Time capsule with multiple users full

I'm helping a client with their full time capsule. They have about 6 computers backing up to one time capsule. Some of the computers still have backups from a year and a half ago. One of the computers only has one backup from a couple weeks ago.
Now, the computer which has one backup, now has more stuff and there's not enough space. If these other computers with backups from a year and a half ago deleted some of their really old stuff, it seems there would be room. And I thought that's what time machine was supposed to do, keep the really old stuff until there's no more room and then just keep the most recent stuff.
I guess the issue is that the time capsule can't decide for itself to delete other user's old backups. So my question is: how can I delete their old backups? This would be simple on a regular time machine drive, but the darned obfuscated sparsebundles make this seemingly impossible.
Is my best bet to just delete the complete backup from the computers with really old backups and then just re-backup both computers?
thanks,
-trav

Trabbbb wrote:
I guess the issue is that the time capsule can't decide for itself to delete other user's old backups.
Correct, although it appears to be intentional. Many users would be outraged if their backups were deleted by someone else's Mac!
So my question is: how can I delete their old backups? This would be simple on a regular time machine drive, but the darned obfuscated sparsebundles make this seemingly impossible.
See #12 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Is my best bet to just delete the complete backup from the computers with really old backups and then just re-backup both computers?
That's a lot of Macs on one Time Capsule. One possibility would be to connect a USB drive to the TC and let some of those Macs back up to it.

Similar Messages

Time Capsule with multiple users. Data Safe?

Hi.
I was just wondering if the I use Time Capsule with multiple users (multiple macs) I believe the backups are all seperated and password protected. Am I right?
But what about the migration assistant? Doesn't the migration assistant help you to transfer your data from one mac to your new one without asking for a password? So wouldn't it be easy to use the migration assistant to get data of another time capsul backup?
At the work place of my girlfriend they are using time capsul, and I'm not sure if I would advise her to backup her data to that timecapsule. Ok you can exclude folders, but not the mailaccount.

Youknowthebo wrote:
Thanks for the reply.
But isn't it possible to transfer data from an old user account to a new account with a different name? Wouldn't that overide the password prompt?
No more or less than on your Mac.
I mean I understand that if you migrate a user account from one mac to another you wouldn't gain access to the home folder of that user, but as I understood the migration assistant it is possible to migrate data to a folder of your choice. I did not try it yet but that's what I (maybe misunderstood) read here http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/19.html
No. You can select which user accounts to transfer, but you can't transfer one user's data to another.

Time Machine with multiple users on single computer

Hi All,
I have an iMac at home with multiple user log ons. I'm about to get the Time Capsule and start using Time Machine (currently I use backup).
When I switch on Time Machine, does it switch on for all users, or will each user need to turn on Time Machine?
If I have to switch on Time Machine for each user, will each user's time machine back up the entire computer (so I'll have two complete copies on my computer on the external drive)?
If this does occur, can I control what Time Machine backs up so TM only backs up user specific information?
Thanks in advance,
Chris

When you first backup it will backup your whole system (user directories, system directories, applications, etc) unless you specify folders to exclude. When a user account is added to the computer, their home folder will be added to the backup in a similar way to if you added a new application. It will back up the directory structure exactly as it is on your main hard drive. The backup will essentially keep a copy of the whole hard drive on the backup drive.
The Time Machine will either be on for the whole system, or off for the whole system. It is not on or off for a specific user account. Users (depending on if they've got admin privileges) may have control over turning time machine on or off, but this does not change who can access the backups. All users will be able to invoke Time Machine to get to their backed up files.
Time Machine does not make separate backups for individual users. Instead, it preserves the permissions for backed up files, so while every user can access the backups, they cant just browse other users' files on the backup. The same restrictions on the main drive are carried over to the backup. Still, a standard user who's lost a file will be able to go into Time Machine, access a backed up version of the file, and restore it. Unlike standard users who are restricted from seeing other users' files in the backups, Admins are also restricted but they can be authenticated to view other users' files if they want to.

Time Capsule with multiple computers

Everyone in our office uses macs, and we use time capsules for backing up. It seems that only one person can back up at any given time, so when one user is trying to do a backup, all of the other users have failed backup attempts because the disk is not ready.
I suppose I either need to make sure that people are backing up at different times, or is there another way around this?
Can I tell time machine a specific time I want it to back up or is it always going to be automated?

RangerJoe55 wrote:
Yeah, I posted here kinda hoping to figure out how to do more scheduled type backups instead of the seemingly random ones now.
Time machine will do backups hourly, if your Mac is awake and the destination is available. There are a few exceptions, depending on when the last backup was done, such as after waking from sleep, powering-up, or after a manual backup.
It does seem weird that it won't back up multiple computers at the same time....
It usually does. I don't recall seeing a post where it doesn't.

