Time Machine Migration (from MB to MBP)

I have a question!
I sold my MacBook about two weeks ago and today I'm buying the new Macbook Pro.
I made a Time Machine backup of the MB before I sold it.
So the question is, can I do a restore from this TM backup on the new Macbook Pro?

Indeed you can.

Similar Messages

How do I access an old Time machine backup from my new MBP?

I wanted to access my Time Machine Backup from a new MBP. Time machine recognized my backup drive but could not find my Backup file. What's wrong here? I use another Login name on my new MBP - could that be the reason?

Take a look on this page at item #17:
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work. Help?

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work.
^^ that's the main problem. Here's the full history.
I bought a new 13" i5 MBP, early 2011 edition. I had an old white Macbook 2.14 ghz core2duo on Snow Leopard. I attempted to port over my time machine backup, but encountered problems in that my User was inaccessible from the new computer after the import finished, and I had to go in and change the root password, etc, and for some reason or another, I couldn't install any programs at all from that administrator's account. By "couldn't" I mean I could install them, but upon installation they would never boot. So, I took it to the apple store and did a clean install from the most up to date Lion OSX. Then, I created a brand new admin account, instead of trying to import the old one, and things seemed great. Then, I just imported my old files from the TM backup, but not any system settings, permissions, or user data. Just my Docs, pics, vids, apps, and itunes stuff.
Here's where things get weird again. I imported this stuff under the name "old", but all of these folders have a red negative sign on them, marking them as restricted. So, from my main admin account, I cannot even peruse these folders. Since I didn't import user data, I can't sign in to the "old" account to change permissions. I already tried to change the permissions from system preferences, but that didn't change anything. And now, for whatever reason, of all the apps that were imported then, MS Office is the only set of apps that does not work. When I click on it, it just says there was a problem and asks if I'd like to send a report to apple. I tried reinstalling it to no avail. I'm an English student, so i really need access to Word. Can anyone help? The Apple store is a major detour for me and would like to fix this issue myself.

Most likely you have Office 2004 which are PPC-only applications and will not work in Lion. Upgrade to Office 2011. Other alternatives are:
Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.)
Open Office (Office 2007-like suite compatible with OS X.)
NeoOffice (similar to Open Office.)
LibreOffice (a new direction for the Open Office suite.)

Error "The Connection Failed" in Time Machine, Migration Assistant and Restore From DVD

I am receiving this error when trying to connect to my Time Machine Backup in my Time capsule. I input the proper password to access my Time Capsule and It returns me to the screen with the caption "The connection failed" under the Time Capsule name in the "Select your Disk" screen. What would cause this error. I am connecting via WIFI (AirPort) and have full signal. I am using Mac OSX 10.6.8
I recently had my 1TB hard drive replaced and I am attempting to restore using Time Machine, migration assistant or from the startup dvd (tried multiple ways, no success). The initial setup of mac OSX 10.6 would not let me connect or other attempts after erasing hard drive and reinstalling OSX from disk.
Worked on it all weekend and don't have enough beer to drown the frustration, any help is appreciated.

You are correct TM is not at all easy to do a full restore.
To answer your question: Yes TM disk does show up in finder.
After my initial startup setup I was able to start TM and access all my previous backups. I migrated some files and was able grab the data from finder. Not satisfied with that I tried to do a restore to that previous date, to no success. I then erased the HD and reinstalled OSx and tried again from the setup screen. That didn't work, sulked over some beers. I then tired with Migration assistant...same result (more beer).
In starting TM after trying MA, only one backup was showing in the Star screen (today). None of my previous backups were showing. Since exiting TM it has been "Making Backup Disk Available" ( xGB of 6.29GB). Considering the size, I can only assume that these are my previous backups.
I have reviewed Pondini's posts, FAQs, and tutorials. I am a little scared to try and locate the drives through Terminal as in Pondini's TS #6 guide. If I can get my previous backups to show up, I will be happy with dragging files from Finder to restore my data and slowly work at restoring my settings/applications.

