Two Time Machines and one MacBook Pro ... migrating to a new MacBook Pro

Background:
I'm a fanatic about backups. I have a Time Machine at home (Time Capsule), and a Time Machine at the work (external USB drive). Both backup my MacBook Pro.
I just got a new MacBook Pro. I plan to migrate my data from my old MacBook Pro (or a clone on a Firewire drive) rather than from one of the Time Machine backups. It's faster than a wireless transfer, and doesn't require all the mucking around with switching to ethernet and back again with Time Capsule.
The question:
How can I make sure both Time Machine backups recognize the new MacBook Pro as a continuation of the previous data? I could start all over again with two fresh backups, but I would prefer not to.
Is it automatic that both Time Machines will recognize a familiar face with a new hat? Is there some trick to making it work, or, at worst, some trick to fixing it? I've read about changing the expected MAC address in Time Machine, but I don't think that's the best answer.
Thanks for your help.

rebby575 wrote:
Background:
I'm a fanatic about backups. I have a Time Machine at home (Time Capsule), and a Time Machine at the work (external USB drive). Both backup my MacBook Pro.
I just got a new MacBook Pro. I plan to migrate my data from my old MacBook Pro (or a clone on a Firewire drive) rather than from one of the Time Machine backups. It's faster than a wireless transfer, and doesn't require all the mucking around with switching to ethernet and back again with Time Capsule.
The question:
How can I make sure both Time Machine backups recognize the new MacBook Pro as a continuation of the previous data?
You can't and they won't. a new computer will start a new backup sequence and there is no way around that.
I could start all over again with two fresh backups, but I would prefer not to.
Is it automatic that both Time Machines will recognize a familiar face with a new hat? Is there some trick to making it work, or, at worst, some trick to fixing it? I've read about changing the expected MAC address in Time Machine, but I don't think that's the best answer.
there is no better answer than that but even if you do change the recorded MAC address in TM backups, TM will still make a complete full backup of the new computer the first time it backs up.
Thanks for your help.

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Two Time Machines for one Mac?

Folks,
I have a Time Capsule that I do all my back-ups on. Being paranoid, I want to do a second back up and take it off-site, and then rotate the backups monthly. Can Time Machine support two different devices?
Thanks!
Craig

Yes, but with a caution. Once they're both set-up properly, all you need to do is use the +Change Disk+ option in TM Preferences. You'll have two separate, independent sets of backups. After each swap, of course, the next backup will be fairly lengthy, as it catches up all the changes from the previous backup on that drive.
But you should probably swap more often than once a month. After several days, and a large volume of changes, TM may do a new full backup instead of an incremental one. This is not documented, and we don't know exactly what the parameters are, but it appears you're safe up to about 10 days.
Another option is to get a portable USB drive. Attach it to your Time Capsule, then use the "Archive" option in Airport Utility > Disks to copy the TC's disk to the USB drive.

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I just bought new MacBook Air and need to do a migration from my Macbook Pro. I tried migration assistant but they aren't finding each other. Air is on 10.7, Pro on 10.5.8.

I had a similar problem with my MBA on Lion and my iMac on Lion. They found each other but Migration Assistant kept stalling. In the end I migrated from the Time Machine backup on my Time Capsule to my MBA. It worked absolutly fine.

I'm getting my old Macbook fixed, but it will take a few weeks for it to be replaced. How do I backup my entire Macbook for migration to the new Macbook using an external hard drive?

Hello!
I've had my Macbook for about 2 1/2 years now with insurance from PC World here in the UK. I was hesitant at first to hand in my Macbook earlier to be replaced using the insurance as it takes 2 weeks to be fixed (terrible, I know).
But now that it's the end of the summer holidays and I'll be returning to the university, I think that it's the perfect time to hand it in for repair.
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You can use Time Machine to back up your files and then use the Migration assistant to bring back your files from the Time Machine backup. Other applications such as Carbon Copy Cloner may also do the job for you.

HT4889 Transferred files via time machine and not log in password will not allow me to log in

I have a new MacBook pro, I transferred files via time machine and a removable hard drive. Now new MacBook does not recognize the log in password. What can I do to reset the password?

Did you migrate when you first booted up in Setup Assistant or did you migrate later? When you migrate later it can create a second account, check in Mac HD/Users to see if this is the situation.

