Time Machine incomplete backup - how to recover files

I did not complete a Time Machine backup due to  a failing hard drive.  I can see from the space left on my external drive that Time Machine backed up a substantial number of files.  Is there a way to go into the backup file to recover a few key files? - Luckily I also have a Carbonite cloud back up too but one file did not make it to Carbonite
Thanks

Similar Messages

  • How can I get my time machine to allow me to recover files again? After upgrading to OS X, the time machine still backs up the files; but, I'm not able to navigate within the time machine or select any folders or files for restore.

    How can I get my time machine to allow me to recover files again?
    After upgrading MBA to OS X, the time machine still backs up the files; but, I'm not able to navigate within the time machine or select any folders or files for restore.
    I've searched and can not find a solution to the problem that's being encountered.

    Yeap that all makes sense now.
    Do you only have the current backup showing in the TM display?? Won't it fill in the rest?
    Over wireless are you waiting for the indexing to finish.. ??
    Previous backup may not show for a couple of hours.
    Long short of it.. Mavericks version of TM is a pain.
    Sometimes it is easier to completely ignore the TM backup and do the restore manually.
    I have posted the details here. See if this helps.
    Can't access old files on time capsule

  • Incomplete Time Machine Backup - How to Recover Files?

    Hi Everyone,
    Yesterday, while downloading the new OSX Mountain Lion I did a backup to an external hard drive with time machine. For some reason I apparently ejected the HD while the backup wasn't complete. Today while installing Mountain Lion I had two unpleasant surprises, first I couldn't install because it said my disk needed repair so I had to format it, second when I did recover from backup I realized my last backup was incomplete.
    Bottom line I managed to reinstall from a previous backup (couple of weeks) and I even managed to open the incomplete backup and get back most of the files, with the curious exception of jpeg and avi. I can open the photos and movies but I can't save them to any other location...
    Anyone has any idea of what should I do?
    Thanks in advance!
    Jeronimo

    Hi,
    Thanks a lot!
    I will do so at once.
    Cheers,
    Jeronimo

  • Time Machine incomplete backup on new External Hard Drive

    I have a LaCie 2TB firewire external hard drive I bought 2 years ago. I made 3 partitions, one called "Time Machine" for TM backups of my iMac HD, one called "Video" for video files, and one called "HD2" that I used to install new programs and store edited photos and img files. I ran TM onto this HD for the last 2 yrs with no problems. I recently decided that I needed to have a backup of my iMac HD --- AND the 2 partitions (Video and HD2) on my LaCie. So I bought a Seagate 2TB external USB HD that I planned to use ONLY for Time Machine.
    So I hooked it up and formatted it (no partitions), then went to TM options and selected the new Seagate Hard Drive to backup to, and in the options I excluded the Seagate (by default) and the Time Machine partition on my LaCie. Nothing else was excluded. In other words, I wanted to backup my entire iMac HD, and my Lacie Video and HD2 partitions.
    My internal iMac HD has 116 GB used, my Lacie Video partition has 355 GB used, and my Lacie HD2 partition has 175 GB used. So I was expecting the Seagate to backup 646 GB.
    When my Time Machine backup started at 1 AM, I was happy to see that the status box showed "Backing up 1 GB of 646 GB." When I woke up at 8 AM, I was happy to see that the status box showed
    "Backing up 536 GB of 646 GB."
    But it stayed stuck on 536 GB until 12 Noon, then started slowly working again. By 7 PM, the status showed "Backing up 623 GB of 646 GB." Then at 8 PM, the status box disappeared and it seemed like everything was backed up. But my Seagate HD shows only 629 GB of used space. So I decided to check the backup in Finder to see what went wrong.
    In the Seagate backups folder, I have three folders - one named "Macintosh HD" which shows 112 GB on disk, one named "Video" with 341 GB on disk, and one named "HD2" with 175 GB on disk.
    So it appears that my iMac HD was only backed up 112 GB out of 116GB, my Video partition was only backed up 341 GB out of 355 GB, but my HD2 partition backed up the entire 175 GB out of 175 GB.
    So my question is - is this normal, or is my backup really missing 4 GB of files from my iMac hard drive and 14 GB of files from my video partition? I started to look at them file by file to see if they matched, but there are so many files, so I thought I would ask in case any of you might have heard of this before. If your answer is that my backups are corrupt or incomplete, should I reformat the Seagate and start over?
    Also, is it safe for me to manually delete all the files in my time Machine partition on my LaCie hard drive, since I won't be using that anymore for Time Machine backups? Or is there a process I must follow to delete those older backups?
    Thanks for reading this far and for any advice you can shoot my way.

