Hi, I have two MacBookPros. I make backups of both TimeMachine backup on one external hard disk.
I like to access the contents of TimeMachine MacBook 1, for example Users/Mike/Document via Finder on Mac2. However, permission is denied. I tried sharing preferences, but no result.
Any suggestions?
MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.10
With the TM drive for the other Mac connected and mounted hold down the Option key and select "Browse Other Backup Discs" from the TM menu:
See if that won't let you get into the backed up files of the other Mac for selection and recovery.
With the TM drive for the other Mac connected and mounted hold down the Option key and select "Browse Other Backup Discs" from the TM menu:
See if that won't let you get into the backed up files of the other Mac for selection and recovery.
Hello MickClickr,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
We understand that you have two MacBook Pros and are backing them up to the same external hard drive using Time Machine. You want to be able to access the contents of the Time Machine backup of one MacBook on the other, but permission is denied. This is not the way that Time Machine would work. You can access the backup of one computer on that computer and then select specific parts of the backup to restore. It can do this because most of the backup is the same as that on the original Mac. When you try to look at it from another Mac, you are unable to view it because it is keyed to the original Mac. You can restore the whole backup to a new Mac, but not view the contents and restore something piece by piece as everything is different.
Best regards.
Hi Nicholas,
Thanks for your reply and clear explanation.
In my case I don't want to restore the complete backup. So that means I have to follow a simple copy and paste workflow on a different volume of my harddisk for files of MacBook 1 that I want to use on MacBook 2.
Best regards, Mike
I have another external HD with older TM backups and I notice I can browse and open all files, no locks. These TM backups are dated June 2020.
Locking other TM backups might be a new feature of OS 11.3?
Access contents of TimeMacine backup on other Mac
