Time Capsule user accounts prevent system restore?

Question

Level 1

5 points

Time Capsule user accounts prevent system restore?

I set up my TC to back up three Macs. For security purposes I set up three user accounts and the sparsebundles are stored in the respective users' personal directories. Now I am trying to restore one Mac from scratch using the system DVD and I cannot connect to the backup files.

Is it possible that the user accounts prevent Mac OS Snow Leopard from finding the files on the Time Capsule?

During testing, I started copying a sparsebundle from one user's directory to the "Data" directory. Eventually I was able to see a backup file in the restore dialogue. However, the sparsebundle was 334GB in size and I was unable to copy it in full 😟 (Darn.)

Esteemed Gurus, is there any help?

MacBook Air, iMac 2008, Mac Mini Server, Time Capsule, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 11, 2009 3:03 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Drucksache Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 12, 2009 2:12 PM in response to Drucksache

I solved the issue on my own.

I set up user accounts for an extra bit of security, so that the Time Capsule configuration password is not stored on the client machines. Every Mac has their own "user" account on the time capsule.

A problem arises, if you have to do a full system restore from such a time machine backup, because with user accounts the sparse bundle is stored at a place, where it is not expected by the "Restore System from Backup" program (i. e. "Data/Users/username/mac.sparsebundle" instead of "Data").

The program expects the files at the top level.

What you need to do in this situation is the following:

1. Dismount Time Capsule.
2. In the "File Sharing" dialogue of the AirPort utility change the setting "Secure shared disks" to "Time Capsule password"
3. Mount TC using your password.
4. Open Terminal.
5. Change directory and go to the mount point ( +cd /Volumes+ )
6. List directory ( +ls -al+ )
7. You should see a directory called "Data", which generally is your Time Capsule directory.
8. You may now move to the directory where the sparse bundle is located. (i. e.
"Users/username"; +cd Users/username+ )
9. Move the sparsebundle up two directory levels ( +mv mac.sparsebundle ../..+ )
10. Within a split second, your sparsebundle is now located in the Data directory.

11. You may now start the "Restore System from Backup" program to connect to your Time Capsule.

After you have finished restoring the system you need to put eveything back where it was.

12. +cd /Volumes/Data+
13. +mv mac.sparsebundle Users/username+
14. In the "File Sharing" dialogue of the AirPort utility change the setting "Secure shared disks" to "with accounts"

The TC has retained the user account information as it was before. Therefore Time Machine on your recovered intallation will work as before and resume the (small) as if nothing has happened.

Reply

Answer 2

jas8522

Level 1

10 points

Jan 16, 2010 2:57 PM in response to Drucksache

Thanks so much for this! I was experiencing the exact same problem and was thinking about trying to change it from User Accounts to Disk Password, but thought it might wipe the user accounts when I did so. I'm glad someone had already tried it.

Previously I had experimented with symlinks (didn't work) and hard links, which Snow Leopard doesn't allow to be done to directories. Apple really should address this - I'm surprised they would provide the option to backup to a user account if you can't restore from it. It's rather ridiculous!

Rather than providing us with a list of disks and having to choose one prior to providing authentication, it should show a list of devices (external hard drives and time capsules) prior to showing the partitions within. When you choose your device it would then ask for authentication (if required) before then showing the list of available partitions. This way it could authenticate the user, thus allowing it see the user's account 'partition.'

Reply

Answer 3

Feb 25, 2010 2:01 PM in response to Drucksache

What a confusing/unfortunate limitation! You're absolutely right, you have to move the backup to the root level before you can restore. I discovered this the hard way.

It would be nice if this was documented somewhere, or if Time Machine prevented writing to a disk that it wouldn't be able to restore from.

Reply

Answer 4

Apr 25, 2010 5:29 PM in response to Drucksache

I just purchased a new i7 15" MBP and ran into this exact problem when attempting to setup my new Mac from an existing Time Machine sparse bundle managed by user accounts on my Time Capsule. I spent about 1 hour, 15 minutes on the phone with Apple Care with no resolution to the problem. Something they said in passing while on the phone made me think of trying something like this and when I did a search for the topic, I came across this post.

Everything in this post worked perfectly and I am typing this comment on my new Mac perfectly restored from my Time Machine sparse bundle. So obviously as recently as OS X 10.6.3 this continues to be an annoyance.

Reply

Answer 5

May 4, 2010 12:43 PM in response to Drucksache

Thanks! You saved my day!

Reply