Time Machine backup to another Mac on the network

Hi, my wife is getting a new iMac. I was wondering if I partitioned the new drive in the iMac, one for the iMac OS X installation & the other for backing up my MacBook Pro over the network. Would this work?
So it would be:
iMac backed up to exteral firewire drive
MacBook Pro backed up to second partition on iMac over local network
My network uses a 8 port gig switch & an Airport Extreme router.
Any ideas or help would be great, thanks.

Check out this article:
http://lowendmac.com/zisman/08az/time-machine-shared-backup.html

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Access my Time Machine backup with another Mac?

The HD on my 24" iMac just bit the dust and I am using my old eMac to try to get some work done while I wait for another. Fortunately, I have a Time Machine backup. Is it okay to access files off my Time Machine backup with my eMac, as long as I don't change anything? I don't want to mess up my backup before I can restore it to my new Mac.
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Should be, if the eMac is running 10.5.x be sure to turn off TM backups though.

Restore Time Machine backup to another Mac

If I use time machine to backup my Macbook Pro to an external hard drive, then lose my Macbook Pro, can I restore my data to another Mac? Does anyone know the answer

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html
But every indication is that simply starting off the Leopard disk will ask you, if the device (backup) is hooked to the computer.

Time machine backup to another mac

Hi,
Here's my config : I have a mini that has a drive attached locally for TM use. I use it to back up the mini, but also a MacBook. It works mostly fine. The only problem I have is that it seems that to backup my macbook I have to browse in the finder to the mini, and even to the TM drive, otherwise TM does not see the drive attached to the other mac.
Is TM so dumb he cannot remember a network location and try to connect to it ? Or maybe he tried when I was away from home (or after a sleep/restart), and decided to give up after a few attempts, awaiting manual mapping of the drive ?
Is this a bug ?

I also have a Mac Mini that I use as a "file server" for the house. The Mini uses TM to back up to one of its attached drives. I also have two laptop macs on the same home network and each uses TM to back up to a drive attached to the Mini. (I.e., The mini has three external, attached drives that are dedicated to each of the three Macs in the house.)
My laptop moves between home and work. At work I configure TM to back up to a portable, attached drive. When I get home, I reconfigure TM to use the remote drive on the Mini. However, to do this, I must first use Finder to reach the Mini and log in, thus getting the mounted drive to appear on the desktop. Then I select the Mini's volume (drive) that is used as the TM backup drive for the laptop. This is the only way I can get that drive to show up in TM's preferences "Change Disk" window in order to redefine the TM backup drive. TM doesn't "remember" that drive, since it can only remember one destination drive at a time.
HOWEVER, once I've defined the Mini's drive as the destination, I can eject the drive from the laptop's desktop. When TM does its hourly backup, it automatically connects to the sparsebundle file on the Mini's drive that is used as the destination. As long as I don't redefine the destination drive, TM finds the remote drive.

How to fix podcast privileges when using time machine backup on another mac

hello,
my imac broke down the other day and is now at the menders. i had been using time machine with a LaCie 500gb external hard drive.
i am now using my macbook pro as a substitute and want to use the itunes library from my LaCie instead of copying everything over again. I have managed to achieve this by changing the library destination in itunes preferences. However, when i try to "get" the latest podcasts that usually subscribe to, it says "you do not have enough access privileges for this operation". similarly, when i try to buy anything from the itunes store, it will not let me download, giving me an error 5000 message instead. i had signed in correctly by the way. the purchased songs are still in the downloads folder but greyed out.
any advise would be much appreciated. i'm not that technically minded so please spell anything out to me!

johndave, did anyone ever respond to your post?

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.

I updated my iMac to Mountain Lion. All the files were deleted. I have Time Machine backups. When I restart the mac pressing Command R to restore from backup it shows the previous OS X (Leopard) beside the date of the backup. Will it go back if I restore?

I updated my iMac to Mountain Lion. All the files were deleted. I have Time Machine backups. When I restart the mac pressing Command R to restore it from the backup it shows the previous OS X (Leopard) beside the date of the backup that I want to select. Will it go back to Leopard if I restore it from the backup?

No, it won't revert to the prior OS X but you you may have third party apps installed that were compatible with Lion that may not be compatible with Mountain Lion.
App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps - App compatibility and feature support for OS X & iOS
After you restore from TM, check HD > Incompatible Software

When I get to the select disk page it says that the HD is uesd as time machine drive. How can I remove time machine backup from my Mac.

I am tring to installe OS X Mavericks. When I get to the select disk page it says that the HD is uesd as time machine drive. How can I remove time machine backup from my Mac.

Open up your Finder and click on Go on the top menu bar. Select Computer and then double click Macintosh HD. In here delete the backup folder. Might be called backups.backupdb.

