Time Machine Backup Not Accessible

Question

Hello all,
Just had a computer die on me (HDD went bad) and took the oprotunity to upgrade, but my time machine backups are acting weird and I cannot get to my data.  My setup is:
Dead computer:  OS X 10.6.8
New computer:  OS X 10.8.3 (maybe 10.8.5, reinstalled today and it took 4 freaking hours to d/l the OS.  Sure miss those OS DVDs...)
TM backups:  Going to the second HDD of OS X Server 10.7.5 over ethernet
Other cmoputer: OS X 10.8.4 (my laptop I used to try and view the TM backups)
First thing I did was use migration assistant on the new computer to move everything over from the old computers TM backup... and that did not go well.  Files were missing, and the computer acted sluggish and displayed anomalies such as the menu bar at top vanishing until the desktop was clicked, and other weird little things.  Thought: okay, must be the jump in OS versions.  No problem, I'll do a fresh install.
So now I have decided to access the dead computers backup using TM from another computer.  First problem:  nobody has permissions to access the sparse bundle on the drive.  Fixed that with the Admin account on the server, adding my u/n as having read/write access.
Now I can mount the sparse bundle, and I see all the folders are there, and some files.  I do the "Browse other backup disks..." from my "other computer" on the network, and it gives me the option "Browse dead computer on ..."  Click that and into space we go... and all I see are my files, on my local computer.  Same thing happens when I use the server itself to try and view the sparse bundle.
I figure this is something weird with using the network and decide to try something else.  I reformat another HDD connected to the server via FW800 as a case-sensitive drive, open up the sparse bundle, and copy the root folder onto the drive.  Took a few hours, got one -50 error message (but it didn't stop the copy) and just tried to access it using "Browse dead computer on ..." and again, it shows me the local files.  It doesn't display any of the TM backups from the dead computer.
What's going on here?  Durring the OS install, I can pick the "restore system from TM" and it will find the TM server, I enter the u/n and p/w of the dead computer, and it prompts me to pick a TM backup I'd like to restore from.  Likewise from migration assistant, it sees the TM backups just fine, and it "works" to an extent (in that it copies most of my files over.  From what I recall, migration didn't prompt for a day to pick, it just copied probably the latest backup, which I bet wasn't complete due to the dead computer kicking the can for whatever reason.  Moot point though).  Is a OS version conflict preventing me from viewing a backup created with 10.6.8?  Would a computer running SL be able to view the TM backup properly?  (...I thought I tried this, can't recal now.  But I can try at work again, I do have one last SL machine on the network).
Anyway, what other options do I have to view the data?  At this point, I feel like I'm stuck rooting through the backups folder and hunting for files to copy over manually, which I know isn't prescribed practice.
Thanks for any input.

Answer 1

You can try a cloning program so that you'll have multiple backups which can help in a situation like this.
Clone  - Carbon Copy Cloner          (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone  - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Commonly Used Backup Methods