Time Machine backup restores OS X and Apps

Time Machine backup restores OS X and Apps or only Data?

Hi lseit,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I understand that you would like information what what information is restored while restoring from Time Machine. For information on this process, please review the information in the attached article.
Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support
Restoring data from Time Machine backups
With Time Machine, you can go "back in time" to restore files, versions of files, or your entire system. If Time Machine alerts you that your Time Machine backup disk can't be found, make sure your backup drive is connected and mounted.
Best regards,
Joe

Similar Messages

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro running Mavericks for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

no archive/ backup is perfect, HD clones can be set to make incremental additions, same as time machine however, though they are more time involved in doing so.
See the + and - of all data backup/ archives below and "spread it around".... or the "dont put your eggs all in one basket" philosophy.
Peace
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.

Time Machine backup/restore on iMac with SSD and HD...

Time Machine backs up the SSD and HD on my iMac into one "sparse bundle" for the computer. I need some direction on how to get to the HD backup in order to restore individual files and folders.
PLEASE do not give an answer like "Just enter Time Machine and click Restore." I have been trying to get this to work for hours - if it was so easy, I would not be asking. (I don't mean to sound rude so please don't be offended.)
Thanks for any help.

Sorry, Bob, I see that I didn't say at the beginning of this discussion, but the SSD has all my applications and OS X system. The purpose for the SSD is to run the system and apps faster, while having all files/documents on the slower and larger HD.
So my home folder (my UserName) in the left panel is on the SSD. I have no problem accessing the SSD backups in Time Machine.
When I choose the MacHD in Time Machine, I cannot select a date from the timeline of backups on the far right because all the backups are grayed out (not available). Choosing the SSD gives no access to the files from the separate HD.
I also have a MacBook Pro. It is backed up to the same Time Capsule using Time Machine and has its own separate "sparse bundle." But the iMac puts both of its separate drives into the same sparse bundle. I asked the Apple Support person I spoke with the other day whether I should have separated them before doing the backup, but he said no - it is backed up correctly.
Does anybody out there know if Apple has any specific support articles about using the two separate drives on one computer, whether for backup and restore or for any other purposes?

How to restore time machine backup without disturbing already installed app

Hi!
My school recently reconfigured/reformatted my macbook and install the school image. Now it is filled with applications that the school help us installed. Now how do i restore the backup that my time machine backups last time? Migration assistant or what? I did not change my mac, it is just that my hard disk got reconfigured. How do i restore backup without disturbing the apps my school installs?
Please help thanks!
ALa.

alazahee wrote:
I did not change my mac, it is just that my hard disk got reconfigured.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Is your user account still there?
If not, and if you have either Time Machine backups or a "clone" as backups, yes, use Migration Assistant. See [Using Migration Assistant|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Migrate.html]. Note that you must be logged-on with a user account that's named differently from any of the accounts you want to transfer, or else be prepared to rename the duplicate.
If your backups aren't either Time Machine backups or a "clone," you'll have to drag and drop or restore using the app that made them.

Restore files from last Time Machine backup after HD erase and install

I just had to do an "erase and install" ... trying to restore files from my last Time Machine backup but after completing the Airport Utility setup / configure steps, it says "waiting to restart" for a few minutes and then says it cannot find TIme Capsule after restart (though TC never restarted). I'm pretty desperate to get my files back as it's Sunday night and my business needs to be up and running by morning. Any help would be greatly appreciated ... even if it's saying I need to take TC into a Mac store to have them retrieve my files.

While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.

Will Time Machine backup 2 internal HDs and put the data back into them when restoring?

Hello,
I am going to be doing a clean install of Snow Leopard. I have a machine that has 2 internal HDs. If they are backup up using Time Machine, when restoring, will it put those files exactly as they were?
Thanks!

Restore to a multiple disk setup should work fine. But there are as always some tricks to it.
See our expert Pondini's explaination and follow his links.. I suggest you actually spend some time understanding how TM works.
http://pondini.org/TM/32.html
I would also recommend spending a few dollars and buy CCC or superduper. Make a backup of each drive. These 3rd party backup programs are more flexible and you can create direct images of the drives. It makes recovery a much much easier process.
If it is a Mac Pro put in another disk for TM backups and use a USB or even esata card and external sata drive for backups using CCC. Doing it that way you can make a bootable image of your main drive.