WD External HD not backing up thru Time Machine and can't access files

Hello,
This is the snapshot picture of my problem:
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/no-real/computer/Picture1.png
When I connect the WD 500GB drive to my Macbook Pro, the computer doesn't recognize it in the devices list (The WD-HD seems running when I connect though USB or Firewire), nor the Time Machine can find it.
I'm hoping someone can help me after exhausting all resources I checked on the net.
This problem suddenly started about two months ago, whereas before there was no problem for about two years.
I read forums and one said to start Disk Utility and have it recognize the HD. The first time it didn't recognize it, but starting and quitting Disk Utility few times the HD was finally recognized. However, the Verify disk or Repair disk can't be completed (Error sign) The snapshot of my situation is like this:
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/no-real/computer/Picture1.png
Another forum said if the HD was formatted for Windows (Which I used for the first few months using this WD-HD) and wasn't formatted for Mac, which I can't remember if I did, this could be causing problems?
I'm very careful about ejecting or shutting down my External HD properly, and I can't remember a time when I disconnected it improperly (Who knows, maybe I have)
Any thoughts and/or solution for this problem? Or am I doomed to reformat the whole drive.
The iomega Drive you see in the snapshot is a new one I bought and works just fine.
Thanks

no-real wrote:
So I tried everything but to no avail.... I will reformat the disk. Luckily I had most of my critical files on the Mac HD so... the damage is not all that bad!
Thanks for all the help here... and when I went to the apple store today and consulted, they said it is a better idea to store on two separate disks, one with time machine, and one with the old fashion drag and drop to diversify risk.
I'd disagree with the second part of that -- drag and drop is not a good backup solution. I've learned over the years (mostly the hard way, of course ), never to trust my backups to a single app or piece of hardware: no app is perfect, and all hardware fails, sooner or later.
Like many here, I keep both full Time Machine backups, plus a "bootable clone" on a separate external HD. I use CarbonCopyCloner, many use the similar SuperDuper. That gives me the best of both types of backups, plus of course a completely separate, independent backup.
CCC is donationware; SD has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling. Either is easily found via Google.
And/or, see Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.
And by chance, before I will reformat, is there a way to access this External disk with some files? It shows up on disk utility.... maybe a way to just manually pull out some files?
Since it doesn't appear in the Finder, no.

Leopard, Vista, Time Machine, and Shared on a single disk

A friend of mine recently bought one of the new Mac Pros and I'm helping him set it up.
Here's what I want to do and I've been having considerable trouble getting this to work.
My friend got a single terabyte hard drive and I want to partition it into four partitions- one for Leopard, one for Vista, one for Time Machine, and one for Sharing files (FAT 32).
I found out the long way that Boot Camp will not let you install Vista if you already have several partitions on your hard drive.
Here's what I have done so far.
1. Erased the drive and installed a fresh installation of Leopard
2. Run Boot Camp to install Vista (this worked fine and I was able to boot into both operating systems)
3. Booted from OS X install disk and used disk utility to create two new partitions from the HSF formated Leopard drive
My problem is that creating these new partitions deactivated the Vista Partition. The windows partition still shows up in Disk Utility as it did before but when I hold down option to try booting into Windows, Vista no longer shows up. The Mac Works fine as does the Time Machine and Shared partitions.
Could someone please help me to get Vista working again. I hope I won't have to reinstall everything to make this work but if that's the only way, could someone at least tell me how to accomplish my original goal with the computer setup?

VaatiKaiba wrote:
I'm going to install Windows on my Mac soon (for dev purposes, I love Leopard!), but was just wondering something. When I install Vista, will Time Machine backup the Windows partition of the HD?
No but wait ...
If not, can I backup the Windows partition using a Windows program? Also, can I back them up onto the same disc, or will that confuse Mac OS if it has to look back for a backup?
Even better there is a program that will make an image of your Windows partition from OS-X!
It's called Winclone and the latest version supports both NTFS and FAT32.
Get it here - it's free.
You should not backup a program onto the same HD. When the HD fails, you lose the backup as well as the original.
Backup your Windows partition to your TM drive. It's a perfect match.
http://www.twocanoes.com/winclone/
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Partitioned external drive for Time Machine and Daily storage

