Use Time Machine for transferring data to new drive

2008 pre-unibody 17" 250GB MacBook Pro4,1 - 2GB RAM, 10.6.8, 2.5ghz
How can I use Time Machine to transfer data to hybrid 1TB Seagate SSD?

Hi V.K., was just reading your instructions for jumper25 about transferring all info to a new HD and had a question. I am in the same situation where i have bought a new 320Gb to replace the OEM 120Gb in my MBP. Everything is very straight forward from what you have posted but i only have the original Tiger 10.4.9 install DVD and I am running Leopard 10.5.5. Will I be able to use my Tiger install disk and then use my TM back up even though it Leopard? Or will I need a Leopard install disk to complete? Also is there another way around this problem if i can not use the Tiger disk such as mirroring the 120Gb disk on to my 320Gb?
Thanks in advance for your time and expertise.
P.

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Can I Use Time Machine Restore Files to a New Computer?

I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
Two Questions:
If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings? Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Dan D\'Errico

Dan D'Errico wrote:
I use Time Machine to backup my data to an external drive. Let's say that my computer crashes and I buy a new computer with Leopard installed.
Two Questions:
If I plug my Time Machine drive into the new computer, will I be able to recreate the old files and settings?
Yes - see my comments below regarding "Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another".
Or does Time Machine only work to restore information on a specific computer?
No
If Time Machine WILL restore the documents onto a new computer, what happens if the first computer is Power PC and the new one is Intel?
Then you should choose to Migrate your personal data over but NOT Applications. They may likely not be compatible with the new system.
*_Migrating User Data From One Mac to Another_*
*Firewire Disk Mode*
If you have a FireWire cable, you can connect one Mac to the other via FireWire Disk Mode. Then use Migration Assistant to transfer all of your files and applications over from the older Mac. It should result in a virtually identical setup as your previous Mac. Follow the instructions in this KB article:
“How to use FireWire target disk mode”
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
*Using Time Machine Before Initial Launch of New Mac*
Before starting the new Mac for the first time, attach the hard disk that contains the Time Machine backups from the old Mac.
Start the new Mac and begin the setup process. At some point it will ask you if you would like to Migrate/Import user data from another computer or a Time Machine backup disk. Follow the prompts and select the date of the backup you would like to restore your user data from. Once the migration is complete use Disk Utility to repair any permissions issues.
*Using Time Machine After Initial Launch of New Mac*
If you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using a DIFFERENT Username and Password from the old Mac, then do the following:
Attach the hard disk containing the previous Macs' Time Machine backups to the new computer.
Go to Applications --> Utilities --> and launch Migration Assistant.
At the welcome dialogue click "Continue." You may be required to enter your Admin password.
For Migration Method chose "From a Time Machine backup or other disk".
Select the hard disk containing the previous Time Machine backups. (Give Migration Assistant some time as it scans the disk for eligible data to migrate.)
Now select which User Accounts you would like to migrate over.
However, if you have already created a User Account on the new Mac using the SAME Username and Password as the old Mac, then you will need to do this:
Create a new User Admin Account on the new Mac with a completely unique name.
Now, delete the first User Account you created on the new Mac - The one that is identical to the old Mac. (Of course, backup any important files that were created using the new User Account before deleting it.)
Finally, use Migration Assistant as described above to move the old User Account data over from the Time Machine backups.
*Full Backup After Restore*
Bear in mind that in all cases Time Machine will perform a full backup after a full restore. This is normal. Time Machine will resume incremental backups after the full backup has completed. To view previous backups, Control-click or right-click the Time Machine icon in your Dock or Option-click the Time Machine menu extra and Choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks," then select your previous backup volume. You will enter Time Machine and be able to browse your previous back ups and restore files. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338)
Let us know if this was helpful.
Cheers!

HT201250 I have done my back up using time machine, now I have a new mac and I need to access the files that I had saved from my old mac. How can I do that?

I have done my back up using time machine, now I have a new mac and I need to access the files that I had saved from my old mac. How can I do that?

Use Migration Assistant on your new Mac:
Click Continue:
On the next screen, choose your Time Machine backup disk.
Don't bother to migrate Applications unless you know they will work on your new Mac. For example, PowerPC applications won't work. Just migrate your user account which will copy all your photos, music, movies, and other documents.
Note: you will not be able to migrate the information to same account in which you are already logged in. Migration Assistant will tell you that and recommend what to do. It can migrate the information to a new account, but you will have to give it a name you might want to change later. One way around this is to create a temporary account, log in to it, and run Migration Assistant which will replace your normal account. Then, log out of the temporary account, log in to your usual one, verify everyting works as you expect, and delete the temporary one.
All this can be avoided when you set up a brand new Mac by running Setup Assistant which essentially does the same thing to create your new account, but most people are too excited to do that and elect to migrate later.

