Transferring backup from Time Capsule to external HD?

Have had many headaches with trying to use Time Capsule wirelessly for backups and also as a router for internet connectivity.
Finally decided to invest in an external HD with 3T of capacity. It is a 'plug and play' unit, already GUID partitioned and I want to transfer my Time Machine backups (that go back to Nov 2010) in total to this new HD, which is connected to my desktop computer with FW800.
Here's my question: This article suggests that all I have to do is to drag the Backups.backupdb folder to my new external HD, but this is not found on my Time Capsule.
Instead, I have the following:
[Folder Icon} Desktop (containing 0 items)
KO's MacPro.sparsebundle
There is a total of 1.39 TB on the Time Capsule, representing backups for the past 2 years.
So do I just drag these 2 items to my external HD?
Also, I'm not confident that copying the files wirelessly is the way to go. However, I've had spotty success with trying to use the TCapsure via ethernet.
Any suggestions?

Apple now recommends this method for backup of the TC.. see.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5096
Pondini covered it ages ago and with better detail.
http://pondini.org/TM/18.html
Read the whole thing carefully.. inside the sparsebundle is the backup.. you do not copy the sparsebundle just the backup.
There is a total of 1.39 TB on the Time Capsule, representing backups for the past 2 years.
So do I just drag these 2 items to my external HD?
Also, I'm not confident that copying the files wirelessly is the way to go. However, I've had spotty success with trying to use the TCapsure via ethernet.
Any suggestions?
That is never going to work over wireless.
By the time you get it half way something will happen and corrupt it and you need to start over.
TM backup are fairly difficult beasties to backup IMHO.
You must get your ethernet working. I would strongly advise you do this in isolation.. Setup a computer and the TC.. and copy the file across.. no other network connection.. If it still give issues.. something is actually wrong with the TC. How old is it and what model, please give A1xxx from the rubber foot.
The final method.. is to extract the TC hard disk and put it in a USB holder. Then do a copy on the computer, disk to disk. this is much faster btw if you use sata connection on your Pro.. in fact you can do it in a few hours.
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule

Similar Messages

How to backup from Time Capsule to external HD?

How to set up files backup from Time Capsule to external HD?
Here is configuration: MacBook + MacAir + Time Capsule (which I use as a storage) + 2Tb WD MyPassport (USB connected to TimeCapsule)
I keep files like photos on TimeCapsule to be available by WiFi and I want to set up my Time Machine to backup picture folder from TimeCapsule to MyPassport HD.

Time Machine can't back up a network volume. You'll have to use third-party software. I don't have a specific recommendation. There is no efficient way at all to back up a Time Capsule, which is why it should only be used as a backup destination, not as a general-purpose file server.

Moving Time Machine backups from Time Capsule to External USB Drive

Hi all,
hoping someone out there can help I'm trying to move my time machine backups from my old Time Capsule to my external USB drive. I've already used the Airport Utility to "archive" my Time Capsule to a USB connected WD MyBook Elite.
Right now my WD MyBook Elite has both the archive, and recent (roughly 5 backups) of both my MacBook & MacMini. I've tried to follow the seemingly simple steps located in the FAQ's here [URL="http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/18.html#id22"]Copy NETWORK backups to be used LOCALLY[/URL] , but I cannot past step 1.
[Quote]Right-click the new volume on your desktop or Finder sidebar and select Get Info. If the Ignore ownership on this volume box is checked, click the padlock at the lower right and enter your Admin password at the prompt. Then remove the check mark from the box and close the window.[/Quote]
There is no option to "Ignore Ownership" in Snow Leopard for the Spars Bundle or when expanding it to see its folders.
Any advice?
I'm basically trying to combine my backups to unit them into one seemless backup each for:
Mac Mini & MacBook.
Thank you in advance.

Dark Heart wrote:
[Quote]Right-click the new volume on your desktop or Finder sidebar and select Get Info. If the Ignore ownership on this volume box is checked, click the padlock at the lower right and enter your Admin password at the prompt. Then remove the check mark from the box and close the window.[/Quote]
There is no option to "Ignore Ownership" in Snow Leopard for the Spars Bundle or when expanding it to see its folders.
That's not referring to the sparse bundle you're copying FROM, but the new volume you just formatted on the USB drive you're copying TO.
If you didn't just format the partition, that box may not be shown -- it not, there's no problem and you don't need to do anything in that step.
I'm basically trying to combine my backups to unit them into one seemless backup each for:
Mac Mini & MacBook.
I'm not sure what you mean by that: you cannot combine the backups of two different Macs. You can put them both on the same hard drive, either in two different partitions, or, if any are going to be backed-up over a network, in a sparse bundle.
If I've misunderstood, please clarify exactly what you're trying to do.

