Time Machine Back Up Disk Location Options?

I have a few nOOb questions;
1. Can time machine back up to Mobile Me's i disk?
2. Is there a fix/work around for time machine not being able to back up to an Air Port Extreme's
USB connected hard drive?
3. What does "mounting a disk" mean?
4. Can time machine back up to an external disk connected by Lan cable to the Air Port Extreme?
5. What is HFS+ formatted?
6. What is an Air Disk?
Thanks in advance -Paul
Message was edited by: not-a-mac-user

"Well, not wanting to be a smart a$$, it was because it was the answer to your second question, not the first. I guess I wasn't smart enough to assume you might have read the entire post before you did anything. Guess I was wrong."
Captain,
First of all, your reply doesn't even make sense. If you are going to flame a nOOb on the interweb - make sure you do it right! I believe you meant to say, "I guess it was pretty stupid of me to assume you might have read the entire post before you did anything." Even when corrected your flame response doesn't hold water. Why would reading the entire post before I did anything, invalidate your instructions to enter "script/code" into the terminal? By the way how do you now what I did first, second, etc.?
You said, to fix the Time Machine's incapability to back up to any HD connected to an AEBS then input the code provided into the terminal. The previous instruction was not invalidated by anything you responded to after that.
Also, by answering my second question, you indeed by defacto changed your response to question number 1. Lastly, who responds to questions numbered 1-6 with answers labeled A-F?
Thanks for the links.

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Can I encrypt the time machine back up disk?

I have about 62GB on my time machine back up disk. It just occured to me that anybody who gets a hold of my back up disk, has all my info. Is there anyway to encrypt the back up disk, and password protect it?
If there is will I still be able to use this back up in case of data loss from my computer?
Thanks.

You can't restore a Time Machine backup made with Snow Leopard onto a system with Tiger. You can, but you will damage Mac OS X.
In order to restore your Time Machine backup, you should have your Snow Leopard disc. Then, insert it and hold the C key while your MacBook Pro is starting. Finally, choose your language, go to Utilities menu (on the menu bar), choose the option to restore the backup and follow its steps, so you will recover Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Does Time Machine back up disk information in addition to all files?

Hi
I want to know if Time Machine back up disk information of my current Apple computer.
These information may include GUID/Apple Partition Map (such as partition names and layout). I check my backups in the Time Capsule, and it seems that only files in the hard drive have been backed up. I kind of know Partition Map doesn't reside in files, but hidden in the hard drive, so I wander if Time Machine does back up them? If so, where are they?
Thank you in advance!

DavidCQ wrote:
Thank you for your information! It seems that Time Machine can only do with Apple OS, and for other OS such as Windows , we need use other tools.
If it's Windows as a guest in a virtual machine, the backing file will get archived. That's certainly a backup, but a woefully inefficient one as it'll drag the whole backing file out each time. Most folks will thus disable that file in Time Machine.
If it's Windows via Boot Camp or Linux in a GPT partition, that'll require using Windows- or Linux-focused tools.
One of the few available OS-agnostic approaches for backing up data is a disk image. Time Machine is not an OS-agnostic backup tool.
As for Windows or Linux or OS X or most any other operating system, each has its own tools and requirements for performing an operating system backup and for recovering and restoring, and it's very rare for any other operating system around really has any clue what those requirements are for a given OS.

"Your Time Machine back up disk cannot be found." What does this mean?

I have an external hard drive that has never been disconnected from my iMac.
About 3 weeks ago, I started noticing that some of my iTunes library songs had "!" in front of them, and I wasn't able to find them to play. Over time, more and more iTunes songs had this problem. Someone recommended that I look in the hard drive library, for individual titles, and sure enough, there they were! I've been dragging them back to iTunes but this is going to take forever, because I'm a music teacher and I have a lot of songs in my library.
In this process, I decided to see if the songs were still on the external hard drive, the Time Machine. However, I get the message "your time machine back up disk cannot be found." I have no idea what this must mean, because the Time Machine has been plugged in for a couple of years now. But somehow, the computer doesn't recognize it any more.
Are the two problems related? And what should I do?

