Removing a backed-up drive from Time Machine

One of my external drives was starting to act up, so I chose to upgrade it and move all my files to the new drive. I didn't think to use Time Machine to do this, just old habits of manually copying files from one drive to another, then formatting the old drive.
The original drive, Data, was backed up via Time Machine along with my Mac's internal drive. The new drive, Data 2 has replaced Data, but not in the Time Machine backups. I can tell TM to start backing up Data 2 but the backups for Data are still on my TM drive, and I can't find a way to tell it to replace the Data backups with the new Data 2.
Is there a way to remove a drive that has been backed up in the past? If I can just delete the backups from Data, then I can run a new, full backup on Data 2 and start from there. As it stands now, I just have a bunch of wasted space on the TM drive since it associates all the Data backups with a drive that no longer exists.
Any suggestions?

See http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html and http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
They contain answers to all your questions. If you have a specific question after that, please let me know.
Hope that helps.

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HT1553 I restored my hard drive from time machine. Why is iPhoto not displaying images properly?

I restored my hard drive from time machine after power blinks corrupted the file system so badly that disk utility could not repair it. Since then, iPhoto has not displayed images correctly. Events are there, and blank squares are shown, but that's all. I rebuilt small and all thumbnails and permissions -- I think the top three or four options in the iPhoto rebuild utility, which took five hours to do but which seems not to have changed anything. The iPhoto library is still more than 100GB, so the photos are there. I didn't choose rebuild from backed up --- whatever the final option on the rebuild menu offers -- because that seems to be appropriate only when a backup is interrupted. Could certainly do it, though. How do I get iphoto behaving again? I have full time machine backups saved automatically and another fairly recent copy on a separate hard drive stored remotely. Thanks for whatever help anyone can provide. I've looked at existing questions and solutions without success so far.

What version of iPhoto and system are your running? Since you've tried rebuilding with iPhoto give this a try:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
If you have an external HD you might want to have the rebuilt copy created on it unless you have well more than 100 GB available on your boot drive.
OT

HT201514 I recently updated the Imac software, now i can't see my Wd back up drive in 'time machine' Its connected via firewire and i can see its connected if i check firewire on my mac.

I recently updated my IMac software to the latest version, now i can't see by WD back up drive in time machine. its conected to the firewire port ok and i can see it if i check firewire connections. The drive works ok on an old windows laptop. Any ideas.

leedssparky wrote:
Is it possible that i did this whilst updating the OS software whilst leaving the WD drive connected.
It's a good idea to eject and disconnect external HDs, just in case, but that shouldn't cause a problem.
Why when setting up time capsule, does it only look for WIFI drives through airport.
I think you're confusing Time Machine (the backup software) with a Time Capsule (Apple hardware combining a wireless router and HD). Unless you have a Time Capsule you want to back up to, there's no point to clicking the Set Up Time Capsule button, if that's what you mean:
I've attached the Firewire bus from system profiler, dont understand why i can see it there but not in TM.
There seems to be some sort of problem with the drive, since Disk Utility thinks it's fixed, but immediately the problem returns (per the first sample you posted).
How old is the drive?
If it's within the warranty period, you might want to contact WD or the place you bought it.

I reinstalled my system on a new hard drive, from time machine. However my old photos seem corrupt within aperture. iphoto seems okay. Have you heard of this?

I reinstalled my system on a new hard drive, from time machine. However my old photos seem corrupt within aperture. iphoto seems okay. New photos take a long time to load as well.
Have you heard of this?
Thanks

We need a little more information to be able to help.
However my old photos seem corrupt within aperture.
What kind of corruption? And when do you see it? All your images, or only some? Are the images distorted, discolored, or not displayed at all?
Are you shooting in raw? Is your library referenced or managed? Is your library on your system volume or on an external harddrive?
And it would help to know your MacOS version and Aperture version too.
Regards
Léonie

Where can I find the Stickies database (content). I recovered my hard drive from Time machine and need to load old data.

