Use previous Time Machine database

Does anyone know if I can resume backing up to an "old" Time Machine database? I ended up doing a system restore, migrating my user across from Time Machine and then reinstalling all my software etc. When I restarted Time Machine on the same disk, I started from scratch.
For security, I want to keep 2 copies of my Time Machine Disk, possibly by alternating destination disks. If I switch disks, will I be able to come back to my old one?

Here is a little followup on why a person might want to flip flop between TM volumes. My iDisk syncing got entirely screwed up when I upgrade to Leopard. It ended up almost completely corrupt one way or another. TM doesn't seem to see old idisk states, and I have not been successful in digging up a clean version of my iDisk, and have since given up.
Somwhere along the line I turned iDisk syncing off and It spat out a disk image on my desktop that was not 10GB, but was >500GB. This made time machine think it had to erase old backups, which it did without telling me, but then it gave me the error that it could not backup 800GB onto a 500GB drive anyway. I can understand that TM would want to erase old backups without telling me, probably because I configured it that way, but it should NOT do this if the backup is going to be impossible anyway. It should check total disk size first, and THEN delete old backups. This is shooting first and asking questions later.
I hate data loss.

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Manually tell new mac to use previous Time Machine backup

Hi There,
We have a Mac Mini server which we use as a Time Machine backup disk - and we have a new Macbook which I migrated from the previous one using Migration Assistent.
But after configuring Time Machine to use the server's backup drive, I didn't see or missed the options to "Use previous disk" or "Inherit backup history".
Is there a way to manually tell Time Machine to use the previous backuop - the Macbook was migrated so has the same username and files.
Any help would be much appreacited.
Cheers
Ben

The page had a lot of other stuff on it so here's what I did to inherit a backup:
Info from: http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html
Get ready:
Turn off Time Machine in: >System Preferences >Time Machine
Mount the Time Machine Backup Drive
If a network or Time Capsule, mount the network drive share
Open Terminal: /Utilities/Terminal.app
Paste the following (ignore $) but don’t hit enter
$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup
Make sure there’s a space after “inheritbackup “
If inheriting from a hard drive:
Open the drive and open /Backups.backupdb
Find the folder name of the backup you want to inherit
Drag the folder into terminal after “inheritbackup “ so the path looks like this:
$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/Backups\Backups.backupdb/Computer\ Name
If inheriting from a Time Capsule or network drive:
Mount the drive
Find the .sparsebundle name of the backup you want to inherit
Drag the .sparsebundle into terminal after “inheritbackup “ like this:
$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/Client\ Backups-1/Computer\ Name
Inherit the backups:
Ensure there's a space between "inheritbackup" and the path to your backup and hit enter
Enter your machine’s admin password
When finished you should see:
Claiming disk image for machine...
Ejecting disk image...
$
Quit Terminal
Turn on Time Machine in: >System Preferences >Time Machine
Trouble shooting:
If you see the following error: “Failed to attach disk image. (error 35)”
Then Time Machine wasn’t off or hadn’t shut down before you ran the command

Nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

Time Machine has been working just fine, but in the last week or two it has given up the ghost. I reset the connections to the drive, and it will basically save a few bytes of data and then hang.
Although Apple originally announced, prior to the release of the first 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations (AEBSn), that it would support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks, they removed that option before they did finally release the base station for sale.
Since then, Apple has posted (as you have noted) that they DO NOT support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks. As far as I know, they have not changed from that position and those who do these backups find that they become corrupted over time. Sorry, but it sounds like you just confirmed that for yourself.
1) Has one of the recent updates either on the AE (firmware) or OSX disabled this function?
No. Again, this feature has never been supported by Apple for every generation of AEBSn released.
2) Are there any changes I can make to get this working again?
If your data backups are critical to you, then you will want to use a different solution for your Time Machine backup destination drive strategy. I would suggest that you connect your WD My Book directly to your Mac in the mean time.
Your other options would be to either use a Time Capsule (which interestingly does support TM backups to AirPort Disks) or a non-Apple solution like the Drobo FS or HP MediaSmart server.

I performed a time machine backup without plugging my labtop into a power source. My computer died and all the settings were changed, ie the clock and date were changed back to 2001. So I tried to restore my computer using a previous time machine backup.

I performed a time machine backup without plugging my labtop into a power source. My computer died and all the settings were changed, ie the clock and date were changed back to 2001. So I tried to restore my computer using a previous time machine backup. (which I now know was wrong). However, when time machine tried to restore it said there was not enough room to do a backup. It seems that it did a half backup because some essential files such as system profiler are now missing. Can I undo this restore...? What can I do to fix this

You need to do a full system restore, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14.
If that sends a message, please note the exact wording.

