Will Time Machine backup of SL erase Lion at the same time?

I normally wait before downloading new OSX's from Apple, but didn't this time and regret it. Before installing Lion, I did a Time Machine backup of my iMac. My question is: how do I restore my iMac to that last backup with Snow Leopard? I want Lion off my iMac (for now), but I DON'T want to have to reinstall all my applications, lose my iTunes Library, lose my iPhoto and Aperture libraries or all of the other applications I have. So - do I load the Snow Leopard disc.. erase my hard drive, reinstall Snow Leopard then restore from Time Machine, or can I just select the last restore from Time Machine and it will delete Lion for me? The reason I ask is because I want my internet back without having to manually reconnect through Network Preferences every 10 minutes. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Restore to a multiple disk setup should work fine. But there are as always some tricks to it.
See our expert Pondini's explaination and follow his links.. I suggest you actually spend some time understanding how TM works.
http://pondini.org/TM/32.html
I would also recommend spending a few dollars and buy CCC or superduper. Make a backup of each drive. These 3rd party backup programs are more flexible and you can create direct images of the drives. It makes recovery a much much easier process.
If it is a Mac Pro put in another disk for TM backups and use a USB or even esata card and external sata drive for backups using CCC. Doing it that way you can make a bootable image of your main drive.

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  • How do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved from old computer and system

    how do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved off old computer and system.  It's not letting me open the folder???

    Once again here's how to restore an iPhoto Library from Time Machine:

  • Restore data (iTunes Library, Photo's, files etc.) to Snow Leopard from a Time Machine backup made on OSX Lion?

    Hi,
    I have OSX Lion and have been backing up to Time Machine, I now want to do a clean install of Snow Leopard (not from backup), but can I restore my data (iTunes Library, Photo's, files etc.) to Snow Leopard from a Time Machine backup made on OSX Lion?
    Thanks.

    You should be able to restore iTunes and iPhoto files if the Lion system was running the same version of those applications that you'll have on the Snow Leopard system.  However, you won't be able to restore files for applications like Mail, Address Book, or Safari, as the versions of those won't match.

  • I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine.  I'd like to get a wireless HD  and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5  year old WD drive.  Can I start over?

    I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro running Mavericks for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine.  I'd like to get a wireless HD  and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5  year old WD drive.  Can I start over?

    no archive/ backup is perfect, HD clones can be set to make incremental additions, same as time machine however, though they are more time involved in doing so.
    See the + and - of all data backup/ archives below and "spread it around".... or the "dont put your eggs all in one basket" philosophy.
    Peace
    Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
    #1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
    Drawbacks:
    1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
    2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
    3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
    4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
    5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
    6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
    7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
    8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
    9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
    10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
    11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
    12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
    13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
    Advantages:
    1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
    2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
    3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
    #2. HD archives
    Drawbacks:
    1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
    2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
    Advantages:
    1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
    2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
    3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
    4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
    5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
    #3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
    Drawbacks:
    1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
    2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
    Advantages:
    1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
    2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
    3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
    4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
    5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
    6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
    7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
    HD cloning software options:
    1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
    2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
    3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
    #4. Online archives
    Drawbacks:
    1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
    2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
    Advantages:
    1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
    2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
    3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
    4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
    5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
    #5. DVD professional archival media
    Drawbacks:
    1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
    2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
    Advantages:
    1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
    2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
    3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
    4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
    5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
    6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
    7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
    8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data. 
    [*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
    #6. Cloud based storage
    Drawbacks:
    1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
    2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
    3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
    4. *Level-0 security of your vital data. 
    Advantages:
    1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
    2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.

  • After replacing a failed hard drive with new one I inadvertently created a different account name(home/user) than the one in the Time Machine backup. Now I cannot restore the photos in iPhoto. What are my options?

    After replacing a failed hard drive with new one I inadvertently created a different account name(home/user) than the one in the Time Machine backup. Now I cannot restore the photos in iPhoto. What are my options?

    The best thing to do would be to start over. Use Setup Assistant this time.
    Boot into Recovery, launch Disk Utility, and erase the startup volume. This operation will destroy all data on the volume. Quit Disk Utility and install OS X. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.
    When you reboot, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process. That’s when you transfer the data from one of your backups. For a walkthrough, see here:
    Using Setup Assistant
    Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled on the old system.
    Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.

  • Just bought a Macbook Pro. I want a clean install so won't use a Time Machine backup but how can I install the software I bought from Apple Store? can I just delete it from the old machine that is going to someone else?

    Just bought a Macbook Pro. I want a clean install so won't use a Time Machine backup but how can I install the software I bought from Apple Store? can I just delete it from the old machine that is going to someone else?

