Time Machine: How to restore failed external hard drive info on new external drive.

Ok, you have a external Timemachine drive that has failed and you want to extract just the iTunes and iPhoto Library.

It depends upon the level of failure.

1: If the internal drive inside the external drive case is mechanically dead, then it's thousands of dollars for platter recovery service. Drive Savers for instance. A no go if the drive was encrypted.

1.5 If the internal drive works, it can be removed and a SATA to USB adapter used, and then depending upon other factors below...

2: If the internal/external drive is working mechanically and there is a software, bad sector(s) or file structure problem that it can't be accessed by TimeMachine on a Mac, and if it's not encrypted, then either a seasoned local data recovery specialist or you can access the drive using special software like Data Rescue on another Mac to read the 1's and 0's of the bits themselves, which it figures it out and recreates the files again.

I've seen this done and it's a big mess of files, many of them have the same names, but many have no data as they are only placeholders in the individual states TimeMachine saves. A lot of work, but it can be done. You will get all the files recovered, and have to sift through them yourself, the local date recovery service won't do this.

3: If you don't have another Mac, then find a friend who will use Migration Assistant on their Mac to transfer your files and give you a copy on a external drive.

You need to restore the second volume backed up by TimeMachine to another drive.

No frigging idea. 😀

First off, having TimeMachine backup anything is risky in itself, then having it backup more volumes to trap more data is quite frankly insane.

The more eggs put into TimeMachine's clutches, the more it breaks when it dies on you. What if you don't get a Mac the next time, then what?

I can do is point you at our resident TimeMachine experts web site

http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Consider clones, if it's OS X it's bootable and the drives are completely accessible by any Mac, or Windows with MacDrive or any Linux machine. No TimeMachine trap.

Most commonly used backup methods

gankytime wrote:

. . .

I have backed up my media drive on my Time Machine. Now that the media drive is dead i bought a new drive thinking it could restore the information via Time Machine. But how can I access the data?

You just have to get to the backups of the drive that's no longer available. See #E3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting

ds store wrote:

. . .

First off, having TimeMachine backup anything is risky in itself, then having it backup more volumes to trap more data is quite frankly insane.

Oh, please, stop it.

You have some kind of phobia about Time Machine and are clearly not familiar with it. It works just fine for most folks in most circumstances (although the documentation is skimpy). You just keep making up all sorts of ridiculous theories.

The more eggs put into TimeMachine's clutches, the more it breaks when it dies on you.

That's true of any backup app, if it's the only one you use. I always recommend using two different apps for backups. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27.

What if you don't get a Mac the next time, then what?

Simple: you transfer your data from the old Mac or your secondary backups.

I have the very same problem - and no idea how to restore the backup from time capsule back to external hard disk (which has been backed up succesfully - I think!)

I assume you mean, the external HD has been erased or replaced?

If so, and it's an OSX drive (you start your Mac from it), see Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14 for instructions.

If so, and it's a data-only drive (with media or data on it, but not OSX), use the procedure in #E3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Once you find the backup you want, select all the top-level folders (not the one representing the disk itself), control-click, choose the Restore <items> to... option, then the new/erased drive.

gankytime wrote:

Sorry let me clear this up. I have an external HD that is my Time Machine and I also have ANOTHER external drive that I store my media on (iTunes library photos ect.)

I have backed up my media drive on my Time Machine. Now that the media drive is dead i bought a new drive thinking it could restore the information via Time Machine. But how can I access the data?

The comments from user "ds store" are not helpful here because you can, in fact, straightforwardly restore from your Time Machine backup of your iTunes and/or iPhoto files that had been stored on an external drive. The link from Pondini

http://pondini.org/TM/E3.html

explains clearly how to do this. I have restored such files, it does work.

In fact, I have used Time Machine to restore both internal and external disks that I had backed up with Time Machine. In some cases I restored individual files and folders, and in other cases I restored an entire volume.

Time Machine, like all software, is not infallible. For that reason, I also keep a "clone" of the internal drive and a "clone" of the external drive on separate portable drives. I make these clones using SuperDuper, but you can also make them with Disk Utility. Likewise, the software that produces these clones is not infallible, so having another type of backup (Time Machine) is good practice.

The "clone" offers a complete copy of the disk at only one instant. Time Machine allows you to restore older versions of files that have been backed up. They each allow a complete restore of a volume, but Time Machine offers more options.

steve626 wrote:

. . .

The comments from user "ds store" are not helpful here because you can, in fact, straightforwardly restore from your Time Machine backup of your iTunes and/or iPhoto files that had been stored on an external drive.

Yes, absolutely. 🙂

Time Machine, like all software, is not infallible. For that reason, I also keep a "clone" of the internal drive and a "clone" of the external drive on separate portable drives. I make these clones using SuperDuper, but you can also make them with Disk Utility.

Agreed. I also recommend "secondary" backups, via a different app.

I use CarbonCopyCloner. It's basically similar to SuperDuper. Both are good, popular products, with good support.

The "clone" offers a complete copy of the disk at only one instant. Time Machine allows you to restore older versions of files that have been backed up. They each allow a complete restore of a volume, but Time Machine offers more options.

CarbonCopyCloner does have an option to "archive" old versions of things that have been changed or deleted. Those are stored differently from the way Time Machine does, and can be harder to find, but might make it an attractive option.