How can I remove all Time Machine data from an external HD, while retaining the other folders/files on the disk?

I recently replaced my old Macbook Pro with a new Macbook Pro Retina.
The original MBP had Time Machine set up on an external HD, and I also had some manually saved/backed up files (stuff that didn't need incremental backups; very old stuff) on the disk as well, in folders. This worked fine and well for the life of the original MBP.
When I set up the MBPr, I did not elect to transfer everything over from a Time Machine disk, as I wanted a Fresh Install; I chose to just re-download/install the apps I needed from the App Store. Much cleaner, more stable. I updated to Yosemite immediately so, it gave me more of a clean install.
The problem is, Time Machine now won't read any Time Machine backups from that disk. Migration assistant can pull data from it, but it's a bit wonky. It was easier to just manually copy over what I needed.
Now, I just want to "reset", and completely remove the old Time Machine data from the external hard drive, since it is completely useless to me now (I can't access it on this computer, and it's taking up space). I want to remove the Time Machine data, as if it were never there, but keep my other folders/files that are on the disk (so, a format is not feasible).
I will then set the disk up as a new, fresh Time Machine disk for the new MBPr.
What is the proper method for removing Time Machine data from an external disk (which doesn't seem to be associated with this machine anyway)? I know a simple rm -rf will cause problems.
Thanks for any help provided.

See the yellow box in #12 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Time Machine/Migration Assistant issues

I just bought a MacBook Pro, and my old computer is a PowerBook G4. I did a Time Machine backup of my old computer onto an external hard drive, then used Migration Assistant to transfer the Time Machine backup from the external drive to my new computer. I had a few files saved on the new computer before I transfered from my old computer, and those seem to be gone now. My question is: when a Time Machine backup is 'migrated,' does it delete everything first?

horseymichelle wrote:
I just bought a MacBook Pro, and my old computer is a PowerBook G4. I did a Time Machine backup of my old computer onto an external hard drive, then used Migration Assistant to transfer the Time Machine backup from the external drive to my new computer. I had a few files saved on the new computer before I transfered from my old computer, and those seem to be gone now. My question is: when a Time Machine backup is 'migrated,' does it delete everything first?
no, migration does not delete anything. you are just logged in as a different user now which is why you don't see those files. log out of the migrated user and log into the user you originally created on the MBP. those files are there. I suggest you move them over to the migrated account as most of your stuff is in there.

HT204350 Migrating from a 2010 MBP to a 2013 iMac - stuck halfway through???

I have begun migrating from a 2010 MBP to a 2013 iMac after installing mavericks on both. They are connected by ethernet. The MBP isn't updated to the latest version because it was installed from a previous copy from apple. The migration has started and is stuck on 1 hour19 mins, what should i do? is it safe to somehow stop the migration process? or is it best to leave it be for a few hours or something? i had a lot of trouble starting the process as i had to try multiple times to get it to locate all the files and folders on the MBP. Thanks for the help.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Leave it for some minutes to see if the migration process continues. If not, simply turn off both Macs, turn them on and transfer the files again.
If the migration gets stuck again, consider the option of making a Time Machine backup of your old MacBook Pro onto an external drive, and then use that backup to restore your files to the iMac. The steps to restore a backup from an external drive are the same.

How do I get a new iMac to inherit Time Machine backups from my old iMac?

After successfully migrating from my old iMac to my new iMac, I connected my Time Machine drive (containing the backup files from my old iMac). Following the instructions from my Apple Genius Desk guru, I opened System Preference>Time Machine and selected the Time Machine drive to be my designated Time Machine for my new iMac. I was presented with a dialog asking if I wanted to "Inherit the backup files that existed on the drive" (or words to that effect). I selected "Yes". I was told that this would create a continuous backup record, so that I would be able, using the "Enter Time Machine" command, to access all the backups going forward for my new iMac, but also all the files from my previous iMac, in a "seamless" chain of backups. However, it didn't work out as I expected. Looking in the Finder at the contents of my Time Machine drive, I saw that both the current and the prior backup files appeared to be there, all inside one folder, as I expected. But using the "Enter Time Machine" command from the Time Machine drop-down menu I could not go back any further than the moment of migration to the new iMac. On the upside, it seems like I will be able to recover old backup files using the Finder, but, on the downside it appears that I will NOT be able to use "Enter Time Machine" to return to search the backup files from my old iMac, in a "seamless" fashion as I had expected. Did I miss something??? Or is this just the way it is???

