Using Time Machine with an Apple AirPort Time Capsule Apple’s AirPort Time Capsule is an interesting hybrid device, part backup external drive, and part Wi-Fi router. The wireless capabilities are really useful with the MacBook line, as the laptops don’t need to be physically connected to a drive to stay backed up. Select the first one, which reads From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk and click Continue. In the next screen choose the drive that holds your backup and then click Continue. Apple's Time Machine is the go-to backup method for many Mac users. Apple's termination of the AirPort/Time Capsule series, however, puts some users in a lurch over how they will be continuing to back up their Macs using Time Machine. Luckily there are Apple approved Time Machine backup options sans Time Capsule.
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For some reason my MacBook Pro recently crapped out completely, and I am trying to do a complete restore of the OS via a full backup I made with using Time Machine onto my Time Capsule disk, but I am running into some problems doing so and I was hoping someone might have some insight as to how I should deal with things at this point...
Here's where things get messy...
- I insert my Mac OS X 10.5 Installation DVD into my Macbook and boot from the drive, and I immediately choose the menu option to 'Restore from Time Capsule Backup'...
- After logging into my Time Capsule and then choosing the proper .sparseimage file to restore from, I click 'continue' and it brings me to the screen where I choose where I want to restore to (which in my case, is the one and only internal HD inside my Macbook Pro)
- The bottom of this window tells me that it's 'Calculating space required to restore data...' but it simply hangs at the point with a spinning wheel indicating its still doing the calculating, but never actually presents me with the space required, not does it allow me to click continue to perform the restore?? I've allowed it over an hour to calculate the space required and it still just spins its status wheel...
This is where I am stuck at this point, and I have no idea how to get it to proceed to the next step to allow me to perform the restore??
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I will have no choice but to do a complete reinstall (including all apps and data) if I can't get the backup restored... Thanks!
Here's where things get messy...
- I insert my Mac OS X 10.5 Installation DVD into my Macbook and boot from the drive, and I immediately choose the menu option to 'Restore from Time Capsule Backup'...
- After logging into my Time Capsule and then choosing the proper .sparseimage file to restore from, I click 'continue' and it brings me to the screen where I choose where I want to restore to (which in my case, is the one and only internal HD inside my Macbook Pro)
- The bottom of this window tells me that it's 'Calculating space required to restore data...' but it simply hangs at the point with a spinning wheel indicating its still doing the calculating, but never actually presents me with the space required, not does it allow me to click continue to perform the restore?? I've allowed it over an hour to calculate the space required and it still just spins its status wheel...
This is where I am stuck at this point, and I have no idea how to get it to proceed to the next step to allow me to perform the restore??
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I will have no choice but to do a complete reinstall (including all apps and data) if I can't get the backup restored... Thanks!
Backup Macbook Pro with Time Machine
Note: This post is part of the the series: Reformat Macbook Pro to make brand new. You can always refer back to the table of contents to follow the entire process.
If you’ve collected all the items needed to reformat your Macbook Pro in the last post, then you’re ready to get started with the first step: back up Macbook Pro with Time Machine. All Macs these days come with Time Machine built into the operating system. Time Machine is a backup software that will back up your Mac’s contents every few hours and retain it for hours, weeks and even months on the drive that you specify. If your computer crashes, you can go back to what it was like an hour before the crash. It’s very smart to back up your data.
Let’s get started.
[su_divider top=”no”]Backup Macbook Pro with Time Machine
Time: 60 minutes (depending on size of your hard drive and transfer speed.)
First thing is first. You want to be sure you don’t have a colossal meltdown and lose everything on your old Macbook Pro. That would be sad. You’d throw a tantrum. Break stuff. So we need to back it up first and foremost.
Backup Macbook Pro To Time Capsule Conversion
- Shut off your Macbook Pro.
- Plug in your external hard drive. Connect cord from drive to Macbook Pro.
- Turn on Macbook Pro and external hard drive.
- When you see the drive pop up on the home screen, you’ve got your place that will store your backup ready.
- Click on the small icon for Time Machine up in the taskbar. Click Open Time Machine Preferences.
- Click Select Disk.
- Under Available Disks, click on your external hard drive. Then click Use Disk.
- Your Macbook should hold about 300GB (some more depending on your hard drive space). So Time Machine will back up all of it. That will take some time. If you want to speed it up and there’s junk on your computer you don’t want to save that have big file sizes like music or videos you can have Time Machine ignore them. Click on Options. Then click on the + symbol. Find the folder containing what you don’t want. Add as many folders as you like. When done, click Save.
- Click the Time Machine ON/OFF button to On.
- In a few seconds, your computer will start backing up all of the contents (minus what you selected in options) to the external hard drive. This will be your safety drive when/if you want things after your reformat.
- Grab coffee. You made it this far.
Once the computer has completed the process of backing up your data, it’s safe. You have a copy of all of your data on your external drive and you can access it in the future to drag and drop old files
I simply left the info on the hard drive for safety sake. I wanted to complete clear all the gunk from my hard drive and start over. If you’re wanting to transfer all of your data back over to your Mac, then you’ll drag over useless files that you wanted to get rid of. So simply pick what you want and start over to receive optimal speed and that ‘new computer’ experience.
[su_divider]![Backup Macbook Pro To Time Capsule Backup Macbook Pro To Time Capsule](/uploads/1/1/7/7/117778685/530932939.jpg)
Macbook Time Capsule
To continue with the series, head to the next chapter where we will create a OS X Mavericks boot drive so our computer can come back to life after it’s wiped clean.