Time Machine: removing the backup drive and using it for other data

I am trying to stop the time machine backups of my data and use my External HD for other data. Ia m new to the MAC world and I need to know how to do this. Almost like I want to shut Time Machine down and reformat the disk that was being used for the backups. Thanks for the help.

The big switch in the Time Machine preference pane stops Time Machine from performing automatic backups. I would be inclined to recommend you switched that to off but left the disk assigned as designated backup disk on the Change Disk panel because, if there is nothing assigned there, Time Machine will ask you every time a disk is attached which it could use whether you wish to so assign it.

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I have a late 2008 Macbook Pro last updated to Mavericks OS. The screen died and it's not worth replacing. How do I remove the hard drive and use a drive sled to access info I need?

I have a late 2008 Macbook Pro last updated to the Mavericks OS. The screen died and I took it into an Apple store and was told replacing the screen and the hardware to repair everything would cost almost as much as buying a new laptop or a cheaper model. I was told that I can use a drive sled to access data I need on my hard drive. How do I remove my hard drive and use a drive sled to get to the information I need? What makes matters more complicated is I need to update my iPhone and my iTunes/App store purchases. How can I accomplish this?
My wife has a late 2008 Macbook Pro as well, which I am assuming I need to run my hard drive. Is there a way to just access just my hard drive without interfering with hers?
I know this is lengthy. Thanks to whoever looks at this and offers advice/instruction.

the device you need is an External enclosure for a 2.5" (laptop form factor) SATA drive.
A USB-interface enclosure will be slow, but is adequate for this task and for re-purposing as a backup drive later. A firewire-interface drive would be faster, but is harder to find, more expensive, and faster than needed for this purpose.
The drive will mount as an "extra" drive on your wife's Macbook, and you can drag and drop whatever you wish. You could create a separate Account for yourself on her computer, and use Migration Assistant or just copy your stuff over to the new account. Then it would not interfere with her files.

Can you legally remove the sim card and use it for another courier?

I wanted to buy the iPhone 3G but annoyignly O2 have adopted stupid tarrifs that make no sense, so I want to replace my Samsung phone that I bought and use with T-Mobile, with the iPhone 3G. O2 will be selling the handsets individually for PAYG, but will that mean I can only use it for O2's services still?

There isn't any info yet and don't quote me but I'd say there is very high chance it will be locked to O2 and only work with the sim card that the iphone comes with. It's doubtful it will work with the tmobile sim card.

I am trying to confirm the time at which a particular backup occurred using an external hard drive that I have since misplaced. Although time machine lists the backup times for some backups, it does not list them for all. Can someone help?

I am trying to confirm the time at which a particular backup occurred using an external hard drive that I have since misplaced. Although time machine lists the backup times for some backups, it does not list them for all, including the one in question. Can someone help?

Okay, I've sussed it. I saw a link to another discussion that hadn't turned up in any of my searches before I posted the question above.
My Tosh HDD was formatted to FAT 32 and therefore would not be backed up by Time Machine. I removed all data from it - nightmare as I hadn't enough space to put it on the macbook HDD, but, after trawling through numerous photos and deleting rubbish for hours, I finally made enough space and copied all data across. Then, after clearing the data from the Tosh HDD, I used disk utilitity to reformat it to Mackintosh OS Extended. Chose the option without kournalling because I'm not baking up onto this disk and so don't need it - according to some other discussions I found.
When it was done I check on time machine in system prefs and once I selected options, I was able to remove it from the excluded from backups list. Hey presto. Now I'm moving my photo library and my music library onto the Tosh HDD and my macbook should start to breath again. Hurray.

I am running 10.7.5 and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Kathy P's MacBook.sparsebundle" is already in use. what do i do now?

i am running 10.7.5 on an older MacBook and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Kathy P’s MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use. what do i do now?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

I have three computers backing up onto the same Time Machine. The Hard drive of one has now failed, and I'd like to restore certain items (principally photographs) to one of the other two computers. How can I do this?

I have three computers backing up onto the same Time Machine. The Hard drive of one has now failed, and I'd like to restore certain items (principally photographs) to one of the other two computers. How can I do this?

