Updating Time Machine after restoring from backup

Hello,
I use both SuperDuper and Time Machine to back up my MacBook Pro to an external drive. My computer's internal hard drive recently died, and my most recent backup was from SuperDuper, so after I replaced the internal drive, I restored my system using SuperDuper.
With the new internal drive, Time Machine still recognizes my previous backups and lets me access my old files -- but when I try to create a new backup, it wants to delete nearly one year and 100 GB of old backups from the external drive to make room for new ones. I'm not sure why it feels the need to do that; all the Created and Modified dates on my files appear to have been preserved, so only the usual incremental update should be needed, and I have over 50 GB of free space on my backup drive for it.
I'd prefer not to lose that archived content. Any idea how I can continue using Time Machine without starting from scratch?
-Ken

kengagne wrote:
With the new internal drive, Time Machine still recognizes my previous backups and lets me access my old files -- but when I try to create a new backup, it wants to delete nearly one year and 100 GB of old backups from the external drive to make room for new ones. I'm not sure why it feels the need to do that; all the Created and Modified dates on my files appear to have been preserved
That's not what it uses to determine what needs to be backed-up (since they can be changed), but it doesn't apply to this case anyway.
Since you have a new drive, even if it has the same name as the old one, Time Machine knows it's a different drive and will back it up completely. You cannot prevent it.
This is actually for your protection; if you had a drive named "Music" and replaced it with a different drive, with different content but also named "Music," surely you'd want Time Machine to know it was different and back it up?
In fact, you can have two or more drives on the same Mac with the identical names; OSX (and Time Machine) know they're different, and can keep them separate without a problem.
If you really need backups kept that long, you need a bigger drive for Time Machine. Your best bet is to let it start fresh on the new one, and keep the old one "on the shelf" until you're sure you don't need it anymore. You can always view and restore from the old one, via the +*Browse ...+* option, per #17 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Or, if you really want to, you can copy the backups from the existing drive to a larger one, then continue backing-up to them. See #18 in the FAQ.

Similar Messages

HT201250 What happens when you select Enter Time Machine to restore from backup and nothing happens?

I have Time Machine running on my Mac for several years. No need to restore from a back up until today. I can see the time of my last backup and that was late yesterday. But when I press enter Time Machine nothing happens.
What do I do next?

See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.

I tried to install a new hard drive using Snow Leopard to back up with Time Machine. When I installed the new HD I installed Leopard (10.5) on it and tried to use time machine to restore the backup I had made using 10.6. Kernel panic screen occurred.

I backed up my system using 10.6 Snow Leopard's Time Machine to an external hard drive. I did this because I purchased a new internal hard drive to upgrade my 2007 White Macbook from 80GB to 320GB. When I installed the new hard drive, I installed 10.4 (Tiger) and then 10.5 (Leopard) and once Leopard was in I tried to use Time Machine to restore my backup from 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and received a kernal panic screen directly after the bootup.
The screen had code asking for 10.6, so does this mean that the computer is searching for Snow Leopard? If so, how can I do this? Will a bootable drive with Snow Leopard on it be able to solve the issue or will I somehow need to find a way to wipe out this new hard drive?
-Steve

Booting From Snow Leopard Installer Disc
1. Insert Snow Leopard Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
Drive Preparation and Installation
1. 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. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
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 Security 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.
7. After formatting is complete quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.

How can I see my messages after restoring from backup?

I have 2.1gb of messages saved in my storage on my 4s but they're not in messages after restoring from backup.
How can I get all my messages back in my message app because I know they're their it's just a matter of getting them restored into the app.

When you restored your phone from an old backup, it wiped ALL data from your phone and replaced it with the data from that backup. It's like your phone went back in time.
Your data that was on the phone before you did the restore is now gone forever. There is no way to get these data back.

After restore from backup, iphone is not getting start, only apple logo is there on screen

after restore from backup, iphone is not getting start, only apple logo is there on screen

Hi there.
Try some basic trouble shooting steps first, before looking into some advanced issues that might be causing this. The first thing I would try, is holding down the power button and home button at the same time until the screen turns off on you. See what steps you can take from there, if any.
Kind Regards.
- Mike.

