Time machine backup via target disc mode?

My MBP is stuck at the grey screen on start up and the only way to access it is via target mode.
Is there a way to do a time machine back up through target mode or maybe a migration assist back up onto my external, through target mode.
So that once I have formatted my drive and reinstalled lion I can just restore from time machine or migration assit?
Any help or other solutions are greatly appreciated.

I would not attempt a Time Machine backup that way.   Carbon Copy Cloner to an second external hard drive would be better.  That way you can extract the exact elements that got corrupted. 
If the target machine is not visible, you may need to follow these directions:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1689

Similar Messages

  • Manually deleting Time Machine Backups Via Finder?

    Hi everyone,
    I'll just pose the question right away:
    Is it safe (and feasible) to navigate through my external HD in which I've set up for Time Machine via the Finder and manually select and delete back ups (ie. drag them to the trash can)? Thanks!
    If you really want to know why I ask, please read below:
    I recently had my logic board replaced. Then I noticed my system was not backing itself up via Time Machine. After a few Google searches I found out that when you replace your logic board, your MAC address changes I also found out that Time Machine pairs its backups via MAC addresses.
    I found a procedure to help pair your new MAC address to your previous Time Machine backups from the old logic board and MAC address, this required finding your old MAC address, something I could not do. However also read that after completing the procedure, Time Machine will do a FULL backup, backing up all it had basically. It would not have fit on my external HD anyways.
    So my plan was instead to start Time Machine fresh with this new logic board and MAC address. However, it needed to do a full backup as well, and I don't have space for that. I don't want to wipe my external hard drive and start from there, because I'm afraid that something will crash in the whole process of starting a new set of backups. What can I do is, delete a set of backups from the old logic board. I am aware of how to do this via the Time Machine interface. But because of my new logic board/MAC address, I cannot view those backups in that Time Machine interface. After having a steady set of new backups, then I'll delete ALL of the old backups.
    Thanks ahead of time for any help.

    jusdel wrote:
    But because of my new logic board/MAC address, I cannot view those backups in that Time Machine interface.
    Ah, you haven't found the fairly well-hidden +*Browse Other Time Machine Backups+* option.
    See #17 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

  • Time Machine backup via ethernet to Time Capsule

    I need to replace my 5 year old FireWire hard disk. I'm considering a Time Capsule and would connect it to my main Mac via ethernet.
    Will my iMac see the Time Capsule disk and mount it on the desktop? And can I use it for Time Machine backups when connected with ethernet (rather than AirPort)?
    I assume Time Capsule will do the above, but would like to hear from users who's used it like this. Thanks!

    I would have to disagree with Smokerz. I've had repeated problems backing up to my airdisk through my AEBS when my computer was connected via an ethernet cable. Backups would go fine for a week or so, then suddenly the DMG wouldn't mount. There was no way to successfully repair it, and I'd have to start over again.
    I have several computers on my network, and they were all backing up just fine, except mine, which was connecting with a cable. The others were backing up wirelessly with no problems.
    Finally, on a hunch, I disconnected my ethernet cable from my AEBS and opted for using my Airport card. It seemed silly since the computer is right next to the AEBS, but it has been working for nearly a month with no significant errors.
    (Before someone asks, I did not have the Airport connection running simultaneously with the ethernet connection. I used only one at a time, and I had them correctly configured with good, working equipment.)
    Message was edited by: fletchbiz

  • Time machine backup failed from "Restore" mode

    After losing important info, I tried to back-up my entire HD with Time Machine. I used the Restore mode and got the message that the recovery could not be completed twice. The one and only time I really needed Time Machione, it failed completely and left me with a blank HD. Any solutions to get back my ftles etc. I know all of my TM back-ups were done coreectly and I have been usung TM for at least two years. The 1TB ext. HD is nowhere close to full.

    Install OS X in Recovery mode. When you reboot, the Setup Assistant will prompt you to transfer the data from a Time Machine backup. Try that.

  • Wireless Time Machine Backup via AEBS Failing

    I just bought a Airport Extreme Base Station (5th Generation) so that I can use an external hard drive (Western Digital My Passport SE) to wirelessly backup my Mac Book Pro. I've been using the external hard drive as my time machine via USB cable and it works fine. However if I connect the external hard drive to the AEBS, the TM software says that the "disk is unavailable", even though I can selected the external drive as a TM disk in the TM preferences and the Mac Book Pro can read and write from the external hard drive wirelessly using the airport. The only function not working is the TM wirelessly.
    Has Apple blocked this functionality? I called Apple Care and they said it is unsupported and that they will only help if I buy the time capsule.
    This is what I have tried from of posted that have failed with the same error "disk is unavaiable":
    Updated firmware on AEBS and external drive
    Reformatted the external drive using the Mac Book Pro disk utility to MAC OS (Journaled)
    Erased old backups and started the TM wirelessly from scratch
    Started TM through USB, canceled then tried wirelessly
    Tried this terminal command: sudo defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
    Turned off the wireless signal and connect AEBS via Ethernet cable to the Mac Book and started the TM
    Used another external hard drive (Seagate 500 gig)
    I'm stuck! Any ideas?

