Time Machine Backup Concern

Hi, I have a quick question on Time Machine. I have roughly 250 gigs on my Mac and time machine going on a 1TB external. Now, I have 890 gigs that was backed up on my external from only time machine. Why do I have 250 on my Mac HD and 890 on my external? I am confused at how Time Machine works perhaps? What happens when the entire drive if full at 1TB? Is this how it is suppose to work. Please let me know so I can get a better idea of how it works. Thanks

TM actual backups and what is stored is rather hard to look at.
Open the TM display and see.. but I assure you it is just doing what it should. Why so much data is accumulated you will only be able to work out by doing a very careful and time wasting search through all the different dates.
I am not sure how iphoto and itunes libraries are handled now.. you might find one change in the library results in the whole library being backed up.. but it is not clear to me as the operation of these programs changed at a recent update version.
There is info here about tracking what is backed up.
http://pondini.org/TM/D4.html
What already exists in the backup is much less clear.
If it bothers you.. and there is nothing in the history you want.. wipe the drive and start over. This time, track every backup and make sure the size corresponds with what you have been doing. If not get the log files of actual backup to see.
If you want to save the existing backup.. just get a new drive.. USB hard drives are cheap.. Start over is a good plan anyway.. TM ability to restore is made more complex by huge amount of incremental files of no particular relevance.
Do a proper disk image via free version of superduper. That gives you a proper stable, non size increasing starting point to any recovery. Use TM for the incremental part.

Similar Messages

Concerns ALL Time Machine Users. HOW TO MOVE Time Machine backups. Help !