Our iMac (intel, 11.2) freezes up when using Time Machine for Back Ups. We have 16GB of RAM and the BU drive is 1 TB on firewire.

Our iMac (intel, 11.2) freezes up when using Time Machine for Back Ups. We have 16GB of RAM and the BU drive is 1 TB on firewire.

See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.

When using Time Machine to back up to external drive, does Time Machine back up content in your Trash folder?

When using Time Machine to back up to external drive, does Time Machine back up content in your Trash folder?

Go to System Preferences (under the Apple menu) > Time Machine and click the Options button. Click the "+" button in the lower left. In the resulting dialog, check the Show invisible items checkbox. Go to your home folder and look for Trash. Click the Exclude button in the lower right.

I got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does someone has a fix???

i got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does anybody has a fix???

Does your external hard drive have it's own power supply? It should.
Is your external hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system? It won't work.
It needs to be formatted either with Mac OS Extended or FAT32.
(There are drivers available to add NTFS support to OS X but their quality is unknown, especially the "free" ones.)

Use Time Machine backup to create a new user

Hi,
my question is very simple.
First of all my situation.
Me and my wife have decided to share the same MBP 13" unibody with Lion istalled.
Previously this MBP belonged to my wife and some days ago I replaced her HD with mine Seagate 750 Gb.
In this Hd there was all my data with Lion istalled.
As expected, when I started up the MBP 13" with the Seagate 750 Gb I found exactly all my setup and data.
After that I create a new user account (admin, just like me).
During the process I didn't have the chance to import the Time Machine backup of my wife to set this new user account.
I was really disappointed.
I simply connected her external Hd, opened the backup file, picked up and copied the latest data on "my wife" folder, but it didn't completely worked out.
For example, her application folder is identical to mine.
So, do you know if is possible to use Time Machine in the way I expect?
Thanks a lot!
Simone

The following from our resident expert may help you:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Hope this helps

Using Time Machine for an external startup drive

I've never used Time Machine; I just kept on using my older backup startup drive software when starting with Leopard three years ago.
My husband is getting a new iMac with an external drive for backup because I convinced him that Time Machine is so easy to use. Yes, I have a lot of faith that Apple knows what it is doing.
However, I don't know how Time Machine works for making an external drive bootable. If it's not super easy for that purpose, I'm thinking that it might be easier to partition his external in setting things up for him, and putting SuperDuper! on one of the partitions.
What do you think? Would Time Machine all by itself be super easy if he needed to startup from the external drive? Do you have to do anything other than to hold down the option key during startup to boot from an external drive backed up by Time Machine?
He's getting an iMac with a 1T drive and an external Iomega 2TB eGo Desktop Hard Drive.
I'm assuming that his new iMac will be coming with Snow Leopard, but it hasn't arrived yet and I don't know for sure about that. But I think if it doesn't come with Snow Leopard, I'd upgrade it for him before installing anything else.
Thanks for any help!
Mary

Thanks so much to you for taking the trouble to help me learn something about Time Machine. I think I've learned enough now to get it set up for my husband without doing anything particularly stupid.
Dave, there's no chance my husband would swing for a second external drive. I had to talk him into having one at all. He's not into managing a computer and doesn't want to think about stuff like backups. Once in awhile I'm in synch with that kind of orientation too, but then I recall the times I've been overjoyed to have good backups for myself... and my backup software is extremely reliable and easy to use.
Pondidni and Thomas, thanks so much for all the links. I've spent enough time reading them that I think I've made up my mind to go with a SuperDuper! partition for the expected way to boot from the external drive. It's also a great reassurance that it would be possible to use a Time Machine backup partition for restoration via an install CD if SuperDuper! should fail, though. SuperDuper! did fail for me once, but fortunately I had another partition with a SuperDuper! backup.
If the single backup drive fails, of course, that would be a nasty inconvenience. On the other hand, at this point I doubt that the actual losses in that unlikely event would impact my husband so horribly as it might for many who have work or school-related necessities stored on their computer. This is mainly a fun computer that he has at home, and if there ever are particularly important documents that he can't afford to lose, extra backups of those files could go onto a CD, DVD, or keychain drive. The chances of needing that are pretty slim.
I know that eventually the backup drive will fail if it's used over a long enough period of time, but he seems ready to follow my advice to only even connect and turn on the external drive once a week and leave it connected only during the time it's actually actively making backups. (Unless some very important work is going on, in which case he knows to keep it connected during that period of time.) An external drive will likely last a good while longer than average under that kind of very limited use.
Thomas, I do also believe in having extra backup external drives and hope to get one for my own computer in the near future. I noticed in shopping for my husband how much less expensively you can get a large external drive now than just a few years back.
Thanks again so much to all for helping me to think through how I can help him get started with his own backups.
Best wishes,
Mary

Should I upgrade to Mac OS X v10.7 before I use Time Machine for the first time?