Trying to move backup from Time Capsule to external USB drive

As per the title, I'm getting rid of my Time Capsule and am trying to move the backups to an external USB drive instead.
Initially I used AirPort Utility 5.6.1 to archive to the USB drive. However, when I switched TM back on, it wanted to do a full backup rather than incremental.
I then found Pondini's very useful page at http://pondini.org/TM/18.html and decided to try it this method instead. It also made me realise that I'd incorrectly formatted the new drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) when in fact the TM backup was case sensitive. So I thought this could have been the issue, but still persued Pondini's method. I formatted the drive again, this time in the correct format, and followed Pondini's guide, copying the Backups.backupdb folder from the sparse bundle to the new drive, which completed fine. But unfortunately, TM again wanted to backup everything from scratch when I turned it back on.
Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

So it looks like I was wrong on both counts.
I misunderstood AirPort Utility's archive feature. I failed to realise that archiving actually puts the sparse bundle in a separate folder called "Data Archive" on the new drive, so of course TM won't continue using that existing backup.
It would also seem that I was incorrect in thinking that Pondini's method didn't work. When I tried it again, I realised that TM was in fact continuing the backup. Initially it looks like it's going to do a big backup, but actually only backed up a few hundred megabytes, then everything was back to normal.
Incidentally, I've also found that if you do use AirPort Utility to archive the backup, you can effectively using Pondini's "How can I copy my TM backups to a different location?" by mounting the spare bundle in the "Data Archive" folder, then dragging Backups.backupdb to the root of the drive.
I just wanted to post this for completeness and in case it helps anyone in the future.

Delete old Backups from Time Capsule

Deleting old Backups from Time capsule ist very slow.
How could it be faster?
Where can i change the preferences?
Which Programm changes Preferences?
If its possible answers in German;-)
Thanks

Deleting old Backups from Time capsule ist very slow.
Deleting Time Machine backups can be slow. Löschen von Time Machine-Backups können nur langsam voran.
How could it be faster?
Unfortunately, there isn't any settings that you can make to speed them up. Leider gibt es keine Einstellungen, die Sie vornehmen können, um sie zu beschleunigen.

How do I remove a backup from Time Capsule?

How do I remove a backup from Time Capsule? It is taking up 250 GB on the capsule and I wish to remove it.
I do not wish to erase the Time capsule since I have another backup on there I wish to keep.

Then you use the TM application to manage the backups. See:
A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

Can I remove a specific dated backup from time Capsule?

Sorry for the long story - but I have tried to provide as much detail as possible as to what is going on...
Sadly Lion has been a royal pain in the perverbial for me. It is slow (on a Macbook pro that is still within its warranty period so I don't believe that Hardware can be blamed - especially with upgraded ram and a 7200rpm drive) I recently got so frustrated with its clunkyness that I tried reinstalling on a new HDD and booting off that. Showed improvement (clean install vs upgraded and less apps etc slowing down the OS - however it is nowhere near what Snow Leopard was). But while I was at it I did something stupid. In hindsight very stupid - but balls to Apple for putting me in this situation and balls to Apple for letting me do it with no warning about the consequences...
I connected my old HDD via firewire and tried to access my files that are on it - I couldn't initially as my newly installed user did not have permission. Easy - Add the new user to permissions for folder concerned - apply to enclosed - done - Achieved what I wanted. Files accessed - test complete - sadly I will have to reinstall a clean lion and transfer my files over (restore from time capsule).
Two Major problems have surfaced. The first is directly related to the topic, the second I might try to repost in an appropriate section...
1) What I didn't think about is as soon as I modified the permissions Time Capsule treats all the files in that folder as being modified. So it has backed up an entire new version of every file in that folder - a few hundred GB. That has chomped out 10-20% of my Time Capsule. I have no need for these backups and want to delete - say - every back up made since last Sunday when I committed the dirty deed. Seems minor - but this is a major compromise to my current arrangement.
2) I have MAJOR permissions issues now. Firstly my Aperture library (which was in the folder with added user in the permissions) is fried. Can't be repaired/rebuild or anything. Lion wont do anything so useful as to tell me why - just get the colourwheel of death and the aperture library NEVER opens. Balls to Apple for allowing this to happen so easily. Second I tried to restore the entire pictures folder from Time Machine. It tells me I don't have permission??? WHAT. Double Balls. These are my freakin files - created by this user on this MBP on this install of Lion. I can't see how adding a user can suddenly prevent a long standing user from accessing their files from within their account. By the way the new install on the new HDD is no longer in play - all I am trying to do is continue to use my MBP the way I was before I did the test install.
My long running affinity for Mac is rapidly waning - I have wasted countless hours trying to regain access to ALL of my pictures - 14 years worth. 1000's of images. I cannot access them on my MBP, Can't restore them from Time Machine. This is the worst computing experience of my life.
I have tried booting from recovery, repairing permissions etc etc etc. Nothing mainstream solves this.
Does anyone have some wisdom to address my conundrum - I am seriously desperate here... I have genuinely decided that I will not waste the upcoming long weekend ******* around with this - I would rather forget my 14 years of stored memories and just get on with life... If unsolved by this Friday I will sell my Macbook Pro and iPad and initiate my own version of the post PC world - no computer at all - currently it is doing nothing but wasting my time.