Concerns ALL Time Machine Users :
MOVE (or COPY) Time Machine backups from a "x"To Disk to an "y"To greater disk.
Hello and thank you all for reading me,
First, excuse me if I make language errors (I'm French).
Secundo, I don't know if you'll find something interesting for you
in what I write about Time Machine and my own problems,
but there's a possibility also that YOU could perhaps help me.
I'm talking about Time Machine and his **** Backups.backupdb folder,
containing "*Name of your Mac*" folder,
this folder containing Time Machine backups, format : YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS
Time Machine doesn't recognize the backups it made *IF YOU MOVE THEM*.
I have perhaps a solution in this message.
You'll see below what kind of problem I (and you could) have.
Since 12/01/10, an Apple Adviser Level Two (and me)
are trying to understand how to move backups from TM1To Disk to, let's say, a bigger one.
My case is TM1,5To.
*Purpose :* Move 19 backups from Time Machine X disk to Time Machine Y disk.
Delete TMX disk Time Machine backups after that.
Make TMY disk the current used Time Machine Disk.
I don't remember exactly what we did before
(we even created a "root" account with password (dangerous to do),
but it didn't solve the problem),
but we finally copied :
TM1To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* folder (containing 19 backups) into :
TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb folder.
The Copy application announced *16 hours !* (without antivirus, to remove absolutely).
So I said goodbye and thank you to my Apple Adviser. After *8 hours*, Copy failed.
BUT it had succeeded to copy *4 backups ONLY* (why ?) in TM1,5To.
I immediately verified and checked each of these with Get Info.
They had EXACTLY the same size (Byte to Byte) as in TM1To.
➔ BUT HERE IS MY OBSERVATION :
After designing TM1,5To as Time Machine Disk, I ordered it to Backup (now).
And what did Time Machine do in TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb ?
It created a *NEW folder*, named *MacBook Pro 2* !
➔ *I HAVE NO ACCESS* to TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* (4 backups copied from TM1To, remember) ;
➔ while I still *HAVE ACCESS* to TM1To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* (19 backups) ;
➔ *AND I HAVE ACCESS* to TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro 2*,
where Time Machine makes actually his backups.
*NOTE :* If you *change the name* of your computer,
Time Machine *changes automatically the name* of the folder who is in Backups.backupdb folder.
➔ ① I have *never seen* such protections (Sharing and Permissions).
You are not allowed to do anything. I've tried to change permissions,
first : "R+W", after that : "Make (Me) the owner", I can tell you : DON'T DO IT !
➔ ② It's impossible to install an OS on a Time Machine disk
(I thought it would allow better permissions).
OS Installer detects the existence of a Backups.backupdb folder
and refuses to install on this disk or partition.
I have now the bad intent to install minimal OS X
1) after deleting (how ?) this folder (but not its contents, how to move it ?)
and 2) declare *after that* the disk as Time Machine disk.
➔ ③ Time Machine doesn't backup OTHER Time Machine backups
(who are in an ancient-not-choosed-for-backups Time Machine disk) NOR backups this disk
(detects, once again, the existence of a Backups.backupdb folder).
AND you can't *absolutely not remove backups from the folder the're in*
(for me, *MacBook Pro* or *MacBook Pro 2*).
➔ ④ I didn't have time to do it, but I think there would perhaps be a solution
in restoring backups in partitions specially created to receive them (having the same name,
that sort of thing) and then re-backup these partitions (vicious and complicated).
There is a function on Mac OS X Install DVD : start with it, and then (do not install)
choose "*restore from Time Machine backup*" from the menu bar (it's called "Utilities", I believe).
➔ ⑤ I *absolutely don't understand* what follows :
— If I add (in my TM1To disk) the bytes of the 19 backups
in Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* folder, I obtain about *1,8 To*.
— It's impossible (and not french).
— When I check the size used with Disk Utility (NOT with Get Info),
I find a correct (?) size : *about 750 Go*.
— What are Time Machine backups made of ?
It can't be aliases (because of their size, and because *aliases suppose originals,
and where could they be ?*), or am I wrong and becoming crazy ?
➔ ⑥ If you refer to the numbers shown at the end of this text (*4 backups*),
you'll see I could *delete duplicate elements* inside these 4 backups,
to win space (but *what kind* of space *if I delete aliases* ?).
Back-In-Time (see below) says he does it.
BUT is it really the OLDEST items I have to destroy (see ⑤),
when I don't know with what kind of ARTEFACT I'm acting ?
What does Time Machine delete to create more backup space ?
Is it REALLY the OLDEST backups it treats, or duplicates, OR ?
*What you can do :*
Find and go to Tri-Edre.fr or Tri-Edre.com/fr site (it's a french company
that creates small Mac applications since fifteen years at least,
I think I already bought them several programs in 1990) ;
Their program *Back-In-Time 1.4.4* is free (Trial) and complete to download (with PDF docs too).
It is *ENTIRELY DEDICATED* to Time Machine and *things you can't do* with.
Price is about 30 €, I think it's worth.
The TRIAL version you will obtain can only work on the LAST Time Machine backup,
but you will see what's featured *AND :*
You will ACCESS to ANY Time Machine backup you want
(It has to be the last of a serie of backups, but the serie you want.
I've bought the application and own an activation key, but you understand I can't give it to you
(it would not be ethic) and anyway you would be obliged to disconnect AirPort, Ethernet etc.
•➔ I have bought the application because I thought (it's said in PDF FAQs) I could IN THE END move Time Machine backup files, but it cannot, (I'm afraid).
*BUT ANY ACCESS PROBLEM IS SOLVED.*
•➔ Back-In-Time 1.4.4 can *delete :* duplicate backups, complete backups,
or duplicate items inside one or several Time Machine backups,
things that I believe impossible with Time Machine itself
(I've seen it offers to delete ALL occurences of an item) ;
•➔ The application can also restore anything you want, where you want
(but I think Time Machine does it too ?)
•➔ Believe it or not, but since I've bought it on 15/01,
I've only worked about 2 hours (no, much more) on it
and didn't make sufficient progresses (enhancements ?)
to talk of it with sufficient experience (I'm a bad guy, don't you think ?)
•➔ Tri-Edre offers on-line support, e-mail support (and so on),
and I EVEN didn't manage to join them, because I did many other things,
and also somewhat have been disgusted *not to be able to move* or copy
*(accessible by Time Machine after that)* backups,
and I also didn't succeed (*another Time Machine inconvenient*) to DESTROY an ".inProgress"
Time Machine (package) which doesn't work anymore (several interruptions while active),
date (and name) 2010-01-27-164345.inProgress, but is used (*with failure results*)
by Time Machine (it's turned off till I find how to destroy its **** ".inProgress" package.
•➔ I've asked my Apple Adviser Level 2 to wait for news from me
before working himself on the problem, and I think I will send him this message
to prove I haven't forgotten him.
•➔ I'll send it to Tri-Edre too, in the same move.
I hope those remarks to be useful for somebody, tell me if it has helped.
I will also publish this in any Time Machine topics I find here, and in MacRumors site too.
As you can see, I need help too … Does anybody have an idea ?
Perhaps if I used a specific Copy software, it could work ?
You'll see below an example of some time I've spent to study my problem
(you will think I'm crazy).
With my kind regards, and good luck if you have other Time Machine problems !
Olivier Herrbach
<Edited by Host>
Le but du jeu est de transférer toutes les sauvegardes Time Machine
d'un volume/partition que nous appelerons "1 To"
sur un volume/partition que nous appelerons "1,5 To".
*Je rappelle que les 4 sauvegardes effectuées par Time Machine sur le 1 To
n'ont pas été reconnues comme siennes par Time Machine sur le 1,5 To,
bien que strictement identiques en taille après leur copie.
J'ai remarqué dans Back-In-Time des fichiers invisibles (tels que "TimeMachine.log"
ou quelque chose de genre), et je soupçonne fort qu'ils n'ont pas été copiés et que Time Machine,
ne les trouvant pas dans le 1,5 To, a ignoré à cause de leur absence les 4 sauvegardes décrites ici.*
*Sauvegardes effectuées par Time Machine sur 1 To :*
Path : MacBook Pro > Volumes > 1 To > Backups.backupdb > MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro contient 19 items (dont un alias appelé "Latest") :
1°) 2010-01-02-045758 Size : 913.207 B for 41.888 items comprenant :
• Hitachi 1 To Size : 907.664 B for 41.887 items 7 folders
Différence avec 1°) = - 5.543 B - 1 item (1 folder)
2°) 2010-01-03-001957 Size : 982.211.325 B for 67.490 items comprenant :
• Hitachi 1 To Size : 901.516 B for 41.886 items 6 folders
Différence avec 1°) = - 6.148 B - 1 item - 1 folder
• Samsung 500 Go Size : 981.302.510 B for 25.602 items 4 folders
Total • + • = Size : 982.204.026 B for 67.488 items
Différence avec 2°) = -7.209 B - 2 items (2 folders)
— *Supprimer • Hitachi 1 To* dans 2010-01-03-001957. Comparer les dossiers.
3°) 2010-01-04-222709 Size : 5.241.032.819 B for 26.509 items comprenant :
• Samsung 500 Go Size : 5.187.330.874 B for 19.392 items 8 folders
Différence avec 2°) = + 4.206.028.364 B - 6.210 items + 4 folders
• StartUp Disk Size : 53.692.703 B for 7.115 items 4 folders
Total • + • = Size : 5.241.023.577 B for 26.507 items
Différence avec 3°) = - 9.242 B - 2 items (2 folders)
— *Supprimer Samsung 500 Go* dans 2010-01-03-001957. Comparer les dossiers.
4°) 2010-01-05-125449 Size : 9.428.705.396 B for 204.915 items comprenant :
• HD 250 Go Size : 9.374.308.265 B for 181.575 items 7 folders
• Samsung 500 Go Size : 692.898 B for 16.222 items 8 folders
Différence avec 3°) = - 5.186.637.976 B - 3.170 items
• StartUp Disk Size : 53.692.703 B for 7.115 items 4 folders
Total • + • + • = Size : 9.428.693.866 B 204.912 items
Différence avec 4°) = - 11.530 B - 3 items (3 folders)
— Supprimer • StartUp Disk dans 2010-01-04-222709. IDENTIQUE.

