Fastdude
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Q: Cannot access backup volumes on TC

I am migrating from an older Mac Air to a MacBook Pro. The Mac Air is backed up to the network TC. The MBPro and Mac Air are both running the El Capitan OS.

 

When, on the MBPro. I use Migration Assistant and pull up the backups on the TC and find the Mac Air, the message says: "No volumes found in backup". Yet, when, on the Mac Air, I open up Time Machine, the several years of backups are there.

 

Suggestions?

Airport Time Capsule 802.11ac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Oct 15, 2016 10:33 PM

by Fastdude,Solvedanswer
Fastdude Fastdude
Level 1 (89 points)
Wireless
A:

I am SOOOO glad I made a Genius Bar appointment! After reviewing with the technician the situation as described earlier in this thread, he first verified that the MBA was fully functional, except for the cracked screen. Replacement screens are still available from Apple for this 2010 MBA for about $500.

 

THEN the technician opined that my Time Capsule definitely still had all the backup data for 2-3 years, even though it wasn't available through Migration Assistant. After attaching an external monitor to the damaged MBA, he also could tell that it was recently backed up to TC. Therefore, he said, using the OS (El Capitan), not Migration Assistant, and not having to mess with Permissions, I could Restore the MBA data and Settings to any available Mac I had.

 

So, the choice for me was either spending $500 on a six year-old MBA, which is limited to 4 GB RAM, OR porting, for free, the data and Settings to our available six year old MBPro, with a 500GB SSD drive and 8GB RAM. The MBPro is heavier than the MBA, and it probably would not perform well with OS Sierra, but it will be a great interim solution for our family member. In a year or more, when the time is right, we will get a new Mac laptop.

 

The method for restoring data from TC is incredibly simple and straightforward. First, with the target laptop (MBPro), running El Capitan, linked to the same network as the Time Capsule by either wifi or ethernet, restart the MBPro and HOLD DOWN Command-R for the entire restart. The laptop does NOT boot into the Finder, but rather into a small window with four options. The first option is for restoring from Time Capsule. Select that and you are guided select the correct source of the TC data. I selected our TC device, found the FULL data file for the MBA, and started the restore process. The connection was wifi, so the full restore took 6-7 hours, but we now have all the MBA data running on the MBPro.

 

Now, why we can't do this with Migration Assistant, I don't know, but I am happy!

Posted on Oct 19, 2016 1:31 PM

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Fastdude

Q: Cannot access backup volumes on TC

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  • Helpful answers

  • by LaPastenague,Helpful

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Oct 16, 2016 9:56 AM in response to Fastdude
    Level 9 (52,984 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 16, 2016 9:56 AM in response to Fastdude

    Try and locate the TC disk and mount the sparsebundle (The actual TM backup) in Finder.

     

    You can have issues at times with El Capo increased security..

     

    Have you tried doing migration directly from the MBA.. as that is sometimes more successful?

  • by Fastdude,

    Fastdude Fastdude Oct 16, 2016 9:59 AM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (89 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 16, 2016 9:59 AM in response to LaPastenague

    I just looked in Finder at the TM data files. We backup 3 Macs to TM, including the MBA. All three sparsebundles are there, and the stated size of each sparsebundle is appropriate for each Mac, i.e., the MBA sparse bundle is 397.1 GB. None of the images can be opened in Finder, and there is this statement for each: "Resource temporarily unavailable."

     

    And actually, as I look in Time Machine on one of the other Macs, I see that there appears to be NO data saved beyond early September 2016. I have no clue why that is. I have never reset (erased) the TC device. Seven or 8 months ago I restored several hundred files from the TC, some of which had been there for 2 years. I don't see anything from that far back now.

     

    As for peer-to-peer migration, the MBA has a smashed, cracked screen. Only about 1/3 of it is readable. Even though the MBA seems to still be functioning, I can't get to the Migration Assistant app to set the MBA to "Restore to another Mac". If I can't get to the TC backup data, I'll have to figure out who can best migrate the data for me.

     

    Also, my Extended Apply Warrantees for MBA and TC device are expired. If I can access TC, then I save money....