    Thank you for your well thought out response. It was really helpful by showing me where to look at things more closely.
    Time Machine automatically excludes some things that aren't necessary for a restore, such as system work files, most caches and logs, and trash.
    This is good to know. Although I didn't have anything in the trash, I have no idea how much is in the various caches and logs. I'd be surprised if they totaled 4GB, though. I'm still worried about this backup, as explained below after doing a Console log check.
    If any files were open, they may not have been backed-up (a partial file wouldn't be of much use). I don't know of any special exclusions for video files or apps, but there may be some. You might want to try the Terminal command in the yellow box of #11.
    I didn't have anything else running except TM, so no files were open. I checked the exclusions in the yellow box #11, the Terminal Command, and /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/StdExclusions.pl ist, but nothing seemed to point to the video files I have saved. So I'm still at a loss with this part of the backup.
    You might want to look at the log of that backup
    I looked at the log - thank you for the link on how to see it - but the entries show that the size of the backup was even less than I thought - It seems I am actually missing 0.2 GB from the HD2 partition, 6 GB from the iMac HD, and 14.4 GB from the Video partition. And since it shows the exclusion amounts, I'm really at a loss for the iMac HD now. Here's what the Console listed for this backup:
    Aug 29 00:55:54 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: Backup content size: 174.7 GB excluded items size: 0 bytes for volume HD2
    Aug 29 00:55:54 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: Backup content size: 355.7 GB excluded items size: 0 bytes for volume Video
    Aug 29 00:55:54 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: Backup content size: 116.3 GB excluded items size: 30.5 MB for volume Macintosh HD
    Aug 29 00:55:54 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 776.02 GB requested (including padding), 1.82 TB available
    Aug 29 00:55:54 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: Waiting for index to be ready (909 > 0)
    Aug 29 02:37:30 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: Copied 3275 files (174.5 GB) from volume HD2.
    Aug 29 05:49:40 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: Copied 5412 files (515.9 GB) from volume Video.
    Aug 29 19:18:46 paul-imac-5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[567]: Copied 146976 files (626.2 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Is it possible to see how many files are in each drive that I was backing up? If I could match the file count, it might give me a better idea. I used Finder, but it only gives me the GB Capacity, Used and Free. For example, if I could see if the LaCie Video partition has exactly 5412 files (or 2137, if the file count above is a running total), I will believe that all the files backed up but may have been truncated. If the partition shows more than 5412 files, then I'll know that not all files were backed up. So at least I can start looking manually.
    It will be much faster and easier to erase the partition with Disk Utility.
    Thank you for this advice. This should save lots of time. I won't erase my other partitions when I do this, right? Also, will it leave a blank partition there so I regain my space?
    I'm really bummed out by this backup. I haven't used my iMac for anything except Safari since this happened, because I do not want to start working again until I know that I have a safe backup, and I don't want to make any new files until I can resolve this. I thought of just reformatting the Seagate and starting over, but I have a feeling it may do the same thing. So at this point, I don't know if the Seagate is faulty, if the TM is not working properly, if I am making a dumb user error, or if this is perfectly normal. The worst thing that could happen is that my iMac HD or Lacie HD fails and I try to restore from my Seagate TM backup, only to find out that my TM backup is incomplete or corrupt.
    So I really do appreciate your help and any additional insight you or anyone else might have. Thanks.

  • Configuring Time Machine to backup certain folders and files.

    Can it be done? I have 3 externals and don't want it to back up one of them. I removed it from the backup list but it still continues to backup that particular drive. Also wondering if I could configure Time Machine to not backup certain folders. I felt like when I first set up Time Machine, I was able to do this.
    Thanks everyone.

    Hello Warren:
    That should be available to you in system preferences>Time Machine>options.
    Barry

  • HOW CAN I USE TIME MACHINE TO BACKUP ONLY PART OF MY FILES ON EXTERNAL D?

    Hi, I am using time machine to back up all my files at the moment. but I want to get rid of video and photo material from my laptop and keep it on the external hard drive to which the time machine backs up my stuff.
    how can i do this without losing the video and photo files permamnently?
    thank a lot!

    nefsi wrote:
    doesn't time machine back up my files on the External hard disk?
    By default, Time Machine backs-up almost everything on your internal HD to your External HD. It can also back up things on an external HD, if you want it to.
    What I would like is, to find a way so that I could back up everything, but not have all the videos and photos I do not use often, on my laptop. instead I want to put them on the external hard drive and have time machine update all the other files.
    Yes, you can do that, but there are two considerations:
    You should partition the external HD so the TM backups are in one partition, and the other files are in the other partition. A partition (also called a volume), is treated like a separate disk for most purposes. See #3 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
    You should find another way to back-up the videos and photos in that other partition, such as archiving them to CDs/DVDs.
    In other words, can Time machine back up only some of my files?
    Yes. You can exclude things from Time Machine. See #10 in the FAQ Tip. If you partition your TM drive, the other partition on it should be excluded automatically; but if it isn't, you can easily add it to the +Do not back up+ list in TM Preferences > Options.
    For detailed instructions on making another partition on your external HD, see #6 in the FAQ Tip. It shows how to add a TM partition to a drive that already has other data on it, but the procedure is the same.