Dear James Pond,
Thank you once again, and, don't be afraid, I will be as short as possible,
but I need to use your last reply (I've cut all what was already said).
JP ➔ You can copy an entire set of backups, but you cannot copy part of it successfully. See #18 etc.
JP ➔ Read this from the first paragraph: "you cannot copy only selected backups,
or merge two (or more) sets of backups." The structure of the backups simply will not allow it.
I've read it, and found it regrettable. And I've also read, after that, what were the solutions under Leopard and Snow Leopard, and my conclusion is that it's a *dead end* for me. In short,
— I can't move (by drag and drop) the 1To's Backups.backupdb folder (containing MacBook Pro, 19 backups, access) to 1,5To, because there exists already the Backups.backupdb folder created by copy on 12/01 with Apple Assistance (containing [MacBook Pro, 4 backups of 19, no access] and [MacBook Pro 2, 15 backups, access]). I don't even know if it could be deleted by the copy (and I don't wanna do that anyway) ;
— I can't rename (and what for, I already forgot it) any Backups.backupdb folder nor delete it ;
— I can't copy any Computer'sName folder (entire set containing backups), being in a Backups.backup.db folder, into another Backups.backupdb folder ;
— I can't copy any (or all of an entire set) YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS backup(s), being in a Computer'sName folder, into another Computer'sName folder (even if it would be empty).
— Saying NONE in Time Machine Preferences and putting it to OFF is simply no use.
All is said. What I can try to do is :
— Delete (not with Finder, but with Back-In-Time) all duplicate things I find in all backups and also entire duplicate backups (I have full access to all with the software) ;
— Restore each of the reduced-to-minimum backups obtained in specially right-sized partitions wearing the YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS name of each restored backup. Time Machine doesn't backup his backups, but will backup these partitions.
I'm afraid to be actually completely running out of the target, when I read what I write … It's time to go to bed !
Reminder (OH) : Where did you find these amazing informations ?
JP➔ Some of it is detailed here: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_maco[]sx_leopard_timemachine.html
➤ Thank you ;
JP➔ and here:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2007/10/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14
➤ Thank you too ;
JP➔ You have to understand the structure. When TM does the first backup, yes, it copies everything.
On subsequent backups, it copies what's new or changed, but also makes "hard links" (sort of like aliases) to the copies of the things that didn't change. That's how it can only back up a few things each time, but show you a complete "snapshot" of the way your entire system looked at the time of every backup.
➤ I'll do my best to understand.
JP➔ Time Machine deletes backups under two conditions. See the first part of #12 in the Frequently Asked Questions User Tip, also at the top of this forum.
Under normal circumstances, you should not have to delete any backups. See the rest of #12.
➤ I understood why Time Machine didn't delete oldest backups : they were not weeklies ones.
Reminder (OH) : How can I destroy the (corrupted ?) not working "2010-01-27-164345.inProgress" in 1,5 To, which causes Time Machine to abort any backup of any size I ask ?
JP➔ Why do you think it's corrupted? TM is designed to "recover" a partial backup.
➤ I'll verify that with the little Tools/Apps I discovered in your FAQ User Tip document and downloaded immediately.
Why didn't Apple tell me anything ? It's my fault, I'm perhaps not clear and not demanding enough more from them.
JP➔ You cannot install OSX on a disk containing TM backups. That's because they need to be on separate disks.
Technically, you could put them on separate partitions of the same disk, but that would not be a good idea.
➤ I never told you that (there would be no interest at all). I talked about the same location, to see if it would allow me more permissions, but if all works without doing it, it's really no use.
JP➔ Sorry, I don't know what that means.
➤ I'm sorry, I didn't explain : "but if all works" meant : Copy Backups.backupdb, "without doing it" meant : Install OSX.
➤ If I install an OSX BEFORE, Time Machine will REFUSE completely to backup on it, it's understood.
JP➔ Correct. The partition you're running from will not be an option in TM Preferences > Select Disk. That prevents TM from backing-up it's own backups!
➤ Would it be so absurd ? Maybe it could resolve my actual problem ?
I think you are right, but I don't know why. I trust you.
Reminder (OH) : "I will not bore you again except if I don't find a specific answer to an unknown-never-seen-incredible malfuction."
JP➔ Don't worry about that -- thats what this forum is for, especially if you're still having problems.
➤ It's seems in fact that there is no possible solution, except what I said above and is certainly crazy/out of subject.
Just try to be as clear and concise as you can.
And please don't post the same things repeatedly -- it wastes your time and ours, and can confuse other folks.
➤ You're absolutely right and I tried to do so this time, and I'm sorry because I see it's still (far) not enough (short).
Thank you once more. I wish you a good evening and week-end. Here it's 01:40 AM.
With my kind regards
Olivier Herrbach
[email protected]

