Time Machine restored old version of backup to my new iMac

I used Time Machine to install my files onto my new iMac. Trouble is I have restored on old backup, so my computer now looks like it did in 2008! If I hit the T M icon in the dock it only shows me that old backup, yet the up-to-date backups are clearly there on my ext. hard drive. How can I install the latest version onto my iMac?

See #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

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Time Machine Won't Recognize Previous BackUps transfered to new iMac

I just bought a new iMac and used the assistant wizard to transfer all the files from my previous Mac (a dual 2GHz G5). No problem. I have several external drives and one main (1TB) drive that I use as the TM backup drive.
When I went to make my first backup as a user of new iMac, TM is telling me there's not enough space to complete the process. What is happening is that TM is trying to backup my ENTIRE set of hard drives, thinking that, because I have a new iMac EVERYTHING is new and needs a top to bottom back up.
All my backups (which are performed hourly using TM) are still on the TM disk, when i went to look the file structure, this a folder named "Zephyr One" and another (the most recent failed backup) folder named "Zephyr One 2"
A few questions: I can't find where I can change the name "zephyr one" this used to the name of my main hard drive, but I changed that back to Macintosh HD, which is also the name of the drive on my iMac.
The biggest question: how do I get TM to recognize that it doesn't have to do a total backup as if this were the very first backup being done.
Thanks

bnmeeks wrote:
I just bought a new iMac and used the assistant wizard to transfer all the files from my previous Mac (a dual 2GHz G5). No problem. I have several external drives and one main (1TB) drive that I use as the TM backup drive.
When I went to make my first backup as a user of new iMac, TM is telling me there's not enough space to complete the process. What is happening is that TM is trying to backup my ENTIRE set of hard drives, thinking that, because I have a new iMac EVERYTHING is new and needs a top to bottom back up.
All my backups (which are performed hourly using TM) are still on the TM disk, when i went to look the file structure, this a folder named "Zephyr One" and another (the most recent failed backup) folder named "Zephyr One 2"
A few questions: I can't find where I can change the name "zephyr one" this used to the name of my main hard drive, but I changed that back to Macintosh HD, which is also the name of the drive on my iMac.
Zephyr One is the computer name not the drive name. That's what TM uses to name those folders. Computer name is changed in system preferences->sharing.
The biggest question: how do I get TM to recognize that it doesn't have to do a total backup as if this were the very first backup being done.
you can't. TM will make a full new backup on a new computer. there is no way around that. if you don't have enough space for that i suggest you either reformat the TM drive and start backups from scratch or use a different external drive for new backups.
Thanks

Time Machine only old versions when restore, initial slow

I had a problem on my MacBook Pro with OS X Mavericks when installing bad software. It had someting to do with installing myHack (stupid).
My machine started acting crazy so I decided to reinstall the whole thing with a Time Machine backup.
The strange thing was going on. I had two destinations where I made the backup (USB, encrypted and Synology DiskStation).
Both told me before the reinstall that the backups were recent. After booting with OS X Mavericks Recovery System and point to either backup I saw that since my update to 10.8.5, I think, there was no newer version to restore. The newest was from June 24th, I'm not sure when 10.8.5 was released??
So I've lost 4 months of work while I was in the perception that my backups were recent (as Time Machine showed me when working with the system).
Have other people the same trouble as I have, it this an bug issue? I'm gonna check and see with my other Mac computers if they also tell me they have a recent backup and see in a restore procudure if I can use that recent version if I wanted to or that they also show me old dates from version 10.8.4
Is this a bug starting with OS X 10.8.5?
Also the initial backup I'm making on two of my Macs are awfully slow.

I had a problem on my MacBook Pro with OS X Mavericks when installing bad software. It had someting to do with installing myHack (stupid).
My machine started acting crazy so I decided to reinstall the whole thing with a Time Machine backup.
The strange thing was going on. I had two destinations where I made the backup (USB, encrypted and Synology DiskStation).
Both told me before the reinstall that the backups were recent. After booting with OS X Mavericks Recovery System and point to either backup I saw that since my update to 10.8.5, I think, there was no newer version to restore. The newest was from June 24th, I'm not sure when 10.8.5 was released??
So I've lost 4 months of work while I was in the perception that my backups were recent (as Time Machine showed me when working with the system).
Have other people the same trouble as I have, it this an bug issue? I'm gonna check and see with my other Mac computers if they also tell me they have a recent backup and see in a restore procudure if I can use that recent version if I wanted to or that they also show me old dates from version 10.8.4
Is this a bug starting with OS X 10.8.5?
Also the initial backup I'm making on two of my Macs are awfully slow.

