Time Machine on different machines

Hi
My recent attempted upgrade of a Snow Leopard Macbook Pro to Mavericks failed and in order to keep working I restored a backup of the machine to a brand new (Macericks) Mac Air, and then unmounted the Time Machine drive from the new Air machine. All good so far (apart from the pain of the Mavericks attempted upgrade).
Next, after eventually finding Snow Leopard install disk, I restored the original Macbook Pro from the same Time Machine backup.
I'm about to try and upgrade this machine (the original Pro) to Mavericks again, I suspect it will work this time as there's no Boot Camp drive, which was there before.
Here's my question - if it does work, can I back up the Mac Air to the Time Machine drive and then pull those changes back into the Macbook Pro? How would I do that?
Many thanks for any help!
Regards
EB

In case it helps anyone else, this is what happened (executive summary: back up to time machine before attempting to upgrade, have your snow leopard/equivalent disk handy and be ready for problems if you have a bootcamp partition I think).
1. My Macbook Pro (MBP) machine was running Snow Leopard. I had installed a BootCamp partition for running windows on.
2. I backed up MBP to Time Machine
3. I downloaded Mavericks and attempted to upgrade
4. The installer told me it could not install on my main partition as I was running Time Machine there
5. I googled that error and found many others had had the same thing. I removed the BootCamp partition using Boot Camp Assistant. There was also a Time Machine related directory on the main partition which I deleted , I'm afraid my log of exactly the name got wiped in the ensuing mess.
6. I tried to upgrade again
7. The upgrade failed, again I don't now have the exact error message but it was no longer Time Machine related. On reboot the MBP again went straight into the attempted Mavericks install, there was no way to boot back into Snow Leopard as was.
8. I realized I needed my Snow Leopard disc and started looking for it.
9. I visit the Mac Store in central London. I buy a new Mac Air (MA) as the assistant tells me I can return it within two weeks.
10. On starting the MA I am asked if I want to load from Time Machine. I do this and within 30 mins the MA looks exactly like my MBP did. I work for the following week on MA.
11. Three or four days later. I find the Snow Leopard disk.
12. I insert the disk into MBP and boot while holding down the C key. Some minutes later the machine starts again in Snow Leopard. I restore from Time Machine. My old MBP is back. Eureka.
13. I download Mavericks. Again. This time the install runs fine.
14. I try and run Migration Assistant to copy my week's work from MA to MBP...
15. MA doesn't have an Ethernet port and I don't feel like going to the MacStore again to buy the USB ethernet adapter so I start Migration Assistant over Wifi
16. Migration Assistant tells me it will take 24 hours or so. It is 9am. I let it run.
17. That evening I come back in and Migration Assistant says it will take about three hours to complete.
18. The following morning Migration Assistant says it will take 56 minutes to complete.
19. That evening Migration Assistant still says it will take 56 minutes to complete. It's is still alive because if I unplug wifi it says it needs to reconnect, but it doesn't seem to make any progress past the 56 minutes (it does reconnect when wifi is re-enabled).
20. I kill Migration Assistant and copy my work over manually.
After all that a couple of unimportant progams no longer work under Mavericks. My Epson scanner no longer works and apparently drivers are not available yet. Oh yes and the old Snow Leopard Expose desktops are gone and replaced by a more complicated and less intuitive 'Mission Control' which I don't like.
Oh yes, and most importantly:
21. I return MA and am refunded my £1575.
I think this'll be my last mac and ubuntu next time.

Similar Messages

Photos. They are on my macBook, backed up on time machine. Copied them (hours and hours) to external hard drive. They are now in alphabetical order (19,000 of them) NOT IN THEIR EVENTS or date order-and have been taken with different cameras- help!!!!!!

Photos.
They are on my macBook, backed up on time machine. There are 19,000+ of them, some rescued from a pc crash- which I used the nifty iPhoto to put back into date order.
I want to take them all off my laptop, now............as I need to use it for WORK!!
Copied them (hours and hours) to another external hard drive.
They are now in alphabetical order (all 19,000+ of them) NOT IN THEIR EVENTS or date order. (-They have also been taken with different cameras over the years and some of the generic camera numbering remains.)
I have tried to copy them (only a few as an experiment) one event at a time, but that again "opens up" the Event "folder" and tips them out as individuals and therefore just lists image letters and numbers alphabetically.
How can I copy
the whole library still in "Events" to an external hard drive?
the folders/albums I have already made on to this hard drive?
and how can I add to this back up monthly, again keeping events and folders separate and updated?
Mac is so user friendly - there must be a way.........
Thanks