Can I use the harddisk that I used for Time Machine on my previous computer on my new computer without deleting the old back-ups?

Can I use the harddisk that I used for Time Machine on my previous computer on my new computer without deleting the old back-ups?

Yes. See:
http://pondini.org/TM/4.html
My only concern is that you may not have enough free space on the drive.

I have reinstalled my OS without time machine (using the disc). I want to restore some pictures in the iPhotos which are already in the time machine i was using previously. How can I restore iPhoto from previous time machine?

My mac book was incredibly slow. When I went to Mac store, they asked me to reinstall the OS with CD and not with the time machine. I reinstalled the operating system. But when I opened the applications, all those started as fresh applications as usual. I have the backup of all other data in another hard disc. But unfortunately, I forgot to copy the photos before reinstallation. I have those photos in my time machine back up. But when I opened time machine, it started like a fresh (very new) time machine and it started backing up my present OS (the reinstalled one). I cannot open the previous time machine, which is in the same hard drive. I wish to open the previous time machine to get the photos which are backed up previuosly. When opened the time machine disc (manually by clicking the icon), i can see all the thigs which I had previously in my macbook. But unfortunately, i cannot access those through time machine! Can anybody help me please?

How to redownload purchased apps from the App Store

Unable to use a Time Machine backup

I am getting very frustrated, as I cannot use a Time Machine backup the way I want to.
Short story, my Macbook Pro Retina (running Yosemite) is, and have for a while been, a litte buggy and slow, so I wsh to to a clean install of OSX, and use migration assistant to recover files and settings. I have tried to to a complete restore, but this hasn´t helped.
The problem is, the migration assistant can´t find the backups. When I restart with Cmd+R and prompt a restore from TimeMachine backup, it CAN find both mine, and other backups stored on the disk. But after I do a clean install, and get to the assistant, it CAN´T find any of the backups.
The backups are on a WD 2TB disk, connected via my Mac Mini.
I have tried creating another account on the fresh install, and verify disk and permissions. One time, that actually made the assistant find the backups, but I have never been able to recreate this. I did not try to copy the files on that occation, somehow.
I don´t understand how the two backup modes works differently. Complete restore cand find the files, assistant cannot.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The backups are created via a Mac Mini sharing the Time Machine disk. My backup is created as a disk file on Timemachine/Mybackup, and the Mac Mini backup is another level down on Timemachine/backups/Macmini. I don´t know if this has anythong to do with it.
On trying to recover, I have plugged the external drive directly into the MBP.
I have had to go back and to a complete restore every time, but I am not satisfied with this result.
I have tried to explain as good as I can, and will be very grateful for hints and tips.

A possible reason for backups not to be available in Migration Assistant is that the computer doesn't have a name, or the name is corrupt. Open the Sharing preference pane and check the name. If you can't do that, reset the PRAM. Credit to ASC member Csnote for this observation.
Otherwise, starting from a clean installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. Enter Time Machine and press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible.* Select the one you want and navigate to your home folder (in the Users folder at the top level of the old startup volume.)
You should now be able to restore your user data. I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of the home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of the home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You may have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch. That would be the only point of doing a clean installation.
You'll have another problem because you erased the startup volume. The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of the backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set the backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of the computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

Can't update, HD is being used by Time Machine

I get the message that the Hard Drive can't be used because it's being used by Time Machine. Time Machine is turned off. Following advice on another thread I deleted a TM pref file, restarted, and selected none (which wasn't there previously). I have repaired permissions as well. Any ideas? Thanks.

progmanjum wrote:
I have a folder by that name. There is another folder within that and that is empty. Delete and restart?
yes.

HT1178 I have set up Time Capsule to use with Time Machine. When I open Time Machine it 'cannot find' the Time Capsule and I have the Select the Disk each time. In the Next Backup tab it always says "When disk is connected" even though the disk is alrea

I have set up Time Capsule to use with Time Machine but when I open Time Machine it 'cannot find' the Time Capsule and I have to 'Select the Disk' each time. In the Next Backup tab it always says "When disk is connected" even though the disk is already connected.