Time machine restore from in progress backup?

Greetings. I have had a major disaster. I started using OS Lion last week and have had nothing but problems. Time machine BU took 4 days, then it said that the BU could not be trusted, back up again. So I did. The system froze and crashed 3 days into the next backup, so I have an in progress BU file on time machine.
I went to the Genius Bar and we erased my disk. My fault, I did not realize that the BU was only 3 days into a 4 day BU. Lion was reinstalled, but I have lost a bunch of things including my photos and itunes library. My applications are also gone, but that is not a big problem, other than the time involved to restore them from disk.
I have connected to time machine, found the backup folder and the data folder which contains the in progress BU. I can enter time machine and on the desktop is the name of my newly restored computer (iMac320db), the time machine Data drive which contains the in progress BU and the Time Machine disk. I access this only through pressing option and "browse other drives" when I click the time machine icon.
The in progress data is a package containing 111 GB, and the time machine get info states it has used 750 GB of the 998 GB available, so there is stuff on te drive, maybe the last backup that Time Macchine did not like and asked me to back up again.
OK, is there any way to access the in progress package; is there any way to see some of the contents of the drive that are now not visible that might contain some music or photos?
Any hellp is appreciated. Thx. Dave

Try looking at this:
http://johnfalla.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/beware-time-machine-users/
It says you can "view package" on the .inprogress and see what was in there. And using automator to copy it and get your stuff back.
I was going to try it but my .inprogress didn't have the data I wanted. Hope it helps, Good luck!

HT201250 Using time machine/ external hard drive to transfer data to new iMac?

I just purchased a new iMac and do not want to use migration assistant to transfer all the data from my old iMac to the new iMac. Does anyone know if I can just connect my external hard drive that was used as a Time Machine to the new computer to be able to access all my old data?

Yes, you should be able to do that. Visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ should you need help.

How can I restore my windows vista backup in my new imac?

I Have bought the new iMac 21.5 29ghz and would like to rrestore my old pc backup in vista. Can anyone help?

No. That won't work.

Does Time Machine Restore old iLife?

Hello,
I am about to purchase a new iMac and then use TM to clone my HD over to the new iMac, and I wanted to know, if I have a newer iLife on the iMac I buy, will the older one replace the newer on when I transfer everything? Sorry if I am unclear. Thanks in advanced!

ccrosby94 wrote:
Hello,
I am about to purchase a new iMac and then use TM to clone my HD over to the new iMac, and I wanted to know, if I have a newer iLife on the iMac I buy, will the older one replace the newer on when I transfer everything? Sorry if I am unclear. Thanks in advanced!
Depending on how you do it, no. See #19 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Time Machine restored an older version of my system

Hi!
I had to wipe my drive clean before bringing my macbook pro to applecare technicians, and restored the whole back up from time machine upon reinstalling.
Now I realize there are weird discrepancies between my backups and what is reinstalled. I had the latest version of Leopard installed originally, but Time Machine restored the version from the DVD (10.5.1) - so I have the old version of iTunes, for example. I did pick to move ALL my old files back, including the system prefs and apps.
How weird, right?
Or is that normal? Since I have to bring my machine back to the techs on Monday (I will wipe it clean again), anything I can do to avoid this in the future? I'd love to have just one button to push and my computer would be back up and running Tuesday morning, as it is today, with no difference.
Let me know what you think?
Thanks!