Using Time Capsule with multiple Macbook Pro accounts

I have had a 500 GB Time Capsule for a number of years, using it both as a router and hard drive. I recently added a 2TB Time Capsule, which I plan to use exclusively for storage and the 500 GB Time Capsule for the router and to store the Time Machine backups. When I only had the 500GB Time Capsule, I could switch between users on my Macbook Pro and still have access to the data that was stored on the Time Capsule without having to log the original user out. I am finding that with the 2TB Time Capsule, that if I switch users not only do I have to log out the orginal user, but I also have to disconnect that user from the Time Capsule. Is there anyway to setup the Time Capsule where I will not have to do this, as it is very tedious and time consuming.
Thanks in advance.

In the 5.6 utility there is an option to disconnect all users.. this should fix it in one go.
Download and install the 5.6 utility.. it has far superior controls to 6.0 which is more a NOUN utility than VERB.
A number of issues were introduced with Lion and 7.6 firmware on the TC..
You can try going back to 7.5.2 firmware although the later Gen4 TC seem to not allow themselves to go back earlier than 7.6.
The older and simpler TC.. might be better as a file store.. Open it up and put a 2TB disk in it.
At least if that works.. well may as well use it.

How to use airport time capsule with multiple computers?

I'm sure there are some thread about this but i couldn't find it... so sorry for that but hear me out! =)
I bought the AirPort Time Capsule to back up my MBP
And so i did.
then i thought "let give this one a fresh start" so i erased all of it with the disk utility and re-installed the MBP from the recovery disk.
I dont want all of the stuff i backed up just a few files and some pictures so i brought that back.. so far so good.
Now i want to do a new back up of my MBP so i open time machine settings, pick the drive on the time capsule and then "Choose" i wait for the beck up to begin, and then it fails. It says (sorry for my bad english, im swedish haha) "the mount /Volume/Data-1/StiflersMBP.sparsebundle is already in use for back up.
this is what i want:
i want the "StiflersMBP.sparsebundle" to just be so i can get some stuf when i need them. it's never to be erased.
i want to make a new back up of my MBP as if it's a second computer...
so guys and girls, what is the easiest and best solution?
Best regards!

TM does not work like that.
If you want files to use later.. do not use TM.
Or do not use TM to the same location. Plug a USB drive into the computer and use that as the target for the permanent backup.
Read some details of how TM works so you understand what it will do.
http://pondini.org/TM/Works.html
Use a clone or different software for a permanent backup.
http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html
How to use TC
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
This is helpful.. particularly Q3.
Why you don't want to use TM.
Q20 here. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Using time capsule with multiple macs!

hey guys!!
i know time capsule is not out yet as such, but does anyone know or has heard if you can say for e.g a macbook & an imac to back up on the same time capsule please?
i hope its not one for one plus i am also thinking of getting a macbook pro down the line as well
thanks for any info

Bad Monk wrote:
thanks for the replies guys
yeah i was thinking i will just turn on TC once a week, if thats possible, to do a weekly backup as thats what i normally do now, or backup after something important like editing family videos etc or doing business work
i hope TC is user friendly though (as its coming from apple i guess it will be) and its easy to delete unwanted previous backups etc, do you think this will be the case please?
thanks
Currently, to delete anything in Time Machine, you just open it, and navigate to whatever you want to delete, highlight it, then select whether you want to delete it ONLY from that backup, of from ALL backups. I see no reason to believe that Time Machine will behave any differently for the Time Capsule than it does now.
As for deleting a whole backup, one would suspect that you would go into your backup folder and delete it
As for turning it on and off, yes that is an easy option(made even easier by last update 10.5.2). Turn it on, then select backup now, let it finish, tun it off.
As mentioned there is an automation program out, but I have not seen/tried it. I just run Time Machine 24/7 personally.

Time Capsule with multiple drives

Hi everyone, great information here! I have a slight issue and am seeking guidance! I have a 1TB Time Capsule that is used with Time Machine to backup my Macbook Pro and 1 external hard drive. I have attached another 1 TB drive to the Time Capsule as well. I also have 2 other external hard drives that I'd like Time Machine to back up to the attached hard drive on the time capsule. Is this possible? If so, how would I make it work? Thanks!!

Sorry but Time Machine will not back up the external drives connected to the Time Capsule.