  • by Fastdude,

    Fastdude Fastdude Oct 16, 2016 11:32 AM in response to Fastdude
    Level 1 (89 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 16, 2016 11:32 AM in response to Fastdude

    To clarify my statement in the 2nd paragraph of my question: I last opened TM on the MBA BEFORE we managed to crack the screen, so it was about 3 weeks ago.

  • by LaPastenague,Helpful

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Oct 16, 2016 9:19 PM in response to Fastdude
    Level 9 (52,984 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 16, 2016 9:19 PM in response to Fastdude

    OK.. let me make another suggestion.

     

    I suspect the issue is permissions.. and there is no way to solve it with the current setup.

     

    What you can do is archive the TC to a USB drive.

     

    So plug a drive of equal capacity to the TC drive into the USB of the TC.. open airport utility in one of your Macs and go to the disk tab and select archive. It will take several hours but you don't need to sit there watching or even have the Mac turned on.. the backup once started will complete by itself.

     

    Once completed you can plug the hard disk into the computer and try to open it locally.. if it has issues you can then fix permissions as you have local control over the disk.

     

    You do need to spend some money but a 2TB USB drive is <$100 and will be a useful storage into the future.

  • by Fastdude,

    Fastdude Fastdude Oct 16, 2016 9:19 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (89 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 16, 2016 9:19 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Tomorrow I have an appointment at the Genius Bar, to see if peer-to-peer is possible. Then I will have to deal with TC anyway, just to make sure it is really working, so I might use your suggestion. Will report back here.

  • by Fastdude,Solvedanswer

    Fastdude Fastdude Oct 19, 2016 1:31 PM in response to Fastdude
    Level 1 (89 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 19, 2016 1:31 PM in response to Fastdude

    I am SOOOO glad I made a Genius Bar appointment! After reviewing with the technician the situation as described earlier in this thread, he first verified that the MBA was fully functional, except for the cracked screen. Replacement screens are still available from Apple for this 2010 MBA for about $500.

     

    THEN the technician opined that my Time Capsule definitely still had all the backup data for 2-3 years, even though it wasn't available through Migration Assistant. After attaching an external monitor to the damaged MBA, he also could tell that it was recently backed up to TC. Therefore, he said, using the OS (El Capitan), not Migration Assistant, and not having to mess with Permissions, I could Restore the MBA data and Settings to any available Mac I had.

     

    So, the choice for me was either spending $500 on a six year-old MBA, which is limited to 4 GB RAM, OR porting, for free, the data and Settings to our available six year old MBPro, with a 500GB SSD drive and 8GB RAM. The MBPro is heavier than the MBA, and it probably would not perform well with OS Sierra, but it will be a great interim solution for our family member. In a year or more, when the time is right, we will get a new Mac laptop.

     

    The method for restoring data from TC is incredibly simple and straightforward. First, with the target laptop (MBPro), running El Capitan, linked to the same network as the Time Capsule by either wifi or ethernet, restart the MBPro and HOLD DOWN Command-R for the entire restart. The laptop does NOT boot into the Finder, but rather into a small window with four options. The first option is for restoring from Time Capsule. Select that and you are guided select the correct source of the TC data. I selected our TC device, found the FULL data file for the MBA, and started the restore process. The connection was wifi, so the full restore took 6-7 hours, but we now have all the MBA data running on the MBPro.

     

    Now, why we can't do this with Migration Assistant, I don't know, but I am happy!

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Oct 19, 2016 1:48 PM in response to Fastdude
    Level 9 (52,984 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 19, 2016 1:48 PM in response to Fastdude

    Thanks for giving us the conclusion to the story..

     

    It helps me make recommendations to other people.

     

    You are booting to recovery and overwriting the existing files on the MBP which a lot of people would not find acceptable..

     

    And migration assistant's failure may be due to Sierra.. ??

  • by Fastdude,

    Fastdude Fastdude Oct 19, 2016 2:28 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (89 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 19, 2016 2:28 PM in response to LaPastenague

    We just happened to have the old MBPro available, because another family member just replaced it with a new MBPro.

     

    And, no, we have not yet updated any of our Macs to Sierra, so Migration Assistant's failings are due to something else.