Without knowing what you have tried please open System Preferences - Sharing - File Sharing and select File Sharing. If you still have trouble you can call AppleCare in the morning when they re-open. You have 90 days of telephone support if you haven't already bought AppleCare.

Is it possible to boot or Time Machine restore from an external Thunderbolt disk drive?

(There are several questions - search for "?".)
I purchased a Seagate Backup Plus for Mac Desktop Drive 3 TByte with default USB 3.0 interface, and also acquired the Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter for Backup Plus Desktop Drives and Thunderbolt cable.
I do a redundant backup to the Seagate Drive using both Carbon Copy Cloner (nightly) and Time Machine (hourly) using its Thunderbolt adapter. BTW: One never knows when Time Machine will choke - see discussion titled, "UPDATED: Serious Time Machine bug on Mountain Lion", which I had; Rest In Peace Pondini (James Lewis Pond).
Booting from the external Seagate Backup Plus via Thunderbolt inteface from System Preferences -> Startup Disk:
I select the Time Machine OS X, 10.8.5 Startup Disk (Thunderbolt attached drive), click Restart, confirm my choice, the computer reboots, however, it reboots from the internal Macintosh HD OS X, 10.8.5, NOT the selected external Thunderbolt drive. The SSD drive was used as the Startup Drive, not the selected external Time Machine volume as indicated by the display free disk space command (df(1)) and seeing that the Macintosh HD OS X, 10.8.5 volume is mounted as root. That is very deceptive in that both the internal and external drives will appear in the same manner from a GUI point of view! OS X doesn't even inform me that it did not boot off the selected volume. This is the first half of the problem, that is, Is it possible to boot from an external Thunderbolt disk drive? In my case, the answer is deceptively No. Can anybody else boot off a Thuderbolt attached disk drive? Note that if I remove the Thunderbolt adapter, and attach the drive via its USB 3.0 cable, the MBP boots off the external Seagate Backup Plus just fine, as is expected.
Booting from the external Seagate Backup Plus via Thunderbolt inteface from boot-time "Option - Select startup disk" method:
When I restart the MBP using the startup Option key to select the startup volume, the externally connected Seagate drive ONLY SHOWS UP if it is attached with the USB 3.0 cable, not when it is attached with via the Thunderbolt interface. Can anyone else boot off a Thunderbolt drive with the startup Option key sequence? At least the MBP doesn't deceive me in this case - I know right away that the external Thunderbolt drive is not an option when connected as such.
Time Machine restore from the external Seagate Backup plus via Thunderbolt interface from the "command-R - Recovery Parition" method:
After booting from the recovery partition, I attempt to perform a Time Machine restore from the Thunderbolt connected Seagate Backup drive. When Time Machine attempts to present me with a viable backup Time Machine volume, the external Thunderbolt drive is never offered as an option. So I switch the Time Machine volume to use its USB 3.0 interface, and then Time Machine displays that drive as an option, and the MBP proceeds with the restoration as expected. The interesting thing to note is that while booted in the recovery partition via the Thuderbolt cable, the MBP Disk Utility may be selected, and the Thunderbolt attached drive may be operated on just fine. Can anybody else restore their MBP using Time Machine and the Recovery Partition via the Thunderbolt interface?
This is also a big problem for me in that I am forced to restore my MBP via Carbon Copy Cloner using the USB 3.0 interface, because I cannot even boot off that volume's Thunderbolt interface. Of course, the option may be that I could use yet another eternal USB 3.0 drive, boot from it, and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to restore the Macintosh HD via the aforementioned drive connected by a Thunderbolt cable, but that is less than ideal and not elegant, so I'm not going there.
Another side issue is that the commercially available program, TechTool Pro 7's eDrive, which I installed on the Time Machine volume, will not boot off that eDrive as advertised, but I won't got through those steps here, because that would be beyond the scope of this issue, however, I must say, It does not work either when the Time Machine volume is connected via the Thunderbolt interface, but works just fine when connected via the USB 3.0 interface.