UPDATE : I have re-installed from disk, various apps that were no longer functioning such as iLife, iWork etc. So, I now can access my photos again.
Also, I had to re-install all the software for my printer ( Stylus Pro 4880 ) and reset it so the printer is working again.
Photoshop CS4 won't open. I think I will have to get in touch with Adobe as basically, I guess they have a built-in "blocker" which prevents me from opening the app as the license is for only 1 user and having re-installed the OS, there are now, in effect, 2 users ( Me and Me 1, I think ).
So, having added on a new external HD, Time Machine has made a copy of most of the files, folders, apps etc onto the external HD. The internal HD is still nearly full ( 220 GBs out of 232 GBs ).
I am guessing the way to go now in order to free up space on the internal HD is to delete/trash older photos from my iPhoto library and hope that if needed, I will be able to access them on the external HD.
Am I correct ? Please advise before I do something I will regret.
Thanks, Sean.

How do I use time machine backup to restore onto a different computer

I am trying to troubleshoot the best way to back up my Mac. I have been a mac user since 20009 and always used a time machine. The two times I have needed it for backup, my computer did not read the portion the backup was. You could tell under disk utility the space was used. Just before the need of backup, it was backing up. So, I am wondering if I need to use a different method. I lost all of my Christmas 2015 movies. My computer did some weird thing with passwords and it needs some resetting I had to do with the support team on the phone. The support person could not figure out how to access the back up on time capsule. I noticed the password resetting made my computer name different by putting a 3 behind the name I assigned it.
One thought that has crossed my mind is can you use the time machine backup and open it up on a completely different computer? If so, I should have been able to someone access my information. I would like to know the answer and how do it so I know in case this ever happens again and so that I can rely on this expensive back up machine I have purchased two different times on two different computers and never been able to actually use.

Are you running Yosemite.. because it is the cause of loads of problems.
As to opening the TM backup from another computer.. yes you can.
Please read our TM expert Pondini.
Q14-17 on restore here.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Particularly as you will see Q17 and it will reference the prior info you need.
I have gone through this with several people.. and I have a post showing a manual file location and restore.
Can't access old files on time capsule
But not from Yosemite.. it has its own bunch of bugs.. as mentioned. Good luck with those.
I also strongly recommend people use a secondary backup method.. there are excellent third party.. I use Carbon Copy Cloner.. it is reasonable price.. $40 based on standard rsync.. and will create either bootable clones to a local drive or sparsebundle on a time capsule etc.
The bootable clone is the ideal way to recover files. since it is based on a simple computer reboot and then access of files that are in exactly the same place as you left them.. TM backs up in a most complicated manner.
See how tm works here. The top couple of articles and how it is different to clones. As Pondini suggests.. using both is no bad thing.
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
This is also useful for yosemite.. it is not working as TM used to.
Find files in Yosemite.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6681850?searchText=time%20machine%20yosemit e#27139370
While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.
I am not sure why your previous use of TM failed.. In the midst of all its problems it does still work ok.. as mostly people can recover stuff they do.. albeit it needs a lot more messing than is typical Apple.

Time Machine: Backup folder changing size when connected to different computers

Can someone please help me wrap my head around why the size of my Time Machine backup folder changes when connected to different computers? I tried to be as thorough as possible. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.
I made a backup of my one laptop (MacBook Pro running 10.6.8) before installing Mavericks. The backup folder size is 258.56 GB and it is on a 1TB WD external. There are no other computers backed up in this folder.
Last night, I tried to copy the backup folder to another 1TB WD external and ran into the “you can’t do that” message. After some researching, I came across articles explaining how Time Machine handles HDs and, in order for me to copy my backup folder, the drive I want to copy the folder to needs to have the “Ignore ownership on this volume” deselected.
Okay, so here is my situation: I have the “Ignore ownership on this volume” deselected and journaling is correct on the drive I want to copy the backup folder to. So I can continue working on my laptop, I want to use a different computer to copy the backup folder from one HD to the other. The problem I’m having is each computer I own is showing me a different backup folder size O.o.
(1) The computer I want to use – a Power Mac G5 Quad running 10.4.11 (non intel) – is showing a backup folder size of 592.7 MB, but the HD shows there is 258 GB being used. When I drag copy, I only get a 592.7 MB backup folder. For some reason, the backup folder is the only folder acting this way. I compared other folders from the same and different externals and all the sizes match up perfectly no matter the computer they were connected to. How is this possible?
(2) My second option - Mac Pro (early 2009) running 10.9.4 – is showing a 256.15 GB backup folder size. Very close, but not 258.56 GB.
(3) My last option is to use the computer I’m trying to stay away from, the MacBook Pro running 10.6.8. This is the computer I backed up and is showing me the correct folder size = 258.56GB. As I mentioned, I'd like to work on my laptop while copying the backup folder using one of my other computers.
I am able to drag and drop from each computer, but the folder size depends on the computer I’m using. I don’t understand why I can't do a simple drag and drop of a 258 GB folder.
Many thanks!!