My time machine backup of address book and iphoto etc wont open

So I'm about to do a bunch of stuff on my computer and want to make sure that my time machine backups are going to be able to be restored and that I can unpartition my bootcamp drive safely. I will be downloading SnowLeopard, Parrallels, and some other software. I really want to make sure that certain apps, such as address book, iphoto, and itunes have been backed up correctly and that they will be able to be restored. When I opened my time machine backup folder and clicked on those three apps, it gave me an error code. I don't want to start doing all of the things listed above without being confident that I will be able to recover any stuff that may get lost. How do I accomplish this?
Also, how do I unpartition my drive to get rid of Bootcamp?
Thanks

So I'm about to do a bunch of stuff on my computer and want to make sure that my time machine backups are going to be able to be restored and that I can unpartition my bootcamp drive safely. I will be downloading SnowLeopard, Parrallels, and some other software. I really want to make sure that certain apps, such as address book, iphoto, and itunes have been backed up correctly and that they will be able to be restored. When I opened my time machine backup folder and clicked on those three apps, it gave me an error code. I don't want to start doing all of the things listed above without being confident that I will be able to recover any stuff that may get lost. How do I accomplish this?
Also, how do I unpartition my drive to get rid of Bootcamp?
Thanks

Can I use Time Machine to restore iMac & recover A2 app & images as they we

I have the "continuous processing" problem. I've tried most things. Disaster.
Does anyone foresee any problem with rebooting from installation disc and using Time Machine to restore to the day before I upgraded to A3?
What I'm hoping is that I shall then have my original A2 app. and its corresponding library of images.
Advice appreciated BEFORE I try this. It seems intuitively a safe bet, but...

It really depends on what you told TM to exclude from the backup. If you included everything then yes.
If not you may have to manually remove A3 and reinstall A2. Also, you may lose other work you've done during that time like email, documents and stuff.
You can selectively restore from TM and just get your library back. I did a selective restore when the logic board died in my iMac, but all my pictures were on external drives and unaffected by the loss.
I'd make a separate back up of important files before doing any of this.
DLS

Auto mount/eject external drive for time machine backup/restore

I have an Iomega ultramax drive connected via firewire 800 for my Time machine backups.
This drive will automatically spin down after a period of non-use. I like this as it means lower power usage and lower risk of data loss (head crashes etc..).
My problem is, when the drive spins down like this, some file open operations pause until the drive spins up again. I cannot remember exactly which applications I have had the problem with, but I assumed that this was part of the OS. This delay can be up to 5 seconds or so and is really annoying.
Assuming this is not just a specific third party application thing. My suggestion to Apple is to do one or both of the following:
1) Multi thread the file open dialog (process?) so that is comes up instantly, and then adds the drive when it has spun up.
2) Modify time machine so that it can automatically mount/eject the external drive just when doing backups and restores.
Currently I have a bit of a messy work around to this problem where I have a loadd scheduled shell script that runs every hour that mounts the drive, runs time machine to backup and the ejects the drive. It works, but is not perhaps as nice a solution as it could be.
Does anybody else suffer from this problem?

Yes that is correct, the drive spins down and remains mounted.
To be perhaps clearer. The problem is not essentially a time machine problem, it is to do with whatever implements the file open capability that other apps use. In the above sitation, there is always a delay for the drive to spin up when I go to open a file (perhaps five seconds) in other applications. I assume this delay is caused by the file open process waiting until some data is retrieved from the external drive before giving me the option of choosing a file. This delay is annoying, as I do not ever want to open a file from my external drive (this is dedicated to time machine backups) when I am using pages, or any other application other than a time machine restore.
This particular issue is similar (but I suspect nowhere near as bad) as one of my pet hates about windows XP. In windows it appears that the explorer will wait for a response on all its connected drives (hard disks, mounted cds, network drives), so any sort of network connectivity or hardware delay will cause explorer to freeze. As explorer seems to be embedded in most things you do with the OS, this can cause anything or everything to freeze (web browsing, you name it).
In my setup, as I have the external drive totally dedicated to time machine backups, another thing that would fix the problem for me is the suggestion number 2 I suggested where time machine auto mounts for the backup and then ejects after the backup. With the feature, then the external drrive will only ever be mounted for short periods of time (the above problem does not ocurr if the external drive is not mounted), and when it is mounted it will be spinning, so I will never have my file open delay. I would however have a short delay when doing a time machine restore for the mount of the drive, but this is a much rarer event the using file open in all my other apps.
Thanks for the info on the feedback link, I will post this to that.