"You can also browse the original backup disk for past backups by using "Browse other Time Machine Disks"--to see this choice, hold the Option key then click the Time Machine menu in the Finder (to see the menu, "Show Time Machine status in the menu bar" must be selected in Time Machine preferences."
Mac 101: Time Machine

HT3275 Time Machine Error: The backup disk image "Volumes/Data/My Macbook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. (How do I correct this issue?)

Time Machine did not back up:
Time Machine Error; ("The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/My MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.")
How do I correct this issue?
Thanks!

You need to be careful Bob.. people might take this literally.
Bob Timmons wrote:
How do I correct this issue?
Call the exterminator to get rid of the bugs in Lion and Mountain Lion.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5222487?tstart=0

I have a 1st Gen Time Capsule 1tb. It turns on, boots up and turns green for 5-10 mins, but then turns solid orange and then blinks orange. I have removed the hard drive and replaced the power supply . . . still the same problem. Suggestions?

I purchased a used 1st Gen Time Capsule with a 1 tb hard drive.
When I plugged it in and did the initial setup, it worked fine, but gave me a hard drive error. A few minutes later the green light turned solid orange, then blinking orange, then the status light went off. The lights in back stayed on.
I removed the hard drive and rebooted, it turned green for 5-10 minutes then reverted back to a solid orange, blinking orange, then went off.
Next I purchased a remanufactured internal power supply, and installed it (without the hard drive in). It turned green almost immediately. After about 15-20 minutes, I decided to try to install the hard drive again, booted it up, and tried to erase the hard drive with was working properly according to the software. It stopped erasing the disc after about 20 minutes and turned solid orange again, then blinking, then no status light (but back lights were still lit).
I'm a bit flabbergasted at this point, any suggestions on what to do next? I think i've pretty much replaced everything except the logic board, but can't seem to find any information on the symptoms of a logic board malfunction.
Thanks!!!!!!!

A Gen3 is identical board to a Gen4 although they have some differences in firmware and wireless card was updated on every model.. but a Gen3 is substantially faster than Gen1, Gen2 which also have identical boards.
You can with careful shopping get a Gen3 pretty cheap.
Most use a delta power supply which I think is a lot better than the flextronics used in most Gen1/2
You can sell back the parts to ebay.. people still would buy the power supply etc. Even just the case can be useful to a repairer.
But if the board is gone.. it is hard to repair.. not impossible.. but hard.
Gen 3 and Gen 4 are not without faults.
See this page.
https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair/new-issue-with-a1355-gen-3-tc
I have fixed it a different way.. by using the small converters you can buy in bulk from ebay for $1 each.. KIS3R33 .. they produce 3.3V at 2A peaking at 3A.. amazing.. I keep using them to replace onboard power converters by removing the inductor and simply power directly.. the end result has worked great. You can simply change the resistors around and get any output from 1v to 20v depending on input.
Is it worth doing it .. no of course not.. it will waste many more hours than $50 is worth.. but it is kind of fun that you can actually make things work again.
Here is a pic of the Gen 3 totally powered by me. All onboard power removed.
This was to track down the fault in the Gen3.. but I am kind of pleased that it ended up neat enough and reliable enough to work for more than a year.. the Gen3 still serves as a way to get Netflix via network for a friend running 24/7.
The units supply (from left to right)
1v, 1.1v, 3.3v, 5v, 1.8v
It is feed by 12v supply which is also directly connected to the hard disk.
So it is possible to fix.. !! Only got to be a bit crazy.

Why does my iMac (with Mountain Lion) no longer recognize my external hard drive I have used as a back up via Time Machine after the hard drive was accidentally unplugged?

Why does my iMac (with Mountain Lion) no longer recognize my external hard drive I have used as a back up via Time Machine after the hard drive was accidentally unplugged?

Do you mean the external hard drive is not mounted on the iMac desktop?
Check if Disk Utility sees the drive. Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility. If the external shows up in the left column, select it and click on Mount.
If it does show up this way, I recommend using DU to Repair Disk.

HT204057 is there a way to use time machine with a backup drive connected to my AirPort?

is there a way to use time machine with a backup drive connected to my AirPort Extreme?