Princess Karlotta wrote:
Oh crap. I didn't do that. I waited until the end of the install and chose the "migrate my info back from a TM backup" or something like that.
That's the +Setup Assistant+ (see #19 in the FAQ Tip).
It gives you 4 yes/no options: Users, Applications, Settings, Other Files and Folders.
Now I wonder whether I should do that. It sounds a bit like a pain (I had like 560 new emails, and I downloaded 1500 pictures from my camera since then) but maybe it won't be as horrible asfinding out all the bugs and discrepancies on the way.
What would you advise?
First, if you haven't already, download and install the "combo" update to get back to the proper version of Leopard. That's a combination (thus the clever name) of all the updates to Leopard since it was first released, so installing it should fix anything that's gone wrong since then, such as with one of the normal "point" updates. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_8_ComboUpdate (If you weren't on 10.5.8, change the last digit of the link accordingly). Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards.
Then you've got three options:
Have you done any backups since the reinstall? If not, you can use +Migration Assistant+ in your Applications/Utilities folder. It's almost the same as +Setup Assistant.+ Choose Applications (and Settings, if you didn't before). If you have done backups since then, this won't work, as +Migration Assistant+ uses the most recent backup -- you don't get a choice like you do with the full restore.
If all you omitted were Applications, you should be able to selectively restore the ones you're missing with the normal "Star Wars" display.
I don't think it's a good idea, but if you have done new backups, you could do the full restore from the last backup before you reinstalled (in that case you don't need the "combo" update). That will, of course, erase all the new data.
Then use the normal "Star Wars" display to selectively restore the new stuff from the last backup. Take a look at #15 in the FAQ Tip -- depending on where the new emails are, you may be able to selectively restore from the various mailboxes, then move the restored items into the proper mailboxes.
Ditto your photos. Again there's special handling for iPhoto, but if you tell it to restore the whole thing, you'll get a prompt about what to do with duplicates, so although it may take a while, you should be able to get them all back.
But if you have a lot of other things, and aren't real sure what and where they are, this could be trouble.
Think about this, and post back if I've missed something or you have more specifics or questions.

Cannot view photos after a Time Machine restore.

Hello,
I am running iPhoto 09 version 8.1.2. I attempted to install the SL 10.6.3 update on 3/31 and all of my CIFS shares become slow and unresponsive to the point they were not useable. I chose to do a full Time Machine restore from the TM backup I had initiated just prior to the 10.6.3 upgrade. Now the last 40 pictures I imported on 3/28 appear in the events but when i click on them I get the screen. I selected the iPhoto Library and exposed the contents of the package and the none of the pictures are in the originals directory. Why are the thumbnails still present but the photos are missing? i thought about performing a library rebuild, but it does not make sense if i cannot find the originals.
Your help is greatly appreciated

No there's no point in making a rebuild if the originals are not present. As to why this happened? More a question for the Time Machine folks.
Regards
TD

Time machine restores a really old backup!

Time machine makes regular backups of my system. Last night, I had to restore my system and used the installation discs to do this (and selected restore from Time machine, and selected the latest backup).
When the installation was complete, a number of files and applications were missing, though I can still see them on the Time machine drive under the latest backup. When I looked through the backups, the latest backup (23 June 09) says that the date modified was 2007! This 2007 date matches up with the applications I got upon installation.
Any ideas on what happened? The plan is to start from a fresh installation and grab the applications I need from the lastest backup, but I would really like to know what happened so I can avoid it in the future! How can I restore my system from the latest backup?

Hello again:
That would be the only way to see if a corrupt preference file causes your problem.
FWIW, I have not seen any other post with a problem like the one you describe. Something in your system is causing the issue - what, I do not know.
There are other things that could be attempted, but they would take quite a bit of your time.
Barry

Time Machine: removing old backups w/o redoing whole thing!

I've been using time machine for years now. In the past, when my backup disk has become too full, I've wiped the entire backup (delete) then created a brand new one. Why?? Because having a backup of what I have RIGHT NOW is all I want or need.
Now, all that said I would rather just prune all files not needed. Right now my 250gb mac HD has a 475gb backup file, and I have 100gb free on my mac's HD.
Is there any way to remove all old backups...or prune up to, say a week prior? I would have to imagine that this would be of some value. Reasons:
1. Save me (some) time of pruning/deleting vs doing a wifi backup from scratch.
2. I could potentially lose all of my data should my HD crash before my backup completes.
Help?

