Two MacBooks and Time Machine

I have two new MacBooks running 10.5.3. I wanted to get one TC to back up both MacBooks. Currently the MacBooks and an AppleTV connect to the internet via ethernet and will stay that way. Can I use the TC to set up a wireless network just for the purpose of using Time Machine and have the two MacBooks automatically back up to the Time Capsule? Are there any chicken and egg problems to be on the look out for? In a prior life I did have an Apple wireless network set up at home but went back to ethernet for ease of setup. Thanks, Steve H

Thanks, Kappy. I did not know if having a wired and a wireless network would cause any problems. I have 160 gig HD in the MacBooks so I was going to get a 500 gig TC. I was planning on only backing up the document folders and the iPhoto on the wife's machine ( maybe 3 gig of photos and a total of 2 gig of documents).
Steve H

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Backup hard drives in two locations and Time Machine

Can I have an external hardrive at work and one at home and have them both be separate locations for Time Machine to backup my laptop? How does Time Machine handle that and what is the procedure to set this up?

Yes, but you must tell Time Machine each time you "swap" drives, via +Time Machine Preferences > Select Disk.+
All you have to do is make sure each is formatted properly. See #5 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for instructions.
In this case, it will be a good idea to give them clearly different names, such as "Work Backups" and "Home Backups," so you're sure at any time which one is which.
The first backup to each one will be a full one, so they'll take a while. Thereafter, Time Machine's next backup will include all the changes made since the last backup +*to that disk,+* so each one will be complete.

Back button only works about 50% of the time. Have to hit it twice, sometimes three times before it works. Problem is intermittent. Firefox 3.6.10 on Mac OS 10.6.4 (same on both MacBook and iMac machines).

Back button only works about 50% of the time. Have to hit it twice, sometimes three times before it works. Problem is intermittent. Firefox 3.6.10 on Mac OS 10.6.4 (same on both MacBook and iMac machines).

You can try http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox

I try to backup my Macbook with Time machine, it goes fine and at the end it says that it could not be completed because "/Volumes/Data-2/ MacBook.sparsebundle is already in use".. What is that?!

I try to backup my Macbook with Time machine, it goes fine and at the end it says that it could not be completed because "/Volumes/Data-2/ MacBook.sparsebundle is already in use".. What is that?!

See #C12 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting

HT1338 I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine on my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. It was going fine when my 2 yo knocked the hard drive. Now TM said "failed" and the Mac refuses to recognize the external hard drive. Help please?

I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine and using my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. All was going well when my 2 yo knocked the disk leading to a "failure" by time machine (Latest Backup: Failed). Now the MacBook will not even recognize the hard drive. I have rebooted, tried all I can think of, but no acknowledgement of the drive. The drive itself makes noise and vibrates as if working, but nothing from the Mac. Please help or $100 down the drain... Thank you.

You may have already done these resets in the "tried all I can think of " portion of your post.....if not then here they are.....
PRAM
support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
SMC
support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
.....hopefully that is all that is required.....

Backing up Macbook using Time Machine and external HD

I am trying to backup my Macbook using an external HD connected via USB and Time Machine. When I choose "select backup disk" there are no drives recognized and it's blank. I was wondering if someone could tell me how to get this to work properly?
Thanks,

Is it a new external HD? Have you had it previously formatted? Is it formatted for Mac?

Cannot Find Photos on External Hard Drive Using iPhoto and Time Machine

Hi everyone,
This is my first time posting on this forum and am really hoping for some help! I have a 2006 PowerBook G4 that is running iPhoto and Time Machine, and I've used an external hard drive to backup everything on the computer via Time Machine. When I plug the external hard drive into my newer 2010 MacBook Pro, I follow this path to try to access the photos:
     External Hard Drive > Backups.backupd > PowerBook G4 12" > Latest > Macintosh HD > Users > Me > Pictures > iPhoto Library
When I click "iPhoto Library", I get the following message:
     "The iPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down to choose another   library."
So, I do as the error message says and I hold down the "option" key and iPhoto launches and says:
     What Photo Library do you want iPhoto to use?
In this case, I choose "Other Library..." and again follow this path:
     External Hard Drive > Backups.backupd > PowerBook G4 12" > Latest > Macintosh HD > Users > Me > Pictures > iPhoto Library
When I choose this, I again get the following message:
     The iPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down to choose another   library.
So as you can see, I'm feeling a bit like I'm chasing my tail in trying to open these photos. I did follow another user's advice and confirm that all photos are infact on the hard drive by using the "control" button and clicking "iPhoto Library" under the pictures folder, and choosing "Show Package Contents". All looks to be in tact in the "originals" folder when showing package contents, however, I just can't find a way to actually view the photos in iPhoto. I really don't want to import all the photos to my current MacBook Pro, because I'd like them to live on the external hard drive (which is formatted for Macs) so that I can browse the photos on the external drive, rather than housing it on my computer.
One other thing I tried was opening iPhoto on my MacBook Pro and going to File > Browse Backups... which essentially opens Time Machine and shows me the photos on my MacBook Pro but gives me no option to view them from my External Hard Drive.
Any super users out there willing to lend me some help?
Thanks!