    The ne
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  • When attempting to upgrade my iMac from Snow Leopard to Mavericks, I receive the message "This disk is used for Time Machine Backups" when I try to select the lone available hard drive.

    When attempting to upgrade my iMac from Snow Leopard to Mavericks, I receive the message "This disk is used for Time Machine Backups" when I try to select the lone available hard drive.  I have ensured that Time Machine is turned off.  Upon some Google research, some who reported this problem were told to delete the folder backup.backupdb, but I do not have this folder on my Mac.  Any suggestions?

    The folder would be at the root of your hard drive. Double-click Macintosh HD and look there.
    If it isn’t there, I’m not sure what it is seeing.

  • I used migration assn't to load a Time Machine backup onto a new mac.  The first TM backup after that took some time, perhaps not surprising.  But the backups thereafter have all taken hours, with huge amounts of "indexing" time.  Time to reload TM?

    I used migration assn't to load a Time Machine backup onto a new mac.  The first TM backup after that took some time, perhaps not surprising.  But the backups thereafter have all taken hours, with huge amounts of "indexing" time.  Time to reload TM?

    Does every backup require lots of indexing?  If so, the index may be damaged.
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  • Time Machine: Repeated errors when backing up for the first time using a new external firewire drive

    My Iomega 500GB firewire external drive failed on me last week and I have just replaced it with an identical model. I used to use the old drive with Time Machine on my MacBook Pro running 10.5.8 with no issues, until the drive had a hardware failure and stopped spinning up, hence the replacement.
    Two days ago I tried using Time Machine for the first time with the replacement external drive. The backup failed and each subsequent backup attempt has failed since then with a different error each time. The drive cannot be ejected using Finder (Finder says disk is in use and cannot be ejected even when no processes are running except for Finder and Time Machine has been disabled), by dragging it to the dock (hangs computer which can only be fixed by a hard reboot), in Disk Utilities (drive cannot be unmounted) or in Terminal ("no such file or directory").
    The first backup attempt failed after 3 hours of "preparing" with the message "The backup was not performed because an error occured while creating backup directory".
    I tried repairing the disk in Disk Utilities and Disk Utilities said the drive was OK ("the volume Time Machine Backups appears to be OK"). I tried ejecting the drive (hard reboot of computer and disconnecting the drive), plugging it back in again and trying again.
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    It failed again, so I tried reparing the drive again in Disk Utilities and again it said it was OK. I tried using different cables and ports (Firewire 400 instead of Firewire 800), and backups still fail.
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    Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.

    Hello, some possible clues...
    Should you click “Start New Backup”? Not yet! If you see the dialog above, your existing Time Machine backup is corrupt, and you might not be able to recover data from it. But you can save a copy of the corrupt bundle and, perhaps, extract some data from it if needed.
    Ask yourself if Time Machine has saved data you might need before deciding what to do next:
    If you are sure you won’t need anything backed up before today, click “Start New Backup” and let Time Machine do its thing.
    Otherwise, click “Back Up Later” and save a copy before letting Time Machine start a new backup. Just look for a file called “computername.sparsebundle” (for network backups) or “Backups.backupdb” (for local ones) and create a copy with a different name. You can open sparsebundle files with DiskImageMounter and browse them like any other disk. More information is available here.
    There you go. If you click “Start New Backup” when you see this dialog box, Time Machine will erase all of your old backup data and start a new bundle. It won’t be corrupt, but it will be empty.
    Note that you can manually initiate a Time Machine backup integrity check by option-clicking the “Time Machine” icon in the menu bar and selecting “Verify Backups.”
    http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/08/11/time-machine-completed-verification-backups- improve-reliability-time-machine-create-backup/
    According to This Time Machine resource   “This appears only on Snow Leopard, and started with the Time Capsule Backup Update 1.0 in mid-May of 2010.  It also seems to have been included in the 10.6.3 v1.1 update and 10.6.4.”
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    One thing you can do to make the backup take less time is to connect your machine to your Time Capsule or other backup drive via Ethernet for the duration of the initial backup.
    http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/the-dreaded-time-machine-has-completed-a-verifi cation-of-your-backups-to-improve-reliability-time-machine-must-create-a-new-ba c kup-for-you-message-and-why-you-are-seeing-it/
    Time Machine: About "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4076
    Or a different/better solution in my experiences...
    Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
    http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
    Or SuperDuper...
    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
    Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...
    http://www.tri-edre.com/english/products/tribackup.html

  • When I make back-up by time-machine on external drive,my computer do the same on his Hard Drive...