Initial Time Machine Backup Stuck on "Indexing Backup"

I have Mac Mini running 10.7.2. I just got an external hard drive and am trying to run an initial back up using Time Machine. I am running my computer in Safe Mode as it won't start in regular mode. I formatted the HD and began to run Time Machine back up. HD is connected via USB 2.0 wire.
It has now been 12 hours and is still on Indexing Backup... Is this normal for initial back up? I know it takes a long time for initial but this doesn't seem right.What do I do to correct if it isn't correct? Should I stop and try again?

Thank you very much. With your info I gave up on the back up and ran Disk and Permission Repair for the 3rd or 4th time and crossed my fingers and restarted my machine and it WORKED! I ran time Machine back up and when I woke up this morning it was all done! Yeahhhh!
I wasn't sure what was causing it not to start in regular mode and as I'm not too much of a techie I was scared that I was teetetering on the brink of losing everything. The machine would run so I didn't think it was a hard drive issue, but not knowing for sure I was concerned and after losing everythign once before years ago, I was worried. I have it backed up on line but wanted a 2nd (local) version that wouldn't entail tying up bandwidth for days. In the end it worked out!
But the short answer is, Time Machine Backup does NOT work in Safe Mode...

What is the correct procedure to follow after restoring a Mac from a Time Machine Backup?

Hi all,
I did a Time Machine backup of my entire system (Time Machine Backup 1) before bringing my Macbook Pro to the Apple Store to to have it tested. After the TM backup I wiped the laptop leaving only the OS (Mountain Lion) on it so that I could determine whether the problems with my system were hardware or software related. The computer passed all tests.
After bringing my Macbook home I did a fresh intall of all the software and everything worked fine. At this point I did another Time Machine backup (in the same location as the previous backup) so that if I ever had problems with my system I could revert to this working backup (Time Machine Backup 2.0). I used my laptop without issue and created a number of new documents. I did not transfer the documents from the previous time machine backup (Time Machine Backup 1). As time progressed I did regular Time Machine backups (backups 2.1 etc.) installed a few new pieces of software and started having system issues again.
At that point I did another Time Machine backup (in the same location as the previous backups) (Time Machine Backup 3) so that my new documents would be safe. At this point I could see all of my TM backups in finder. Then I used Command + R while booting up and restored my system from what I thought was the clean backup (Time Machine Backup 2). In fact it the TM backup I used was not the correct backup (It was one of the backups between 2.0 and 3 and I needed to go back further). I was concerned, at this point, because I did not (and still do not) know what type of effect restoring the system from an old Time Machine backup would have on the Time Machine structure going forward I was unsure whether doing so and having an "old" system backed up might break the structure so I stopped Time Machine from running a new backup.
When I attempted to look for one of the older versions of the Time Machine backups I discovered that there were no longer any listings for TM backups in their previous location. In fact, the only thing I could see was one line in the place where the multiple backups were previously. I took my laptop and NAS (where the TM backups were stored) to the Apple Store and the "genius" said something about the TM backup being "parsed"? He also described it as a "broken window" and he "sees the broken glass but has no idea how it broke". He also said "neither he nor anyone at Apple would be able to assist me" and that I'd have to go to a data recovery place.
Fortunately I did use a second drive to backup the original system (Backup 1) but I really don't want to lose the files created ater Backup 2 / prior to Backup 3.
Does anyone know what happened / how I can get my Time Machine backups back without forking out tons of cash?
thanks
John
OS ML 10.8.4, Macbook Pro Retina
Synology DS412 (time machine backup to a file folder)

