sparsebundle converted to folder: how to convert it back

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sparsebundle converted to folder: how to convert it back

I was recently given an external drive which had been used as a Time Machine backup and contains user data. The Mac that the drive was hooked up to is no longer available. The owner wants to connect this drive to a new Mac and restore the user data.

Here's the problem... the sparsebundle created by TM is no longer a sparsebundle, it shows up as a ~90GB folder in the Finder named "user.sparsebundle". I don't know how this happened, but that's how it was when I got the drive.

So now I'm trying to figure out how to change it back to a sparsebundle.

In Disk Utility there is a command to "create image from folder", but the image format choices do not include a sparsebundle. I wish it were that easy.

I am now creating a blank 100GB sparsebundle from scratch in DU using these settings:

Volume Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Encryption: none

Partitions: No partition map

Image Format: sparse bundle disk image

I am hoping that once it's created, I can copy the contents of the "user.sparsebundle" folder into it via the Finder, then use Migration Assistant to restore the user. Something in my gut tells me this isn't going to work, but it's the only route I've come up with. I would welcome any suggestions, or even just kudos if I've actually figured this our correctly... 😉

Posted on May 4, 2011 10:10 AM

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Answer 1

Vince Mross Author

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May 8, 2011 9:26 AM in response to Vince Mross

I am hoping that once it's created, I can copy the contents of the "user.sparsebundle" folder into it via the Finder, then use Migration Assistant to restore the user.

Well that didn't work... calling for reinforcements! Beuller?

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Answer 2

May 8, 2011 1:05 PM in response to Vince Mross

A .sparsebundle actually properly IS a folder, so the sparsebundle is likely corrupted or malformed. Use Terminal.app to ls it ...

phoenix76% ls -l /home/tmp/sparsebundle.sparsebundle/

total 1

-rw-r--r-- 1 peter admin 496 May 8 13:00 Info.bckup

-rw-r--r-- 1 peter admin 496 May 8 13:00 Info.plist

drwxr-xr-x 7 peter admin 238 May 8 13:00 bands

-rw-r--r-- 1 peter admin 0 May 8 13:00 token

Make sure it's got all its stuff. Take a screenshot of "get info" too ... and the contents.

-peter

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Answer 3

Vince Mross Author

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May 9, 2011 7:40 AM in response to Peter Bartoli

Thanks Peter ~

Here's the Terminal result:

vince:~ vincentmross$ ls /Volumes/karen/karenweaver.sparsebundle

Info.bckup Info.plist bands token

vince:~ vincentmross$

Here's the 'get info' info:

Here's the folder contents:

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Answer 4

Vince Mross Author

Level 1

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May 9, 2011 10:20 PM in response to Peter Bartoli

Oops, I realized that I didn't run the command properly. I redid and got something like this:

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 vincentmross vincentmross 499 Sep 23 2009 Info.bckup

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 vincentmross vincentmross 499 Sep 23 2009 Info.plist

drwxr-xr-x 10945 vincentmross vincentmross 372130 Oct 2 2010 bands

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 vincentmross vincentmross 122880 Sep 23 2009 token

Ran chmod and changed them to match your example:

-rw-r--r--@ 1 vincentmross vincentmross 499 Sep 23 2009 Info.bckup

-rw-r--r--@ 1 vincentmross vincentmross 499 Sep 23 2009 Info.plist

drwxr-xr-x 10945 vincentmross vincentmross 372130 Oct 2 2010 bands

-rw-r--r--@ 1 vincentmross vincentmross 122880 Sep 23 2009 token

Other than the @ signs (not sure what they signify) it looks like it may work. I'm going to try Migration Assistant again.

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Answer 5

May 31, 2011 10:24 AM in response to Vince Mross

How did Migration Assistant go?

The at-signs signify extended attributes not shown in the output of ls ... and they're probably why it's not working.

Is this still a problem? I went out of town for a while, but now am back.

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Answer 6

Vince Mross Author

Level 1

5 points

May 31, 2011 11:57 AM in response to Peter Bartoli

Never did get it to work and he took the drive back. Turns out he got ahold of the original computer after all, so he got most of the data he needed. Only the stuff missing since the last backups was lost. The computer belonged to his girlfriend who had been working as a high end 'escort' without his knowledge, and he was trying to snoop out how faithful she had been lately... sheesh.

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