  • How do I upgrade to snow leopard and then restore my files from my time machine HDD backup...without losing any data or reinstalling leopard (10.5)?

    How do I upgrade to snow leopard (from leopard 10.5) and then restore my files from my time machine HDD backup...without losing any data or reinstalling leopard (10.5)?

    Hello, it's great you have a backup, but 10.6 should just Install 10.6 system files over the top of 10.5 system files, & leave all your data intact on the drive.

  • 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]

  • Using Time Machine to backup a production file server

    Does anyone have any recommendations for using Time Machine to back up a production file server? Right now we have an Xserve G5 with two internal 750GB drives in a RAID1 as our main file share to about 25 users, and a large external FW800 Guardian MAXimus drive to hold our backups. Our current backup system is a custom-written version of Mike Rubel's backup system -- http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/ -- incremental backups done with rsync and cp with hardlinks exec'd via crontab, which seems to be very similar to what Time Machine does. Unfortunately, I've been finding it difficult to find any tech specs on Time Machine as far as:
    * CPU and IO priority - This is a production file server, so I'd prefer to keep this from sucking power performance from the users. Just how much CPU, and more importantly IO, should I expect it to eat?
    * How often it does a backup - The best answer I've found is "always", but I wanted to know if there was a more concrete response for this. Does the system hook into the kernel to see whenever a file gets written out so it doesn't have to continually scan the entire drive?
    * Command line restoration - Are there any good utilities for recovering via SSH, or am I going to have to VNC to the server and do the BS magic flying screen just to restore a file?
    Message was edited by: Gabetax

    For mine I have 3x500GB drives in the server, two are RAID mirror and the third is time machine backup. I just turned on time machine in system preferences and set the backup drive, and after an hour it made the first backup.
    Seems to work perfectly although I have heard a couple of rumours that the mail server causes the backup to grow forever, but havnt checked this. Im staging another machine, so perhaps will try this to make sure!
    I am expecting the backup will only be useful to a system administrator, and am not sure how a user logged into a shared directory account (i.e 'roaming profile') would access the backup, and somehow suspect they wont be able to just seamlessly use the slick interface as if the backup were their own.
    On a 2x2Ghz G5 it didnt seem to use the full load on either the CPU or the disk the first time it was run (copied at about 9MB/sec throughout). The incremental backups are very fast, and are often completed before I realise they have started. I gather it uses Apple's own spotlight API to find changed files, so isnt like an rsync which scans entire volumes. Worth checking the exclusion filters though, no point backing up any large cache/log files you may be storing.
    James

  • How to save SOME time machine Mac backups from the TM disk to other disk WITHOUT formatting the destination disk?

    Hi,
    How to save SOME time machine Mac backups from the TM disk to other disk WITHOUT formatting the destination disk?
    I have a Time Machine disk (A) including the backups of several different Macs (B, C, D & E) generated with an old Mac OS X 10.5.8 (iMac PowerPC) over the years.
    I have transferred the old Mac contents to a new Mac with OS X 10.8.3 using Migration Assitant. All OK.
    Now, I want to erase such TM disk A to use if for other purposes, but first, I would like to RECOVER the backups of some Macs inside it (D and E). Is that possible WITHOUT formatting the destination disk and selecting only some Macs from the TM disk and not the fulll TM disk? How?
    Thanks.

    Thanks for the reply. I do not think that is messy, anway. I simply used the same external disk as Time Machine disk for different Macs. And that worked OK all the time for years.
    The ExternalTimeMachineDisk contains the folder Backups.backupdb
    which contains the following folders (each one corresponding to the Time Machine backup made from each Mac):
    Mac1
    Mac2
    MacBook1
    MacBook2
    In relation to my message above, is it possible to select specific files, folders or full Mac backups from such Time Machine disk and save them to other disk? How?
    Thanks.

  • On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture.  How can I access the Aperture Library  on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup?  I can only access the application but not the library..

    On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture.  How can I access the Aperture Library  on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup?  I can only access the application but not the library..

    Go into Time Machine (the program not the bundle on the extrnal disk) and using Time Machine's browser go to the Folder where the library lives. You could look in the library bundle in Time Machine but that won't really tell you much,
    If you want to make sure it truely has backed up your library you will need to restore it and open the restored library with Aperture.
    If all this still has you confused you need to read up on Time Machine in order to get a feel for how it works, for what it is doing and for how to restore files from it.

