting. -
Backing up iPhoto library from an external drive using time machine
I have a rMBP that is rapidly running out of storage. I purchased an external USB drive to store my iphoto library on. I have a time capsule that backs up my rMBP. If i include the external drive in the time machine set up, what happens when it backs up and the USB drive is not connected?
Any one have a similar setup that can give some advise i would appreciate it.If i include the external drive in the time machine set up, what happens when it backs up and the USB drive is not connected?
Well, since the drive is not connected, any changes since the last backup will not be backed up.
When you reconnect the USB hard drive, Time Machine will backup your Mac and the USB drive. -
Retrieve iPhoto files from external drive with Time Machine
I can retrieve all other files with Time Machine (including photos in Pictures) but not my iPhoto pics. Have read a few suggestions but having trouble following.
Thanks in anticipation, Ernest.If you are trying to restore individual photos saved in iPhoto, you cannot do that. Instead, you need to restore the whole iPhoto library.
To prevent the lose of the most recent photos, go to the folder where you have got your iPhoto library (by default, Pictures) and copy it to another folder. Then, in that folder, open the Time Machine app (in /Applications/Utilities), navigate through your backups and restore the iPhoto library you need -
Purchased a used macbook pro with Mountain Lion. My old Mac runs Snow Leopard is backed up to Time machine. How do I register the operating system to me and how do I use Time Machine to move my files to the new used computer?
If you look at the User Tips tab, you will find a write up on just this subject:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4053
The subject of buying/selling a Mac is quite complicated. Here is a guide to the steps involved. It is from the Seller's point of view, but easily read the other way too:
SELLING A MAC A
Internet Recovery, and Transferability of OS & iLife Apps
Selling an Old Mac:
• When selling an old Mac, the only OS that is legally transferable is the one that came preinstalled when the Mac was new. Selling a Mac with an upgraded OS isn't doing the new owner any favors. Attempting to do so will only result in headaches since the upgraded OS can't be registered by the new owner. If a clean install becomes necessary, they won't be able to do so and will be forced to install the original OS via Internet Recovery. Best to simply erase the drive and revert back to the original OS prior to selling any Mac.
• Additionally, upgrading the OS on a Mac you intend to sell means that you are leaving personally identifiable information on the Mac since the only way to upgrade the OS involves using your own AppleID to download the upgrade from the App Store. So there will be traces of your info and user account left behind. Again, best to erase the drive and revert to the original OS via Internet Recovery.
Internet Recovery:
• In the event that the OS has been upgraded to a newer version (i.e. Lion to Mountain Lion), Internet Recovery will offer the version of the OS that originally came with the Mac. So while booting to the Recovery Disk will show Mountain Lion as available for reinstall since that is the current version running, Internet Recovery, on the other hand, will only show Lion available since that was the OS shipped with that particular Mac.
• Though the Mac came with a particular version of Mac OS X, it appears that, when Internet Recovery is invoked, the most recent update of that version may be applied. (i.e. if the Mac originally came with 10.7.3, Internet Recovery may install a more recent update like 10.7.5)
iLife Apps:
• When the App Store is launched for the first time it will report that the iLife apps are available for the user to Accept under the Purchases section. The user will be required to enter their AppleID during the Acceptance process. From that point on the iLife apps will be tied to the AppleID used to Accept them. The user will be allowed to download the apps to other Macs they own if they wish using the same AppleID used to Accept them.
• Once Accepted on the new Mac, the iLife apps can not be transferred to any future owner when the Mac is sold. Attempting to use an AppleID after the apps have already been accepted using a different AppleID will result in the App Store reporting "These apps were already assigned to another Apple ID".
• It appears, however, that the iLife Apps do not automatically go to the first owner of the Mac. It's quite possible that the original owner, either by choice or neglect, never Accepted the iLife apps in the App Store. As a result, a future owner of the Mac may be able to successfully Accept the apps and retain them for themselves using their own AppleID. Bottom Line: Whoever Accepts the iLife apps first gets to keep them.
SELLING A MAC B
Follow these instructions step by step to prepare a Mac for sale:
Step One - Back up your data:
A. If you have any Virtual PCs shut them down. They cannot be in their "fast saved" state. They must be shut down from inside Windows.