The directory files that you are seeing are not real. They are links to the actual backup files that are stored in a hidden directory on the drive. If you were to look at the same drive on a pc, you would see the folders and you would a list files that are in the folders but the files would all be 0 byte files and Windows will tell you the file is empty because there is nothing there but a link which Windows does not understand.
So the point is you can't just copy the backupd files. The best solution that I know of (and maybe someone else will chime in) for copying them is to mirror the drive with something like Carbon Copy or some other program.
See this site for more information about time machine and how it works: http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro. I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive? If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

How do I restore a few items saved in Time Machine on a different computer?

After upgrading my G5 Mac to Leopard, and using an external Firewire drive as the Time Machine backup, both of my hard drives crashed on the G5. To make a long story short, I ended up with a new iMac. Luckily, all my data WAS saved on the Time Machine (yeah!!!).
I used the Migration Assistant to copy the applications, user accounts, and network settings to the iMac. And while I don't have the space to move ALL the data from my backups to my new Mac, there are some things I need to move that I haven't been able to find. These are:
• Old E-mail stored on my hard drive (not the server), most recently in Apple's Mail program (previously in Entourage).(Migration Assistant didn't copy the old mail.)
• E-mail addresses saved in Entourage (these didn't get moved to the Address Book application).
• Firefox Bookmarks
Thanks for your help!

I'm happy to report that I found all my "missing" data...turns out it was just under a different user!

How do I view Time Machine from a different Mac?

Using Pondini's excellent tutorial, I navigated to the Time Machine backups from an earlier Mac (on the same "Time Machine" partition of an external HDD.)
First, I was at the level of Macintosh HD/Users, and I could see my earlier Mac's users, but they had the usual red 'No Entry' circle against most of the Home folders so I couldn't see what was in them.
Next, I quit TM and went to the folder I actually wanted (Mail Downloads) in Finder and tried again. This time, though I had option-clicked for other TM backups, it showed me the folder for my current Mac's backup (there's only been one or two so far). When I used the TM timeline slider to go back to that same folder on my other Mac, TM refused to budge. It stayed on my current Mac's window.
Basically, because of the permissions issue, I cannot view the data on my older Mac's TM backup using my current Mac, even though in theory I can option-click and get the window showing the earlier TM, and then select it and go into TM. I should point out that on the other Mac, I had a different account name and password - would this be the reason?

Pondini wrote:
There may be a way to get access to the backups, but it will take some finagling.
It sounds like you got a new Mac, right? And set it up from the old one, or its backups, and didn't use Setup Assistant when it first started up, but created that new user account first, then used MIgration Assistant. If so, the pink box does explain exactly why you're in a pickle.
Post back with details of how you got where you are, how many accounts are where, whether you've done new backups, etc.
It's a bit more complicated than that. I had a new Mac which I set up in the usual way (via a previous Time Machine). Then I let the new Mac go out of my possession for far longer than I'd intended, and meanwhile used an older Mac, where I made many changes to things like iTunes, iPhoto, documents, games, videos, etc. For reasons of space - a HD half the size - and knowing I'd get my new Mac back again, I slimmed down that older Mac with fewer Users, trimming out a lot of older stuff, and a different main account.
When I got the new Mac back, I obviously couldn't use TM to update it due to my 'slimming down' operation on the older Mac (I'd have updated many things but also lost a lot too). In the event, iTunes was updated with little difficulty, iPhoto was updated over the network, likewise all my documents and stuff. The main problem was getting my emails and downloads updated which wasn't at all straightforward. That's where TM backups on the recent (older) Mac came in - I'd use TM to fetch over the bits and pieces that were still missing on my less recent (but newer) Mac.
On my old Mac I've been using for months, I only had 3 users, one of them Shared. On my new Mac I have 7 Users, but it was only my main (admin) account that mattered. I've actually found that I can access my old/recent Mac on the network using File Sharing rather than TM and have got what I want that way. Now I want to get the old Mac off my desk and get some space back. Once it's in a cupboard, I don't want to have to heave it out again in case I find I've forgotten an essential item. That's why I wanted to make sure I could access it via TM.
The main account on my old Mac will be either 501 or 502. On my new Mac, those numbers belong to 1) what was once my main account on a G5 which I had to abandon due to logic board problems, and 2) a deleted account that doesn't exist anymore.