I actually already checked Pondini's and didn't find the answer. Any other suggestions?
thanks

I want to use two separate Lion Time Machine backups and use them to create two separate profiles on one new computer

This is something I need to do temporarily but I must do it.
I have an iMac 27 (end of year 2009) I5. It has 1 TB internal and I want to replace it with a 2 TB internal.
I have time machine backups on an external hard drive that has been connected via Firewire.
I have another iMac (my son's)Imac 24 Intel Core 2 Duo that has it's own separate Time machine backup to it's own separate firewire connected external drive. Both machines are completely up to date with the latest version of Lion and all other necessary software updates.
When the internal hardrive is replaced - I want to use my latest time machine backup to create one profile on the imac and then use my son's latest time machine back up for a second profile. The end goal being to have everything from my current set up ie: apps, documents, itunes, etc existing in one profile and everything in my son's current set up existing in the other profile. We can both be administrators for the time being as well. I should note even though we both have some of the same apps, we both also have other apps that the other does not.
My profile will be using about 900 gigs of total space.
My son's profile will be using about 250 gigs of total space.
This is temporary until the new iMac is released. Then I will want to transfer my profile to that leaving my son's intact on the iMac 27 I5.
I realize that during the temporary period that Time Machine will be making backups of this entire two profile setup, which I am now understanding as I write this will create a new issue for me when I want to transfer only my profile to the new computer as well. But one bridge to cross at a time, I guess.
I need to do this because we must bring his current computer to my father - as his iMac G5 is inoperable. We have been doing this round robin hand me down in our family since IMac DV special edition :-)
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. And any other suggestions as well.
Thanks very much.

Hey Shootist000, Thanks for the replies. First off, I am actually okay if we both have each other applications so I am not concerned about that. It is still unclear from what you have said as to whether I can in fact, use these two separte time machine backup to create two separate profiles on the new hard drive. If that in fact can be done, then - will it create two copies of the apps we both have in the ROOT of the drive as well as placing all the ones we each have separately?
And reading your second reply, makes me think that maybe the partition is the way to go to begin with and then down the road - after I am in the new iMac, I could reformat the iMac 27 with only one partion and restore my son's latest back prior to the reformat thus giving him full access to the 2 TB of the drive.
If this is still making sense, does this mean :
replace the 1TB with a 2TB - but have it partitione - 1.5 TB & 500 GB.
Install(Restore using Time Machine) my latest back up prior to the 1.5 partition
Install (Restore using Time Machine) my son's latest back up prior to the 500 gig partition
Lastly, in order for us both to be using the partioned computer - I am assuming Switch user can no longer be used - so would we need to restart and select our respective partions in order to use the computer? And if so, how would we each be able to be using time machine to back up - two separte external hard drives - with each one dedicated to only one partition? Or ?
Thanks so much.
Ironically, I am only trying to do this so that I don't need to manually install all his apps, setting, games, blah blah for this temporary period. :-)

Can I select certain drives only for Time Machine backup?

I have several internal drives and several external drives connected to my MacPro desktop computer. If I backup everything in all of the drives using Time Machine, the capacity on my designated external drive for Time Machine backup will soon be filled. Is there any way to selectively backup via Time Machine from only designated drives, not all drives connected (internally or externally) to my computer? Is so, how can that be done? I assume that Time Machine will start deleting data when its capacity is exceeded. If that is so, and I remove the designated Time Machine drive at that point and replace it with a new drive, will the removed drive thereafter be able to be reinserted and the prior material read and transferred as needed? Is there any way to utilized Time Machine after I insert the replacement drive to only archive new material saved after the switch of drives?