After restoring from backup on iCloud, my photos have been "downloading" for 2 days with no progress at all.

After restoring from backup on iCloud, my photos have been "downloading" for 2 days with no progress at all. Everything else seems to by fine, however. I have all my apps, contacts, even my photostream back, but my camera roll has said "downloading 137 of 1,345" for two days. I really don't want to have to start over as the whole process took almost 3 hours. Help?

Someone mentioned that syncing with ITunes, making sure that photos are being synced - even with an empty folder, fixed the problem. I tried it and it didn't work for me. Anyone got any answers that don't include losing the photos or erasing and restoring from backup again?

After restoring from backup on a new phone (same model, just replacement) all my apps are showing as waiting....I have sync'd but still without any joy - this has been going on for hours

After restoring from backup on a new phone (same model, just replacement) all my apps are showing as waiting....I have sync'd but still without any joy - this has been going on for hours

It just means some spammer is using your email address as the sender address for their spam. This is very easy to do - anyone can do it simply by changing the From email address in their email program. It does not mean your account was hacked or you have a virus (there are no current Mac viruses on the loose anyway, nor has there been for years).
There's nothing you can do about it. It can happen to anyone and the spammers will move on to using someone else's email address before long.

Having a hard time rebooting iPhone 5 after restore from backup!

Here is my problem, my new iphone 5 did a restore from backup from my 4S. It took awhile because I have a lot of apps. Unfortunately not all the folders were intact. I heard that you have to do a double restore from backup. Once I did my 2nd restore from backup, the phone goes through a reboot process. I get the apple logo and then a blank screen. I have tried holding the home and top button with and without it being plugged in. I got it working and did a restore from backup again, thinking the folders would be restored. It did not work again. After trying about 5 or 6 times, I finally got the phone to come up again. Unfortunately I still have not gotten my folders back they way it was. It's partial and now I don't want to try to do another restore from backup. So I guess itunes is still not fixed in terms of restoring apps and folders they way it is supposed to be. Anyone else have this issue?

Sorry to say my friend, but any second you going to lose from that moment on is a lost second. I d like to wish you luck and after all said and done - get back here and tell me if I was wrong. BTW if those were text group messages, your phone was never a problem.

After restoring from backup, iPad hangs after sliding to unlock-I have to reset every time to get it to work--Any fix?

I have a first generation iPad.
After having crashing issues I restored from backup.
Since restore, whenever I slide to unlock, it hangs for few minutes. Then I get a pictrue of the spinning circle but is doesn't spin---just hangs there--frozen.
I have to reset the iPad to get it to function every time (holding down the home button/on-off button).
Any ideas on how I can resolve this issue?

Seems to have something to do with the passcode. I turned the passcode off and now there are no issues.

How to set-up Time Machine after Restore

After having restored an entire system back from Time Machine, it looks to me as Time Machines wants to completely backup all data already held on the hard-disk. With this effect, the harddisk is not big enough. I do not want to buy another disk. Is there any way how to persuade Time Machine that it should use the existing data on the disk?

Hi Aulia,
I don't believe that you will be able to have Time Machine understand that you only want it to continue with the same data : once it has detected that a file changed, it makes another copy, even if you know that it's the same file : it's based on messages telling it that a file has changed, not on files comparison.
I think that the "inprogress" file will be replaced by another one if you let TM do it's job : it won't make a third copy of your data. If there is enough space on the disk, you can let TM continue, and try to manage with the following trick, with patience and much care.
Make sure that the "Action" menu is visible in a Finder's window (it is if you did not customize the toolbar to remove it), and dive into Time Machine. Select a item in the window : the Action menu now has an item that should read "delete all backups of this element" (or something like that : I'm translating my French version). Take care that "all" here really means ALL versions in the backup : the only copy left would be on your main disk.
The next backup may not make a fresh copy unless you help it a little : after all, there was no message telling TM that the original was changed, since it was not ! Just do anything in the folder containing the item that you deleted from the backup (like creating and immediately deleting a folder there) : this will tell TM that something has happened there, the next backup will check the folder, detect the missing element and make a fresh copy.
Having only one copy of a really important folder may not suit you, even if it's only for the short delay until the next backup. You can make a copy of it, and run TM to backup the copy (a right click on the icon in the dock shows a "backup now" item). You now have a backed up version, you can delete the original, and all the backup copies of the original with the previous method. But if you rename the copy back to it's original name, it will be saved again... just iterate one more time !
I hope that this can help you, but please do not hesitate to try and validate your method on small copies before you delete something in your backup !
PS : I just tested my proposals with my 33Gb iMovie Events folder : a new copy of an event folder is created in the backup each time you rename an event, and I gained more than 40 Gb by deleting all previous redundant versions.
At least, it works for me !

