Time Capsule on an external hard drive and password reset

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Time Capsule on an external hard drive and password reset

Folks, I have a problem, and am hoping someone samrter (yes, intentional spelling mistake) than me can help. I've used an external USB drive as my time capsule, which has worked for me without a hitch for a couple of years.

I've just recently upgraded my MBP to Mountain Lion, and had noticed that everything was VERY slow. So, as a result I decided to reinstall ML by wiping my MBP hard drive clean, and doing a fresh install, which resulted in a very responsive OS.

Now the problem: when I went to restore my MacBook Pro from my TC on my USB drive, I was prompted for a password, which I provided, and have met with no success, then I ended up trying EVERY password that I could think of, and NONE of them worked! So, my question is this: Is there a way to retrieve/reset the password on my external USB Time Capsule?

Thanks in advance for any bit of wisdom

Mike.

Time Capsule-OTHER, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 11, 2012 9:10 PM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Aug 12, 2012 5:23 PM in response to Mike022465

Sorry, but your post is rather confusing -- it's not clear just what you're backing-up to.

Just for clarification of the terminology . . .

Time Machine is the software in OSX that performs backups, to external hard drives, Time Capsules, etc.

A Time Capsule is a piece of Apple hardware, combining a wireless router and hard drive. They were designed to receive wireless Time Machine backups from one or more Macs.

So, where are your backups? If they're on an external HD, what was it connected to when you made them?

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Answer 2

Mike022465 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 12, 2012 6:22 PM in response to Pondini

My apologies, I'm using an external USB hard drive as my backup in conjuction with Time Machine. Hope this clarifies it a little better.

Thanks for your attention...

M.

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Aug 12, 2012 6:33 PM in response to Mike022465

Is that USB drive connected directly to your Mac?

Was it connected to it when you made the backups?

How are you trying to restore -- via Setup Assistant when your Mac first started up after installing OSX?

Or via the Migration Assistant app later on?

Or selectively, via the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display)?

None of those should ask for a password on an external HD connected directly to your Mac (unless you encrypted the backups).

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Answer 4

Mike022465 Author

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11 points

Aug 12, 2012 6:53 PM in response to Pondini

Yes, the USB drive was directly connected to my MBP.

Yes, it was connected directly when backing up.

I tried restoring via Migration Assistant, and I was prompted for a password.

M.

Sorry, wasn't trying to come across as a weiner....

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Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Aug 12, 2012 7:09 PM in response to Mike022465

Mike022465 wrote:

. . .

I tried restoring via Migration Assistant, and I was prompted for a password.

Very odd. Are you sure the drive wasn't encrypted? That's the only thing I can think of that would cause a password prompt there.

Can you post a screenshot of the prompt? That might provide a clue.

Here's the prompt for an encrypted drive:

Sorry, wasn't trying to come across as a weiner....

No problem -- just hard to figure out what's going on.

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Answer 6

Mike022465 Author

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11 points

Aug 12, 2012 7:17 PM in response to Pondini

It was weird, but the GUI password prompt didn't have the "Show Hint" button as an option...

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Answer 7

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Aug 12, 2012 7:21 PM in response to Mike022465

Can you post a screenshot of it?

(If you're not sure how, start up Migration Assistant again. When you get the prompt, press Shift+Cmd+4. That will put a "target" on the screen; drag it over the area you want to print. Then back here, click the camera icon in the toolbar above the entry box to select it.)

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Answer 8

Aug 12, 2012 7:29 PM in response to Mike022465

Look like this?

If yes, you must enter the device password for the Time Capsule that you established when it was first configured.

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Answer 9

Mike022465 Author

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Aug 12, 2012 7:29 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Exactly like that.

Thanks for posting...

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Answer 10

Aug 12, 2012 7:33 PM in response to Mike022465

AirPort Utility in Mountain Lion would call this the Base Station Password.

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Answer 11

Mike022465 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 12, 2012 7:35 PM in response to Bob Timmons

The only thing is: the USB drive isn't visible in the Airport Utility because it's not wifi capable.

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Answer 12

Aug 12, 2012 7:48 PM in response to Mike022465

Sorry, I do not know how to tell you to find out what disk password you might have assigned when you originally setup Time Machine for backups if the drive was connected to your Mac.

If the screenshot is exactly as yours appears, this is for a Time Capsule...a network drive.

Try your Mac's main administrator password. After that, I am out of ideas for the moment. Will look for more clues in this post.

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Answer 13

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Aug 12, 2012 7:43 PM in response to Mike022465

Mike022465 wrote:

Exactly like that.

Thanks for posting...

Are you sure?

That's a prompt for the password to a SERVER on your network. You'd get that if your backups were on a network, such as an external HD connected to a Time Capsule, Airport Extreme, or other Mac (or on a TIme Capsule's internal HD, or a NAS drive).

If the drive is connected DIRECTLY to your Mac via a USB cable, there's no network involved.

Please post a screenshot of the Migration Assistant window where you're selecting the backups, and the prompt itself.

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