There is no relation.
Time Machine backups : my opinion is that this is a real waste of disk space, usefull for a few number of files but that's all ! In case of a reinstallation, everyone is performing a fresh installation ... In addition, after a certain time, TM erases the oldest files.
I personnaly backup only on mediums (CDs, DVDs, DVDs) etc ... then i'm always sure to find again what i'm searching for.
iTunes : a "!" means that you have moved from one place to another an audio file (or erasing it by error) and iTunes has just stored a link to the file and not the file inside its own folders. Probably you have never consolidated you library. The question is : where are you storing your files ? inside your mac plus inside external drives ? Please make sure, if you are managing often files in iTunes, to consolidate them in order for iTunes to copy them inside its own folders, else it becomes quickly a nightmare.
iTunes manages files on 3 different ways now :
- real files inside it
- links to files out of its folders
- files from iTunesMatch

"Can't connect to a current Time Machine back up disk"

OS X Yosemite, version 10.10.1
Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)
Processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Computer is supposed to seamlessly back up to Time Capsule via wi-fi, but ever since upgrading to Yosemite it's been broken. "can't connect to a current Time Machine back up disk" is the message that pops up, just after it shows me the files on my Time Machine for a split second. So it sees them, for a moment, then it pops up the message and freezes my computer. I have to do a hard reboot. I tried the instructions here: OS X Yosemite: If Time Machine can’t find your backup disk, and various instructions I've found on the internet regarding fixes from deleting plist files to whatever.
This is very annoying, I'd like to fix the problem. And also vent, this *****, this isn't why I purchase Apple products, it's a known problem and they aren't publishing a fix. Apple isn't very elegant anymore, it's cumbersome, troublesome, and I'm wondering why I'm spending the extra when those were the benefits I was paying for.

Apple isn't very elegant anymore, it's cumbersome, troublesome, and I'm wondering why I'm spending the extra when those were the benefits I was paying for.
Don't upgrade next time until the following version is out.. I updated not long ago to Mountain Lion.. and it works very nicely. Apple is playing MS game.. don't fix the problems.. just release a new fangled OS. So issues that have existed over Mavericks and all its updates are still there and in fact exacerbated in Yosemite.
To fix your issue.. You may need to do some major work.. did you upgrade or clean install Yosemite??
I guess it is too much to ask if you still have your previous OS install intact?? Making a bootable clone before updating is a necessity now IMHO.
TM does not really allow you to go back to the previous OS.. but you can clean install Mavericks or whatever you used and then recover your files.
To fix Yosemite a clean install can be a big help. Especially as wireless is a major flaw.
Do you own the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter? It is like $35 and a well worthwhile gadget to own.. since I think your mac has no ethernet port.
See if it works ok by ethernet.
Otherwise factory reset the TC and try mounting it manually in finder by IP address, not name.
ie in Finder use Go, Connect to server and type in the IP.. thusly
SMB://10.0.1.1 (replace with actual IP)
It is a bit tricky if the IP is not static.. but start there and see what happens.
Remember to save the password to the TC in the keychain when asked.

What does it mean when a box says my Time Machine back-up disk can't be found?

I clicked on my Time Machine icon on the Dock and a box popped up that says my Time Machine back=up disk can't be found. What does this mean? What should I do about it?

Have you been using Time Machine up until now?
If yes, then check that your Time Machine backup disk is properly connected and mounted. It should appear on the desktop. If it is indeed there, then open Time Machine Preferences and make sure that the disk is designated as the backup disk.
If you haven't been using Time Machine until now, check that a disk that is ~ 3 or 4 times larger than what you plan to back up is connected and mounted, and go into Time Machine prefences and designate it as your backup disk.

Time Machine back-up disk too small

Recently I had to restore my system from a Time Machine back-up, all seemed to work fine. Now I have a situation where time machine gives me an error when I attempt a back up, saying there's not enough free space on the back-up drive. The drive I'm backing up is max 500megs, the external BU drive is a TB. I fixed all the prefs but it seems as though Time machine is not deleting old files from my BU drive to make room for new ones. Any ideas?

