Transferring data to new (replacement) hard drive using time machine

My MacPro has crashed and after replacing the motherboard with no improvement, Apple thinks I will likely need a new hard drive. The cost of new drive and labor to install it is covered by Apple Care, but not for the technician to transfer to the new hard drive all the software data installed subsequent to purchase.
I have Time Machine on a second hard drive. Assuming that this drive is OK, can I transfer the data myself from Time Machine opened at a point before computer crashed?

Hi V.K., was just reading your instructions for jumper25 about transferring all info to a new HD and had a question. I am in the same situation where i have bought a new 320Gb to replace the OEM 120Gb in my MBP. Everything is very straight forward from what you have posted but i only have the original Tiger 10.4.9 install DVD and I am running Leopard 10.5.5. Will I be able to use my Tiger install disk and then use my TM back up even though it Leopard? Or will I need a Leopard install disk to complete? Also is there another way around this problem if i can not use the Tiger disk such as mirroring the 120Gb disk on to my 320Gb?
Thanks in advance for your time and expertise.
P.

Similar Messages

  • I back up with an external hard drive using time machine.  I am trying to reload my iphoto library from an earlier date then it will let me.  How do I get to an earlier date in time machine?

    I back up with an external hard drive using time machine.  I am trying to reload my iphoto library but it won't let me get back to a date that I need to.  How do I do this?

    Try Pondini's articles;
    http://pondini.org/TM/15.html - scroll down to the pink box for iPhoto restoation.
    Also http://pondini.org/TM/15A.html to clarify how to use the timeline.

  • How do I restore a failed external hard drive using Time Machine?

    I have an external hard drive connected to my iMac that is being backed up with Time Machine.  I just realized that should it one day fail and no longer appear as a connected device, I'm not sure how to restore its data to another external drive.  When I disconnected the external hard drive (to mimic a drive crash) and entered Time Machine to see if I could verify that the external hard drive was, in fact, being backed up - I didn't know where to find it.  Under the Today (Now) information, I didn't expect to see it there as it was no longer connected to the machine.  But when I went back a few days, I expected to see its backup appear in the Sidebar.  But no!
    So - how do I restore a failed external hard drive using Time Machine?
    Searches for this information on Google yielded "iffy" results.  I'm hoping someone here is able to offer some clear steps to follow.  Perhaps I'm missing something silly.  Thank you very much!

    I came across this discussion after encountering the same problem. Since my internal HD was cose to full I added an additional external HD to my setup. I moved my iPhoto files to an external HD and backed both this external HD and my internal HD up with Time Machine to another external HD. So far the theory. When I wanted to test if this setup worked I noticed that I could only see my iPhoto libraries on the external HD in Time Machine when the external HD was connected to my computer, but not if I turned it off. This led me to search for a solution on the Apple Support Communities discussion board.
    The suggestions made Kappy seem right, at least in my experience, in that my Time Machine simply did not back up the external HD until I followed the steps he suggested above. These were the following:
    "So, if you want it backed up then here's what you need to do:
    1. In Time Machine preferences remove the external drive from the Exclude list.
    2. Verify that it is now included with your other drive in the backup list.
    3. Do a Backup Now to create a new backup of the external drive."
    After doing this, my external HD showed up in the Backups.backupd as a seperate folder. I could clearly see the Time Machine back-up for my internal HD and my external HD. In addition, in Time Machine itself I was able to find the external harddrive by clicking on my own computers name under "Devices". I hope my experience helps to resolve your issue as this discussion board has helped me resolve mine (which I believe to be very similar).
    Cheers!

  • How to backup external hard drive to another external hard drive using time machine ?

    Hello,
    i have an external hard drive which i store all my drum samples and sound library on and files are contantly changing, adding new sounds, deleting old ones etc ..
    So my method of back up as of now is to just copy all the edited files and click and drag to the back up disk.
    Now, my question is, how do i back up my external hard drive to another external hard drive using time machine ? I read somewhere that you can do this, i cant find the post however. It would be nice to automate the back up process rather than manually finding the files to copy over.
    Thanks in advance !