Now that I've partitioned my I Terabyte external drive to two partitions using the disk utility with one partition for Time Machine and one partition as my new "hard drive"...my internal drive on the MacBook almost filled....I wanted to move...pix, movies, music..etc to the new drive and have all future storage pointed to that drive not the internal drive....need to have space available on the original drive on the MacBook....How do I move existing stored data and point ongoining saved music..files...etc to the new drive...???
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Yogabob wrote:
Now that I've partitioned my I Terabyte external drive to two partitions using the disk utility with one partition for Time Machine and one partition as my new "hard drive"...my internal drive on the MacBook almost filled....I wanted to move...pix, movies, music..etc to the new drive
You could use an application like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to copy them to the new partition, but it's probably just as easy to drag the files/folders to the new partition, then delete the originals.
and have all future storage pointed to that drive not the internal drive
You probably don't really want to do that. Files you're using will be accessed much faster if they're on your internal HD.
Another consideration is, you really should have backups of the moved files somewhere, in case you have a problem with the new drive. Although TM will back them up unless you exclude that partition, if the drive fails, you'll lose both copies.

I named my external hard drive "Time Machine", and now it no longer appears on my desktop.

I attached an external hard drive to my iMac, renamed it "Time Machine", and then set it up as the backup drive for Time Machine. Now the drive no longer shows up on my desktop, tho the Time Machine backup appears to be working. Is it not supposed to show up on the desk?

Hello:
When you designate an external drive as the one to use for Time Machine backups, that volume will be named "Time Machine" and a blue Time Machine icon will appear on your desktop. In my own case, I have a two partition external disk - one for Time Machine, and one for making bootable clones.
I never name my external HDs - only the volume(s) contained on them. If that is what you did, get rid of (or change) the drive name.
Barry

Can I run a second Time Machine on one computer?

Hi guys,
Is there any way I can run two Time Machines for one computer? I want to have one external Time Machine backup sitting on my desk, and another stored offsite for safe keeping, then swap them over every few days so that they are both generally up to date.
Any ideas?

not across internet. you can back up across local network to a Time Capsule, a drive connected to Airport extreme base station or another mac running leopard, leopard server or a Xsan storage device. all other network backups are unsupported. and it's definitely not possible to do it over internet.

Time Machine and SuperDuper on External Hard Drive?

Hi!
I really need a back up solution and after reading a lot of different articles and forums I think using Time Machine and SuperDuper may be the best option for me so I'm looking for advice:
Should I partition an external hard drive and have part of the partition for Time Machine and part for my SuperDuper clone? If I do this how much space should I give to each partition (the computer is 250GB and I'm using about 90GB, I mostly deal with documents, photos and music, I don't have movies or many huge files on my computer)
Will a 500GB external hard drive be sufficient and if the Time Machine partition becomes full as I assume it will in a few months if I understand correctly it will just start overwriting older back ups?
I know the ideal might be to have an external hard drive dedicated to time machine and one dedicated to SuperDuper but to be honest I can't afford 2 hard drives at the moment so I plan to partition (unless you strongly advise against it) and I'll also back up extremely important files with Dropbox. I'm at that stage where I just need to start doing back ups and I like the idea of it happening in the background via Time Machine and doing a weekly clone with SuperDuper. I'd like to get started immediately.
Any advice or problems I should be aware of would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Effie Darrow wrote:
Should I partition an external hard drive and have part of the partition for Time Machine and part for my SuperDuper clone?
imagine that drive croaks. both backups will be lost @ the same time ...
If I do this how much space should I give to each partition (the computer is 250GB and I'm using about 90GB, I mostly deal with documents, photos and music, I don't have movies or many huge files on my computer)
see this read about how much space you should give TM: http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/1.html.
as for a SD clone, the size of your startup disk will suffice.
Will a 500GB external hard drive be sufficient
see above
and if the Time Machine partition becomes full as I assume it will in a few months if I understand correctly it will just start overwriting older back ups?
deleting them, yes.
I know the ideal might be to have an external hard drive dedicated to time machine and one dedicated to SuperDuper
that would indeed be ideal.
but to be honest I can't afford 2 hard drives at the moment
USB drives are dirt cheap right now but stay away from WD drives.
good luck !
JGG

My newish MacBook Air was just lost to a coffee spill, and I need to migrate back to my MacBook Pro using a recent back-up (Time Machine to external disk). Can I do this?

My newish MacBook Air was just lost to a coffee spill, and I need to migrate back to my MacBook Pro using a recent back-up (Time Machine to external disk) for a few weeks. This same disk was used to back-up the Pro earlier, and to migrate from the Pro to the Air. Can I do this "back-migration" from the Air to the Pro? Is it maybe better just to migrate the specific folders (Outlook email, Office docs) I am sure I need?

