Trying to retrieve music from Time Machine to New iMac

I expect this is probably an easy question to answer but I am stumped at this point. I have an external HD which I used to back up my old iMac via Time Machine. I bought a new iMac but now want to transfer ONLY the files from my iPhoto and iTunes to my new computer. The HD shows up on the desktop but the backups from before do not appear in Time Machine. What am I doing wrong and how do I just transfer the pictures and music without erasing the music and photos I have already stored on the new computer? Thanks for any suggestions.
Geoff

I wanted to chime in. i have the same problem. I can access my folders, but they have a little red circle over them with a bar in the middle. When I click on the folder, it tells me - The folder “Movies” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.
I have my hardrive backed up on an external drive. I am trying to see if I can move over my photos and movies from iMovie, unto another Mac. Does anyone know how to get access to your own folders?

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My time machine backup was created on iMac with Mountain Lion and my new iMac has Mavericks installed, will I be able to restore a backup from time machine to new imac and all applications work ok

time machine backup to new iMac

Yes, however it's always wise to update your apps to ensure you have the most up-to-date version. Use Setup Assistant to migrate your data, apps and settings to the new iMac, simply follow the on-screen directions. If the new machine has already arrived and you have already run Setup Assistant, connect the TM backup to the new machine and run Migration Assistant (a cousin of Setup Assistant) and follow the on-screen directions. You can find Migration Assistant in Applications - Utilities - Migrations Assistant or you can use the keyboard shortcut of Command + Spacebar and type "Migration Assistant".

Retrieving files from Time Machine after updating to Snow Leopard

Updated my 2 year old iMac to Snow Leopard and erased the hard disk first to do a clean start. Having carried out all the updates and loaded on iLife11 tried to use the migration assistant to retrieve data from Time Machine backup but will only find the updated iMac! How do I get it to retrieve from previous Time Machine backups? Know they are on the external Hard Drive somewhere as it still has 400GB on it. Thanks

+Setup Assistant+ and +Migration Assistant+ automatically use the most recent backup. There's no choice. See #19 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Your best bet is to do a +full system restore+ per #14 in the FAQ. Choose the last backup before the upgrade. That will, of course, put you back on Leopard.
Then just install Snow Leopard (there are no +Erase and Install+ or +Archive and Install+ options anymore). That will install the new version of OSX, without touching anything else.
Potential problems with using +Migration Assistant+ (after setting-up a user account), are that you end up with an extra account; and the accounts you migrate may not be recognized as the same ones as on your backups or other volumes, and won't have the proper permissions to them.
Message was edited by: Pondini

How do I retrieve data from time machine from an old mac (which was running 10.5) on my new iMac running mavericks?

How do I retrieve data from time machine from an old mac (which was running 10.5) on my new iMac running mavericks?

See B 5/6.
Time Machine Troubleshooting

Cannot retrieve files from Time Machine.

I cannot retrieve files from Time Machine. I can enter it, but the arrows don't seem to function and when I click on a date/time, nothing happens.

I don't know what you mean by "arrows". After Entering TM, put your pointer over one of the coloured (usually purple) dated bars at the right of the screen. That will bring (usually the desktop) for that date to the front. Navigate in the usual way to find the old file, select it, and press the big Restore button on the bottom left of your screen. As I remember it, a copy of that file will appear beside the current original with something like "Restored" added to is title. When you quit TM (Cancel) that restored file should appear beside its current version. (Or, if it's host folder has been deleted, smewhere else but I can't remember where - search for it.)

Can i retrieve items from time machine into mavericks

Dear people
I am looking to install mavericks but don't want to do a clean install, ( i will if it messes my machine up though ).
If i install mavericks i take it that;
A: all the apple apps will still work.
B: if it is messed up then i wil be able to retrieve items from time machine back up.
C: is it worth doing a seperate back up to a hard drive other than by time machine.
D: i previously installed my last software via a clean install, as the upgrade to mountain lion messed up my emails
is it better to do a clean install or are the problems with email boxes etc not relevant in this up date.
Thank you

All the Apple apps will still work- that's a very positive, hopeful statement. Probably they will.
You should be able to retrieve something from your TIme Machine backup. Yes.
A duplicate backup: it depends on how criticially important your data is, and how paranoid you are. One backup is good enough for me.
I am a fan of the clean install. However, I did not do one this time with Mavericks. Lazy. But it works fine.
I would suggest that you restart in safe mode, though, before running the installer. I couldn't get the installer to work until I did.
Regarding a clean install vs. an update install, I think you are asking the wrong question. My opinion is that the vast majority of problems that people have with their Macs are due to:
crapware. I will elaborate on this if you want more. If not, stop reading now.
Crapware = unneeded "haxies", "cleaners", "optimizers", "defragmenters", antivirus software, and GUI modifiers. These are usually poorly written, typically ports from the Microsoft world. They are unnecessary and usually cause problems. They can be impossible to uninstall. They are popular with recent converts from the Microsoft world. I avoid them. My mac almost never, ever has any kind of problem, and I use it a lot, and not just for word processing and checking my email. I do audio recording and editing and some video editing too.
So I do not think the problems people report are due to the OS itself. People want to blame the OS, but I think it's unreasonable for Apple to be able to control and supervise every software developer on the planet.
I would suggest: if you have crapware on your computer, do a clean install, and then don't reinstall the crapware. Just my 2 cents.
If you don't have crapware, the Mavericks upgrade will probably work fine.
a good backup, Time Machine or otherwise, is always a good idea, especially when installing a new OS.

HT3275 how can i retrieve information from time machine if my computer has less storage capacity? How can I access data that is on my time machine but can not be copied to a computer with less storage capacity? I used to have 180 GB, now I have 128 GB.

how can i retrieve information from time machine if my computer has less storage capacity? How can I access data that is on my time machine but can not be copied to a computer with less storage capacity? I used to have 180 GB, now I have 128 GB.