B. Clone to an external drive using using Carbon Copy Cloner.
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the Select a source drop down menu on the left side.
3. Select the Destination volume from the Select a destination drop down menu on the right
side.
4. Click on the Clone button. If you are prompted about creating a clone of the Recovery HD be
sure to opt for that.
Destination means a freshly erased external backup drive. Source means the internal
startup drive.
Step Two - Prepare the machine for the new buyer:
1. De-authorize the computer in iTunes! De-authorize both iTunes and Audible accounts.
2, Remove any Open Firmware passwords or Firmware passwords.
3. Turn the brightness full up and volume nearly so.
4. Turn off File Vault, if enabled.
5. Disable iCloud, if enabled: See.What to do with iCloud before selling your computer
Step Three - Install a fresh OS:
A. Snow Leopard and earlier versions of OS X
1. Insert the original OS X install CD/DVD that came with your computer.
2. Restart the computer while holding down the C key to boot from the CD/DVD.
3. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu; repartition and reformat the internal hard drive.
Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
4. Install OS X.
5. Upon completion DO NOT restart the computer.
6. Shutdown the computer.
B. Lion and Mountain Lion (if pre-installed on the computer at purchase*)
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because
it is three times faster than wireless.
1. Restart the computer while holding down the COMMAND and R keys until the Mac OS X
Utilities window appears.
2. Select Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Utilities window and click on the Continue button.
3. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click
on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button
and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
5. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
6. Quit DU and return to the Mac OS X Utilities window.
7. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
8. Upon completion shutdown the computer.
*If your computer came with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed then you are entitled to transfer your license once. If you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion from the App Store then you cannot transfer your license to another party. In the case of the latter you should install the original version of OS X that came with your computer. You need to repartition the hard drive as well as reformat it; this will assure that the Recovery HD partition is removed. See Step Three above. You may verify these requirements by reviewing your OS X Software License. -
Using the same external drive with Time Machine on new mac?
I recently got a new mac because my old one broke. Thankfully, I had a fresh backup on Time Machine ready to restore onto my new computer. But when I try to use Time Machine with my new computer, it keeps wanting to do a whole new backup. It won't recognize the latest backup to only add new or changed files.
Here's a breakdown of my events:
new computer
restore Time Machine on new computer at install
want to continue using the external drive with Time Machine from where I left off (only adding new files since the last backup) on my new computer
Time Machine wants to do a whole new backup
Question: How can I continue to use my existing external hard drive with Time Machine on my new computer, picking up where I left off (not a new, complete backup)?
My old computer was Snow Lepoard, my new one is Lion.Bergers wrote:
new computer
restore Time Machine on new computer at install
That should have left a "trail" in your SystemMigration log, so Time Machine can figure out what happened and automatically "inherit" the old backups. But sometimes, obviously, that doesn't work.
Since it didn't, there's a chance you can do it manually. See #B6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. -
New mac set up problems with time machine
Bought a new 21 inch mac yesterday and going through set up I tried to use my time machine disk at the appropriate point (when it asked me) to copy the data. Now the mac refuses to move on, after it rebooted I get the apple sign and the swirling thing despite a pram reset and booting in safe mode.
Any ideas on how I can force the mac to go back to original settings, it's literally just come out of the box and problems happened at the time machine part on set up.Startup your Mac while holding down the Option key.
That should launch the Startup Manager window where you can select the startup disk then click Restart.
If that doesn't work, startup your Mac while holding down the Command + R keys.
From there you will have access to the built in utilities to restore OS X using OS X Recovery.
There is an option to restore from a Time Machine backup using OS X Recovery, but in this case, just restore OS X first. Get your Mac working again before using Time Machine. -
I bought a new mac and i migrate with time machine...but the backup was a little bit old and weren't save the latest modify i made in my website.. is it possible take the uploded site in iweb? sorry but i don't speak english very well
But what can I cut and paste? the html code or image and text directly?
depend on which template you used.
if you use iweb photos page template then you need to search for my photos page solutions in this forum.
@ot: cut and paste from the online version
@rw: You can drag an image from the website to the Desktop
have your try your methods in iweb photos page? -
If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?