jameski wrote:
My only concern about resetting premissions (and ACL???) is that it will exacerbate my backup disk space wastage issue as it will result in full backup of my entire home folder (about 400GB).
Yup, if you changed the permissions on everything in your home folder, that will change them all back, so they'll all be backed-up again.
That will leave me with about 1.2TB of a 2TB TC used up with backups (currently should be about 500GB) - my plan was to have about 1.5TB of my TC available to use for files in the medium term until the need for more backup space pushed me to invest in another drive. TC's are just too expensive to waste like this.
Mixing backups and other data on the TC's internal HD will, eventually, cause conflicts. But see #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for some possible workarounds.
If I do a complete restore from TM (entire account)
You can't do that. You can't restore an entire home folder via the "Star Wars" display, because the home folder and default sub-folders (Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, etc.,) are protected. You'd have to restore the contents of the sub-folders, a rather tedious process.
You can do a "full system restore" (OSX, apps, all user accounts & home folders), via a different procedure (Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14).
to the day before this shambles started - will time machine treat my restored account as a modification of all files and try to back up a fresh copy of everything on the basis that it has been modified - or is it smart enought to realise what I have done and carry on doing only incremental backups?
Anything you restore via the "Star Wars" display is considered as changed, so will be backed-up.
A full system restore (usually) results in only an incremental backup, but TM does a "deep scan" to compare everything on your system to the backups, to see what's different. That will find that everything in your home folder has changed, so back it all up anyway.
If yes I will likely put all my historical backups onto a cheap 500GB drive and put it in a drawer and start new backups on TC
Good plan. You probably know you can always view and restore from those, via the Browse Other Backup Disks option, per #17 in the FAQ.
After you do that, in theory, you could run the user home folder permissions reset, delete all the backups made after the original permissions change, then force a "deep scan" so the only differences found would be files that really are new or changed; but that's tedious, error-prone, and "iffy."
Are backups via TC inherently substantially slower than say to firewire drive?
Oh, yes, absolutely. Here's a very rough comparison of full backup speeds (see #29 in the FAQ for details):
There's a lot of variation depending on your hardware and setup, of course.
I am running my TC through gigabit ethernet as wifi (despite having an ethernet extended AEP in my office) is too slow. I simply cannot get over the serious loss of performance since Lion and more recently the introduction of a TC. It is dire!
Some folks report WIFI backups slower under Lion vs. Snow Leopard, some think it's faster, others (including me) don't see much difference.
However, it really shouldn't make a whole lot of difference for normal incremental backups, as they should be relatively small and quick in most cases, and shouldn't have much impact on performance. You might want to check the sizes of your backups -- if they seem too large considering what you've changed, see #D4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. If the sizes are reasonable, but the backups are still slow, or other performance seems to suffer, see #D2 there.
Are these your only backups? If so, consider keeping "secondary" backups, to avoid having "all eggs in one basket." See #27 in the FAQ for some suggestions.

Why Migration or Restore Utility doesn't find any Time Machine backups from Time Capsule ?