I bought a macbook pro in 2008. I recently purchased an external hard drive and I can't decide what's the best option:
1. Use Time Machine using Snow Leopard 10.6.8 ?
2. Upgrade to Lion before I use Time Machine (first time)
3. Or just drag my photos and music manually (those are the only things I need to back up)
Thoughts?

I see. My only fear is there seems to be a lot of people who orginally were using Time Machine on SL, then upgraded to Lion and now Time Machine becomes screwy.
Also, if I buy a new Mac (eventually) with Lion, I worry that if I've been using TM on SL, the transition to Lion wont be smooth. I may be overthinking this, but I just want to get it right.
But I see your point: I need to get a full back up of my system as it is now before I make any changes. Thanks for your help.

HT2497 Using Time Machine for home wifi just fine. Switched to cable modem from DSL. Now having trouble connecting laptops to wifi. ISP says it is not their fault. Mac books won't connect on their own.

Changed from DSL to cable modem. Now Mac book pro won't connect to wifi - Time Machine?
One Mac ok, other not. Help?

Thanks. We have been using an existing Time Machine for wifi. Cable modem replaced DSL router and was hooked up to Time Machine. What's odd is that 3 computers and iPad2 are connecting to home wifi just fine, using exact same network and password as before. My Mac book pro and an older iPad are not. IPhones are also connecting to home wifi just fine. I managed to get my Mac book pro hooked one time by copying ip address from a Mac that was working (entered manually) then turning that one off. That's not what I need.
The error message is "no ip address".

Using Time Machine to backup data FROM external disk to ANOTHER external

i have my itunes library and my iphoto library on an external WD disk connected to my MacBook Pro. So, i have a lot of nice data on that disk that i want protected... but Time Machine is not playing nice with the external hard drive. It's not listed on the list of items "Not to backup", yet when I go into the Time Machine interface, i can't go more than 1 level deep in Finder when selecting the external disk.
has anyone seen this behavior? it's supposed to work.
thanks!

Did you backup your data from that external disk using some other backup software before?
I am also trying to figure out problems with external HD using time machine to back it up. Am not quite sure yet why it is not working right.

Using Time Machine to transfer files to new Mac

I plan on upgrading to an iMac. Can I use Time Machine carry my fies an programs over to the new machine?

What if you won't have both computers at the same time. In my situation I'm selling my machine and using the money to purchase a new machine. If I backup with time machine and then run migration assistant on the new machine can't I copy everything over to the new computer with time machine?

Thinking about using Time Machine for the first time...

I just assume that updates are inherently good to have, regardless of what it's for. I figure that the developers know a lot more than I do regarding the optimization or improvement of their own software, so I simply allow their download. I'm thinking about using my Time Machine for the first time and reverting back to the pre-9.1 install, if that's even possible. Things were working fine for me and now there are all kinds of issues with communication between my Axiom Pro 61 and Logic. Nothing responds through Hypercontrol anymore, and I don't expect any updates from M-Audio until at least 2012. Anyone else thinking about taking this route?

Yes, I did. I opened that version immediately after I discovered that 9.1 had that effect and the controller was still inoperative. Of course, I still have MIDI input and PB/Mod wheel control, but that's about it. Everything else would need to be manually loaded, which the Pro series is supposed to do automatically. I haven't restarted my iMac yet, nor have I tried removing the keyboard from the computer altogether and perhaps reconnecting it. Maybe that would reset it...

Using Time machine for the first time.

2 questions.
1) Can I have more than one time machine ( 3 internal HD > 3 Time Machine for example) on the same computer?
2) Can I assign two different HD to the same Time Machine?
Thanks
MP

Yes, but if you are using Snow Leopard you will need to manually switch between configurations.
Yes, you can backup multiple drives to the same Time Machine backup drive.
Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Can I use time machine to back up computer hard drive AND contents of an external HD (contains only photos) onto another external hard drive (standalone HD for backups only)? PLEASE HELP!!

I keep my photo files on a separate external hard drive, separate from my laptop hard drive. And I want to be able to use time machine as the back-up system to back up BOTH the computer's hard drive AND the external hard drive.... and i want all of the "back-up" information contained on a separate standalone external HD. So in the end, I have a 250GB computer hardrive, a 1TB external hardrive, and I want to have a 2nd external hard drive that will be the location to store the "back-ups" (using time machine) which will be either a 2TB or 3TB harddrive.
I am in dire need of help....

Yes, just make sure that they are not excluded in Time Machine.

Use Time Machine for transferring data to new drive

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