If this helps anybody else make a decision about whether to consider Apple because of Apple's superior customer service:
Apple sells this entire line of drives right in their store, from 1TB to 4TB. I spent 1 and 1/2 hours, yesterday, confirming that the 3TB model IS NOT 100% Thunderbolt compliant. A MBP cannot boot, nor can it Time Machine restore from this drive, though EVERYTHING about the drive is normal.
Apple's South Coast Plaza store management had at least two responses to me personally about how to proceed:
1. Buy a different drive from another drive manufacturer, and to attempt to return the drive to COSTCO. A lead genius suggested going with GTech drives, for instance.
2. Wait for Seagate to fix their problem.
I told Apple management in the store that the drive is advertised as Mac Compatible (see picture) and that it is advertised as being a Thunderbolt drive (see picture). I pressed management that my purchasing decsion to get the best possible MBP Retina was based on the availablity of Inexpensive Devises (raID), and that not having this complete compatibility is a show-stopper for my needs, and that I wanted a refund. Their response? They needed to talk with "Merchendising" to see if they are on or off the hook for these kind of 3rd party assertions, and would get back to me.
I am not holding my breath.
Note: I do not hold this against the Geniuses that helped me, nor against the management I've dealt with, nor the upper level engineers that I've corresponded with through Apple Care - their problem solving skills were helpful - although I could have arrived at similar conclusions given enough $$$. (For instance, try a Lacie TB drive and see if that works - we did, and it did not work. Or, we have a different TB cable and a different TB adapter, let's try those - we did, and it did not work.) I blame myself for not doing enough homework before going with Apple's solutions.

Cannot transfer Time Machine backups from one external drive to another

Since I bought my 13 inch MacBook Pro in September 2014 I've been keeping Time Machine backups on an external 1TB Lacie Rugged. This is partitioned into three and one of the partitions contains my iPhoto library.
Last weekend I left my MBP disconnected from the power source but with the external hard drive still plugged in. Long story short - the battery level fell below the minimum needed to operate so it turned itself off and 'disconnected' the external hard drive. This resulted in a corrupted iPhoto library which is no longer accessible.
In order to restore my iPhoto Library from another backup I needed to buy a second external hard drive. Yesterday I bought a 2TB Lacie Rugged which I've now partitioned into 5.
I want to move my Time Machine backups from the 1TB Lacie Rugged to a partition on the 2TB Lacie Rugged (to take advantage of the new Lacie's Thunderbolt connection).
I read the Apple article -
HT202380: Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive
and followed the instructions precisely. About 2 hours into the transfer I came back to my MacBook Pro and saw a message saying that it was not possible to complete the transfer because I did not have the correct permissions. The only option was to click the OK button which stopped the transfer.
Can anyone advise what I should do next?
Cheers
Tricia

Hi Eric,
Thank you for your response. I came across another thread yesterday which suggested the Restore via Disk Utility method. It worked for me, too. This was after I had tried following the method suggested in the Apple article above three times but each time the message was the same ....
The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.
I dare say that Apple would like to have us believe that it's a simple matter of 'drag and drop' but it certainly wasn't for me. From what I've read the permission problem crops up fairly frequently. Before the second and third attempts I had already amended Permissions on the Time Machine backups so that everyone could read and write, so that mustn't have been the problem. I'm the only person who uses my computer so that's not a problem.
The next problem I have is that I decided I would use the Restore route to transfer my SuperDuper clone rather than start from scratch. Unfortunately, the partition size on my original backup disk where SuperDuper clone is is 350GB and the size of the SuperDuper clone partition on my new backup is 300GB.
Of course, Apple says you can resize partitions using Disk Utility. What they don't say is you can downsize partitions but (in my experience and that of many other frustrated users on various forums) you CANNOT upsize using Disk Utility. I have 100GB spare on my external hard drive (from downsizing two partitions by 50GB each) BUT there is no way Disk Utility will let me increase the size of SuperDuper partition to 350GB :-(((
Cheers
Tricia