How to reset the location of a Time Machine taken to a different time zone?

I have recently moved my Time machine to a different country and time zone. I have reset the whole thing, entered the right time zone in the manual set up, but it still displays the old location when automatically searching for time zone. Also, when using an iPod Touch and Google earth or Maps, it shows the old location as the current one. How do I reset the location on my Time Machine to match the current one?

+I had done that and it does show the correct time on my machine. My question however was about the location setting and it displays my former address and not the current one.+
There are only two settings on the Time Capsule related to location and time.
Open AirPort Utility, click Manual Setup
Click the Time Capsule tab below the row of icons and you will see time settings and time zone settings
Then click the Wireless tab and then click Wireless Network Options to see the settings for Country location.

Restore Time machine backup from a stolen computer to a different Mac Pro

*My Mac Book Pro was stolen.* It had some Time Machine backups, but Time Machine had stopped working about 6 months before it was stolen. I had stopped using the USB drive since TM would never complete. (2 issues)
1. When I plugged in this USB backup disk to the Mac Pro just now, it asked me whether to use Time Machine with it. It told it no, ask me later so I could browse it first.
2. It looks like the old problem with Time Machine not backing up the stolen laptop shows up as a file called "2008-09-22.204132.inProgress". I am hoping that the backups previous to that one are okay. So far, browsing the files appears to me that my data is intact but perhaps spread across 40 folders.
So now, what should I do to retrieve the data I want?
A. Copy the data files and pictures manually without Time Machine? How do I know I will get the latest versions?
B. Use Time Machine with this disk and somehow ask TM to restore to a different machine? (Is that even possible?) (Will it merge the files into my user folders?)
C. Use Migration Assistant?
D. Copy and paste the entire file structure to a directory someplace and pull off the data as I need it?
*End result: I want my external hard disk wiped ASAP, and in the meantime I want my data files preserved.*
The old MacBook Pro definitely did not have Snow Leopard but the MacPro does to which I want to copy the data. It probably had Leopard. But honestly my user data is not necessary, just primarily the data, pictures, DVD projects, etc.
As a side note: My old laptop and my MacPro used the same username and password.

lhbilly wrote:
*My Mac Book Pro was stolen.* It had some Time Machine backups, but Time Machine had stopped working about 6 months before it was stolen. I had stopped using the USB drive since TM would never complete. (2 issues)
1. When I plugged in this USB backup disk to the Mac Pro just now, it asked me whether to use Time Machine with it. It told it no, ask me later so I could browse it first.
2. It looks like the old problem with Time Machine not backing up the stolen laptop shows up as a file called "2008-09-22.204132.inProgress". I am hoping that the backups previous to that one are okay. So far, browsing the files appears to me that my data is intact but perhaps spread across 40 folders.
So now, what should I do to retrieve the data I want?
start Migration Assistant located in /Application/Utilies. it has an option to migrate your data and applications from a TM backup. migrate what you want. note that users will be migrated to new users so to access your old home directory you'll have to log out and log in as the migrated user.
A. Copy the data files and pictures manually without Time Machine? How do I know I will get the latest versions?
B. Use Time Machine with this disk and somehow ask TM to restore to a different machine? (Is that even possible?) (Will it merge the files into my user folders?)
C. Use Migration Assistant?
D. Copy and paste the entire file structure to a directory someplace and pull off the data as I need it?
*End result: I want my external hard disk wiped ASAP, and in the meantime I want my data files preserved.*
The old MacBook Pro definitely did not have Snow Leopard but the MacPro does to which I want to copy the data. It probably had Leopard. But honestly my user data is not necessary, just primarily the data, pictures, DVD projects, etc.
As a side note: My old laptop and my MacPro used the same username and password.