Can't sync applications after Time machine backup restoration

Hello.
I'm running 10.5.4 on a Macbook whose hard drive crashed. I replaced it with another one and restored from my closest time machine backup. Everything is OK with the files, the problem was when I tried to sync my ipod touch.
The ipod is running 2.0.2. It contained 9 applications, but after the first try to sync I got the error message that several applications couldn't be synced. For each of them I had a message like "Application blah blah could not be synced because you lack the permissions to do so".
More importantly, the iPod touch now doesn't contain any of these applications, even though they still get reported as a problem during syncing. Rather than deleted, they seem to be hidding, though I can't access any from the touch.
How can I recover my applications being synced without losing their data?

I have used iTunes to reset the iPod to the factory default settings. After the syncronisation and reuploading of all my music and photos, I still get the same error on application syncing: I have no permissions to sync applications.
I have tried downloading new free applications from the App store, but it is the same, nothing gets synced, the new applications are added to the list of problematic programs that can't be synced.
Here's a snapshot of the error: http://gradha.sdf-eu.org/appsyncerror.png

TIME MACHINE - Backup & Restore Inquiry

I'm new to using Time Machine and I just need to better understand exactly how it works.
Here is my current config:
Mac Pro Tower (2006-2007)
Running OS X: 10.5.8
Primary Hard Drive: 250GB
Primary Use: Logic Pro (for music production)
I want to upgrade the OS to Snow Leopard (which I already own the discs I purchased in 2009). As well I'm going to be chaning out the current 250GB hard drive to a new 1TB hard drive. This drive will be the main operating drive.
I have already done a Time Machine back up of my current 250GB hard drive to an external hard drive, but I'm confused about the restoration. Since this is a new 1TB drive being put in, and since it won't be formated for Mac use already, will I need to boot up from my OS X Leopard discs and reinstall that first?
If yes, I don't know what to do from that point forward in order to restore the rest of the programming from my Time Machine backup (if it's even possible). I need to better understand if Time Machine does a backup of the current hard drive to restore onto my new one, or if regardless of backup I have to re-install all my software (including Logic Pro and tons of plugins) all over again?
Anyone who can help me understand this process better ASAP would be so greatly apprecatied.
THANK YOU!

Yes, I suggest you initialize the new drive while you have the entire resources of Mac OS X available, and because you can start the process and surf the web or catch up on your emails while it works away in the background.
Those "Full Retail" DVDs say they are upgrades, but generally do not require you to install 10.5 Leopard first -- you can install 10.6 Snow leopard onto a newly-initialized drive if it is GUID formatted, MacOS X Extended (journaled). Then use Software Update to bring it up to date.
When you do this you have the equivalent of a "new" machine. Use Pondidini's article (blue underlined text above). he recommends you use Setup Assistant to restore from your backup onto your new machine, and provides instructions.
Setup Assistant is designed to transfer all or selected data, apps, etc. from one Mac, or its Time Machine or "clone" backups, to set up a new Mac just like the old one.

Lightroom 4 Time Machine backup restoration

Hello,
My MacBook Pro has died. I have a complete TimeMachine backup of the harddrive but as an interim measure I will be using a Macbook Air, which cannot accomodate the entire Time Machine backup.
I have tried to drag the Lightroom application from the backup drive to the Air but it asks for a Serial when I open it.
I'd like to know if anyone knows of a way of doing a partial restore of a TimeMachine backup so that I can restore my old catalog, library and settings for Lightroom on the Air without doing a complete transfer of the old hard drive?
Thanks for your help.

Maybe you would have better luck if you asked your question on a Mac forum or TimeMachine forum?
Because this has nothing to do with Lightroom. Your chance to find a LR user here, who has also TimeMachine plus the specific need to restore a partial backup, are obviously rather slim?
Sorry for being of not much help, as a Windows user.
My backup strategy is different: I do backups of my vital data in a less automated way, but I have any partial junk available on several drives.
If my PC dies, I'd have to do a clean install of a new Windows plus my programs and data, which means following a lenghty checklist.
Good luck, Cornelia

Time Machine Backup Restoration Question

Hi and tnxs for reading.
In order to restore an entire time machine backup on a new mac, does the new mac have to run the same version of OSX that was used for the TM backup or not?
In other words, are the old version of TM backup compatible with the following version of OSX?
Example: TM backupped with OSX Mountain Lion. New MAC running OSX Mavericks.
Many tnxs.
Regards.