Time Capsule with Multiple Drive Dock (Current Gen w/ 802.11AC)

I've seen mutliple threads regarding USB hubs, but nothing regarding Hard drive docks.
I have the NexStar HX4 Quad drive bay w/ only 2 drives installed. I partitioned each drive into 500GB partitions (so 2x500GB on one, 4x500GB on the second one) and I'm having issues now with the second drive installed getting the shares to stay reliable. Problem is I don't have a Mac at my house just yet, but I'm working towards that.
What's happening is either one of the drives will drop out or oddly enough it's flipped from one port to another that was empty. I suspect these could be a result of the dock going screwy but I'm not sure. This wasn't a problem until I added my 2TB drive yesterday. I've had to power cycle the TC 4 times and the drive dock 3 times. At one point, the TC was showing the shares to my phone but it was denying access initially, so I did a reboot on my phone and no go. Rebooted the TC and dock and it came back just fine.
Has anyone else used this dock and TC combo or have they tried a multi dock solution? I'm just wanting to get this to straighten out as I do store a lot of data and the reason I chose the TC was because I liked the idea of having some storage inside the thing and I was planning on getting a Mac back then like I am now so it seemed logical.

does the beam forming occur with multiple clients
Yes, but Apple is unclear about how many cients can be connected simultaneously with this feature.
do these clients have to be 802.11ac compatible?
Yes

Sharing 1 iTunes Library via Time Capsule with several users?

Hi,
I would like to share 1 Libary with severy computers and users. Is that possible?
I get an error: " Libary cannot be saved"; however, with a different wireless disk, I was able to do it.
Anything I need to know?
Thanks,
Andreas

Hi,
I would like to share 1 Libary with severy computers and users. Is that possible?
I get an error: " Libary cannot be saved"; however, with a different wireless disk, I was able to do it.
Anything I need to know?
Thanks,
Andreas

Restroing from Time Capsule with multiple machines backed up

Hi,
I have a 1TB TimeCapsule that has been backing up a Powerbook G4 and a Macbook succesfully for almost a year now. My Macbook's HD recenty crashed and I am trying to restore from the TC after I had my hard drive restored.
Problem is, everytime i go through the initial setup process the Assistant only displays the Powerbook G4 backups but not the backup for my Macbook.
I can see the TC has the sparsebundle files for both machines but can't see m to get the migration process to pick up my Macbook.
Anybody seen anything like this. I though I would get a dropdown that would allow me to select the backup i want to restore from.
thanks

So this time I proceeded with the initial registration without attempting to restore from the backup. Following this, I used the Migration Assistant and the backups for both my Macs showed up nicely. Have now succesfully restored my Macbook and everything is in place just as expected.
Just one piece of advice if you go down this route is to use a different username from the one on your old Mac when setting up the new Mac. If not, during the Migration process it will ask you to rename your older account (the option to replace the duplicate account was greyed out strangely)

Using time capsule with multiple laptops

I just set up a new 13" macbookpro from my time machine backup. My son has my old 13" unibody macbook, that the backup was made from. What do I need to do so we can both backup (separately), so his shows up as a different machine, and has it's own backup?

SeannX wrote:
I just set up a new 13" macbookpro from my time machine backup. My son has my old 13" unibody macbook, that the backup was made from. What do I need to do so we can both backup (separately), so his shows up as a different machine, and has it's own backup?
They'll automatically have their own backups, in separate sparse bundles. Time Machine knows which one is which, using each Mac's +Ethernet Address,+ a unique number that's embedded in the logic board hardware.
But for us mere mortals, you may want to change the +Computer Name+ of one or both Macs, via +System Preferences > Sharing.+ Time Machine should automatically rename the sparse bundle on the next backup.
Note that it's usually best to keep the names relatively short, and avoid spaces, punctuation, and special characters.

Time Capsule & NAS Multi-User Security Question

I want to know how time capsule manages multiple users backing up to the internal or USB drive attached to it. I understand that, in general, time machine uses all the drive's space, and just deletes the oldest backups, is this correct with the Time Capsule too? if so, how does every user get a fair share of the backup space? And if multiple users backup to the same drive (same Time Capsule), is there any security, or could someone just run the migration assistant to steal another user's data?
Oh, and if you backup to the drive attached to the capsule via USB, what do you see when you take that drive and plug it into your computer directly, is it like any time machine backup, or is it formated differently, like if there are multiple people backing up, is each person's backup stored in a password protected growing disk image or something? That would be great if it worked that way, where it would require a password to restore from the backup...

nobody?

I have used Airport Time Capsule with my iMac for several years. I recently purchased a MacBook Air and when it tried to backup to Time Capsule it couldn't because Time Capsule is full. How can I now use the 3TB Airport Time Capsule to back up both?