Importing Time Machine backup from an external hard drive

Hi...to all
Last week i bought a Macbook. I pluged in my external hard drive Maxtor OneTOuch 4 Plus and it did a time machine backup on the Maxtor OneTOuch 4 Plus. The folder that was generated by the time machine on my external hard drive has the name backups.backupdb.
Then, i decided to return the Macbook and bought a Macbook Pro.
When I pluged the same external hard drive, Maxtor OneTOuch 4 Plus, although I am able to access and open individual files and folders, I am not able to copy neither any nor all the folders/files from my external hard drive to my new Macbook Pro. Moreover, I am able to access/open the files located in my external hard drive but when try to copy specific files from this drive to my Macbook Pro I get the following error message: Sorry the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error ocurred (Error code -50). Now, here is where it gets interesting: after 2 failed attempts to copy any single file from my external hard drive to my Macbook Pro desktop and receiving the above error message I am then able to copy the specific file (singular). This would mean that to copy the files and folders in the external hard drive i would need to do it on a one by one basis? If so, it would take forever...
Can someone please kindly help out.
Thanks on advance

Are you referring to the files in Time Machine's backup directory on your hard drive? If so, and if what you are trying to do is to recover those from the backup to your working volume on the Macbook Pro (which is not what your title says you want to do but seems to be implied by the body of the question) then you need to have the computer name of the Macbook Pro the same as the computer name of the original Macbook (I think that step is required), then on the Macbook Pro choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks" from the Time Machine menu in Dock. This will allow you to recover files or folder in the usual way.
Alternatively, if you wanted to transfer all your user data in one go, you could fire up Migration Assistant and choose the Time Machine backup as the source to transfer the user data from (again I think the computer names have to be the same but I'm not totally sure).

Clarification on Time Machine migration

I am about to upgrade my trusty PowerBook G4 to a shiny new MacBook Pro and would just like some clarification on accessing my Time Machine files from my new computer. After reading some similar posts it sounds like some users have been able to access their files from their old system on new computers while others have had issues. If I transfer all of the contents of my old system to the new one via Migration Assistant, will Time Machine recognize the new computer as the old one? Should I do the transfer via Time Machine instead? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Before you start migrating, be sure to deactivate/deauthorize the software on your PowerBook. If you'll have both computers in place, it is faster I think to put the PowerBook into firewire target disk mode then to use TimeMachine. Further, regardless of which method you use, because this is a PPC to Intel upgrade, I'd recommend that you only transfer the contents of your personal drive space and reinstall your software.
There are two reasons I recommend reinstalling software: First, buying a new computer is about the only time I get rid of the cruft and junk that I accumulate and almost never use afterwards. I figure if it is a good idea for me, it is a good idea for others . Second, having done dozens of upgrades, I have a decent idea of what can be safely transferred and what can't but long ago I figured it took almost as long to pick and choose what to transfer as it did to just reinstall everything.