Can i transfer my time machine backup to another drive?

can i transfer my time machine backup to another drive?

Did you prep the new drive?
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
New drives usually are pre-formatted for Windows, not Macs. WD is generally well known for their poor level of Mac support.

If I do a clean install on my MacBook Pro will I be able to re-install apps (FCP, Aperture, MS Office etc.) from a Time Machine backup, or will I need the original install DVDs with authorization codes?

I have two questions...
1) If I do a clean install on my MacBook Pro will I be able to re-install apps (FCP, Aperture, MS Office etc.) from a Time Machine backup, or will I need the original install DVDs with authorization codes? (because I don't have them)
2) Has anyone ever seen anything like this before on their computers?
The Apple Genius' were stumped by my laptop issues and said they'd never seen anything like it before and recommended I did a clean install. Below you can see my trash bin, and if you look at the "Empty" button it reads "N201" and then there's the "N39" to the left of it. You can also see these numbers over by the folder area--"SD5, SD6, SD7." But that's not all...
When I right click on items I see the numbers again. Instead of "Open with" I get "N152" and there's an "N35" and "LB1" towards the bottom.
I have no idea what's going on so I'm just going to do a clean install on my machine but I don't want to lose my apps. I don't have the original install DVDs for them anymore. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks!

You don't lose them. You can always redownload them from the app store after you log back in with your Apple ID.
"Buy, download, and even redownload.
You can install apps on every Mac you use and even download them again. This is especially convenient when you buy a new Mac and want to load it with apps you already own."

Hard drive issues due to Time Machine backup? Can't source the problem.

Last night my computer began to run extremely slow. All apps simultaneously lagged (spinning wheel of death), but then began working again after about 0.5-1 minute. This whole-system crash repeated about every 10 minutes a total of probably 5-6 times. The last time all apps stopped functioning and (CPU usage of iTunes was 85-95% for some reason (viewed using activity monitor), I am guessing due to its use of multiple hard drives as my music is stored on an external drive) and my computer just shut off after about 3 minutes of completely stalling. Rebooted computer and was left with an EXTREMELY slow system; opening up the quick menu (forgot the name, button on the top row of keyboard) for booting applications took 2-3 minutes. I eventually started disk utility, verified disk. It said I needed to repair disk by restarting my computer while holding down [Command] R message. Made sure i had a backup (at the time of that backup my computer was experiencing the problems above, 11:21pm), so I restarted whilst holding command R. Booted into the OSX utilities, retried the disk repair, received the "Disk Utility cannot repair this drive: back up as many files as you can..." message. Erased/reformatted my internal hard drive, and ran "repair disk" again; disk utility found no problems with the disk. Restored my files to my internal hard drive using OSX utilities (using the full system restore of the 11:21pm backup), and left it running while ran some errands. When I came back to look at my computer, it had attempted startup and crashed with the "kernel error" or whatever where all the text is on the left of the screen. It said something about not being able to find "disk2", which I believe was the disk containing OSX utilities (as veiwed in disk utility while running OSX utilities). Force shutdown, reboot with command R, wiped my internal drive again. Decided to only install a fresh version of OSX in an attempt to scan for viruses (using Sophos Antivirus, running scan as I am typing this), as the slow behavior of my computer had been very strange and began almost instantaneously (seemed like a virus/malware). No threats found so far with Sophos (scanning all my external drives too to source the problem in time machine backups), but I have deduced that there is something wrong with the most current Time machine backup, as it re-established the "problem" (easily fixed once drive is erased using OSX utilities) with my hard drive once I restored it to my internal hard drive. I am wondering (if it is not a virus) if I will need to repeat this whole process with every time machine backup to find where it went wrong, or if i can somehow pinpoint the problem easier. Will all of my Time Machine backups be corrupted now? Why would the Time Machine backup affect the state of the hard drive (does in need to be repaired or not)? Very confused at these random problems. If it is a virus (I will post the results of the Sophos antivirus scan as soon as it is finished), can I remove it from the backup and then restore it with no problems? What do you suggest I do? Will it make a difference to restore the most recent backup (11:21pm) using Migration assistant now that I am running a fresh install of OSX mountain lion? How can I source and eliminate the problem?

