Recovering files from a external HD pre Time Machine

Please someone throw me a ladder to get me out of this ginormous hole I doug myself.
A few days ago I set up my old MBP to be a server of sorts. It is plugged into my external HDD and my Wife's external HDD. My reasoning for this is so our computers can wirelessly back them selves up with Time Machine. Setting my new MBP was not problem was doing a fresh install because I wanted to start fresh, select the location of the drive I wanted and go, cake! The wife's drive was just as easy or so I thought. She comes to me today and tells me that the only thing she has on her external HDD is the backups folder from Time Machine. She is missing 3 folders. I presume when I set up Time Machine on her compy that it did not recognize her old backups from previous and reformatted her external HDD. So my question to you is that is there a way to revert or go back and fetch the old files that were on her drive or will I be groveling and apologizing until I die.
I beg for some help.

So my question to you is that is there a way to revert or go back and fetch the old files that were on her drive or will I be groveling and apologizing until I die.
probably the latter. if the drive was reformatted to make it work with TM the only way to possibly recover anything from before that happened is by using Data recovery software like Data Rescue II or Filesalvage. you should stop using the drive and do it ASAP. But there are no guarantees here. if the data that was there before has already been overwritten by new data then Data Recovery won't work.
Message was edited by: V.K.

Similar Messages

How do i transfer files from my external HD to time capsule?

Hi Everyone,
I've been reading thru the discussions and yet to find a clear answer on how to transfer files from my external HD to time capsule. I am fairly new to Mac computers, pc user for years, but just bought a new MacBook Pro and the 500g time capsule.
I plan on using the Time Capsule as a back-up and external harddrive to store all of my music so not to overload my laptop.
Also, i have a pc formatted ipod, which i will have to re-format for my MacBook so I don't mind creating a new library in itunes but is it difficult to point the library to the music file on the Time Capsule? And will it work?
Thanks a bunch for any info!

nnigel, Welcome to the discussion area!
I've been reading thru the discussions and yet to find a clear answer on how to transfer files from my external HD to time capsule.
If it is directly connected to your Mac via USB or FireWire, Time Machine will include it in the backup.
...but is it difficult to point the library to the music file on the Time Capsule?
iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Music folder

I just got a new MacBook Pro, and I tried to bring across my files from my last mac using time machine. After it was done copying I can't find my files anywhere but the space (about 130gb) has been used on my hard drive. Help please!!

I just got a new MacBook Pro, and I tried to bring across my files from my last mac using time machine. After it was done copying I can't find my files anywhere but the space (about 130gb) has been used on my hard drive. Does anyone know how I can get to them? I did change my user name from 'user' while it was copying, could this have something to do with it?

You don't want to do that by copying.
Your best bet, by far, is to use Setup Assistant. If your Mac is running Snow Leopard, see Using Setup Assistant on Snow Leopard or Leopard.
If it came with Lion, it's a bit different: Using Setup Assistant on Lion

How to recover files from an external hard drive

I just got a brand spankin' new iMac yesterday. I've never had an Apple computer before so I was unfamiliar with Time Machine. I called my husband in to help me out thinking he would be more tech-saavy than me, clearly I was mistaken! He backed up my computer onto our WD external hard drive that we had stored ALL of our photos on. Before it would let him go any further is stays you must erase the previous back up or something (which we didn't really know what that meant). So now that my new iMac is backed up ALL of my pictures and files are erased. Please tell me if there is ANY way possible to recover those files? These are pictures of when my daughter was born all the way up through now!! Please help!!! Thanks!
PS. I don't know what operating system or anything like that I am using. I literally just got it out of the box last night so whatever comes on the computer!!

Click anywhere on the open desktop so that the Finder menus are displayed at the top of the screen.
Click Go > Network
Double click the Time Capsule icon, then double click the icon representing the drive to mount it on the Mac's desktop. It is named "Data" unless you have changed it
You can drag/drop files to the "Data" icon on the desktop
235 GB is going to take forever if you try to do this using wireless. If at all possible, connect an Ethernet cable from your Mac to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule.
Even using Ethernet, you are probably looking at 10-12 hours for the file transfer. All bets are off with wireless only, but a guess would be several days....or even more.

How to recover Accidentally setting up external harddisk as Time Machine (old data still neeeded)?

I accidentally select 'YES' when asked to setup Time Machine on an external hard drive, which I have data already on it original format (NTFS if I remember right).
I stopped the Time Machine before doing futher action like backup immediately.
Eject the harddisk drive.
Reconnect to Windows machine to see if I can still use the old data. It is not recogniseable. Using disk utility of Windows OS, I get this term on the said harddisk drive as "GPT protective partition 1397.26 GB".
It looks like the time machine "partitioning/formatting" of the hard drive.
How do I remove the GPT protective partition and possibly recover the old contents on the disk using some recovery tool either on MacOSX or Windows OS ?

All are named in FIFO new serialised generic filename. That will be painful to reconstruct the new names again for all myriad files.
Try different ways to search for data - disk seek and search the entire device may find backup NTFS table and it will be possible to recover all or most of the files from the disk. Also note that the search results can be found .dmg partition equal to the size of your external drive - in this disk image may be the original file structure.
If the original structure of files can not be found - usually recover all the files that were not fragmenting into several fragments.
Regards,
Alex
Apple Support Professional

If I back up files to an external HD w/ time machine and delete them off the MacBook, will the HD also delete them on next backup?