    The question you pose is conditional, in that you should have more than an exact
    capacity replacement for a clone, if the drive you are going from (or one going to)
    has insufficient free space and that has a bootable clone on the drive; any space
    tied up in a partition for Time Machine backup, takes away from the running space
    if you should need to run the computer from a clone on the external HDD's other
    partition.... Better to have a good capacity of additional reserve unused free space.
    Be sure any clone copy that you hope to use as a re-close, that each in turn is tested
    after a clone operation. Also consider using each running system's Disk utility and
    have First Aid 'repair disk permissions'. Preparation of a new drive or even an old
    drive that may have questionable artifacts or errors on it, should be reformatted. To
    even go as far as Secure Erase (overwrite) at least one-pass before reformatting it
    again, could help.
    However, I'm not sure if the drives and situation you are looking at would necessarily
    be a good match. It could work, but you'd need a reasonable size partition or hard
    disk drive for a system. Snow Leopard and all its associated applications, can do
    OK in a 100GB HDD. (My computers have more storage capacity than is used; so
    for mine to have 60% free space, is good.) Virtual Memory is drive space used by
    OS X, that can be a substantial amount for swap and temp files. Some applications
    make duplicates of works-in-progress, for each change in an open file; that adds up.
    {This question (& my reply) should've been in their own thread & not at the end
    of one that is nearly three months old, + marked 'solved' by the original poster.}
    So I guess I don't have a direct answer to your question; having just returned from
    a few hundred miles and automobile issues, too. I'm not really thinking on-topic...
    The clone should be on its own separate drive, and up to 3TB drive dedicated to
    Time Machine may be overkill, however that software will consume old backups first
    when it uses up all the space. Or usually that is what happens in TM backups. If
    that isn't happening, there may an issue in how Time Machine is set up.
    Good luck & happy computing!

  • Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's

    Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB external hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's update. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    My guess would be it has created an entirely new backup of your drive when you upgraded to Mavericks.
    See Here: http://pondini.org/TM/1.html
    And here: http://pondini.org/TM/9.html
    Peruse the whole site. There is a lot of information there.

  • I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?

    I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?
    What I am ultimately wanting to do is make more room on my computer by backing up all of my files onto the external hard drive and then deleting them off of my computer. However, neededing to be able to retrieve them from the external hard drive later down the road.
    From what I have read and am trying to understand, is that I probably shouldn't have used time machine. I need to use the external hard drive like a basic flash drive where I can put things on and get things off without having it automatically update through time machine everytime I connect it to my computer.
    Not tech savvy at all and barely understand basics. I need very simple and easy to understand explanations.

    sydababy wrote:
    and then deleting them off of my computer.
    BIG BIG MISTAKE ..... youre making a linchpin deathtrap for your data trying to shove everything on a single fragile HD.
    Dont suffer the tragedy other people make, buy another or 2 more HD, theyre cheap as dust.
    The number of people who have experienced terror by having a single external HD backup is enormous.  One failure that WILL HAPPEN, and kaput,......all gone!
    Dont do it, its all about redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.
    follow here:
    Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
    Deleting them off your computer is fine....having only ONE copy is extremely BAD.
    The Tragedy that will be, the tragedy that never should be
    Always presume correctly that your data is priceless and takes a very long time to create and often is irreplaceable. Always presume accurately that hard drives are extremely cheap, and you have no excuse not to have multiple redundant copies of your data copied on hard drives and squirreled away several places, lockboxes, safes, fireboxes, offsite and otherwise.
    Hard drives aren't prone to failure…hard drives are guaranteed to fail (the very same is true of SSD). Hard drives dont die when aged, hard drives die at any age, and peak in death when young and slowly increase in risk as they age.
    Never practice at any time for any reason the false premise and unreal sense of security in thinking your data is safe on any single external hard drive. This is never the case and has proven to be the single most common horrible tragedy of data loss that exists.
    Many 100s of millions of hours of lost work and data are lost each year due to this single common false security. This is an unnatural disaster that can avoid by making all data redundant and then redundant again. If you let a $60 additional redundant hard drive and 3 hours of copying stand between you and years of work, then you've made a fundamental mistake countless 1000s of people each year have come to regret.

  • I am backing up my computer to an external hard drive using Time Machine.  It has been at 288.91 "used" for a while... should I just let it ride?  It's been going for about 7 hours now.

    I am backing up my computer to an external hard drive using Time Machine.  It has been at 288.91 "used" for a while... should I just let it ride?  It's been going for about 7 hours now

    It does not immediately delete the files that are missing.. it merely tries to backup the new files it has discovered on the external drive. Since you moved the files there, the backup at least for a while will contain both copies.. and that is why it doesn't have enough space to backup.
    Fixing the problem.. hmm pondini is the expert.. you should be able to delete the backup of the photos in existing backup.. there are instructions to do it.. but it is a very poor way to do things.
    Much better. .archive off the existing backup.. this is long and slow but worth it. you need a usb drive of the same size as the TC drive. Then erase the TC and start a fresh set of backups.
    The alternative is to use the USB drive as a new target.. but it is much slower than the TC internal drive.
    http://pondini.org/TM/12.html

  • HT201250 new external hard drive for Time Machine backup suggestions?