The iPhoto Library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down to choose another   library.
You can have an iPhoto library on an external drive and use it from different machines
and you can have a Time Machine backup
The two can not be on the same volume - and iPhoto can not access the TM backup - it must be restored to use it
LN

Time Capsule and time machine with third party router

Hi,
This is the first time I use this site.
I have over three years old Mackbook.
APP has expired.
Now I want to know how to set up time capsule in a new environment.
I moved from Australian and Singapore.
I was using Time Capsule and Airport Extreme in Australia.
I have moved to Singapore.
I am using router provided by Singtell(Singapore Telecommunication). I do not have an Airport Extreme anymore. My housemate and I are using wireless internet-sharing. Needless to say that internet provider is SingTell.
Now I would like to know how to use time capsule and time machine with the network created with a router provided by SingTell.
What I did so far is;
Connected the time capsule to the power point.
Orange lamp lit and flashed for a few second and stop. Orange lamp stayed on.
Apple Utility does not recognise Time Capsule.
I prefer to use it wirelessly.
There are only two USB cable ports installed.
One is used to synchronize iPhone.
Other is used for a printer.
but if it is not possible, wired would be OK.
MacBook 13 inch 2.0 GH Late 2006
I hope that someone able to give me an answer for this.
Cheers,
morepubholidays

In this case the apple support people reveal a truly poor understanding.
You must bridge something.. you either bridge the TC.. which 90% of people do.. or you bridge the dsl router.. which some people do manage to do.. You will have to look that up for your modem and check with verizon if they support pppoe authentication.
IMHO just bridge the TC as you were told not to do.. as they are simply wrong about that.
If you already tried this and it didn't work.. try again.. it is the correct approach.
You have no choice. But this time let me suggest you do it using the 5.6 airport utility.. as the apple toyland v6 airport utility is likely half your trouble.
So here is how to get the utility into your computer.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall 6.1 so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.
For screen shots see this post.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0
Then open the manual setup on the 5.6 utility.. go to internet tab. Connection sharing.. off bridged mode.
Select this and update..
Then all your IP addresses will be wrong.. I suspect this is where things are going wrong.. and messing you up.
Once the TC is bridged.. turn off everything and restart.. in correct order.. modem.. TC.. client computers etc. 2min gap between each.

Spotlight and Time Machine broken after restore/upgrade

I've found a few similar threads to this but none of those solutions has worked for me.
Two things happened at nearly the same time, so I don't exactly know the source of my problem:
I upgraded my old MacBook Pro (approx. Oct 2010, 2.66GHz I think, 300GB-ish HD) from Lion to Mountain Lion
The hard drive on my old MacBook Pro developed a terminal fault, so I had to buy a new one (8GB, 750GB HD) and restore a month-old Time Machine backup from my external drive.
I can't remember whether my last Time Machine backup to my external drive was before or after I upgraded to Mountain Lion.
Now I'm on OS X 10.8.2 on this new machine and I have two problems that seem to co-exist for a lot of other people too:
Spotlight won't index: this is f***ing infuriating, I love spotlight and I use it all the time. When I first restored from the TM backup I think the old index restored with the backup as I did get a decent number of search results (both in spotlight and in MS Outlook), but new files didn't seem to get recognised. I tried adding my hard drive to the exclusion list and removing it again in an attempt to get it to rebuild the index, but all that did was wipe the old index without building a new one, so now I get no spotlight results whatsoever. I tried this solution and sadly it hasn't worked either. Basically I can't search for anything. Even applications (which I like to launch from spotlight) don't appear. All I get is "estimating indexing time", and it never gets any further.
Time Machine won't back up: the first time I tried to backup my new machine it got a few hundred megabytes in before stalling; then a few hundred kilobytes in the next time I tried; and now it just doesn't get anywhere at all. The external drive I'm trying to backup to is recognised fine, I can see all the other files on it, and Time Machine seems to know that it's there, but the backup gets nowhere.
There are reports of this kinds of crap all over the Apple Support forums, but no definitive answer, especially for 10.8.2.
I could really do with some help on this. I need a backup before I screw another laptop, and I need spotlight to survive day-to-day life.
Thanks,
Craig