Hello,
After a big issue on my system (Lion), I had to do a full restore from Time Capsule and my problems started.
Here is my setup:
Time Capsule configured with account-based authentication
MacBook with OS X Lion (x2) (1 needs a restore)
I booted from Lion's restoration partitions, then I selected "Restore from Time Machine backup", my Time Capsule is detected. I hit "Continue", the utility asks my login/password. Then...nothing ! It seems that no backup is detected.
Well, from another computer, I tried to connect with the same login/password and mount the sparsebundle backup...no problems
To go further, I launched Migration utility from the working computer, then tried to restore from Time Machine backups....no backup is detected again !
Solution:
I had, from Lion's restoration partition, to mount the Time Capsule drive, then the sparsebundle image (the backup) from Terminal.
After that, the restoration utility was able to detect the "local" mounted sparsebundle backup image.
Aftermath:
Not a single Apple utility, designed to restore my computer, was able to detect my Time Capsule's backups.
I was able to use the command line utility to be able to restore my computer.
Question:
Did I miss something ? Am I the only one to do that to restore from a Time Capsule configured with account authentication ?

I'm sorry I didn't get your point. I didn't find any answer in this FAQ.
For the record, I checked my backups with Disk Utility, no damages were found, so it should work out of the box.

Incremental backup from time capsule (time machine backup) to external disk

I have two questions regarding backing up a time capsule backup.
I would like to backup the time machine backup of my Macs from a time capsule to an external hard disk. The time capsule is a first geneneration one with 500 GB. The external hard disk has 500 GB as well with USB and firewire ports..
First question: What is the best way to connect these two hard drives - I am using a MacBook Air with two USB ports ?
Second question: What backup software could I use to do incremental backups - I tried ChronoSync but it is not picking up the changes of the sparcebundles ?
Thank you for every valuable advice
Regards

CAAN wrote:
I have two questions regarding backing up a time capsule backup.
I would like to backup the time machine backup of my Macs from a time capsule to an external hard disk.
Backing-up your backups is generally not a good idea. If there's a problem with the original backup, it will be copied to, and perhaps magnified on, the copy.
You'd be much better off making "secondary" backups separately. See #27 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum), for some suggestions.
About the only alternative is to "archive" the TC's contents to a USB drive connected to it, but that's not incremental, and has other downsides as well. See #Q6 in [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Transferring content from Time capsule

I backed up our computers on Time Capsule. Our Imac has crashed and I need to access the backup files from that computer ( on the Time Capsule ) How can I do it. I tried Migrating assistant but it didn't transfer my photo library. How can I access those files ?

Migration Assistant should have transferred everything (unless you omitted things).
By default, the iPhoto Library is in the Pictures folder of a home folder, but some folks move it.
Normally, Time Machine only shows the backups for the Mac it's running on, so to see the ones for a different Mac, you'll need the Browse... option, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17.
Since you're on Lion, if you have iPhoto '11 you can't browse or restore individual photos. See the pink box in FAQ #15.

Restoring Time Machine backup from Time Capsule. Very slow times solved

For me at least . .
Like many people it seems, I have had enormous problems trying to restore data using Time Machine on a Time Capsule. The data had been backed up fine. The problem was the time for restore which initially was projected at 125 hours for 235GB. Reality suggested that (after 24 hours) this estimate was going to be about right and clearly unacceptable.
I cancelled the backup and read as much as I could across bulleting boards.
The main impression was of a howl of frustration from the many people who had experienced the same problem.
The collected actions below were assembled from many threads and ultimately ended in success. I hope they help.
My initial setup was as follows:
PowerMac G5 Power PC (2005) with 8GB DDR SDRAM (1000BaseT Ethernet connector). Mac OSX 10.5.8
1TB Time Capsule on Ethernet network via a 100BaseT Hub.
I was restoring to a 1TB USB 2.0 Seagate External Desktop Drive (ST3100005EXD101-RK) attached via a USB Hub to the G5.
Having read some threads, I did all of the following:
• I brought the TC into my home office and connected it directly to the Ethernet Port of the G5 to allow the most direct connection from TC to G5
• As suggested in one thread, I replaced the Cat5 ethernet cable I was using with a Cat5e cable (Cat6 is better) to allow 1000BaseT connection to the G5.
• I turned off Time Machine backups and MobileMe Sync.
• I terminated all unnecessary applications the computer
I restarted the restore and the result was the same.
I read more widely and then did the following:
• I reformatted the Seagate target drive using GUID and Mac OS Extended (Journaled). (Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility>choose top level of target drive>Partition>choose number of partitions under Volume Scheme (1 for me)>Options (button under partition window)>GUID Partition Table>Apply and wait quite a while. I had originally had it as Apple Partition Map and GUID was recommended on one particular thread.
• I plugged the target USB drive directly into the USB port on the front of the G5 to eliminate the hub as a potential cause of the slow data transfer.
• Readings suggested that Spotlight might be trying to index one or both of the TC and the target drive. To prevent this the author suggested adding the TC unit and the target drive to the Privacy tab of Spotlight (System Preferences>Spotlight>Privacy. Click + at bottom of window and navigate to target drive/s to add). Activity monitor showed as much data being sent as received so this seemed a likely contributor to the problem. I added both drives as described.
• Somewhere it was mentioned that IPv6 might be causing the problem. I turned it off (System Settings>Network>Built-In Ethernet>Advanced (bottom right of window)>choose “Off” in Configure IPv6 drop box.
• I unplugged the Internet connection from the TC to ensure no chance of this being a factor.
• My G5 doesn’t have an Airport but if you do you should also turn this off. You want to be quite certain that there are no connections that either the computer or the airport can channel data through other than the Ethernet cable.
• I don’t have anti virus software but this should also be turned off as it seems this was slowing down data transfer for many people.
• I shut down the G5, the USB target drive and the TC and restarted them all. After start up, I once again shut down all unnecessary programmes.
I restarted the Restore and, after the customary long wait as it added up all the files to transfer, it announced that the restore would take 4 hours (as opposed to the five days it had suggested previously).
Activity Monitor now shows data transfer rates of 17mb – 18mb per second and it looks like 4 hours is going to be about right. It also shows large amounts of data being received but now with negligible amounts being sent.
I’m afraid I don’t know which of the above is the bit that solved the problem. It could be a combination but I believe that if you do all the above, your restores / backups will all go at an acceptable speed.
A last note to thank all those individuals whose wise words I scoured for these instructions. I hope their collected suggestions are of some use to others.