    Ok, I have 3 external hard drives; unfortunately I've used them on my PC and they are read only on my iMac.  So, I need to buy a new external hard drive for Time Machine backup.  I'm a little confused; can I buy any EHD and them format it so Mac can use it or are there special EHD's I need to purchase?
    Anyone have a particular EHD that is working well for you?  Thanks, Blue

    Bluehowler wrote:
    Ok, I have 3 external hard drives; unfortunately I've used them on my PC and they are read only on my iMac.  So, I need to buy a new external hard drive for Time Machine backup.  I'm a little confused; can I buy any EHD and them format it so Mac can use it or are there special EHD's I need to purchase?
    Anyone have a particular EHD that is working well for you?  Thanks, Blue
    Unless you need all three external drives for your PC, you can reformat in one of them in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)  for use with Time Machine. However, since Time Machine backs up hourly, you'd need the external drive to be running constantly. That means ventilation of the drive becomes an issue since some, such as Seagate, can get very hot in their sealed enclosures. Some drive manufacturers try to get around this by spinning down the drive when not in use, but I've read complaints that that doesn't play well with a Mac. So whether you reuse one of your current externals or get a new one, it's a good idea to keep the drive's ventilation in mind.

  • HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

    If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

    To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
    If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

  • I have backed my Mac Book pro up to my external hard drive using time machine. My iPhoto now does not show any images, even when I upload from my iPhone

    I have backed my Mac Book pro up to my external hard drive using time machine. My iPhoto now does not show any images, even when I upload from my iPhone

    Mac 101: File Sharing
    Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Transfer files between two Mac computers
    Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Set up a Windows computer to share files with Mac users
    Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Use iDisk to share files
    Mac OS X: Sharing your files with non-Apple computers
    How to share a Mac's files with a PC and vice versa.

  • How do I back up Wireless Hard Drive using Time Machine

    I have a MacBook Pro and I'm running OSX Lion.
    I'm having trouble setting up time machine to back up two USB external hard drives (named Portable iTunes and Portable iPhoto) connected to my Airport Extreme Base Station. I have a time capsule with a 3TB USB WD MyBook external hard drive that I'm using as the Time Machine Hard Drive.
    Portable iTunes, Portable, iPhoto and MyBook are wirelessly mounted to my desktop.
    Will someone please explain how I can set up MyBook to wirelessly back up the two portable drives using Time Machine?
    Thanks in advance.
    Wyatt.

    Will someone please explain how I can set up MyBook to wirelessly back up the two portable drives using Time Machine?
    Sorry, but Time Machine can only backup a hard drive that is connected directly to your Mac using USB or Firewire.

  • How do i install a new hard drive using time machine

    Hi there
    I have purchased a new 1TB hard drive for my Mac book pro (late 2008) model. I have time machine installaed on a seperate hard drive connected with an airport base station. I do not have the orginal snow leapoard/mountain lion OS CD or DVD. Can someone please tell me the exact steps to install the new hard drive .
    Thanks

    You haven't inserted your new hard drive yet?.
    There's two ways
    1. install yourself
    2. or pay someone to install it for you.
    If you want to do it yourself go to google and type in "install new hard drive for macbook pro". sometimes it makes a difference what model your macbook which is why i won't provide you a link just in case its the wrong one.
    Its very easy.
    1. remove all screws and the lid.
    2. remove screws from the black bracket which is holding your hard drive in place.
    3. unplug your hard drive.
    4. VERY IMPORTANT (A MISTAKE I MADE). make sure that you remove the external screws from your original hard drive as these screws are the one thing that hold and stabilise your hard drive and stop movement from happening.
    5. insert these external screws to your new hard drive (there are four screws)
    6. insert and plug your new hard drive.
    7. screw the black bracket in firmly
    8. attach lid and insert all screws firmly.

  • Best way to replace hard drive with Time Machine

    Hello, I searched dozens of threads before posting but I didn't find my specific topic.
    I have a G5 (single CPU) with two internal hard drives plus one external drive. The original hard drive is only 80gb and it has been quite full for several years now. I purchased a second internal drive (150gb) about 3 or 4 years ago and have been storing all my files video and data files on the second drive. This created some additional space on the primary drive, but not much. I started off with OX 10.1 back in 2003 and have purchased the upgrades all the way to OX 10.5.4. I also have about 14000 photos in iPhoto that are stored on the primary drive because I can't figure out how to move my library to the second drive (where there is more space).
    About a year ago, I purchased an iomega 500gb external drive (USB 2.0) that runs Time Machine.
    I have not had any issues with any of the drives except for running out of space on the main drive. I accidentally deleted some of my wife's files once and used Time Machine as advertised.
    My main drive has 4.7gb free
    My second drive has 87gb free
    My Time Machine drive has 205gb free.
    I purchased a new 500gb internal drive.
    I think my G5 will only take 2 internal drives total, so the original 80gb drive needs to go. How do I accomplish this? Should I make my 150gb the main drive, since it will be the smallest and therefore maybe the fastest for running the OS? If size of the drive doesn't matter, then should I just remove the 80gb drive, install the new 500gb in it's place and then boot using the OS X10.5 disk?
    I suppose I could just let Time Machine restore the system, but do I really want OS X10.1 with a bunch of upgrades? It looks like my OS X 10.5 disk is a full version (it doesn't say 'upgrade only') on the box... Wouldn't my computer run better with a fresh OS X install and if so, is there a way to let Time Machine re-install my apps and user settings? I think I am running iLife 06 (which ever one has iMovieHD...) I also have Final Cut Express HD, CorelDraw suite and NeoOffice. Everything else is how the computer came back in 2003. I've never had any issues, so I am more than a little concerned that I am going to mess something up. You know that saying...."If it ain't broke....'
    Any advice?
    Regards