Yes, mount the drive by opening a new Finder window and clicking on your base station's name in the left column that says 'Shared'. Then double click on the drive name to mount it on your desktop. From there, open Time Machine prefs and select that mounted drive as your backup disk. Time machine will then back up to it. Theoretically.
If you want that disk to automatically mount every time you login to your computer, go to Sys Prefs Panel and select 'Accounts'. Then click 'Startup Items'. From there, drag the mounted drive's icon from the desktop in to that startup items list. It will then auto-mount from there forward.
I have had many problems backing up this way with Time Machine. It will, 9 times out of 10, fail over a wireless backup with an Airport Extreme Gigabit base station and a 1TB Western Digital My Book. Nothing seems to fix, so I have given up. When TM is finally fixed - I will use it. Until then, it's junk software as far as I'm concerned.
But - best of luck. The instructions above are how it's 'supposed' to work..

I want to use my time machine backup to go back to Snow Leopard

I can't live without having my great old golf game (Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003) readily available, and playable, which I always had on my iMac with Snow Leopard. Since upgrading to Mavericks - and using Parallels with Mac OS X 10.6 Server - I am told there's a color/display problem (something about 16-bit color) and I can't get the game to play even though it's the same computer, only upgraded to Mavericks. Parallels says it's an Apple (Mac OS X Server 10.6) problem but from what I can see the server version of this OS is exactly the same as the non-server version - at least insofar as the display/color/graphics is concerned - and Parallels either doesn't want to help (with an appropriate graphics controller) or can't.... so I'm left with having to go back to Snow Leopard from Mavericks. What a huge disappointment! Can I use - and how do I do it - my Time Machine backup of my Snow Leopard OS, apps, documents, iTunes, etc. to wipe out Mavericks?

Yes, the machine came with Snow Leopard but not sure where the install disc(s) are. Perhaps they got lost in the shuffle as we moved a few months ago. I do have a Snow Leopard install disc - can I use that and if so, is there a different way to do the install than if I was using the original install discs that came with the computer? Maybe I will jsut have to try it and see what comes up....
But for the computer's inability to play the game, I would have stayed with Mavericks. Now I'm installing a trial version of VMware Fusion but probably the results will be the same as for Parallels. I'll report back in a few minutes!

Copy Time machine backup using a different Mac

A friend has a Time Machine backup from an iMac that he sold some time ago. He's concerned that the drive might fail so wants to make a copy of the backup, but doesn't have a Mac at the moment. So he'd like to use my MacBook to copy his backup drive. The backup is about 400GB, my HD is 256GB and he'd like to copy it to a new 1TB drive.
All the answers that I can find to similar questions assume that the Time Machine backup belongs to the Mac making the copy, in this case it doesn't. So is there a way to copy a Time Machine backup using a Mac that wasn't used to create the backup?

Hi ozRob,
If you would like to copy an existing Time Machine backup from one drive to another, you may find the following article helpful:
Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5096
Regards,
- Brenden

Limiting Time Machine backup Size with WD MyBookLive and 10.8

I cannot take credit for the any part of this solution; merely for merging and clarifying how the solutions discovered by 2 Apple Support Communities contributors much smarter than I (namely “Pondini” – Florida and “himynameismarek”) - worked perfectly for my situation. All cudo’s to these two!
I have about average or better PC skills, but am an absolute newbie with Apple. This week I got a new iMac. Having a number of home PC’s all sharing files and back up space on a Western Digital MyBookLive (“WD MBL”) 3TB network drive (NAS), naturally I wanted to use it to backup the new Mac rather than rushing out to buy an Apple Time Capsule.
There are hundreds of threads on limiting size of a Time Machine (“TM”) backup, many of which required entries in “Terminal” or were devised on older versions of OSX. I’m running OSX Mountain Lion 10.8, so was concerned they may not work.
The issues I wanted to resolve were:
Time Machine will use up all of the space on my WD MBL if left to it’s own devices.
The WD MBL is compatible with Mac and PC’s… which is good… but unlike a back up in Windows 7 Pro which will allow you to make backups in a mapped “share” you create yourself, Apple TM Backups will not; they end up in a hidden folder on the NAS (much like PC backups done with WD Smartware)
At first I thought maybe I could limit the size of a share created in the MBL, but not possible, at least not that I've seen and I have searched for days.
The solutions:
First make sure you have the latest firmware for the WD MBL as of today it is MyBookLive 02.11.09-053. From what I’ve read Western Digital fixed the compatibility issues with 10.8 Mountain Lion just recently.
Next you need to start TM so that it starts to create a back up. You can stop the back up once you see files being copied. Do this before you walk thru the video tutorial by my Marek below. WD MBL will create the hidden folder you need to find for TM Backups. This folder is called “TimeMachine” but it is not visible even in the “MBL_NAME-backup” folder in Finder.
Open safari and type “ afp://xxx.xxx.x.xxx ” but use your own ip address of your MBL. Mine was 192.168.1.120, yours will be different.
It will ask how you want to connect. CHOOSE AS A GUEST even if your MBL is protected… I’m not sure why it works but it does. Then a window will come up asking which share you’d like to mount. You will see all of your own shares plus one called software and now one called “TimeMachine”. Choose that one.
Now in “Finder” you will see a mounted shared item called “YOUR_MBL_NAME-“ (the same as the one that is probably already there but with a dash(-) at the end). You’ll also see a new “device” in the device list called “Time Machine Backups” (If you already have watched the video tutorial by Marek, you’d know you are looking for a file called “YOUR_MACHINE_NAME.sparsebundle”. Well if you browse the folder “Backups.backupdb” in the Time Machine Backups device you won’t find it… again I don’t know why but you won’t. It resides in the hidden folder called “TimeMachine” that is now visible in the thing you just mounted in step 4)
NOW watch this video tutorial http://youtu.be/Nq7mSizqUSI and follow it step by step.
Voila... issues resolved. Thank you Pondini and Marek!