You will migrate in this case.. otherwise you are going to restore Mountain Lion.
See Pondini.. http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
He discusses the setup assistant and migration assistant. It only covers up to Mountain Lion but the same stuff applies to Mavericks.

Trying to upgrade to Maverick but my disk has Time Machine backup so it cant and will not intall. How do I get around this problem?

I have a 13-inch MacBook Mid-2009 running on IOS X Lion and am trying to upgrade to Mavericks but after the download and starting installation the point where you choose which disk to use it says my hard drive is being used for Time Machine backups so it can not be used. I have turned off the Time Machine but do not know how to remove the backups from the hard drive. What do I do to get rid of the Time Machine backups I no longer actually need and install Mavericks? I have moved all my files to a separate terabyte hard drive but that drive does not have the GUID partition scheme to be used for installation. So I am stuck with one internal hard drive I cant use due to Time Machine and an external hard drive I cant use due to this GUID partition problem. How can I work around this and finally upgrade to Mavericks?

Click here and follow the instructions.
(116122)

My Time Machine backups are significantly larger, and slower, over WiFi than Ethernet

My regular hourly backups from my Time Capsule began acting up a month ago. They were abnormally large (25-100 MBs) and took a long time--once, six hours.
I connected my Time Capsule to my MacBook Air through ethernet to repair the disk through Disk Utility, (I turned Airport off on the Air, but not the Time Capsule), and then to rebuild the Spotlight index for the Time Capsule.
Backups over ethernet work just fine now. The backup will happen in two parts, of around 200 KB each, and take two or two and a half minutes. But when I turn Airport on the Air back on, reconnect to the WiFi network, unplug the ethernet cable, and immediately start a new backup over WiFi, the two parts balloon to around 20 MB each, and the backup takes hours.
This is a backup over ethernet, which took 2 minutes, 21 seconds:
Starting standard backup
Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://Martin%[email protected]/External%20HD
Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Martin%[email protected]/External%20HD
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Disk image /Volumes/External HD/Martin Fox’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.70 GB requested (including padding), 733.41 GB available
Copied 1082 files (104 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.70 GB requested (including padding), 733.41 GB available
Copied 429 files (153 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Martin Fox’s MacBook Air/2012-05-11-225349: 733.41 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Martin Fox’s MacBook Air/2012-05-11-200538: 733.41 GB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 2 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.
Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Ejected Time Machine network volume.
This is the second backup after that one, done over WiFi. (The first was incompletely recorded by Time Machine Buddy, but took around half an hour.) It took 1 hour, 54 minutes, 50 seconds:
Starting standard backup
Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://Martin%[email protected]/External%20HD
Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Martin%[email protected]/External%20HD
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Disk image /Volumes/External HD/Martin Fox’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 733.41 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Copied 26 KB of 20.6 MB, 98 of 98 items
Copied 1485 files (22.0 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.72 GB requested (including padding), 733.41 GB available
Error: (-8084) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/foxmarti/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/ehjqi949.default/places.sqlite-wal to (null)
Copied 1941 files (27.5 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Backup completed successfully.
Eject

slyfox1908 wrote:
I live in an apartment building so there are a number of WiFi networks around.
Not to mention cordless phones, microwaves, etc., any of which can interfere.
On iStumbler, my network shows up twice--once on channel 149, with signal strength of 50-65% and noise of 15%--and again on channel 10, with signal strength of that wildly varies from 20% to 90% and noise of 20%. Other networks in the building are on channels 1, 2, 6, and 11. The graph of channel 149 is very smooth, while the graph of channel 10 is choppy.
It's probably using 149, as those numbers are pretty good. Press Alt/Option before clicking the Airport icon in your menubar to see which band it's using.
Watch the band it's using while running a backup. Try other channels in the area of 149. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a "hit and miss" thing.
Why are there two networks? Is that part of the problem? My Time Capsule is located about three feet right and a foot below my desk, so I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't be 100% for both channels.
It's a dual-band router. As I understand it, OSX will pick the best signal.
I really want to know I have a clean, safe, accessible back-up before I replace it though. Right now I don't trust the Time Capsule.
Do at least your last backup via Ethernet.

Time Machine backup restores OS X and Apps

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