    I'm afraid that you are not going to like this answer, but it will explain the difficulties that you...and almost all other users who try this....will experience sooner or later.
    Apple does not support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme
    Reference this Apple Support Document:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
    All you can really do if you want to continue to try to backup using Time Machine to a disk at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme is connect the drive directly to your Mac and run Disk Utility to "repair disk" and/or "repair disk permissions".
    This will likely get you going again....until the backup becomes corrupted again....which might be a few days, a few weeks, or even a few months. Eventually, Disk Utility will not be able to repair the disk.
    You might want to consider a secondary backup plan if you elect to contine to try the backups through the AirPort Extreme.

  • HT201250 Finding Time Machine backups in a file mode not star look.

    How do I look up by back-ups for time machine in a file format, not the star format?

    It's what I assumed.
    An iWork document created with the format introduced by iWork '09 is in fact a folder packed with a specific tool.
    If we remove the name extension, the system can't guess that it's an iWork document.
    According to the structure of the file, it recognize it as an archive and it unpack it.
    It's a variant of what I do when I want to study the contents of the index.xml file describing a document.
    In my scheme, I rename wxyz.pages as wxyz.pages.zip
    When I unpack it, I get a document wxyz.pages which is a Pages document in the old structure.
    When Time Machine give you a document entitled wxyz, it's important to add the extension name by yourself.
    If you forget and expand the beast as a folder, nothing is lost. Just rename the folder waxy as waxy.pages and Pages will open it.
    From my point of view, the fact that Time Machine return a document without its name extension is a bug in Time Machine.
    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 2 mai 2011 22:30:54
    Please :
    Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community
    To be the AW6 successor, iWork MUST integrate a TRUE DB, not a list organizer !

  • Transfer to MacBook via Target Disc Mode Get red Circle

    I'm doing a transfer of HD from iBook to my MacBook and I'm seeing that all my folders within my username box all have the red circle with the white minus symbol in the middle. These red circles appear on my iBook's desktop, documents, library, movies etc, What does that mean? I hope it's not deleted them, I did a migration using the assistant and my photo's and music did not transfer.

    This is what you see when you are not logged into the account - it means you don't have permission to access them. It sounds as if you created a user account on your Macbook before running Migration Assistant. If this had the same name as your older user account then on migration the name has probably been changed to the same thing with a -1 on the end. Log out of what you are currently in and try logging in to this account.

  • Backup w/ Time Machine via Target Disk Mode?

    So here's my situation, my computer is stuck on the grey screen of death, but it mounts fine in Target Disk Mode. Its been about 2 weeks since my last Time Machine backup, so I would like to recover the last two weeks of files. If I can do that, then I'll just wipe the HD and start with a fresh install, however, since I can't get it to start up, is it possible to backup my computer to my Time Machine backup using Target Disk Mode through my wife's computer? Any help is appreciated.
    (If not, then is it possible to run a time machine backup from single user mode?)
    Here's basically what I'm talking about:
    MBP (Target Disk Mode) > Wife's MacBook > External HD (Time Machine Backup)

    That may work, but you'll get a whole new, full backup, identified as belonging to the MacBook (since that's where TM would run, and the MBP would look like an external HD.)  Unless you exclude it, you'd also get the internal HD on the MacBook. So it will require a lot of space and time.
    There's no way to fool it into making an incremental backup.
    Or, use the same setup, but make a "clone" on a separate HD or partition, via the Restore tab of DIsk Utility, or one of the "cloning" apps: CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. 

  • Unable to recover Mavericks via Time Machine on iMac (2011). I have one Time Machine backup from this week On new Time Capsule. I already attempted safe boot and NPRAM reset. Hard drive and permissions verified as ok.

    Some more history - I'm not too techie so added everything in I thought might be significant!
    - Installed Mavericks on iMac in October 2013
    - experienced regular low memory issues - used Memory Clean app as a workaround
    - last week decided to upgrade installed memory from 4gb to 16gb. Faster loading but still running out of memory - just takes longer to do so.
    - also last week purchased 2gb Time Capsule (to back up 660gb on 1TB drive)
    - one successful Time Machine backup completed last weekend.
    - I decided to try and clear some space, tidy my folders, old music files,  delete duplicates etc (Not system files)
    - then tried out 'time machine restore' just to test it out. Deleted files and folders recovered ok using Time Machine menu (the one that looks like outta space)
    - yesterday, Avast Anti-Virus flagged virus detected (sorry, I didn't manage to capture details) and quarantined file, but I couldn't get any windows to respond so forced Mac to shutdown.
    - attempted regular reboot , system hanging on white/ apple symbol screen.
    -  attempted Safe reboot - reboot stalls at mess 'BootCacheControl: unable to open /var/db/BootCache.playlist no such file or directory.
    (I don't know if this is significant)
    - attempt NPRAM reset, reboot hanging at Apple symbol still
    - attempted reboot into Disk Utility. HD drive verified ok. Permissions checked and Safari permissions fixed (only)
    - finally attempting restore from Time Machine Backup via Disk Utility. Stalls at 'select a backup source'. Menu is 'searching for Time Machine Backup....'
    Nothing is listed, after a few mins machine just goes to sleep.
    My Time Capsule and networks are all switched on. No idea what to try next!