OrangePanda wrote:
Hi, I have the same problem.
My backup drive (G-Tech Q 500Gb) has 465Gb of space and my Pro has only 434Gb,
Your backup drive is much too small. To work well (and keep a reasonable number of backups for you), TM usually needs roughly 2-3 times the space of the data it's backing-up. See item #1 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
yet when I tried to update it says I still need 63Gb of space??? I downloaded the Time Machine buddy recommended here, the message said that some old copies were deleted but still need 64Gb, only had 40Gb.
Did I miss something? should I just wipe my G-Tech and try again?
Short-term, probably. Without the actual messages, we can only speculate, but most likely you've made a lot of changes or for some other reason TM is trying to back-up about 54 gb (the 64 includes about 20% extra for workspace). Copy and post the TM Buddy messages here and we can be sure.
Long-term, you need a bigger drive.

How do I find the Library folder on time machine back up disk

I had to rebuild my iMac and wanted to start fresh. I'm useing mountain lion and had everything backed up with time machine. The problem that i'm having is that I can't get the aplication support floder to show up in the library folder that you find under user menu. I know if you hold down the option key while youpull down the go window it will show up on your Mac, but how do I get to the one that is on your time machine backup, useing Moutian Lion? Thanks for any help.

Once you have the folder open in the Finder, enter Time Machine and you'll see the snapshots of the folder.

After servicing my laptop recently, I can no longer find the time machine back up disk

I recenty had my macbook pro serviced after the hard drive cable was broken. Upon return, when I attempt to back up to time machine it says backup disk not available and I cannot find any disks to select in time machine preferences. Any idea how to fix this?

aimehunter,
if you had Time Machine running without connecting an external drive directly to your MacBook Pro, then it must have been a wireless connection to an AirPort Time Capsule.
Open the Time Machine pane in System Preferences. Does it show that you have a destination drive selected there? If not, press the Select Disk… button to select your AirPort Time Capsule drive. After that, select Back Up Now from the Time Machine icon in your menu bar to restart your regular Time Machine backups.

Time Machine Back-up disk

I bought another and bigger Ext HD (HD1TB) to back-up my internal HD (IHD) with Time MAchine. I will use the older 500Gb external HD (HD500G) for my photos and songs, getting my computer to access this Ext HD500 instead of my smaller Internal HD which I want to free up.
1. I want to clone my Time Machine old backups on HD500 to HD1TB. I followed yr instructions to use "Restore" on disk utility but kept getting "Restore Failure. Could not Restore. Operation not permitted" HELP! My HD500 is MacOS formatted as Extended (case-sensitive, journaled) but my new HD1TB is not case sensitive. I did not think this mattered in the cloning/restoring Op.
2. As I am transferring all my songs and photos to my HD500 once I stop using it for Time M B-ups, how do i include this ext HD500 to be backed up by Time Machine as well on my HD1TB?

Hi mcuser,
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I am under the impression that you cannot just simply clone a Time Machine onto another hard drive, from the one that was previously used. Nor can you just drag and drop the folder to a new as then Time Machine would create a new archive.
As far as creating images and restoring them to drives (which it sounds like what you were trying to do), the Time Machine backup as it is created default is not in such a manner where it can be imaged to other drives.
I know SuperDuper! (a disk clone software tool) advertises it can copy/clone Time Machine backups but I've read mixed reviews on various discussion boards. I personally have not used it so I cannot confirm or deny it's success. But that might be a software tool worth researching further.

Time Machine backing up, but restore option not available

Macbook Pro with OS X, 10.5.8. For some time now time machine has been backing up to the external hard drive, but when I select an earlier date to restore my system, the "restore" selection is not available. Any ideas?