Greazy wrote:
I've been using time machine for years now. In the past, when my backup disk has become too full, I've wiped the entire backup (delete) then created a brand new one. Why?? Because having a backup of what I have RIGHT NOW is all I want or need.
Then Time Machine is not the right backup app for you. The backups of things you've changed or deleted can be very useful, for a number of things, but if you really don't want that, you're using the wrong app, because that's what Time Machine is designed to do.
Try CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to make "bootable clones." CCC is donationware; SD has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling. Either is easily found via Google.
Now, all that said I would rather just prune all files not needed. Right now my 250gb mac HD has a 475gb backup file, and I have 100gb free on my mac's HD.
Is there any way to remove all old backups...or prune up to, say a week prior? I would have to imagine that this would be of some value. Reasons:
1. Save me (some) time of pruning/deleting vs doing a wifi backup from scratch.
2. I could potentially lose all of my data should my HD crash before my backup completes.
Where is your backup disk? You mention a WIFI backup, so is it an external disk connected to a Time Capsule, or Airport, or another Mac; or are you backing-up to a Time Capsule, or ??
There are ways to limit the size of TM backups, depending on what version of OSX you're on (this is the Leopard forum, but your signature says you're on Snow Leopard), and where the backups are. Once you do that, Time Machine will delete old backups automatically when it needs room for new ones.
If they're on an external HD, partition it to the maximum size you want. If they're elsewhere, tell us where, and confirm what version of OSX you're on.

Time Machine - which old backups are deleted?

Hi,
     Apologies if the answer is obvious - just wanted a second opinion.
     I'm backing up a 500GB MBP and a 2TB external to a 4TB Time Machine. If I complete a backup right now, can I be sure that everything on both drives is contained on the Time Machine drive?
     If both my MBP and 2TB drives exploded in the next few minutes, will I be able to get back all those files from my Time Machine?
     I ask because TM deletes old files during the backup process but we're never told which ones. If I've created and then backed up files in March (and not deleted them from the original drives) can I be sure that they're still available to restore from in July?
     Thanks,
A

championshipdigital wrote:
I'm backing up a 500GB MBP and a 2TB external to a 4TB Time Machine. If I complete a backup right now, can I be sure that everything on both drives is contained on the Time Machine drive?
Everything you need, yes (Time Machine skips some things that aren't needed, such as system work files, most caches & logs, trash, etc.).
I ask because TM deletes old files during the backup process but we're never told which ones.
It "thins" backups, per the schedule on the prefrences window:
If I've created and then backed up files in March (and not deleted them from the original drives) can I be sure that they're still available to restore from in July?
Yes. Time Machine will never delete the backup copy of anything that's still on your system.
The mistake some folks make is, they start deleting originals to save space not realizing that Time Machine will, eventually, delete the backups of those files.
See #12 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for details.

I bought a new mac and i migrate with time machine...but the backup was a little bit old and weren't save the latest modify i made in my website.. is it possible take the uploded site in iweb? sorry but i don't speak english very well.

I bought a new mac and i migrate with time machine...but the backup was a little bit old and weren't save the latest modify i made in my website.. is it possible take the uploded site in iweb? sorry but i don't speak english very well

But what can I cut and paste? the html code or image and text directly?
depend on which template you used.
if you use iweb photos page template then you need to search for my photos page solutions in this forum.
@ot: cut and paste from the online version
@rw: You can drag an image from the website to the Desktop
have your try your methods in iweb photos page?

I just had to reformat the external hard drive that houses my iPhoto library, then restore it from a backup. Now Time Machine is telling me my backup hard drive suddenly does not have the space to complete a backup. I also noticed when I go in to Time Mac

I just had to reformat the external hard drive that houses my iPhoto library, then restore it from a backup. Now Time Machine is telling me my backup hard drive suddenly does not have the space to complete a backup. I also noticed when I go in to Time Machine, there are only about 5 backups recorded on the ext. hard drive. There were many more before. Any idea what happened and if I have to buy a new back up hard drive?

Hallo Kieth ,
I am not quite ready to restore the full iphoto library , as I have days of work re - imputting titles,descriptions and enhancement . I hope that your suggestion works , as I use my Macbook basically to work with digital photography. Through time , I will need to delete my library to recover more disc space and I would hate to have to spend more time re - imputting titles and descriptions all over again .
Thanks for your interest and advice.
regards - Alan

TimeMachine not backing up, as hard drive is full. Can the time machine clear old backups and replace them with new?

Time Macine not backing up.
As the harddrive is full, Can the time machine clear old backups, and override them with new backups. For example 5 - 6 days +++ old. Backups were proformed dayly
Any help much appreciated
Many thanks,

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Time Machine restored old version of backup to my new iMac

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