Your pro doesn't matter.. I presume it is happily working.
Your imac setup has got messed up because you changed from a local (my book being USB type I presume) to network drive. Did you do a clean install of Lion?
Did you use the backup from the Pro on the imac? Otherwise I don't see how the Pro shows up in use previous disk. Where is Pondini when you need him??
You cannot download Time Machine as an App and replace the current version. It is built into the OS.. the only way to do it is a clean install. Unfortunately that might be the only way around the issue.
There is a number of issues that Pondini has covered in the setup issues of troubleshooting.
This is the most relevant I think. http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html
But look at the whole section B setup problems.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
If it was me, I would store all the info you need.. not using TM but using a straight copy of files.
Then clean install Lion. I doubt any of these issues would exist if you had not installed Lion over existing setup or used a different backup.
See if you can get Pondini to respond.. !!

Lost login keychain; Lost previous time machine backups with Lion install

I downloaded Lion and it would not install on my 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 gb 1067 mhz ddr3 Mid-2009 Macbook Pro. I got the exclamation mark with hard disk irrepairable error. I took it to the local Apple store. They did a number of hardware tests and after several false calls saying it was ready (when I arrived to pick it up and tried to set up OS (select language etc) I got spinning beachball), I finally brought it home with Lion installed. All seems well, and I restored the data from Time Machine backup done under Snow Leopard. To my surprise, I find old versions of the login keychain - last updated 2010. I had 2 separate time machine backups going back six months, but when I tried to browse one for the newer keychains, I find that all previous Time Machine backups have been removed and all I have is the Time Machine backup from Lion install. So there are two related problems: one is that I lost keychain data and the other is that I can't restore from Time Machine backup since the only backups that seem to be there have restarted with Lion. Another factor, is that the technicians had to reset my user password in order to set up Lion and I subsequently changed it back to my own password. Any solutions to locating old time machine backups or restoring recent keychain entries?

How so I know...
Time machine preferences shows last known backup as NONE
NOTE: I found a section in the time machine prefs to use another backup file and all seems ok now
Thx

Using a time machine backup of Mountain Lion on Mavericks

I have just installed Mavericks with a clean installation from Mountain Lion. I have a time machine backup of Mountain Lion, but I do not want to use this backup to restore my system because I have a lot of problem and I would like to be sure that is not a problem connected to the software.
Can I use the previous time machine disk as backup of the new operating system without losing the previous backups?
If I use it, I cannot restore the system with the "Mountain Lion" state with the migration assistant, is it true?
Thanks

No. Time Machine will be replacing your existing backup with a new one of your Mavericks system. If you wish to replace Mavericks with Mountain Lion, then I suggest you replace it with another backup of Mountain Lion, if you have one. Otherwise, if you've permitted Time Machine to run since installing Mavericks, then you not longer have a Mountain Lion backup.
You will need to go to your Purchases page in the App Store and try to re-download your Mountain Lion purchase. If you can, then after the Mountain Lion installer downloads and opens quit the installer - do not run it. Now do this;
Make Your Own Mavericks, Mountain/Lion Installer
After downloading the installer you must first save the Install Mac OS X application. After the installer downloads DO NOT click on the Install button. Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the installer. Move the copy into your Downloads folder. Now you can click on the Install button. You must do this because the installer deletes itself automatically when it finishes installing.
Get a USB flash drive that is at least 8 GBs. Prep this flash drive as follows:
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your flash drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the leftside list. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
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.
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.
Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash drive size.
Use DiskMaker X to put your installer clone onto the USB flash drive.
Make your own Mavericks flash drive installer using the Mavericks tool:
You can also create a Mavericks flash drive installer via the Terminal. Mavericks has its own built-in installer maker you use via the Terminal:
You will need a freshly partitioned and formatted USB flash drive with at least 8GBs. Leave the name of the flash drive at the system default, "Untitled." Do not change this name. Open the Terminal in the Utilities folder. Copy this command line after the prompt in the Terminal's window:
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
Press RETURN. Enter your admin password when prompted. It will not be echoed to the screen so be careful to enter it correctly. Press RETURN, again.
Wait for the process to complete which will take quite some time.
Now, run the installer flash drive, erase the hard drive, and reinstall Mountain Lion. You can then use Time Machine just to replace your data from your Home folder.

I'm running Pages version 5.2 on a Desktop Mac version 10.9.2. with the Pages app open how do I use the Time Machine to go back five hours to see the work?

I'm running Pages version 5.2 on a Desktop Mac version 10.9.2. With the Pages app open how do I use the Time Machine to go back five hours to see my page? Can I access Time Machine within an app like Pages? How do I enter Time Machine within the application? It always takes me to the Finder. I apolgise for the mumbo jumbo. I simply do not know how to use Time Machine. It makes sense when I follow the Tutorial but then I lose it.