Try Use Terminal to limit Time Machine sparcebundle size on timecapsule,
should work to limit Time Machine backup size on any NAS or external disk (or not...)
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine MaxSize 500000
to return to ilimited
sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine MaxSize
if you want to reclame deleted files space shrink it use
hdiutil resize -size 500g -shrinkonly /Volumes/TimeMachineYOURNAME/YOURNAME.sparsebundle/
Regards

Can I perform a Time Machine backup to a USB drive connected to the Time Capsule 3TB

I would like to perform Time Machine backups to a portable USB drive, to use as an off-site backup copy. However, when I plug the drive into the Time Capsule (3TB) it isn't seen by Time Machine from any of the computers on my network. What do I need to do to make this work?

I'm not sure about whether Time Machine can include a drive that is a month out of date in a normal rotation.
This won't be a "normal" rotation. Assuming that you have already configured Time Machine on each Mac to back up to the USB drive, when you connect the drive to the Time Capsule, you will need to manually click Backup Now on a Mac to get the backup started. Then, do the same with other Macs that you want to back up.
You could wait and see if Time Machine will start to back up on its own, but the wait would be unpredictable as far as time was concerned.
Time Machine will also spend a good deal more time in the "Preparing" stage since it will have to look a month of history on the Mac since the last backup.
It is set up and recognized in the Airport utility, and mounts normally. I can see the files using finder, but I can't get Time Machine to recognize that it is there and available for backups.
So, if you open System Preferences on a Mac,
Then, open Time Machine
Click Add or Remove Disk
The USB drive doe not appear as a potential destination?
Have you restarted both the Mac and the Time Capsule?
Any recent changes to the Mac.....like installing a new operating system?

Time machine backup from 10.6 server to Lion

Hi
I am running a Mac mini Server with SL Server, but I do not use the server features, it's pretty much a regular workstation. Now I want to upgrade to Lion (workstation) by formatting the hard drive and do a clean install. My question is if it is possible to restore my user data from the Time Machine backup done in SL Server during the setup of Lion? Are those os'es backups compatible or do I have to manually backup my home directory and user data and add everything after finishing the Lion install?
Thanks in advance
/Niclas

Thanks for your reply.
I guess that on 10.6 as far as TM is concerned the server version is exactly the same as the client version, except that we don't have the benefit of Migration Assistant to do the inherit for us.
I am using a USB disc for TM.
I can see that under Backup.backupdb I have a folder named after the old server, which contains the backups.
I did try simply renaming that to the new server name, just in case the solution might be that simple. But I get "operation not permitted". It's not a permissions problem, and doing chflags nouchg doesn't help. I guess it could be the schg flag, but I'm reluctant to try too hard in case I lose the old backups.
Soooooo I think I am out of options and the only thing I can do is as you say and start again.

Hard drive died with a kernel panic during time machine backup

after installing a new hard drive into my 13" macbook pro (mid-09), i used the time machine utility on the os x install disk to restore from my last backup. the restore went well and all my data was fine. however, after about 30 minutes of internet browsing, i got a random kernel panic and after rebooting the computer the new hard drive was no longer being recognized.
i have no idea what happened to the drive (it was brand new, just installed earlier today) but a major concern of mine is that time machine was trying to back up the computer when the kernel panic occured, so i had to reboot in the middle of taking a backup. could this possibly corrupt my time machine backups?
im really scared right now so any insight helps.
and more info regarding my situation can be found here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4174894?tstart=0

after installing a new hard drive into my 13" macbook pro (mid-09), i used the time machine utility on the os x install disk to restore from my last backup. the restore went well and all my data was fine. however, after about 30 minutes of internet browsing, i got a random kernel panic and after rebooting the computer the new hard drive was no longer being recognized.
i have no idea what happened to the drive (it was brand new, just installed earlier today) but a major concern of mine is that time machine was trying to back up the computer when the kernel panic occured, so i had to reboot in the middle of taking a backup. could this possibly corrupt my time machine backups?
im really scared right now so any insight helps.
and more info regarding my situation can be found here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4174894?tstart=0