Where can I find the Stickies database (content) in OS 10.8 and above. I recovered my hard drive from Time machine and it loaded the app but not the content.

How to Recover StickiesDatabase From Time Machine

Need help removing hard drive from Time Machine exclusion list

I have a 1TB Western Digital Essential hard drive with about 500Gb of music, movies and other assorted data tethered directly to my iMac. I also have a 1TB Time Capsule that serves as my wireless router and connects to my iMac over the wireless network. I'm trying to use the Time Capsule as the ultimate backup device, to backup the data on my iMac and the tethered 1TB Western Digital hard drive via Time Machine. It already backs up all the data on my iMac, but unfortunately, Time Machine places the 1TB Western Digital hard drive in the exclusion list (which I understand is normal), but will not let me click the minus sign to remove the drive from the exclusion list (which is where I'm at a loss). Someone please help me find a way around this as I've been unable to find a way to remove the Western Digital drive from the exclusion list and have Time Capsule access its data. Many thanks in advance for any help with this.

gotham,
Forgive me, but are you highlighting the drive in the list before you click the "-" button?
Also, were is the external drive? Connected to your Mac or the TC. If the TC, then Time Machine won't backup the external drive. It needs to be connected to the Mac directly.
Otherwise, you can delete the TM .plist.
*Delete The Time Machine Preference .plist*
Go to --> Macintosh HD / Library / Preferences (Note: NOT Home / Library / Preferences).
Drag the .plist file labeled,
com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
to the root level of your Macs’ hard drive.
Reboot your computer.
This .plist file is automatically recreated at startup if it is missing.
You will need to reselect your Time Capsule in the TM Prefs for backup.
Now try 'removing' the other drive form the exclusion list.
Let us know if this helped resolve your issue.
Cheers!

I remove my hard drive from time machine,now it won't recognize hard drive

i got a delayed error on my time machine backup saying Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to my back up hardrive, so what i did i removed my hard drive in time machine "select disk" , thinking if ill plug it back it'll recognize but it didn't.. now it wont show anymore on my time machine, but it shows on my mac computer and disk utility.. how do i fix this? please help... i have the late macbook pro 2010 running osx mountain lion

Try repairing it:
Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder. Select your Time Machine drive in the list on the left. Click on the First Aid tab in DU's main window, click on the Repair Disk button.

How do I remove files from my Time Machine Backup and then how to exclude external hard drives from Time Machine?

How can I remove external hard drives from the Time Machine and exclude them in the future?

For deleting backups from Time Machine: http://pondini.org/TM/12.html
For excluding things from backups: http://pondini.org/TM/10.html
For general Time Machine advice (all courtesy of Pondini): http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

How to restore MBP with dual drives from time machine

Hi one and all. Hoping I can get some help here. My trusty mid 2010 i5 MBP's hdd died on me the other day, which isn't really the problem, as I've got two time machine back-ups. The issue is that in my wisdom I decided to swap out my old (and nearly full) 500 GB HDD with a 240 GB SSD (Crucial M500). I then loaded OSX 10.6.3 via the dvd that came with my MBP, formatting the SSD in the process. Then promptly removed the optical drive for a Samsung 1TB drive, formatted it and started transferring all my data over via the migration assistant.
I put everything other than photos, movies and some documents on the SSD, with the space hungry images, movies and docs going on the HDD. Now I'm assuming that because my boot drive (the SSD) is smaller than the time machine back-up (about 480 GB), this was the only way to do it? Doesn't really sound like I've got much of a problem then does it? Well, I then attempted to update the OS to OS X 10.6.8 so I could update again to mavericks. I installed the update to 10.6.8 and now I'm stuck in a perpetual log-in loop. The password is correct, it starts to log-in, then blue screen and back to log-in... repeat to fade or until you feel like giving your mac a Basil Faulty style thrashing, which ever comes first.
I've ordered a thumb drive with Lion 10.7 on so that I can attempt to try again (really can't be bothered to re-install the optical drive), but I was hoping someone may have experienced this kind of issue before and have some kind words of wisdom. No worries if not, I'll just go outside and try to find a decent branch to thrash my previously loved mac with
Cheers
Rich