Bug in iphone 4s - Red icon shows after restore from backup

Hi All,
I think i have found a bug with the iphone 4s.
If i restore to new with the latest software 5.0.1 the little red icon does not show on the settings tab but then if i do a restore from backup it shows.
This is annoying and is clearly a bug as the phone is upto date.
Anyone else having this issue?
I think it might be because i installed the update from 5.0 to 5.0.1 via the phone and not the pc.
Cheers

If you have back up your notes, you can restore from the backup.
To restore information from a backup, use one of the following methods after connecting your iOS device to the computer with which you normally sync:
1. Right-click (or Control-click) the device and choose Restore from Backup
2. If you have a new phone, you can connect to iTunes and it will prompt to restore from your backup
Solution from Apple.com: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766
If you have no backup for your data on iPhone, iPhone data recovery software is your last shot! I used iTunes Data Recovery and it worked well. It's easy to use. Just a few clicks you can get all your photos back. Here is a step by step guide for you: http://x.co/3Q8U3

No Camera App after restore from backup on iphone 4

OK so I backedup my iphone 3g which was on 312 on itunes 9.2 before my iphone 4 arrived today. I restored from backup and all of my apps restored. I can't seem to find the camera app! It's driving me crazy that I am trying restore the iphone 4 as a new phone but downloading the iOS4 firmware for iphone 4 is taking more than 3 hours for some reason.
Has anyone seen this?

Why not? If old data is recovered by restoring, then new data after last back up lose. If keep new data after last back up remain, lost old data can't be regained, even may be user's lack of knowledge, iPhone should not be for the people of one class...I am really sad for all who suffer the lost of their hearts (valuable data that can never be recalled) like me. How can I continue to use idevices?????

IPhoto Shared Library - Cant Find After Restore from Backup

Hello, I hope someone can help. A couple of years ago I created a shared iPhoto library image (I believe it was a mounted image file) so that two (2) users on a single iMac could view/add files collectively. I have been using the Time Machine backup since we purchased the iMac, and for years everything was fine. Recently, the HD failed and we had to have Apple install a new one. After successfully restoring all files/settings from the latest time machine backup, I noticed that the shared iPhoto library is no longer available. iPhoto asks for the library location upon launch, but I cant find this file anywhere.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to bring this shared image file back, and remount it so that I can find my photos?
Thanks for the help!

iLife requires 10.4.10, I believe. Have you updated back to that OS?
Message was edited by: scb