Hi Craig - I had the exact same problem - I'm using an old early 2009 MacBook Pro upgraded to 8 Gb Ram, 1 TB internal Hitachi HD, 10.8.2 - tried the fixes suggested - got it to work with these steps- everybodies mileage is different but hopefully it works for you as well.
a) I repaired disk permissions with Onyx (free utility) and then started up with Command-R using Disk Utility to repaired/check the Volume (harddisk checked out fine but the volume needed some minor repairs )- Onyx repair disk permission seems to go deeper -had to reinstall some apps - don't know if this solved it-seems to bring it back to the default state - you might get away with doing all from Disk Utility (but starting up with Command-R)
b) restart from my internal hd
c) downloaded the 10.8.2 combo update ( not the incremental shell update or whatever you call it which automatically gets installed with software update - combo update installs everything fresh from the .0 version)
d) with Onyx I deactivated spotlight and erased the spotlight index
d) restart
e) started TM backup - prep took pretty long 30 minutes but then 450 GB got backed up in 6 hours to my external HD which is fast enough for me
f) activated spotlight and 450 Gb were indexed in 9 hours or so
g) for 2 days everything runs fast and very responsive
best,
Franz

Trying to backup two computers via Time Machine on Time Capsule

Hi, everyone.
I have read about a similar problem that I am having, but the forums were all from 2009, so I don't know if anything has been updated or figured out since then.
I bought a Time Capsule yesterday, and I set-up a network as well as the Time Machine configurations. My iMac running 10.6.8 did just fine backing up; however, my Macbook running 10.5.8 did not.
When I try and run a backup with Time Machine, I get this error:
"The network backup volume could not be mounted because there was a problem with the network username or password."
After that error, I get this error:
"Keychain error -25299 occured while creating a System Keychain entry for the username "XXX" and URL "afp://[email protected]//XX".
I have searched different forums for hours, and so far, based on what I have been reading, I have done this:
1. Deleted anything having to do with the TC in the keychain and trying to restart the backup. This made me have the same errors again.
2. Reset the PRAM.
3. Repaired disk permissions.
4. Repaired keychain permissions.
Finally, I found on a forum that I could set up guest access on the network and backup my Macbook as a guest. This is what I am doing, now. However, I saw that starting with OS X 10.6, there was some kind of update for Time Capsule and Time Machine in regards to using Time Capsule for multiple computers.
My question is, since 2009, has there been a fix for this? I know some people suggested updating firmware, and if this is the fix, what do I need and where do I get it? Also, would it be possible to purchase OS X 10.6.8 for my Macbook and update it to potentially solve the problem? Is updating the Operating System hard? I'm not completely computer illiterate, but I am not great, either. If I update the Operating System, will all of my files and applications remain on my Macbook?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Well, there is a way to reinstall without erasing the drive. But it may not fix the problem. You may need to start from scratch. In any event you should make a backup of your system then you do not risk losing anything but some time.
But the real problem I see is that it is the computer that is the problem not the TC which seems to work fine with your iMac.
Since you are using Leopard you can do the following. In my opinion I would not opt to preserve user accounts and network preferences since your problem may well be in your user account.
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Time Machine Restore Leads to Kernel Panic and Time Machine Inaccuracies

Last night I had to do a full restore from time machine because I had disturbed system files. So I boot in the OSX disk and run time machine from utilities to a time before I messed things up. After it finishes I restart as the screen prompts me to do and I get in a kernel panic restart cycle.
So I reinstall snow leopard from the disk, and for some reason instead of being formatted everything appears as it did at the beginning of summer (I've had Snow Leopard since it came out). So I boot in the disk and try a time machine full restore to a different backup, and after it completes I again get into the kernel panic restart cycle.
So I reinstall snow leopard to the same effect, thinking I'll just go into time machine (star wars interface) and manually update all the important files, but even though I have regular updates that run all the way to may, they are inaccurate. For instance: my downloads folder remains identical in all of them, even though it is altered almost daily, also my documents don't change: for instance an essay I'm working on doesn't contain changes which I made and through all of the time machine backups has not been modified since may 10th (quite wrong). But oddly, programs which I had installed recently remain on the computer.
Disk Utility and Disk Warrior both report my internal hard drive and my external hard drive (where the time machine backups are stored in their own partition) are intact.
All I want is data restoration, and none of my methods have worked.... if there is a workaround to my time machine kernel panic issue and time machine would give an accurate restoration then I would do this... hopefully some of you have ideas... Thanks.
Running:
Macbook 2.13 Ghz
2 gb ram
was running the most recent edition of Snow Leopard, after restore I'm running the original OSX 10.6

You might try the following to repair permissions in your Home folder. Disk Utility does not repair permissions in the Home folder.
To fix Home folder permissions
Open the Terminal application in the Utilities folder. At the command line prompt enter or paste the following command line:
sudo chown -R `id -un`:`id -gn` ~
Press RETURN. You will be prompted to enter your admin password which will not be echoed.