I hooked up an external hard drive and my MacBook offered to run Time Machine to create a back-up. Once the back-up is done, I'd like to delete some of the videos off of my actual MacBook but if I do that, will I be able to watch them on the external HD or will it delete them on the next backup? Thank you for any help you can provide. I am running a MacBook 13 inch with Mac OSX 10.5.8 if that helps.

If you delete files backed up by TM, then eventually they will be deleted from the backup. TM is not a permanent storage alternative. For that you should purchase and connect a separate drive.

HT4889 i suddenly can´t copy file from my mac to the time machine. Why?

suddenly i cant copy files/movies from my macbook pro to my time machine anymore. Do anybody know how to make this possible again?

Have you logged on with a different username.. ?? That will block access using the previous user login.
The best bet is to fully reboot everything.. wonderful things happen when you clear all the cobwebs.. old logins.. etc.
If you still have issues, come back to us. Although I find it hard to imagine the TC will automagically change security settings. Make sure you login to the Mac with the same username as you did when you moved the files to the TC.

How to restore files from system(hidden) folders with time machine?

How can I restore files that cannot be seen from 'Finder' using time machine?
i.e.
'HD/var/log/system.log'

try revealing all hidden files in Finder before using TM
run this in terminal
*defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles True*
*killall Finder*
to revert back, run
*defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE*
*killall Finder*

How can I transfer files from my laptop to my time machine?

I am running out of disk space on my Macbook Air and would like to know if it is possible to transfer, not back up files to my 3TB Time Capsule. If so, how?

While it is possible to do this by simply dragging files to the Time Capsule using the Finder, keep in mind that the only copies of your important files that you transfer will be on the Time Capsule.
When....not if....the Time Capsule drive has a problem, you lose these files, since you have no other copies of them.
Much better to attach a hard drive to the Mac and move files there.
Then, Time Machine will backup both your Mac and the attached hard drive. That way, you have "original" copies on one hard drive or location and your "backups" on another.
In other words, Apple designed the Time Capsule and Time Machine for your backups....not "original" or "master" files.

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.

How do I recover files from an external Hard Drive?

I have an external Hard Drive that has somehow lost communication with my Mac Mini. It won't mount. When I attempt to give it first aid it says first aid failed. This is what it says.
Verifying volume “MicroNet 250GB External”
Invalid Volume Header
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume MicroNet 250GB External needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Then when I click repair it shows this.
Verify and Repair disk “MicroNet 250GB External”
Invalid Volume Header
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
I would be very grateful to hear that I can recover my files(I have tens of thousands of photos, and about 20Gb of music) without paying much(Free would be better).
Thanks
Message was edited by: dudebob

Post over here -> < ahref="http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=758">Using Mac OS X Tiger
since this has nothing to do with the iPod.
Check out Disk Warrior and TechTools Pro.
Might want to also update your OS to 10.4.11.

Recover files from iomega external hard drive to mac 10.6.2

I'm very frustrated. I have 50gigs of documents and photos sitting in my iOmega external hard drive, some of which I need to print for my mother's funeral on Saturday.
I am computer savvy but not a tech, so I'm having difficulty understanding how to get my Mac to open these files in my iPhoto program, or PS Elements 9.
I don't have any money, so I can't purchase any software at the moment, but i DESPARATELY need to open these photo files to print them off tomorrow.
Please can someone help me find a quick, easy, and free solution.
These files were backed up from my PC before I bought my first Mac in Dec 2010.

iPhoto/File/Import to Library should bring the desired photos into iPhoto.

How to import recovered files from an external hard drive

My hard drive crashed. I got a new one and of course lost my itunes. I had the recovered data put on an external hard drive. How do I re import my data back into Itunes?

Hello David,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!
If you have the entire iTunes library folder on that recovered drive, you can copy it to your new computer and use this article to choose that iTunes library that you just copied to the new computer.
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
Otherwise, you would need to use the Add File to Library function.
Adding music and other content to iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1473
Regards,
Sterling

Can I backup another external HD with Time Machine/Capsule?

I have two external 250GB hard drives hooked up to my mac via USB. One for Time Machine and one for files. Does anyone know if it’s possible to backup my external HD for files to the external HD for Time Machine?

using the usb connected to the TC the readme says its doable. Just try it , what can it hurt unless you have valuable files on it.

HT201250 Is there a possibility to recover erased files from an external hard drive that was reformatted by the Time Machine?

Is there a possibility to recover erased files from an external hard drive that was reformatted by the Time Machine?

Basics of File Recovery
Files in Trash
If you simply put files in the Trash you can restore them by opening the Trash (left-click on the Trash icon) and drag the files from the Trash to your Desktop or other desired location. OS X also provides a short-cut to undo the last item moved to the Trash -press COMMAND-Z.
If you empty the Trash the files are gone. If a program does an immediate delete rather than moving files to the Trash, then the files are gone. Recovery is possible but you must not allow any additional writes to the hard drive - shut it down. When files are deleted only the directory entries, not the files themselves, is modified. The space occupied by the files has been returned to the system as available for storage, but the files are still on the drive. Writing to the drive will then eventually overwrite the space once occupied by the deleted files in which case the files are lost permanently. Also if you save a file over an existing file of the same name, then the old file is overwritten and cannot be recovered.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

Recovering files from a external HD pre Time Machine

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