  • 3 Files are in recovery modes & we are not having any backup, how to recove

    3 Files are in recovery modes & we are not having any backup, how to recover.
    select from v$recover_file;
    FILE# ONLINE ONLINE_ ERROR CHANGE# TIME
    137 ONLINE ONLINE 1.7142E+10 05-MAR-11
    138 ONLINE ONLINE 1.7142E+10 05-MAR-11
    139 ONLINE ONLINE 1.7142E+10 05-MAR-11
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    SQL> select FILE#,TS#,name from v$datafile where TS#=12;
    FILE# TS# NAME
    137 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_00.dbf
    138 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_01.dbf
    139 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_02.dbf
    140 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_03.dbf
    141 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_04.dbf
    142 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_05.dbf
    177 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_06.dbf
    178 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_07.dbf
    179 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_08.dbf
    180 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_09.dbf
    181 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_10.dbf
    182 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_11.dbf
    183 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_12.dbf
    184 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_13.dbf
    185 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_14.dbf
    186 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_15.dbf
    187 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_16.dbf
    188 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_17.dbf
    189 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_18.dbf
    190 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_19.dbf
    192 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_20.dbf
    195 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_21.dbf
    196 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_22.dbf
    200 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_23.dbf
    257 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_24.dbf
    258 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_25.dbf
    260 12 /dbo/data/IBPROD/IBPROD_TDB_IDX_26.dbf
    Pls treat it urgent.

    Pls treat it urgent. If it's urgent , open a priority 1 service request on My Oracle Support/metalink.
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    Without backup you only can recover if you have ALL archivelogs since creation of the files. Normally that's rarely the case.
    Werner

  • Trouble getting time machine to backup latest numbers file.

    I'm able to use Time Machine to backup my macbook wirelessly to an external hard drive attached to my iMac. However, I recently noticed that I am failing to back up the latest version of a numbers file.
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    Well, Time Machine unfortunately is bugged beyond use for some people. It is nearly impossible to tell if TM will work every single time until Apple will take a look at their programming and fix the darn thing.
    Anyways, back to the point. The problem with updated files is that TM will look for new things that are indexed as new, and by indexed as new as in the Spotlight regards the file as updated since last backup. I don't really know if this would work, but you could give it a try.
    Try this:
    1) Duplicate the file into the same folder with a different name
    ex. filename.doc, and make a new file called filename_1.doc
    2) Make sure that this file is in the same folder as the other file.
    3) Back up
    I think that would make Spotlight tell TM to backup the updated documents.

  • HT1175 How do I get Time Machine to backup Documents and Photos?

    My backups do not include photos and my documents folder. How can I get them included in the backup?

    Time Machine will backup everything on the Mac unless you specifically Exclude the files from being backed up. If the Documents and Photos folder are not being backed up, then someone placed them on a list of items to be Excluded from backups.
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    Click the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Mac's screen
    Click Time Machine Preferences
    Click Options
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  • Confused about how Time Machine merges backups

    Okay, I understand how TM works and that it merges many daily backups into one days worth by the next day. I've been doing some experimenting with creating a file on my desktop, backing up with TM, and then deleting it and emptying bin. I try to access this file the next day with Time Machine but it is if it never existed. Time machine shows no sign of it. It's there when I have access to the hour by hour updates. But by the next day, when everything from the previous day merged, it's gone. Am I missing the point of Time Machine? Wasn't it created for situations when you delete a file accidentally and want to bring it back sometime in the near future? What am I missing here? Thanks for your help!

    mikemac22,
    The last hourly backup in a given day is kept as the "daily" backup. The last daily backup in a given week is kept as the "weekly" backup, and these are kept as long as possible.
    Time Machine is mainly intended to be a backup and recovery tool. Yes, if you mistakenly delete a file, it can be retrieved. However, the importance of a file is based on the length of time it remains on your "source." I doubt Apple set out to make it this way, but rather made the decision to go with this paradigm as opposed to the alternative.
    You see, there is an inherent trade-off in any backup solution that works as Time Machine does. It probably would have been easy to make Time Machine "consolidate" backups, but then disk space would be consumed at a much faster rate. At some point, some decision must be made concerning the question, "when can a file be deleted from the backup?" In the case of Time Machine, as it is, a file becomes important enough to keep when it has remained on the "source" for at least one week. If it is kept for a shorter duration, and not restored, it will be deleted at some point.
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    Time Machine is not an "archive" utility, in any sense of the term. It is not intended to maintain multiple versions of a given file for your convenience. What it is intended to do is to allow for the (almost) immediate recovery of your entire installation- user files, applications, and all- in the event you must format (erase) your source, replace your internal hard drive, or even swap computers completely. As a bonus, it will allow you to choose from several (perhaps many, depending on the size of the backup volume) backups going back in time when you do have to resort to a "Restore."
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    Scott

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