OK. You've kind of skipped over the reason why you want to go back five hours, but my assumption would be that you've made changes to a Pages file that you want to revert.
There are two ways to tackle this. From Pages itself, open the current version of your document, and from the File menu, click Revert To, and Browse All Versions. You'll then be in the Time Machine interface for that file, and can browse back to the version you want.
Or, outside of Pages, you can select the file (or the folder it was originally in, if you've since deleted it) and enter Time Machine from the TM menu (it sounds like you've already tried this?)
best
Matt

I am trying to install Mavericks on my McbookAir, but it won't install, saying that my hd is used for time machine backups. I have an external HD connected to my mbAir that I'm using for time machine.

2012 Macbk air, with OSX 10.8.5. See my question above. Mavericks won't install on my Air's HD, says that both the HD - AND - the external HD (which has a different name from the laptop HD) are used for time machine backups. I've deleted my time machine plists, restarted, repaired permissions, turned time machine off, repeatedly selected the external drive in time machine preferences. HELP. (Install went perfectly on my desktop Mac, which also has an external HD for time machine).

I need to add that the only place I have the "Backups.backupdb" folder is on my backup external disk, and it's not on my HD :-( . If it were, I'd delete it!

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work. Help?

I just restored my 13" MBP i5 at the apple store to the newest version of Lion after issues with a previous Time Machine backup from Snow Leopard- this time I created a new account and just ported files and folders, and now MS Office doesn't work.
^^ that's the main problem. Here's the full history.
I bought a new 13" i5 MBP, early 2011 edition. I had an old white Macbook 2.14 ghz core2duo on Snow Leopard. I attempted to port over my time machine backup, but encountered problems in that my User was inaccessible from the new computer after the import finished, and I had to go in and change the root password, etc, and for some reason or another, I couldn't install any programs at all from that administrator's account. By "couldn't" I mean I could install them, but upon installation they would never boot. So, I took it to the apple store and did a clean install from the most up to date Lion OSX. Then, I created a brand new admin account, instead of trying to import the old one, and things seemed great. Then, I just imported my old files from the TM backup, but not any system settings, permissions, or user data. Just my Docs, pics, vids, apps, and itunes stuff.
Here's where things get weird again. I imported this stuff under the name "old", but all of these folders have a red negative sign on them, marking them as restricted. So, from my main admin account, I cannot even peruse these folders. Since I didn't import user data, I can't sign in to the "old" account to change permissions. I already tried to change the permissions from system preferences, but that didn't change anything. And now, for whatever reason, of all the apps that were imported then, MS Office is the only set of apps that does not work. When I click on it, it just says there was a problem and asks if I'd like to send a report to apple. I tried reinstalling it to no avail. I'm an English student, so i really need access to Word. Can anyone help? The Apple store is a major detour for me and would like to fix this issue myself.

Most likely you have Office 2004 which are PPC-only applications and will not work in Lion. Upgrade to Office 2011. Other alternatives are:
Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.)
Open Office (Office 2007-like suite compatible with OS X.)
NeoOffice (similar to Open Office.)
LibreOffice (a new direction for the Open Office suite.)

Can I use a Time Machine restore from an older OS to Mavericks?

I ask because I tried about 2 years ago and had no luck. Here's a little back-story so my situation isn't confusing...
My iMac (2010) has been having tons of issues lately. More specifically, when I attempted to upgrade to Mavericks last week, it came back with S.M.A.R.T. errors after a scan, so it wouldn't allow me to update. So, in preparation for the HDD to crap out on me, I did frequent back-ups using Time Machine. Well, the day finally came and my iMac won't "turn on" anymore. When I turn it on, it sits at the Mac loading screen for several minutes and then just goes to a blank white screen. (NOTE: This isn't part of my question but if anyone has any suggestions on fixing this, please let me know, thanks!)
So, back to my question. If I buy a new iMac or a new macbook or whatever, will it be possible to use my Time Machine back-ups to restore everything on it or will it not allow me to because the operating systems are different? As mentioned, I attempted to make a restore on my friend's macbook that I purchased as a spare but when I tried, it came back saying "Different operating systems, cannot restore" or something to that degree. Is there a way around this? Do I have to somehow downgrade the OS on my new machine?
Luckily, I use iTunes for all my movies/music & Adobe Creative cloud so I can easily restore those on any machine but my desktop personal data, photos, etc are on the Time Machine restore. Help me if you can, thanks in advance!

If you live near an Apple Store, make a Genius Bar appointment to have the computer tested. Supposedly there is no charge for testing. They can also give you an estimate.
Genius Bar Reservation US

Use previous Time Machine database

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