Try Section E Here...
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

How do I recover my Bookmarks from a Time Machine Back Up

I just upgraded from a 2 year old MacBook running Snow Leopard to a new MacBook Pro running Lion. Because of the problems Apple has between these 2 operating systems, I can not use the automated Migration Assistant to migrate over any of my old files, user info, or settings to the new machine. I'm having to manually pull over document files and applications from my Time Machine back up disk.
I can't seem to find my Bookmarks from the old computer in my back up files. On the Time Machine drive, I've looked in User, Application Support, Library, amongst many others. Not seeing it anywhere. They don't seem to be in Time Machine at all, or rather they're only there if I do the automated migration for all of my programs and settings. Which of course is not possible, because it leads to massive disk permission errors and a corrupted hard drive on the new machine. One thing I'm realizing i should have done was make a manual back up of my bookmarks in Firefox before I wiped my old machine. If I didn't do this, am I screwed?
If anyone has ideas I would love some help, I really really don't want to lose years of bookmarks.
Oh, and whatever you do, don't buy a Mac with OSX Lion unless you want to waste LOTS of time fixing Apple's mistakes. This whole process has been a disaster so far. There are all kinds of issues with the transition to Lion, I'm 40+ hrs in now. Apple now has their very own version of Vista.

The following has instructions: OS X Mavericks: Restore items backed up with Time Machine
The following is old but specific to iPhoto and may help: iPhoto '11: Restoring from Time Machine with iPhoto '11 (9.2 or later) and OS X Lion 10.7.2 (or later)
Also, see http://www.imore.com/how-set-and-restore-time-machine-backup

I moved some time machine back-ups to the trash and I cannot move or delete them?

I was trying to make room in my Time Machine back-up disk and I moved some files to the trash. Now I cannot delete or move them. What can I do?

The answer depends on exactly what you did to delete the files.
In general, it is not advisable to delete Time Machine backups using the Finder. Time Machine works in conjunction with Spotlight to organize Time Machine backups. Deleting files required Spotlight to work overtime, and it is possible that this action corrupted its database.
If this happened, it is fixable.
Read the following, courtesy of Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini:
http://pondini.org/TM/12.html
Scroll down to the grey box for a potential fix.

Brand new Mac, had to erase drive through disk utility as time machine back up failed. Now disk utility only has the option to install Mountain Lion which my Mac won't allow. Anyone any ideas as my Mac won't load anything up but disc utility!

Brand new Mac, had to erase drive through disk utility as time machine back up failed on initial setup, USB cable popped out Now can only access disk utility as won't load to log in screen. The only has the option in disc utility is to re-install Mountain Lion which my Mac won't allow or loading another time machine back up but after an hour of it processing, that didn't resolve the issue either! The time machine back up is the latest back up of my Mac Book Pro which was using OS X Maverix. I'm guessing I'm going to have to take my Mac to the store but that would be a hassle so does anyone have any ideas?

Follow this guide using another Mac.
Insert your newly created Mavericks USB into you Mac, press the power button and then hold down 'option,' until it gives you an option to boot from the USB. You will then be able to erase the internal disk with Disk Utility and reinstall Mavericks straight after.
After that you should be able to use Migration Assistant to restore your applications and user data.

I'm trying to set up time machine to back up on an external HD connected t my airport extreme, but the disk doesn't show as an option in the time machine selecting a disk, any suggestion anyone? My mac "sees" the airport extreme ??

I'm trying to set up time machine to back up on an external HD connected t my airport extreme, but the disk doesn't show as an option in the time machine selecting a disk, any suggestion anyone? My mac "sees" the airport extreme ??

The first important thing to consider here is that Apple does not support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port on the AirPort Extreme, so that may likely have something to do with your difficulties.
If you want to continue to try this, the drive must be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and you almost always have to use a powered USB hub with a drive at the port of the Extreme...even if the hard drive has its own power supply....because the port on the Extreme is under powered.
Most users who try this unsupported method have corruption difficulties sooner or later, but we do hear from some users who seem to be able to make it work.
The bottom line is that there is no support from Apple on this if you have difficulties, so you may want to consider a secondary backup plan for your important data.

Time Machine Back Up Disk Location Options?

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