Cannot enter Time Machine after upgrading from Snow Leopard

Hi all,
I've had Lion installed for a few days now and am enjoying the changes to OSX.
Last night I wanted to delete a few redundant files out of my TimeMachine backup and found I could not open the application at all.
I can still backup to Time Machine successfully (so it indicates with preparing, backing up progress (xGB of yGB), finishing, etc). So for the last few days everything appeared to be functioning as expected until last night, when I tried to enter Time Machine.
My specs:
iMac (Oct 2010), 4GB, 1TB, 3.6GHz, backing up to a WD My Passport Essential (1TB) via USB 2.0 (25% full)
I can see the destination drive (and its contents) on my desktop, via Finder and can select it via TimeMachine System Preferences (Select drive). There are no issues 'seeing' or accessing the drive in normal use.
Trying to open the Time Machine application, I have tried via the TimeMachine icon in the TitleBar (ie 'Enter Time Machine'), via Mission Control (double-clicking on Time Machine), typing 'Time Machine' into Spotlight and selecting it from the resulting list, but in all scenarios, nothing happens. Nothing at all. And yet I can backup to Time Machine without a hitch.
I have seen a number of online conversations about the AFP spec having been changed by Apple and third party periphial manufacturers being slow to comply, but using USB, I'm not sure this applies to my case? I have used Macs at home for 8 years and have never heard of AFP until now... So I don't really know if I am impacted by this or not (don't think so).
There have been some troubleshooting solutions involving identifying and deleting the com.apple.timemachine.plist from the Library/Preferences folder (going from memory here) which I did (had to use PathFinder to find the file).
Unfortunately that did not help and Time Machine still refuses to open. There are no errors appearing as a result of trying to open TimeMachine. I have checked the Console, but nothing obvious appears there. I have read others are prompted with an error about AFP, but I get no such error. I can copy files to the drive okay so I can't see how it is the drive. Just Time Machine not wanting to play...
Can anyone suggest anything?
I do have Snow Leopard SuperDupered to another 320GB WD drive if I need to go back, but I don't really want to if I can help it...
Thanks,
Alex Makin

Well finally, after 2 days of trying to work out what was the issue, I have resolved the problem.
Its very strange given that I can successfully back up but not restore, as described in my original post.
One thing I neglected to mention was the fact I had set up my Time Machine backup to use 'sparsebundles'. This allows me to have the external drive plugged into my Airport Extreme and use much like Time Capsule.
It didn't seem relevant at the time since I could backup successfully (and still now, I can't understand why Time Machine knows where to back up to, but doesn't know where to restore from).
I didn't have the Time Machine icon sitting in my dock (never needed to since if I need to restore, I access TM from the TitleBar icon). So in putting the TM app in the dock I played a little around with it by clicking it (as you would normally for any other app in the dock) and eventually held down the mouse key to bring up the menu. Tried 'Enter Time Machine' a couple of times without luck, before trying a menu item along the lines of "Try another backup destination' and voila!! Time Machine opens, animated stars, vertical time line, etc.
Well hang on now... Why the heck can't TM have worked this out already?? Why do I need to look somewhere else for my Time Machine backup, when I've already told TM (in System Preferences) where the backup is?
Pretty darn odd, but there you have it. It was there the whole time, but according to TM, it wasn't...
I still have to select the menu item 'Try another backup destination' each time I want to enter TM, but at least I know where to find it...
I'm assumming its the sparsebundles setting (which I'm sticking with), but at least I know its not my iMac, its not the hard drive, its not Lion (well, it sort of is as Snow Leopard knew where to find it...)
Alex Makin

Time Machine after Restore

My mid-2011 21.5 inch iMac running OS 10.9.5 had been running very slow (all 4GB of RAM was constantly in use) so I dropped it off at an Apple Store Genius Bar for a week of diagnostics. The tests showed all the hardware was fine so they wiped the drive and suggested I rebuild it from my Time Machine backup excepting do not load the “settings” portion. I did that and I don’t think that helped the memory or speed issue much, but now I cannot run a Time Machine backup. TM thinks there is an archive from a different machine on my back up drive and there is not room for another.
How do I tell Time Machine to use the existing archive?
Thanks,
Mike M.

Eric - thanks for those links, and I actually did see them before I posted. But those instructions include having transferred "Settings" when restoring (from my original Time Machine backup) but the Apple Genius Bar folks suggested not to copy that portion since it may have been the cause of my problem. (Time Machine never asked whether I wanted to create a new backup...) So I don't know if that messes up the solutions on your links. After reading it a couple of times, it sounds like my solution would be to follow the "pink box" steps in B6 but frankly I'm not 100% sure (because I did not transfer "settings") .
In any case, I may just start a new archive on another hard drive and eventually delete the current one when it gets old enough.
Thanks,
Mike M

Updating Time Machine after restoring from backup

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for