Aperture 3 Crashed; Can't relocate Masters despite time machine backup

I recently had a major crash of my OS system 10.6.8. Not sure what happened, but essentially had to rebuild the directory with Diskwarrior. When I tried to open Aperture 3, I received an error message and the inability to open Aperture. After searching through the forums and the internet I essentially reinstalled Aperture 3 with the trial version and updated it to the most recent version. My plugins (Nik Software) are no longer in Aperture as I thought this might have been part of the problem. Nonetheless, I am missing a good deal of my projects from 2011. I get the YELLOW TRIANGLE and the message that the master is not there. So, I have rebuilt the database library (using command-option) and now Aperture is reporting that the images in those projects never existed. NOW, I have fortunately been using time machine to backup regularly. However, when I go back to a recent backup and restore of the Aperture library, those projects are still missing!
I am going insane thinking about this pictures and the missing data. Shouldn't Time Machine saved the all the files prior to the crash? Is there some place/other locations that I should be RESTORING besides the Aperture Library?
I look forward to hearing from you guys and everyone's suggestions, because I am driving myself crazy!

thanks for the reply Frank:
Masters. I do not know. I left it as the default. I assume that means managed?
Error message was the LONG error code with the jist of it being related to what sounds like a PLUGIN error. I don't have the EXACT coding right now as I am not home. I've googled the code +/- other stuff on it and according to discussions here and elsewhere (albeit all archived), it looks like it was related to my plugins.
as far as the restore is concerned, I am POSITIVE that the restored library was the NEW library not the original. But keep in mind, Time Machine only lets me restore the backup to the exact place where the file was before. I am just worried that somehow Time Machine backup hosed my Aperture library somewhere along the way. This is why I was wondering if there is something else I need to restore with my time machine backup besides the library file/database itself?
Thanks for the quick reply.

Verbatim disk drive historically used only for time machine backups. Recently i added some other media files to use some of available space without partitioning, the disc now refuses to mount in finder despite appearing in disk utility. Repair fails. HELP

Sorry to elaborate a bit more.
I have used time machine since owning my mac book pro with no issues. i keep the timemachine backups on an external hard drive made by Verbatim. This has not external power source.
Recently i decided to use up some of the available space on the external verbatim disk drive to store some movie files which were sitting on my macbook pro.
Therefore i created a new folder outside of the time machine backup folder and stored the movie files in there.
From then on Time machine failed... and a few days later i noticed it was not mounting in 'finder'
Therefore i used disk utility to see if it was recognising it. Which i was. However when i try to repair it the repair process fails.
In disk utility i am presented with 1 TB Samsung HN M10 which has a child called Verbatim HD.
The 1TB Samsung hardware appears fine, but the verbatim disk i am unable to fully verify and fix.
Does this mean i have lost all my back ups?
Have I lost all the media that i put on there?
Is there any way to fix this?
Any help would be appreciated.
didier07...

To summarize: You used an external Verbatim HD for your TM backups. Then, you stored some movie files on the "spare" space on the Verbatim drive. Now, Disk Utility isn't being recognized, and repair is disabled. Your home Samsung drive is working fine, but the Verbatim cannot be verified.
The problem, I believe, is that the external Verbatim drive wasn't partitioned. There should be two partitions: one for TM backups, the other for video. That way, you can perform backups, and still retain some space for video or somesuch.
Frankly, I don't know how to fix this except through the following. (1) Erase the Verbatim drive, (2) Create a new blank space and format it, (3) Make two partitions - one for backup, the other for video. (4) Run TM through one partition, but switch to the other for your videos. The better solution might be to have one dedicated drive (perhaps the Verbatim) for backups, and another dedicated drive for video backups; that way, you'll have plenty of space for expansion.
I hope someone will correct me if I'm incorrect, but I believe you've essentially lost your backups and media. I don't know how you can retrieve that clump of the now-undifferentiated data on the Verbatim drive. To retrieve any lost data, you're going to require another external drive that's larger in capacity, as well as data recovery software; don't expect encouraging results. If you're desperate, there are firms like Drive Savers that can offer a more comprehensive solution - at a cost.
Post if you have questions, or additional concerns!

Can I clone and time machine backup on the same external drive?

I recently purchased a WD 2 TB external usb drive. I want to make sure that I have good backups in case my Macbook decides to give up on me. Should I clone a copy of HD or just time machine backup? Can i do both on one external hd?

RobCob wrote:
I'm honestly only concerned about my photos and music.
You can Manually Backup your iPhoto Library and your iTunes Library to an External Drive without addition Software.
How to correctly move your media:
iTunes: How to move the library to an EHD
Early iPhoto: How to move the Library to an EHD
iPhoto '11: Move your iPhoto library to a new location
iMovie: How to move the Library to an EHD
It is important that the External Hard Drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled).

Time Machine Backup Concern

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