Right well it appears I have further complicated things for myself. Whilst I was waiting to sort out my MBP, I restored from time machine to my mac mini so that I had a machine to work from. Then I fixed my MBP by installing new drives (SSD and HDD where the optical drive used to be), and using migration assitant to copy everything over from time machine. So now I technically have two machines the same.
Only problem is when I try to update the MBP with Mavericks it tells me it cannot install on this machine. Is this because I did restored the same original mac to two new machines?

Time Capsule as external hard-drive, as back-up drive with Time Machine

Two questions today:
I understand that I can use the Time Capsule as an external hard-drive while using it as my back-up location, using Time Machine. It has been suggested that to do this, it is best to partition the Time Capsule to prevent the TM program from confusing the files it manages, the data files from the backed-up files. (I hope I got that right.) I believe I read in this forum that one can partition the TC after the fact, and not destroy any data on it. Is this possible? A clerk at the Apple Store in San Francisco told me that I would want to partition, but that it would require that I erase the TC. Which to believe?
Secondly, how does TM create the back-ups? I have used SuperDuper and appreciated the difference in how (and what) it backs up. My example: my first back-up involved having an 80gb external drive attached to my computer and TM backed up both my HD and the External Drive. I then turned off the TM. Today I turned it on and allowed it to back-up every hour as it is designed to do, but without the 80gb External drive attached. When I checked the newer back-ups, they all showed the original configuration of HD and 80gb external drive.
So for it's incremental back-ups, does TM back up new files and updated files without deleting missing files? Is it an additive process? Or does it at some point delete missing files from it's most recent back-up? Or since it recognized that it was backing-up two different drives, it will always keep them separate, maintaining one (80gb External drive), even as it backs-up and changes the other (the HD)?
O.K. a third request. Has anyone published a manual on TM and/or TC with this level of understanding so we can make the most of it's 1 TB storage capacity?
Thanks in advance, LeRoy

LeroyHoward wrote: So, does this mean that TM never deletes a file?
It will when it starts to run out of space and it should likely be the oldest deleted files first.
As I understand it, as long as I have a multi-linked file icon on the TM, I have the original data. And everytime the TM backs-up, it recreates every multi-linked file icon on the previous back-up. Right? So, if you delete a file by mistake, you can go back and find it. But I see a contradiction here. If you delete it on your desktop, shouldn't it be deleted from the back-up of that desktop? We expect it to be on earlier back-ups, but not the most recent one right? So, eventually as the TM fills up and begins deleting earlier back-ups, that data will be lost.
The newest timeline will not point/display the deleted file(s), but it still exists on the backup until the backup drive fills up and needs to erase deleted data.
I'm trying to understand this aspect of the TC and TM, because we want to use it as both an external HD and as one of our back-ups. Any light you can shed on this will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, LeRoy
Read Glenn's response to dedicating TC to TM backup and the difficulty in partitioning the TC HDD.
Glenn Carter wrote:
However, this is not an option for Time Capsule users as there is not an easy way of partitioning the Time Capsules’ internal had disk without elaborate effort. In this case, use the Time Capsule hard disk solely for Time Machine backups. Then attach an additional hard disk to the Time Capsules USB port and store additional files there. This added disk will still be available to all Macs that can access the Time Capsule.
This works to share the files on the USB HDD attached to TC, but if you want this drive backed up by TM (and this drive is formatted HFS+), then it needs to remain plugged into the Mac directly for TM to back it up.

How do i exclude internal hard drive from time machine?