Access Time Machine Backup from a different computer

Hi everyone,
I have recently had to put my Macbook in for repair and have been told it will be about a month before I get it back. My wife has a Macbook of her own, so I using that for the time being to continue working on my MA essays due in the next two weeks. My problem is that I dutifully did a complete backup of my files through Time Machine before sending my own Macbook away, only to find I cannot access the files on my wife's computer!
I realise this is completely my fault, but the files in the Time Machine backup represent months of work and I desperately need access to them! I have tried accessing the backups via Time Machine, and when this failed I went through Finder to the Backup folder on my external hard drive, only to find a little no entry sign next to the relevant folders. When I try to open them I get told I 'do not have sufficient access privileges'. Is there ANY way around this? I am desperate!

The Northern Contingent wrote:
Hi everyone,
I realise this is completely my fault, but the files in the Time Machine backup represent months of work and I desperately need access to them! I have tried accessing the backups via Time Machine, and when this failed I went through Finder to the Backup folder on my external hard drive, only to find a little no entry sign next to the relevant folders. When I try to open them I get told I 'do not have sufficient access privileges'. Is there ANY way around this? I am desperate!
You should post this with something to do with "Access privileges" in the title so the right people read it - those who don't use Time Machine probably won't bother with this thread. You were right to try a direct-access route through the Finder, because you can drag Time Machine files directly when you need to. I don't know enough about permissions to help you with the permission thing; it might be as simple as setting up an account on your wife's machine that has the same username and password as your own machine.
But note (in regard to the Jeremy's post) that if you do get a new logic board - yes, he's right, you'll have a different MAC address, which means you can't continue on with your TM backups. But you can't change the MAC address on the logic board; instead, there's a nice, geeky way to change the Time Machine backups record of what MAC address they were married to. You'll find the info here:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101

Backup management: how to update a Time Machine backup on a different Mac?

Hello everyone,
I need some advice. I have a question, which I think is simple, but my situation is a bit complicated, so I am not sure about what to do.
I will try to describe it as simply as possible.
There are 3 macs:
A: an old macbook (the white one)
B: a modern macbook pro (retina)
C: another modern macbook pro (TBD)
I am giving away B now; I expect to get C in 2 months time; I keep A with me all the time.
The goal is to migrate all of the data from B to C.
I have Time Machine backups of B.
Since the transition is a long time (2 months), I need to keep working on my data during this period. For this I will use A. This will generate new files, modify old ones, ...
Since A's HDD is much smaller than B's backup, I can move only part of them.
By the way, I have totally erased A and used migration assistant to restore part of my old data from B. So, when I use A now, I do it with my same account as in B (and the same I will use in C).
How do I manage my backups in such a way that, when I will get C, I can safely move all of the data I had in B plus all of the changes and modifications that I have done during the 2 month transition?
Can I just continue to use Time Machine (on A) to update the old backups? I am afraid that some mess could be created because the computers are different (before the backups were taken on B, while now on A), even the present data are different (because now A only contains a subset of the original B data, which I do NOT want to lose), the good point is that the user is the same.
Thanks for the patience to read through. If something is not clear I will be happy to explain better.

When you get MBP C and start it up for the first time you will be given the option to transfer data or not. You can transfer data from another Mac or from a backup such as Time Machine. The former requires that you be able to connect the two computers directly together either by Ethernet cable or by having both connected to a local Ethernet network. You can use wireless, but it's very slow compared to Ethernet, so I don't recommend wireless.
If you expect to perform the transfer from a Time Machine backup, then be sure to perform a backup of MBP B just before using it to transfer data to the new MBP C.
This same process can be used from MB A provided it is running Snow Leopard or later.
Also, see Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

Time Machine has been working just fine, but in the last week or two it has given up the ghost. I reset the connections to the drive, and it will basically save a few bytes of data and then hang.
Although Apple originally announced, prior to the release of the first 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations (AEBSn), that it would support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks, they removed that option before they did finally release the base station for sale.
Since then, Apple has posted (as you have noted) that they DO NOT support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks. As far as I know, they have not changed from that position and those who do these backups find that they become corrupted over time. Sorry, but it sounds like you just confirmed that for yourself.
1) Has one of the recent updates either on the AE (firmware) or OSX disabled this function?
No. Again, this feature has never been supported by Apple for every generation of AEBSn released.
2) Are there any changes I can make to get this working again?
If your data backups are critical to you, then you will want to use a different solution for your Time Machine backup destination drive strategy. I would suggest that you connect your WD My Book directly to your Mac in the mean time.
Your other options would be to either use a Time Capsule (which interestingly does support TM backups to AirPort Disks) or a non-Apple solution like the Drobo FS or HP MediaSmart server.