I have used Airport Time Capsule with my iMac for a couple years. I recently purchased a MacBook Air and when it tried to backup to Time Capsule it couldn't because Time Capsule is full. How can I now use the 3TB Airport Time Capsule to back up both the iMac and MacBook Air? I don't mind losing earlier backups. I have excluded some items from backing up, but since the Airport Time Capsule is full, I can't even begin to back up the MacBook Air.

On your Mac.......
Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the Time Capsule icon, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears
Click on the Disks tab at the top of the window
Click Erase Disk
On the next window that appears, select the Quick Erase option, then click Erase
The operation will only take a few minutes.
Now you are ready to start new backups of both Macs. Back up one Mac first, then back up the other. Do not try to back up both Macs as the same time.

Iphoto/preview crashing with multiple user accounts

Hi everybody,
I'm stuck for a while now with my iMac and parental controlled user accounts.
It's for a few months now iPhoto and Preview keep crashing at starting up in these other accounts.
All works fine in my own administrator account. I'll copy a the first part of the crash state, maybe that will help.
I think the problem started with connecting a photocamera (Sony W125) directly to the computer.
It seems that viewing pictures (PDF/iphoto) is corrupted in this way.
I'm working on an late 2011 iMac 2,5 Ghz Intel Core i5 /12GB 1333 / OSX 10.7.5
Allready done:
removed plists
repaired permissions
re-installed Lion
re-installed iPhoto
give full permissions too all other accounts (checking out parental control i.o.w.)
made a new user acount with full permissions except administrator function (also crashes of iPhoto)
tried some searching in Root-account but where afraid to damage stuff.
looked around on the web but I couldn't find people with the same problem
Thanks a lot for your help in advance.
Michiel
Process:         iPhoto [1058]
Path: /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhoto
Identifier:      com.apple.iPhoto
Version:         9.4.2 (9.4.2)
Build Info:      iPhotoProject-710042000000000~2
Code Type:       X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [807]
Date/Time:       2012-11-05 10:30:59.667 +0100
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63)
Report Version: 9
Interval Since Last Report:          247 sec
Crashes Since Last Report:           2
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report:   1
Anonymous UUID: 19E6D82E-8DD9-4044-B141-C67D09268E1F
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, running initializers
/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
xpchelper reply message validation: code signature invalid
The code signature is not valid: The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 100005.)
Application Specific Signatures:
code signature invalid
Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 libxpc.dylib                      0x96b2254e runtime_init + 2014
1 libdispatch.dylib                         0x92d10c27 dispatch_once_f + 50
2 libxpc.dylib                      0x96b22d92 _xpc_runtime_set_domain + 350
3 libxpc.dylib                      0x96b1f9af _libxpc_initializer + 578
4 libSystem.B.dylib                        0x94ba77a7 libSystem_initializer + 199
5 dyld                                  0x8fef1203 ImageLoaderMachO::doModInitFunctions(ImageLoader::LinkContext const&) + 251
6 dyld                                  0x8fef0d68 ImageLoaderMachO::doInitialization(ImageLoader::LinkContext const&) + 64
7 dyld                                  0x8feee2c8 ImageLoader::recursiveInitialization(ImageLoader::LinkContext const&, unsigned int, ImageLoader::InitializerTimingList&) + 256
8 dyld                                  0x8feee25e ImageLoader::recursiveInitialization(ImageLoader::LinkContext const&, unsigned int, ImageLoader::InitializerTimingList&) + 150

After searching the web and the discussion here, here's my minimal impact solution for multiple Macs with multiple users in a household:
1) Set up Mac1 for myself only
2) Set up Mac2 for the wife and kid
3) Set up each Mac to backup to the Airport base station using Time Machine (this would create two separate backups on the Airport base station's drive, which from what I've read has its own problems)
4) On Mac1 setup "empty user accounts" for the wife and kid. These will not have any files in them - just an access mechanism. If they want to access their files, they can use Time Machine's "The Browse Other Backup Disks Option" to get their file from Mac2, work on it and then drop it in the Shared Folder. Next time they are on Mac2, remember to copy the updated/created file from the Shared Folder into their Mac2 user account. If possible, get Time Machine to not backup the "empty user accounts".
5) Do the same for me on Mac2.
Not the most elegant solution, but until Apple get off their backside and make this seamless, I can't think of anything else :-( .
P.S. iCloud is not a soluton since it costs hundreds of dollars a year, uses up intenet data allowance and is slow.

Time capsule with multiple users full

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