I use OSX 10.7.4. My internal drive was maxed out so I copied it to an external and now I run my mac from this external drive. I want to use time machine to back up (to an additional external hard drive) but Time Machine fails because I don't have enough room. Whats happening is Time Machine wants to back up both my external drive (about 280 Gigs) and my internal (245 Gigs). I do not want or need my internal to be backed up however I cannot find a way to 'exclude it'.
In Time Machine/Options, my internal drive does not appear under devices. I have 3 external drives, (plus their partitions) but the proverbial Macintosh HD is not one of them. Even when I click the + to try and add to the devices which brings up the finder (and I check 'show hidden') still no dice.
Macintosh HD does appear in my finder.
I know one option would be to delete the contents of my internal drive, but I'm not ready to do that. I view it as my backup to my backup. It isn't updated, and it's missing things from the last few months, but in a critical failure, it might still be there.
Presumably all this is temp as I intend to replace my aging white imac with a new imac sometime this summer.
In the mean while though, I'd like time machine to do what its intended to do.
Thanks,
Bear

Open the TM preference pane, unlock it if necessary, and click Options. Click the "+" icon to add an exclusion. In the selection dialog, click the icon of your internal drive under DEVICES, then press return.

HT5096 How do I transfer all of my stuff from a laptop to my new iMac using an external hard drive from Time Machine?

I have had a laptop for years. I backed up the entire hard drive using Time Machine onto an external hard drive. We now have a new iMac and I am trying to put everything from my old lap top onto our new computer. I know it's probably simple but I'm clueless. Please help.

Connect the drive and use the Migration Assistant to restore the backup. This can either be done as part of the setup process or on its own; the Migration Assistant is located in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and will migrate user data into a newly-created account.
(99464)

Need help backing up 3G from Time machine

I am looking for an important text that I erased. So, I am attemptingto backup from time machine since the itunes backup is dated last November.
I do not have a clue how to do this. After I back it up, I will want to erase it and re-back it up to yesterdays date. I looked in the HD/library/appsupport/ for a file called "mobilesync/backup" and do not have one. So, does that mean my phone is not backed up via time machine?
I am running 10.6.7. Thankd in advance for your advice.

Also, can you tell me why in the itunes window "set up your phone" there are 2 choices to restore: one reads "iphone" on is dated Nov of 2010? Where is the sync that I did before I restored to factory settings (erased)?

How to restore the Main Drive from Time Machine after replacement

I have a Late 2008 PowerBook Pro. I have a 2TB external drive for Time Machine.
I replaced the main drive with a 1 TB drive and thought that i could restore from the Time Machine. I have another external drive that has an earlier OS on it. It lets me select the time machine drive but doesn't allow me to restore the main drive.
I must be missing something because this is exactly why there is a Time Machine.
Can anybody give me some hints?
Thank you so much
Rudolf

You need to use online recovery to re-install an OS X on the hard drive;
the utilities to correctly format the hard drive may be accessed there.
Ideally, you'd have a working copy (clone) to then be able to re-clone
into a prepared hard drive, for an off-line complete restore to new HDD.
There are details, right now I'm not able to go into them.
•OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
Good luck & happy computing!

Why does restoring a Hard Drive from Time Machine break all my software registration?

I've just upgraded the hard drive in my MacBook Pro using a Time Machine backup. (In the past I've used Carbon Copy cloner to duplicate the drive before installing it, but this seemed like an easier option.) The restore from TM went fine... but now all my apps are acting as if I've just installed them for the first time. Mail and Dropbox went thru their first time startup screens, and are reimporting all my files/messages. Word and Photoshop are asking for the registration serial numbers. What a hassle!
Does anyone know what Time Machine is doing, and why? Why aren't my apps fully restored? And is there any workaround?

I imagine it is because of the way CCC does makes an exact clone of your drive.
Time Machine restores the drive file-by-file and doesn't necessarily restore support files. Most apps know when they've been moved and ask for serial numbers.
However, I have never restored a complete hard drive with Time Machine, so I don't know exactly what to expect.
Pondini may have some info here: http://pondini.org/TM/14.html

Removing a backed-up drive from Time Machine

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