Mac Crash, Time Machine won't restore different osx?

Hey All,
Yesterday my beloved Mac decided to die in the *** after an OSX update, it was running fine before I put in the dreaded update.
I tired everything possible to get the Mac going again to no avail, so ended up having to put in the origional disk (osx 10.5.6), this worked a treat and got the old girl going again, however when I instructed it to use the time machine to restore, it ran for probably about 5hrs then said it couldn't be performed as the time machine was running a different OSX.
Iv tired to restore it going into the desktop, opening time cap and trying to restore from there - I get the same issue.
Also tired to go into the finder, time machine, data, imac_0023dfa.sparse and selected that and got the same issue - OSX
I have no idea what to do next?
Can I update to 10.6.3 without doing all of the inbetween updates (this is what time was running on)
Driving to an apple store, is a 5 day drive or a 6hr flight... so not really an option.
Please help
Thanks in advance for any advice

Since you have both machines connected why don't you use Migration Assistant to transfer your Home folder? Or you can simply drag your documents from the old computer's connected hard drive.
I hope you realize that Migration Assistant will not transfer your Home folder if you have a new Home folder with the same name. Instead it will create a whole new Home folder with a different name. Have you checked to see if you have two user folders located in your /Users/ folder?

Will Time Machine back up iTunes media on a different internal drive

I have my iTunes media on a different internal drive.
Will Time machine back up that data as well?
I have two other internal drives, each 750gb.
Does Time Machine back those drives up as well? Or does it contain itself to the OS disk?

Stephen,
Amazingly, Time Machine will do this by default!! In fact, Time Machine will back up every volume that is present at the time of the initial backup, unless told to do otherwise. I keep my iTunes and iPhoto libraries on a secondary partition of my MBP's hard drive, and Time Machine backed that up automatically.
Your backup will be contained in a "Backups.backupdb" folder on whatever external volume you choose to use for Time Machine. Within this folder, you will find other folders named for the various volumes that are being backed up. As far as I know, there is no limit to how many can be kept.
Scott

I have 2 MacBooks at home that back-up to a Time Capsule. I'd like to buy an external Thunderbolt drive at work to have as an additional back-up. Will Time-Machine support autobackups to 2 different devices?

I have 2 MacBooks (1 Air and 1 Pro) at home that back-up to a Time Capsule. I'd like to buy an external Thunderbolt drive at work to have as an additional back-up (so that were there to be a fire/water damage/etc) I would not lose both the computer and the backup.
Will Time-Machine support autobackups to 2 different devices?
I'd like for it to be able to backup to an external Thunderbolt drive attached to my thunderbolt display when I dock the MacBook Air to it.
Does anyone know if this will occur automatically, or if I will have to manually select backup disk?
thanks

Yes, with Mountain Lion you can do this, but I will leave the explanation to Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini:
34. "Rotating" Time Machine backup disks

Time Machine: restore file to different computer

I would like a recommendation on how to restore a file from the Time Share volume of one mac to a different mac.
I have 2 machines: macbook pro & mac air both both running latest mountian lion. Each keeps its own time share volume on a network server. The two have some sync'd shares, but in general, they are not fully sync'd.
the macbook pro is in the shop for repair for a few days and I'd like to fetch some of it's files from its time machine backup onto the macair. I'm a little reluctant to simply fire up Time Machine on the mac air and respecify it's storage volume to be the macbook pro's volume. I'm concerned about internal configuration changes Time Machine might make to the mac air, including making changes that might cause it to have to do a full (not differential) back up when I reconfigure the mac air's Time Machine to use it's own backup volume after I'm done getting files from the macbook pro backup volume.
In addition to simply getting access to some of the files of the mac in the shop, I want to get the mac calendar from that machine and use it on the mac air. I understand that this may be somewhat trickier.

Not sure how this article applies to my problem Eric. I simply want to get a few files from the backup volume of a different computer, so that I can work on them while the other computer is being repaired. The article you cite talks about restoring a full backup to a different computer.
I think I did find a way to do what I want. I'm able to log in to the network backup server and access the shared volume where the time share backup image I'm interested is stored (as a sparse image). I'm able to open the sparse image as a volume on my desktop and have access to the files inside. I should be able to copy these onto the operable laptop (the macair) without upsetting the backup image, so that's what I intend to do. If and when I see that that works, I'll note it in this thread

Time Machine on different machines

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