To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site, -
I have backed my Mac Book pro up to my external hard drive using time machine. My iPhoto now does not show any images, even when I upload from my iPhone
Mac 101: File Sharing
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Transfer files between two Mac computers
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Set up a Windows computer to share files with Mac users
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Use iDisk to share files
Mac OS X: Sharing your files with non-Apple computers
How to share a Mac's files with a PC and vice versa. -
External Drive with Time Machine, booting from external drive with utilitie
I'm using Time Machine now with
a LaCie 1TB external hard drive.
Everything works fine.
But, I've been wondering:
Can I place a program like TechTool
on the external drive (that Time Machine uses)
and boot from that external drive.
I would like to be able to do that,
because diagnostics and repair programs
only works properly and fully when they run from
external drives. Anything on the internal drive can be repaired
and examine. Impossible to do if Techtool is on the same
drive that's been examined.
Any thoughts as to what I should do?
Thanks
iMac, Leopard, Time Machine, Lacie Quadra 1TB drive.
P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
(from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?pitou wrote:
P.S. Stupid question: If my computer crashes, and I reboot from Time Machine
(from the external drive) how does the computer know which backup to take ?!?
Isn't there many versions of the OS on the Time Machine backup taken at different times?
As V.K. says, you can't boot from TM backups.
But you can restore your entire system from any one of them, per the procedure in #14 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
You can also selectively restore from them, while running normally. See #15 in the FAQ Tip.
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the rest of the FAQ Tip. -
I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?
What I am ultimately wanting to do is make more room on my computer by backing up all of my files onto the external hard drive and then deleting them off of my computer. However, neededing to be able to retrieve them from the external hard drive later down the road.
From what I have read and am trying to understand, is that I probably shouldn't have used time machine. I need to use the external hard drive like a basic flash drive where I can put things on and get things off without having it automatically update through time machine everytime I connect it to my computer.
Not tech savvy at all and barely understand basics. I need very simple and easy to understand explanations.sydababy wrote:
and then deleting them off of my computer.
BIG BIG MISTAKE ..... youre making a linchpin deathtrap for your data trying to shove everything on a single fragile HD.
Dont suffer the tragedy other people make, buy another or 2 more HD, theyre cheap as dust.
The number of people who have experienced terror by having a single external HD backup is enormous. One failure that WILL HAPPEN, and kaput,......all gone!
Dont do it, its all about redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.
follow here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Deleting them off your computer is fine....having only ONE copy is extremely BAD.
The Tragedy that will be, the tragedy that never should be
Always presume correctly that your data is priceless and takes a very long time to create and often is irreplaceable. Always presume accurately that hard drives are extremely cheap, and you have no excuse not to have multiple redundant copies of your data copied on hard drives and squirreled away several places, lockboxes, safes, fireboxes, offsite and otherwise.
Hard drives aren't prone to failure…hard drives are guaranteed to fail (the very same is true of SSD). Hard drives dont die when aged, hard drives die at any age, and peak in death when young and slowly increase in risk as they age.
Never practice at any time for any reason the false premise and unreal sense of security in thinking your data is safe on any single external hard drive. This is never the case and has proven to be the single most common horrible tragedy of data loss that exists.
Many 100s of millions of hours of lost work and data are lost each year due to this single common false security. This is an unnatural disaster that can avoid by making all data redundant and then redundant again. If you let a $60 additional redundant hard drive and 3 hours of copying stand between you and years of work, then you've made a fundamental mistake countless 1000s of people each year have come to regret. -
Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup my Mac Mini (256gbSSD + 2tbHDD)?
Can I use a 2tb external drive with Time Machine to backup what I have on my Mac Mini?
My Mac Mini has one 256 SSD and one 2tb HDD. I want to use Time Machine to do a backup of everything.
Would an external 2tb My Passport Drive by Western Digital work for the backup?
It seems like it would not work because the total storage on the Mac Mini is 2304 gigabytes (SSD + HDD).
And the external Western Digital drive is only 2048 in gigabytes versus 2304 gigabytes the Mac Mini has.No. A Time Machine backup drive should have at least twice the capacity of the drive it backs up. You would need at least a 4 TB backup drive for Time Machine.
Might I suggest as an alternative that you not use Time Machine but a third-party backup utility that simply overwrites older files with new ones such that the backup drive can be the same capacity as the drive backed up.
Suggested Backup Software
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Others may be found at MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
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