Activity Monitor – Monitor Performance Problems
Performance Guide
Why is my computer slow
Why your Mac runs slower than it should
Slow Mac After Mavericks
Things you can do to resolve slowdowns see post by Kappy
Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.
Etrecheck – System Information

Issue trying to use old Mac Time Machine backup on new Mac

I've just got a new iMac 27" to replace my old 21" and am planning to restore files from the Time Machine backup I have. On the iMac 21" I used an external hard-drive connected to an Airport Extreme Base Station to back up using Time Machine. On the new Mac the external drive is connected directly to the USB port. The old machine is now about 10,000 miles away from me.
The issue I have is I cannot read the back-up from the old machine on the new.
During the first startup I tried to read from the Time Machine backup but the system told me I could not use it because it was from a different machine - it read all the back-up dates and let me chose, but did not allow to use it.
After startup was completed, I run a software update to make sure everything had the same version and tried Migration Assistant (with the HD still connected to the USB port), but the wheel keeps spinning not finding any disk.
I can read the .sparsebundle file on the external drive and I see it is intact. Disk Utility recognizes it and Status is Not mounted. When I try to open it with Disk Utility it says it is not mountable.
Any of you know how I can resolve this? I am thinking of a way of opening the file and reading it.
I really just need my music, my movies and my pictures, but I have 1.2T of that so it is not something I can download from the old Mac.
Thanks a lot in advance.

I've just got a new iMac 27" to replace my old 21" and am planning to restore files from the Time Machine backup I have. On the iMac 21" I used an external hard-drive connected to an Airport Extreme Base Station to back up using Time Machine. On the new Mac the external drive is connected directly to the USB port. The old machine is now about 10,000 miles away from me.
The issue I have is I cannot read the back-up from the old machine on the new.
During the first startup I tried to read from the Time Machine backup but the system told me I could not use it because it was from a different machine - it read all the back-up dates and let me chose, but did not allow to use it.
After startup was completed, I run a software update to make sure everything had the same version and tried Migration Assistant (with the HD still connected to the USB port), but the wheel keeps spinning not finding any disk.
I can read the .sparsebundle file on the external drive and I see it is intact. Disk Utility recognizes it and Status is Not mounted. When I try to open it with Disk Utility it says it is not mountable.
Any of you know how I can resolve this? I am thinking of a way of opening the file and reading it.
I really just need my music, my movies and my pictures, but I have 1.2T of that so it is not something I can download from the old Mac.
Thanks a lot in advance.

Restoring a time machine backup from a Mac mini to a new Mac mini server

Hi,
I just replaced a faulty Mac mini with a Mac mini server. I have a time machine backup of my Mac mini and want to transfer it over to the Mac mini. How do I do this?

This is a bit of a guess... But I Imagine you would have to start with the workstation OS install DVD first, and go from there at the appropriate point. Any chance you have or could make a CCC backup instead? I am assuming you could boot a mini server from a backup of mini non-server. Then you could copy it over. This is probably worth a phone call to Apple TAC

HT201250 My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)

Due to NAS issues, when I started a new time machine backup it did not have the old backups available. My question is do I need to delete them or will time machine automatically reclaim the space? Only one Sparse Bundle, same name.

Due to NAS issues, when I started a new time machine backup it did not have the old backups available. My question is do I need to delete them or will time machine automatically reclaim the space? There is only one sparse bundle but when I enter time machine I don't see my historic backups. I use a synology DS212 for my time machine. Started a new backup which is 218gb but it says 618 gb is occupied therefore it looks like 2 or 3 backups are still on the disk. Before my NAS issues the last backup was in 2014. As you can see there is a second sparse bundle from 2012. Not sure what that is.

This is an old message now, but what happened to me similarly was:
I had a major computer crash and through complicated pathways ended up reinstalling (Mavericks) as a new user (long story).
At least I had good Time Machine backups on an NAS drive (Synology DS212j), or so I thought - when I started Time Machine up again, the old backup file was gone, replaced by a new one using my "new computer" name. The old file was gone both by directly mounting the NAS drive and by clicking "Enter Time Machine".
It's like I had {OldShareName}.sparsebundle and then it was replaced by {NewShareName}.sparsebundle, all of the old info vanished.
(I have spent a week finding old files elsewhere and have completed a satisfactory self-restore. It pays to "archive" [my own variation of] as well as "back-up".)
My belief is that if this were a wired-netword-drive, e.g. plugged right into my iMac with a USB cable, then the old file would have remained.
But this is an NAS drive, connected directly to my Airport wireless router, and I don't know the significance of the fact that it stores its Time Machine backups as "sparsebundle" files rather than simply as plain(er) files.
As usual when things get complicated with computers (not just Apple computers) there was never a warning message. Something like "YOU'RE ABOUT TO DELETE A TIME MACHINE BACK-UP FILE!!!" would have made my life a lot simpler.
BTW, I did try a "restore from Time Machine" option the first thing I had my "new computer" (old hardware, 2009 iMac) up and running, using Migration Assistant, and it ran for many hours and then failed in the wee hours - what that has to do with anything I'm not sure.
I'm not sure that I have a question about this other than "why do these things happen to me?", but it's a warning. Apart from that I've been very happy with the stability and reliability (but not the cost or set-up complexity) of NAS vs. directly-cabled external drives.
Charles

Time Machine backup to another Mac on the network

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