Unfortunately, this is not officially supported by Apple......if you still have the 4th Gen AirPort Extreme that you list in your equipment profile.
However, the new "tower" shaped version of the AirPort Extreme does now officially support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the device.

I keep getting this error when trying to backup time capsule with time machine. The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data-1/Dan's iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use.

I keep getting this error when trying to backup time capsule with time machine. The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-1/Dan’s iMac.sparsebundle” is already in use.

Make sure that no other Macs are backing up at the time.
Pull the power cable from the back of the Time Capsule
Count to ten
Plug the power cable back into the back of the Tme Capsule
Wait a few minutes, then try a backup again.

What can I do when I get this message from my Time Machine? The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Jeanne's iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use.

What do I do when I get this message on my Time Machine? "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Jeanne’s iMac.sparsebundle” is already in use."

See C12.
Time Machine Troubleshooting

Time Machine says the backup is too large but it is not

Time Machine says the backup is too large but it is not.
While it is true my hard drive is very full (150 Gb used of the available 160Gb), this is way less than 42 Pb!!!!
I have tried numerous time to reset it and still the same issue.
Here is the reoccurring message:
Advice?

PB.. what the heck is a PB.. I kind of thought TB are still in fairly low digits.
Do a disk verify.. something is seriously stupidly wrong.. Otherwise ring Apple support and give them an earful about nonsense popups.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html A5

"Time Machine Error The backup volume is read only"

Lately, every time I try to backup to my Time Capsule using Time Machine it fails and I get a message saying "Time Machine Error The backup volume is read only. To select a different volume, open system preferences and choose Time Machine" So I do that and I see the Time capsule listed. I don't want to select anything but the Time Capsule, cuz what else do I have, right? Am I wrong in assuming the "backup volume" is the Time Capsule? Anyway, I have tried changing the permissions on the time capsule, but when I get the "get info" box for the time capsule, there is not an option to change those settings, they are grayed out. Every thing worked well for about a week and then this started. My backup volume must have been "Read & Write" at first, because I can see what was backed up when I open Time Machine. Anybody have a clue what's going on? How can I make the back up volume "Read & Write" again and why did it change to "Read Only?"

Nope, I am using the same passwords as ever, both users have the same password, BTW. The password I gave to the Time Capsule is different, tho, but that password is for the wireless aspect of the Time Capsule, so that wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?
I also get a message box that says "Disk Repair The disk "Backup of XXX's Computer" was not repairable by this computer, it is being made available to you with limited functionality. You must back up your data and reformat the disk as soon as possible." This box appears in conjunction with the appearance of the Norton's virus scan box scanning the time capsule.

I want to triple boot Have Snow Leopard and XP on separate drives and I want Windows 7 on another drive, can it be done by temporarily removing the xp drive and installing windows 7 on another internal drive?

I want to triple boot my Mac Pro I have Snow Leopard and XP on separate drives (osx on drive 1, xp on drive 2) and I want Windows 7 on another drive (drive 4, drive 3 is used by osx for storage), can it be done by temporarily removing the xp drive and installing windows 7 on drive 4?
I realise bootcamp only allows 2 operating systems and refit could change the size of my current xp drive to accomodate W7, that is not an option here for various reasons one being the drive is pretty much at capacity with only about 30gig free (I work with video so that free space fluctautes quite a bit). I have a brand new drive 4 with 1TB set aside ready for W7 but I'm unsure how to go ahead?
any help or advice would be really appreciated, thanks

Boot Camp is used to support Windows on the same drive.
You can have a different OS on every drive.
You could have Windows 7, Vista, and XP all on one drive if you so choose.
I recommend not putting Windows and OS X on the same dirve when talking about Mac Pro - unless you just need something small and lite.
Remove all your other drives while you install Windows 7.
You could even relocate XP - if you need it even - or recover the hard drive space.
You should always keep 30% free for Mac OS; same for data/media drives.
Considering 1.5TB WD Black $110.... and you want OS X to be on a fast high performance drive as well.

Time Machine: removing the backup drive and using it for other data

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