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User profile for user: colinjoss
colinjoss Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

How to access data on Time Capsule

I have a Time Capsule that I used to backed up my iMac 27". The iMac died about a year ago. I started using a MacBook Pro. Now I want to get some data off the Time Capsule onto my MacBook. The Time Capsule is connected to my MacBook and seems to be backing it up. But I can't access the data from my old iMac.


Any idea how I can browse through the data from my iMac?


Thanks


Colin

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Aug 18, 2023 4:41 AM

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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
151,977 points

Posted on Aug 18, 2023 8:56 AM

Unfortunately, the Migration Assistant will not allow you to "pick and choose" individual files. It will basically have three choices:

  1. Restore the entire drive
  2. Restore applications
  3. Restore files


Another option would be to use Recovery Mode. Note: Instead of using this mode to restore files to your MBP's internal drive, I suggest that you use an external USB drive. This will make more sense at the last step.


If your MBP has an Intel CPU:

  1. Boot up in Recovery Mode.
  2. Select OS X or macOS Utilities
  3. Select "Restore From Time Machine Backup"
  4. Select the Time Capsule as the Backup Source.
  5. Select the latest backup of the iMac that you want to restore from.
  6. Choose the external drive for the destination that you want the backup restore to.


This may take awhile to complete. The end result is you will have all of the data files from your iMac on this external drive that you can now "pick and choose" from to restore.

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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
151,977 points

Aug 18, 2023 8:56 AM in response to colinjoss

Unfortunately, the Migration Assistant will not allow you to "pick and choose" individual files. It will basically have three choices:

  1. Restore the entire drive
  2. Restore applications
  3. Restore files


Another option would be to use Recovery Mode. Note: Instead of using this mode to restore files to your MBP's internal drive, I suggest that you use an external USB drive. This will make more sense at the last step.


If your MBP has an Intel CPU:

  1. Boot up in Recovery Mode.
  2. Select OS X or macOS Utilities
  3. Select "Restore From Time Machine Backup"
  4. Select the Time Capsule as the Backup Source.
  5. Select the latest backup of the iMac that you want to restore from.
  6. Choose the external drive for the destination that you want the backup restore to.


This may take awhile to complete. The end result is you will have all of the data files from your iMac on this external drive that you can now "pick and choose" from to restore.

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How to access data on Time Capsule

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