The migration assistant or the original backup?
I tried WiFi, Ethernet and on the second attempt with a fresh backup on a USB drive.

How can I remove backup from time capsule?

I have a new Imac and transferred my documents and settings via time capsule from my previous Imac to my new Imac.
I have removed my account and data etc from my first Imac and gave this one to my daughter.
When trying activate time capsule on my new Imac I can not make backups because there is not enough space.
Also I can not make the machine understand that the backup on the time capsule is from the data on this new Imac.
So my only option? Is to delete all the backups from my timecapsule and start new.
How do I delete the backups from my timecapsule?

If you want to completely erase the Time Capsule drive and start over.....
Open AirPort Utility - Click Manual Setup
Click the Disks icon
Click the Disks tab just below the icon
Click Erase
The "Quick Erase" option will only take few moments

Backup with Time capsule and external HD

I have a harddrive to backup to but when I choose it, a message comes up saying it is going to remove everything from the HD before backup and is that ok....no...it's not ok...do I need a backup specific harddrive?

If you're using Time Machine, you need to back up to a drive formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), which includes the one in the Time Capsule.
(69733)

Back up from Time capsule to External Drive

I want to move all of my media from my hard drive on one macbook to my time capsule. i currently use the time capsule with time machine to back up my hard drive. but, i have multiple computers. at home, i have a macbook and a macbook air. at work, i have an imac. i'd like to keep my photos, videos and music on the time capsule's hard drive, so i can access it from each computer. i have the time capsule registered with mobileme, so i can see the contents of it from each computer. presumably, then, if i put the media on that disk, i can access it from each location.
but, now i want to have a back up of all of that media. i have an external hard drive i can plug into the time capsule. my question is this: is there a way to use the time capsule as i have described and then have the time capsule's contents backed up to the external hard drive? if not, is there a way to put everything on the external hard drive, connected to the time capsule, access the content from all three computers, and then have the external harddrive back up to the time capsule?
any help would be really appreciated!

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
No, Time Machine cannot back-up any network drive.
Your options are limited. See #Q6 in the Using TIME MACHINE with a TIME CAPSULE *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Transfer from Time Capsule to External Disk

I want to start using an external drive (Lacie) for Time Machine, but need to transfer my Time Capsule backups to this external drive. I have archived the TC backups but that does not seem to be useful for this purpose. The instructions about restoring don't seem relevant either. I simply want to be able to access the older TC backups along with the newer backups on the external drive. In effect: to merge the old TM (made on the TC) with the new TM (made on the external drive).
If this is possible, how can I do it?
Thanks.

thomps2xxx wrote:
This works. I can now use TM to access the sparsebundle version of the backups on the new external drive.
But the new backups to this drive start a new file in a different format.
TM treats backups to locally attached drives differently over networked drives. here is an interesting read.
Is there any way to merge the sparsebundle files into the standard TM backup file?
unfortunately, the answer is no

Transferring backup from Time Capsule to external HD?

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