After restoring backup new macbook with time machine Firefox will not start. says missing profile

after restoring backup on new macbook with time machine Firefox will n to start. It says it is missing profile although profile exists and profile manager will not start. Also reinstalling does not help. Direct after starting Firefox it says profile is missing and then quits Firefox. Please help edit

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.
See "Basic Troubleshooting: Make a new profile":
* https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Basic+Troubleshooting#w_8-make-a-new-profile
There may be extensions and plugins installed by default in a new profile, so check that in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & Plugins" in case there are still problems.
If that new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.
See:
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

External Boot drive and time machine?

Been away from the mac/s for awhile... Just recieved my new mac mini hooked up to an external drive, in this case a very nice mini stack V2 with 500GB and more importantly 7200RPM drive. When I first turned on Leopard I of course designated the external drive as my backup for time machine.
That done can I still use the external drive as a bootable drive? I want to gain the increase in performance from that hard drive by doing so.
If YES I just install my OS on to that drive and then once done select it as my boot drive in system preferences? Any help appreciated.

I'm not sure you would want to have a backup to the same drive you boot the system from, and Time Machine won't give you the option to select the same partition your boot copy of MacOS is in. You may be able to repartition the drive into two (or more) logical drives and do it that way, but realistically to get the best performance from the system you'd probably want to use the external not just as the boot drive, but also for data storage. That being so, you clearly wouldn't gain any real benefit backing up to the same drive even if you could do so, so you might perhaps instead designate the mini's internal drive for Time Machine use, or add a second external and designate that.

I have a 500 gb hard drive partitioned for files and time machine but when i connect it to my mac only the time machine one shows up

well as the title says i have a 500gb hard drive with 2 partitions one with time machine and one for files it worked perefectly until yesterday only the time machine partition appeared in finder, i checked disk utility and both partitions appeared but the one for files appeared in grey and when i press mount an error comes up.

The repair shop likely replaced a major circuit board on your MacBook Pro, so Time Machine thinks that you have a "new" computer and it wants to make a new complete backup of your Mac.
You are going to have to make a decision to either add another new Time Capsule....or USB drive to your existing Time Capsule....and in effect start over with a new backup of your Mac and then move forward again.
For "most" users, I think this is probably the best plan because you preserve all your old backups in case you need them at some point, and you start over again with a new Time Capsule so you have plenty of room for years of new backups.
Or, as you have mentioned, you have the option of erasing the Time Capsule drive and starting all over again. The upside is that you start over and have plenty of room for new backups. The downside is that you lose years of backups.
Another option....trying to manually delete old backups individually....is tricky business....and very time consuming. To get an idea of what is involved here, study this FAQ by Pondini, our resident Time Capsule and Time Machine expert on the Community Support area. In particular, study the pink box.
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/12.html
Once you look through this, I think you may agree that this type of surgery is not for the faint of heart. I would suggest that you consider this only if one of the other options just cannot work for you.

Macbook Pro: Time Machine to Buffallo Link Station

I've recently switched to using a Macbook - and had already been using a Buffallo LS for back ups with my old PC.
I'd like to use the Time Machine Software with the Buffallo LS, however when I open the app it doesn't give me the LS as an option.
I can see the LS however in finder and access files (via wireless) from there.
Any tips for how to set this up would be a real help - eg. do I need to install NASNavigator on the Mac first?
(I know there were some posts about this some time back but at that point apparently it wasn't possible)

Thanks for the link to that - worked well - although didn't come across anywhere where I needed to input the information in section 5.
I continued with the set up and Time Machine started working - only thing is I've got about 80 gig to get onto the NAS so its going to take some time if I do it via wireless.
Also, for some reason I can now see my Linkstation twice on Finder (once as guest, where it sees only the shared directory, and once as my own login where it sees all directories on the LS through the normal wireless)
Final question - does anyone know if Auto mode on Buffalo Link works with Macbook Pro's on wireless - so that it activates/deactivates with the Mac.

Two MacBooks and Time Machine

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