Do not attempt to copy files/folders from a Time Machine backup. Only use the Time Machine application to restore from the backup.
Click on a Finder window and select Help from the Finder's Help menu. Search for "restore" and select "restore items backed up with time machine" from the hints list. You will find these two articles:
Recover items using Time Machine and Spotlight
If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can use Time Machine with Spotlight to recover lost or deleted items.
Note: You can retrieve earlier versions of TextEdit documents from within TextEdit. For more information, see:
View and restore past versions of documents
Open a Finder window and type a search word or phrase in the search field in the upper-right corner.
Select a location to search in the location bar.
Refine the results by specifying search criteria. Narrow down Spotlight search results
Open the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, then choose Enter Time Machine.
Use the arrows and timeline to browse the Time Machine backups. Your search is performed in every window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it, then click Restore.
The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if the item was found in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder.
Restore items backed up with Time Machine
If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can easily bring back lost items or recover older versions of files.
You can use Time Machine within many apps. If the iCloud Documents & Data feature is turned on, you can recover older versions of iCloud documents as well as regular documents.
Open a window for the item you want to restore.For example, if you accidentally deleted a file from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder. To recover an email message, open your inbox in Mail. To recover an iCloud document, open the document’s app, choose File > Open, then click iCloud to view the iCloud documents for that app.If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.
From the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, choose Enter Time Machine. A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.
Use the arrows and timeline to browse the snapshots and backups.White tick marks represent snapshots stored on your internal drive (portable computers only). Pink tick marks represent backups stored on your backup disk. If a tick mark appears dimmed or grayed, there’s no backup available or the backup disk is not connected.
For more information about an item, double-click it.The windows in Time Machine behave just like Finder windows, so you can open folders, click items in the sidebar, and use the search field in the upper-right corner of the window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it, then click Restore. You can restore individual items, multiple items, folders, or your entire hard disk.The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if the item was found in the Documents folder, it is returned to the Documents folder.

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and foolishly upgraded to Yosemite. Is it possible to go back in time with Time Machine and reinstall Snow Leopard. Then upgrade to Lion or Mavericks? Any other ideas on how I can exit Yosemite?

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and foolishly upgraded to Yosemite. Now have numerous problems. Is it possible to go back in time with Time Machine and reinstall Snow Leopard? Then upgrade to Lion or Mavericks? Any other ideas on how I can exit Yosemite?

Once you get yourself back to Snow Leopard, if you still want to upgrade somewhat, I would suggest the following:
1. Get an external hard drive that you can use for experiments with new OS versions. You could partition it into 2 or 3 partitions. You could then clone your existing Snow Leopard system to one partition using Carbon Copy Cloner (well worth $40) or SuperDuper ($25).
2. Buy OS X Mountain Lion for $20, through the Apple online store (I don't think it's available through the App Store). Apple has decided to make it very difficult for anyone to get Mavericks unless they have already downloaded it.
You will receive two e-mails from Apple, one containing a PDF with a redemption code, and one with the password you will need to unlock the PDF. Using the code, you will download Mountain Lion from the App Store, where it will appear among your Purchased items.
After ML finishes downloading, its installer app will launch itself. When you see this launch screen, QUIT the install app immediately! Go to your applications folder, find the Install OS X Mountain Lion app, and copy it to a safe location outside of your Applications folder. Keeping one or more copies will allow you to reinstall without unnecessary aggravation if you later need or want to do that. At this point, you can re-launch the Installer in the Applications folder and let it run. You can install it on a clean partition on your external HD, or you can allow it to upgrade the Snow Leopard clone you created on your external drive, or you can do both. This should allow you to test how everything works for as long as you like.
3. If you left yourself a free partition on your test drive, try a clean install of Yosemite and set everything up from scratch (do not migrate anything). This will allow you to see whether your problems with it were related to something in your Snow Leopard system.

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. suggestions to complete backup please?

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. the same thing happens when just trying to save my pictures from iphoto to a flash drive. suggestions to complete backup please?

Sounds like you'll need to access that drive while it is not booted. You need to replace it anyway, so do that, then one way or another (ext enclusure, et), access it and copy files.
If you keep trying to boot it, you might kill it for good and not get your files, so just swap it out first.

Two Time Machines and one MacBook Pro ... migrating to a new MacBook Pro

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