    You do indeed have only two internal drive slots in your G5. To avoid having to try restoring everything from your TM backup what you could do is to be sure you force a final TM backup of the 80 GB drive before removing it. Install the new drive. Prepare the new drive - I suggest the following:
    Extended Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Boot from your Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    Upon completion of formatting quit DU and return to the installer. Now complete your installation of OS X. During this process you will be asked if you want to do a full restore from a TM backup. Skip this option. Once the installation has completed the computer will restart. After restarting you will see the Setup Assistant. When you've completed the Setup Assistant you will be given the option to migrate from a connected TM backup drive. Select this option. You can then migrate your Home folder, applications, and preferences. There is only one important caveat to this. When completing the setup you are asked to provide a username and password for the startup admin account. Do not use the same username as the Home folder you will migrate. Select a different username (short name is what it is also called.)
    Once the migration has completed you can log out of the startup admin account and log into the migrated account. You can then delete the startup account unless you choose to keep it around for test purposes.
    This process will not restore anything else from your backup except the Home folder, applications, and preferences. If there are items in your Home folder you would prefer not to migrate, then move them to the other hard drive.

  • Need some help with backing up external hard drive using Time Machine

    Hi all, I'm trying to work out the best way to back up multiple iPhoto libraries using Time Machine.
    At the moment I have got an iMac and Macbook Pro, both of which have an iPhoto library (with different content).  Currently these are not backed up at all.  So what I want to do is back both up to an NAS drive, which I know is straightforward.
    What I also want to do is create one iPhoto library on an external hard drive that I can use with my MBP, and then delete the iPhoto library on my MBP to free up some hard drive space (it's running slower and slower and I'm hoping that this might help it run quicker). 
    So, as I want to have the library on two seperate drives in case one fails, what I want to know is whether I could use Time Machine to back up my external hard drive as well as the internal drive of my MBP?  Also, would I need to have the external drive connected at all times for Time Machine to "see" it?
    I hope that makes sense, all I seem to be doing currently is going round and round and can't work out whether what I want to do is possible or not.
    Thanks in advance

    If I understand your goal correctly, you're considering using Time Machine as external storage, and it doesn't work that way.  Time Machine keeps around what it can, and older stuff gets flushed as the storage available to Time Machine reaches its lower threshold due to the addition of newer stuff.  When the older stuff gets flushed is not predictable.
    It is possible to have several Time Machine backups aimed at the same target (this can be done with Apple Time Capsule, for instance), though you might want to partition the disks to ensure that the intended amount of storage is available.  Different NAS drives have different features here.
    NAS is only as fast as your network connection, and that's almost always much slower than the in-box I/O connections; a local disk will be far faster than a NAS disk, just because of the bottleneck that is wired gigabit Ethernet, and most WiFi is slower and sometimes far slower than wired gigabit Ethernet.  FWIW.
    If your MacBook Pro is old enough and you have $$ but aren't in a position to spend $$$$$ on a newer model, then consider an in-place drive upgrade.
    If your network connection is fast enough to transfer the amount of data you're dealing with in a reasonable time, there are also hosted storage options.
    You can use a NAS drive as storage independent of Time Machine, and relocate stuff there.  (You'll still want to have backups of that data, as NAS drives — even NAS with RAID — can still lose files, become corrupted or otherwise ruin your data day.
    As for your performance, keeping about 10% or so free on the disks is the local preference, but it's worth reviewing the performance of the whole system — Performance Monitor, Console.app, etc — to see if there's something else going on, or if your system load and personal performance expectations are exceeding what your MacBook Pro can provide.

  • HT201250 Can I back up more than one computer (i.e. my iMac and MacBook Pro) on the same hard drive using Time Machine?

    I'm wondering if I can plug in our new external hard drive (a 2TB Western Digital) and back up two separate computers using Time Machine without fear of the files from the second computer overriding the first.

    See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

Maybe you are looking for