Permissions? Time Machine Migration MB to MBA

I'm struggling here, perhaps from my own ignorance, so all I'm looking for is a pointer on how to get myself out of this frustrating time wasting...
New MacBook Air. Want to migrate content from MacBook. Thought I did enough online research to know how to make this work, but it's not happening.
Waited for a fresh Time Machine backup from MB. Plugged in external USB drive to MBA, ran migration asst to bring in TM bu. Took a couple of hours, but the material showed, in a folder in the Users folder, separate from the one I set up on MBA. All folders with the do not enter symbol, and I couldn't find a way to access these.
Erased and installed again on MBA (from MBA disc drive-remote disk was too slow), set up to migrate directly from MB, via ethernet wired network. Initially it showed 17+ hours to migrate. Went to bed; 7 hours later it still showed 12+ hours to complete. Force-quit all and rebooted, re-erased and installed on MBA.
So I've had this nice machine 2 days and am no closer to having it usable than before. The fastest migration seems to be via TM bu on the USB external drive, so:
-how do I fix the MB so that its TM bu doesn't transfer as inaccessible data?
-this is something to do with permissions, right?
(for background, the MB was set up with three accounts, which I consolidated to one in anticipation of the MBA, so my suspicion is that I did something wrong there; now I need to better clean it up to a single-user condition)
-given that background, if this can be solved, please point me in the right direction with suggestions of keywords to search the kb with, etc.
Thank you very much. Hopefully I can end the day with the MBA set up correctly.

Thanks to those that replied.
I eventually gave up after about 8 or 9 erase and installs over four days.
It's obvious to me that a user would want to change the "home" name when moving data from an old to a new computer, so why this isn't given as an option during migration is hard to say. If Apple can't figure out how to make that happen, maybe they should more strongly emphasize to users the importance of, and some naming convention suggestions for, naming one's home folder, since it will travel with you for years.
Dug into the sharing and accounts settings in the MB and tried to simplify.
The final technique was to erase and install from the usb superdrive, which took around 90 minutes for a customized minimum install, then migrated from MB via direct ethernet cable-usb adapter during the subsequent restart; data transfer of about 28GB took around two to three hours.
Ended up with all the previous apps and docs in place with the same old home folder name. All apps work fine but a few had to have registration #s re-entered.

Moving Time Machine Drive from Direct Connect to Network Share

I have a 1 TB external USB 2 drive I use for my Time Machine backup. I'd like to move that drive to a file server and continue backing up to it. The problem appears to be that when backing up to the drive as a network volume, Time Machine wants to create a new sparsebundle for the backup and not use the existing TM backup folder on the drive.
Is it possible to migrate a Time Machine drive from direct connect to network while preserving the backed up data? Thanks!

Kenneth Kirksey wrote:
I have a 1 TB external USB 2 drive I use for my Time Machine backup. I'd like to move that drive to a file server and continue backing up to it.
Depending on what "file server" you're using, that may or may not work reliably. Here's the criteria they must meet: Disks that can be used with Time Machine. And be careful here: just because some 3rd-party hardware claims to support Time Machine doesn't necessarily mean that Apple supports it, or that it will work in all circumstances.
The problem appears to be that when backing up to the drive as a network volume, Time Machine wants to create a new sparsebundle for the backup and not use the existing TM backup folder on the drive.
That's correct.
Is it possible to migrate a Time Machine drive from direct connect to network while preserving the backed up data? Thanks!
See #18 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Restoring a time machine backup from an old iMac to new Mac mini

I am considering purchasing a Mac Mini. I currently have an iMac (2007) model. I would like to backup/transfer the apps from one to the other. Is this possible? I've been using the time machine function which has been backing up my iMac since day one to an external 1 TByte drive. If I can do this, what all info gets backed up? Will this also restore my e-mails and documents? I'm new to restoring on a Mac and want to avoid losing apps and having to reload everything piece meal. I appreciate any advice.
Patrick C.

Actually, you can transfer just about everything via either Target Disk mode or the Time Machine backup database. The effect would be the same. The System Installation procedure will ask you if you want to do that. Alternatively, you can launch Migration Assistant to do that. It's remarkably complete, including apps and serial numbers and passwords. A few things need to be done manually afterwards, of course, but not many.
Keep your iMac around for a few weeks in case something you need turns up later not to have been transferred.
Unrelated Note: DO NOT try to copy the Time Machine database from one drive to another. The database is composed of non-ordinary files and the procedure will take weeks.
--Gil

Time Machine Migration (from MB to MBP)

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