Plug an external drive into the computer and use that to expand data onto.
http://pondini.org/TM/16.html

HT1420 One computer crashed, the other was stolen along with iphone. I just got new computer & am trying to retrieve music from Icloud/itunes but it won't let me - says I need to deauthorize previous devices - how can I do that without the devices?

One computer crashed, the other was stolen along with iphone. I just got new computer & am trying to retrieve music from Icloud/itunes but it won't let me - says I need to deauthorize previous devices - how can I do that without the devices?

Deauthorize all.
Then authorize the active computers.

Had hard drive renewed due to product recall (iMac) backed up complete system on time machine . Had the drive done got mac back tried to reinstall from time machine .The new drive tells me that the space has been taken up but can't find where the file hav

Had hard drive renewed due to product recall (iMac) backed up complete system on time machine . Had the drive done got mac back tried to reinstall from time machine .The new drive tells me that the space has been taken up but can't find where the file have gone. Need to free up the space that the ghost file take up so I can drag drop from ex drive onto harddrive

Here's the scoop, new friend.....
When you boot into Time Machine you'll get the same OS X Utilities screen as you would if you booted into the Recovery HD. So, from there go into Disk Utilities to erase/format your internal drive. After that's done, back out to the OS X Utilities screen and select the restore option. Just follow the prompts to select the TM back up date you want to restore from and where to restore it to. Pretty straight forward.

I'm trying to retrieve contacts from iCloud on my new samsung but it says that there is no back up data in my account

I'm trying to retrieve contacts from iCloud on my new samsung but it says that there is no back up data in my account

If your contacts are on icloud.com, download them as a vCard as explained here: iCloud: Export contact information as a vCard. Then import them to your phone as explained in your manual. If you aren't able to, you can create a Gmail account and import the vCard to Gmail as explained here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/183711?hl=en, then add the Gmail account to your phone and sync your contacts from Gmail.
If they aren't on icloud.com, I'm not sure how you would access them from a backup on a Samsung, even if there was a backup.

I was using osx 10.5.8 and upgraded to mavericks 10.9.4,after when restoring all my data from time machine ,the new mavericks os was replaced by the old OS 10.5.8 any solution

I was using osx 10.5.8 and upgraded to mavericks 10.9.4,after that ..when restoring all my data from time machine ,the new mavericks os was replaced by the old OS 10.5.8 ...any solution to get back to the upgraded mavericks OS????

Hi, how did you get MavX from 10.5.8, since it requires 10.6.8 to get MavX from Apple's App Store?

Retrieving library from Time Machine

For some reason, Itunes crashed and decided my library was damaged. It then created a new -empy- one.
I'm trying to retrieve my old one. First tried to rename ma latest "ancient Itunes library", but it didn't work, and this one is now nowhere to be found. I then tried to move the .xml file and "import" this new library, it worked but .... it was empty (of course, since it's been created after the new/empy library).
I have everything saved on Time Machine.
Does anyone know how to restore an "old" iTunes Music Library.xml file from Time Machine? Or anyway to restore my library from .... half an hour ago?
thanx a lot.

Thanx.
Still I could not find the ITunes database file. I browsed through the ITunes file in Music and in the ITunes file in Library.
What I finally did is that I reimported all music ITunes could find by itself after moving the ITunes folder from the music section on my desk. Most of my music was found (approx 2 Go are still missing, although they are in my music folder). But .... no playlist !
I discovered by the way that my Time Machine worked in a funny way (not the way it is supposed to) so it doesn't make it easy to find anything really, since I have to use spotlight and can't browse through the usual sections you would normally find in your finder.
Thanx anyway, I'm sure that's pretty sensible and useful.

How can i retrieve bookmarks from time machine?

Hello. I need major help. This past weekend, I had to wipe the HD on my Macbook Pro. I did have Time Machine backups at the time. Is there any way to retrieve my old Firefox bookmarks from Time Machine? Please help. I'm trying to recover more than two years of work. Please help! :-)

You would have to find the previously used Firefox profile folder in the Time Machine backup.
You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:
*Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
The profile folder consists of a part with a random name and a trailing file extension part that shows in the Profile Manager.
You need to go one level up and locate that folder in the time machine backup.
*/Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/
Then you need to transfer the places.sqlite file to the current profile folder or possibly use a JSON backup to restore the bookmarks.
Make sure to remove other possible places.sqlite files (places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal in particular).
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them
If you need to recover more data, see:
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile

I've messed up my iTunes Library, how can I retrieve it from Time Machine?

I was trying to move my Library to an external hard drive...but had issues. How can I retrieve my iTunes Library from Time Machine as it was originally so I can start all over?

Navigate to your iTunes Library then Enter Time Machine. Time Machine should open at your iTunes Library. Select your iTunes Library/Restore

Retrieving data from time machine

Dear people, this may sound somewhat daft but I just can't get it right...
Bought a bigger harddisk for my macbook 13". (was 160 is now 500 Gig)
Have all my data on time machine.
But i cant seem to get the data from time machine onto the new disk so that everything works and my macbook will look the same....
Progams fail, Libraries seem to dissapear...
I have put back my old harddisk back in the machine to be able to at least work...
Can anyone tell me how to go about getting it right.

If you have good, complete TM backups, it should be easy to restore your entire system from them.
If you've excluded certain things, via TM Preferences > Options, then maybe not.
The procedure is fairly simple. See item 14 of the Frequently Asked Questions post at the top of this forum.
If that's not the procedure you used, please tell us what you did.

Trying to retrieve music from Time Machine to New iMac

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