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How do you access another user's Time Machine backup?

How do you access another user's Time Machine backup?


I know that FIRST you need to:


  1. Plug in the drive
  2. Use Option:Time Machine:Browse other backup disks
  3. Use Finder to move your view to the target disk.


BUT then the files are locked and can't be viewed, because I "don't have permission to view the contents".


SO, How do you search, view and retrieve the files of am Time Machine backup created by a different user on a different machine? It's a pretty vital task.

iMac, iOS 7.1.1, iMac11,3 (May 2011)

Posted on Apr 21, 2015 12:07 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Apr 21, 2015 10:40 AM

Is the other backup drive another Time Capsule or another network drive.....or.....is the other backup drive a USB or FireWire drive?


If it is another USB or FireWire drive, there is really no need to use Time Machine at all here. Simply let the drive mount on your Mac's desktop and the open the drive.


Backups are in a folder named Backups.backupdb

Open the Backups.backupdb folder and the name of the Mac will appear as another folder

Open that folder to reveal list of folders with different backup dates

Select the date/folder that you want and open it up to reveal Macintosh HD, or whatever the user has named the drive

Keep drilling down through folder levels to find the files that you want


If you are asked for a password early in the process, the user has likely encrypted his backups, and you will need that password to proceed


The same process can be followed even if the backups are on another Time Capsule. Time Machine does not need to be opened.

Open the drive on the Time Capsule.....named "Data".....unless it has been renamed and locate the sparsebundle file for the Mac.

Open the sparsebundle file

That will mount a drive called Time Machine Backups on the desktop

Open Time Machine Backups

Open the Backups.backupdb folder and proceed as above


If you are asked for a password, the user has likely encrypted his backups.

5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Apr 21, 2015 10:40 AM in response to MyndSurfers

Is the other backup drive another Time Capsule or another network drive.....or.....is the other backup drive a USB or FireWire drive?


If it is another USB or FireWire drive, there is really no need to use Time Machine at all here. Simply let the drive mount on your Mac's desktop and the open the drive.


Backups are in a folder named Backups.backupdb

Open the Backups.backupdb folder and the name of the Mac will appear as another folder

Open that folder to reveal list of folders with different backup dates

Select the date/folder that you want and open it up to reveal Macintosh HD, or whatever the user has named the drive

Keep drilling down through folder levels to find the files that you want


If you are asked for a password early in the process, the user has likely encrypted his backups, and you will need that password to proceed


The same process can be followed even if the backups are on another Time Capsule. Time Machine does not need to be opened.

Open the drive on the Time Capsule.....named "Data".....unless it has been renamed and locate the sparsebundle file for the Mac.

Open the sparsebundle file

That will mount a drive called Time Machine Backups on the desktop

Open Time Machine Backups

Open the Backups.backupdb folder and proceed as above


If you are asked for a password, the user has likely encrypted his backups.

How do you access another user's Time Machine backup?

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