    When I make back-up by time-machine on external drive,my computer do the same on his Hard Drive...So I loose all of the capacity of the HD...I notice that only today but the problem is critical...The backups on the HD take 400 Go on my 500 Go SSD...
    I've got a MBP Retina 15' Octobre 2013_Processor 2,6 GHz Intel Core i7_Memory 16 Go 1600 MHz DDR3

    Click on the  icon on the menu bar and retrieve this display:
    (This is from mine)
    What is listed under 'Backups' are the 'local snapshots'.  In my case I do not have any.
    Run a Time Machine update and the Backups should be reduced.
    Ciao.

  • Will my whole itunes library be transferred to my new computer with home sharing,in other words will I be able to use bothe computers at the same time ? And will I have two copies of my all my playlists?

    Will my whole itunes library be transferred to my new computer with home sharing,in other words will I be able to use bothe computers at the same time ? And will I have two copies of my all my playlists?

    Hi there J1750oe,
    You may find the information in the article below helpful.
    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
    Transferring playlists
    If you want not only your content but also your playlists to exist on your new computer, you will want to transfer a copy of all your playlists from your old computer. To do this, choose File > Library > Export Library on your old computer. Save the XML file that is created to your desktop.
    Send the playlists file to yourself as an e-mail attachment, use an external drive, or use file sharing to move the playlists file to your new computer. Once the file is on your new computer, open iTunes and choose File > Library > Import Playlist. The import process will remove any items from the playlists that you didn't share via Home Sharing.
    -Griff W. 

  • Restore files from last Time Machine backup after HD erase and install

    I just had to do an "erase and install" ... trying to restore files from my last Time Machine backup but after completing the Airport Utility setup / configure steps, it says "waiting to restart" for a few minutes and then says it cannot find TIme Capsule after restart (though TC never restarted). I'm pretty desperate to get my files back as it's Sunday night and my business needs to be up and running by morning. Any help would be greatly appreciated ... even if it's saying I need to take TC into a Mac store to have them retrieve my files.

    While in Time Machine, 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 the files you want to restore.

  • Time Machine backups not available after Lion upgrade

    I just upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion a week ago. Today I went to my Time Machine (backups on a Time Capsule), and can't access old files. Past dates are shown in purple, with dates since the Lion update in the usual gray. However, none of them show any files. Any ideas?

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4055

  • Time Machine backup very slow in Lion

    After installing Lion Time Machine backup (not initial one which is long by default) takes about 40 minutes vs. about 5 minutes in Snow Leopard. Very annoying because it slows down my entire system for such a long time. Any help, please?

    Here is a log copied from Time Machine Buddy:
    Starting standard backup
    Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
    2.20 GB required (including padding), 126.68 GB available
    Copied 394 files (0 bytes) from volume Pete 02.
    Copied 173985 files (861.6 MB) from volume Pete 01.
    1.13 GB required (including padding), 125.79 GB available
    Copied 13 files (0 bytes) from volume Pete 02.
    Copied 158965 files (90 KB) from volume Pete 01.
    Starting post-backup thinning
    No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
    Backup completed successfully.
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  • How do I delete time machine backups if I can't zoom back in time?

    Hi,
    I'v been backing up my 250GB HD using time machine very successfully over the years. I store additional home movies that aren't on my HD on my time capsule machine in a seperate folder from the backups that are made daily. My 250GB HD is now full and it has been duplicated and placed on a much larger 1TB HD drive back inside my iMac. Because it is a new HD, time machine is wanting to do a new 250GB backup of it (which is ok), BUT there is not enough space on my time machine drive to do a 250GB backup. I need to delete the prior time machine backups to make space. However, because the HD is new, I'm unable to zoom back in time with time machine and delete backups from the time capsule. When I open time capsule in finder I see a .sparsebundle folder which I assume must contain all my old HD time machine backups. To free up time capsule space, can I simply delete the .spersebundle folder? I'm nervous to do that and don't want to mess anything up, so I'm asking for advise. Any advise would be much appreciated. Thx.

    brettnbee wrote:
    Hi,
    I'v been backing up my 250GB HD using time machine very successfully over the years. I store additional home movies that aren't on my HD on my time capsule machine in a seperate folder from the backups that are made daily.
    That's a problem, as you now see.  When you get this sorted out, see #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for an explanation and some workarounds.
    because the HD is new, I'm unable to zoom back in time with time machine and delete backups from the time capsule.
    You can see and delete individual backups from an old drive, per #E3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.  Deleting a lot of them will take a very long time, of course.
    When I open time capsule in finder I see a .sparsebundle folder which I assume must contain all my old HD time machine backups. To free up time capsule space, can I simply delete the .spersebundle folder?
    Yup, that's an option, too but will also take quite a while.  See #Q5 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for details.
    Whatever you do, by all means, connect via Ethernet cable if at all possible.  It will still be slow, but be 2-3 times faster than a good wireless connection.

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