    Most of the problems like this that people report on this forum are due to bad "utilities" like Memory Clean and Avast.
    Your Mac probably didn't have a virus. There has never been an OSX virus "in the wild". Third party antivirus software is of very dubious utility on Macs. Macs are not PCs. OSX has anti-malware protection built into it already.
    Do you have any other third party "utilities" on your Mac, such as CleanMyMac or MacKeeper?
    Is the RAM you installed the recommended type of RAM for your Mac?
    Take a look at this page: Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
    But your OS may be damaged beyond repair, or beyond what disk utility is able to repair.
    In that case you have a few options:
    There is a small chance that a (reputable) third part utility like Techtool Pro 7  may be able to fix your OS.
    Try to boot into single user mode (restart, hold down ⌘S until you see a black screen with white text) and repair your hard drive. Here's a reference with directions: Repair Your Hard Disk in Single User Mode | Everything Macintosh
    bite the bullet, boot into the recovery partition or internet recovery, and erase your HD, reinstall Mavericks from scratch, and start over. Your documents are probably still on your Time Machine Backup. I wouldn't reinstall the documents via a migration- you don't want to reinstall bad system files along with your documents- but you could copy them one by one back to your internal HD. And most importantly- don't reinstall any third party "utilites" like Memory Clean or Avast (or any other third-party antivirus software, for that matter).

  • How can I restore my EQ settings from a Time Machine backup?

    I recently reinstalled Mavericks, and restored my user account from a Time Machine backup. In doing so I appeared to have 'lost' my personal EQ settings in iTunes, of which I had perfected quite a few to suit various headphones and speakers I've found myself using over the years.
    I have a pre-reinstallation copy of the com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist file (found in /Users/username/Library/Preferences) that I believe contains my EQ settings; opening it in Textedit I can see references to the EQ settings I created.
    Having tried restoring this particular file from Time Machine and restarting and finding iTunes doesn't recognise the [old] custom com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist file, does anyone know a way I can re-import my old EQ settings, or do I have to try and manually create them again? (gah)
    Thanks for any light you can shed on this!

    Enter your Time Machine backup (via the TM icon in the menu bar) and find this file
    /Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist
    and hit Restore.
    It didn't reflect in iTunes immediately, but after a restart it appears to read the new (old) plist file. You should have your old EQ settings back.
    Let me know if it worked for you...

  • How can I restore a single image from an aperture time machine backup, do I have to restore the entire library? that does not make sense

    I hope there has been found a more efficiant solution for this,  how can I restore a single image from an aperture time machine backup, I really hope I don't have to restore the entire library? that does not make sense
    any suggestions?

    Did you try browsing your backups in the Finder ?  That is, do not go and "Enter Time Machine".  Instead, navigate to your Time Machine backup via Finder and then manually go to the time period (by folder name) you are looking for ... when you find your Aperture library you can then "Show Package Contents" and find the Master you are looking for.

  • How can I delete a Time Machine backup which did not complete?

    I was running a Time Machine backup when the disc got unmounted. Therefore I know all of the data is not backed up.
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    Obviously there is a large gap in manually managing this process and I would like to know the best fix.
    Thanks in advance.

    Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
    tmutil compare | open -ef
    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
    Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear below what you entered.
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    Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
    Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
    Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
    At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
    Added:
    Removed:
    Changed:
    These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.
    Caution: Under some conditions, tmutil may falsely flag files as not having been backed up when in fact they have been. It can be confused by multi-linked files, or by files with a modification date earlier than the one in the snapshot. This will not be an issue for most users. If the results of the above procedure surprise you, inspect your snapshots directly.

  • Can I migrate my data from a regular hard drive to a solid state drive using only a Time Machine backup from an external hard drive?

    I just bought a Samsung 830 256GB solid state drive which I will use to replace my 15-inch, 2.53 GHz, Mid 2009 MacBook Pro's stock hard drive. I also keep an external hard drive in which I keep my regular Time Machine backups via FireWire. Would I be able to migrate all my data from it after putting in the solid state drive? I prefer not to use any third-party applications and I do not plan on replacing the SuperDrive with the hard drive that I'm going to remove from my laptop.

    chinodelarosa wrote:
    Would I be able to migrate all my data from it after putting in the solid state drive?
    Yes.

  • Time Machine Backup Error. Time machine could not delete the backup disk image .sparsebundle

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    I have deleted all files in the Time Machine backup via Windows, Finder, and GoFlex UI.
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  • How to restore, associate, ??? Time Machine backups prior to HD going bad?

    Greetings.  I hope someone can help me. Soon. Real soon!
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    Have a look at this thread I posted in earlier and the various links in Pondini's excellent Time Machine resource I linked to:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/20367932#20367932

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