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Prepare Time Machine backup so that my NEW user account can read it

redsteven

redsteven

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
561
7
I've been experiencing a lot of problems with my system, and will be doing a clean install to Lion when I purchase it in the next few weeks. I don't want to migrate my user account over or anything.

I'll of course back everything up and copy over what I need, but it's nice to be able to go back to my time machine backup just in case. But my experience in the past has been that my new user account will have permission to access the TM backups of my previous user account's home folder.

I'm hoping that maybe I can fix that BEFORE I get rid of this current account, but maybe changing permission on my home folder before doing a TM backup, or changing this account from admin to regular user or something... idk.


SHORT VERSION: I want my Time Machine backup of the home folder from this user account to be accessible by my new user account.
 
brand

brand

macrumors 601
Oct 3, 2006
4,390
456
127.0.0.1
If you just want a backup of your home folder and don't need the differential backups that Time Machine why not just do a standard backup instead of a Time Machine backup? It would be a lot simpler.
 
palebluedot

palebluedot

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2008
738
91
You could just access the old User folder via your TM backup on your new User account and slowly copy everything over. Ex: Copy iPhoto Library to your new user Photos dir and overwrite the existing file. Same for music, docs, etc. That way you don't copy over all the prefs files and assorted stuff in /Library/
 
redsteven

redsteven

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
561
7
brand said:
If you just want a backup of your home folder and don't need the differential backups that Time Machine why not just do a standard backup instead of a Time Machine backup? It would be a lot simpler.
Click to expand...
I'm trying to look for a work-around so that I DON'T have to resort to being limited to only the latest time machine backup. The differential backups can be nice.


DewGuy1999 said:
Macworld.com: Migrate Time Machine backup to new Mac in Lion
Click to expand...
The feature referred to in this article has been available BEFORE Lion. I have performed that action using Snow Leopard. And when I did that, I was unable to access my home folder because it was from a different user account (yes, there is the work-around of downloading the whole locked folder, and then unlocking it, but that's a pain)



palebluedot said:
You could just access the old User folder via your TM backup on your new User account and slowly copy everything over. Ex: Copy iPhoto Library to your new user Photos dir and overwrite the existing file. Same for music, docs, etc. That way you don't copy over all the prefs files and assorted stuff in /Library/
Click to expand...
But my previous experience indicates that the old user folder will be LOCKED when I try to access it with my new account, since they will technically be different accounts.


I know that there are a number of work-arounds here. I can resort to them if I need to (as I've done in the past... see my previous thread where I was pretty much asking the same thing here). HOWEVER, if there's a way to do this WITHOUT resorting to a work-around.... a way to maintain normal Time Machine operation of my USER FOLDER between DIFFERENT accounts... then I'd like to find out about it.

thank you all for your help though.
 
DewGuy1999

DewGuy1999

macrumors 68040
Jan 25, 2009
3,194
6
redsteven said:
The feature referred to in this article has been available BEFORE Lion. I have performed that action using Snow Leopard. And when I did that, I was unable to access my home folder because it was from a different user account (yes, there is the work-around of downloading the whole locked folder, and then unlocking it, but that's a pain)
Click to expand...

That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, being able to use the previous Time Machine backup but not be able to access any of the user files, what's the point?
 
redsteven

redsteven

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
561
7
DewGuy1999 said:
That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, being able to use the previous Time Machine backup but not be able to access any of the user files, what's the point?
Click to expand...

U can use it to access anything else on the harddrive. But when you try to look at the user folder, it has a little minus sign on it, just like if you're looking at any folder you don't have permission to view in the Finder.

So you CAN download it from time Machine if you want... but you can only download the WHOLE user folder.... all 30 gigs of it in my case... and then manually change permissions from the finder.

If I wanted to go back to my July 24 copy of my user folder to check out a document I had saved there... I'd have to download the WHOLE 30 gig user folder from July 24, and then change permissions. Because I can't look inside the folder on time machine since it's from a different user account
 
DewGuy1999

DewGuy1999

macrumors 68040
Jan 25, 2009
3,194
6
redsteven said:
U can use it to access anything else on the harddrive. But when you try to look at the user folder, it has a little minus sign on it, just like if you're looking at any folder you don't have permission to view in the Finder.

So you CAN download it from time Machine if you want... but you can only download the WHOLE user folder.... all 30 gigs of it in my case... and then manually change permissions from the finder.

If I wanted to go back to my July 24 copy of my user folder to check out a document I had saved there... I'd have to download the WHOLE 30 gig user folder from July 24, and then change permissions. Because I can't look inside the folder on time machine since it's from a different user account
Click to expand...

I thought you could access other Time Machine backups by holding down the Option key and clicking either the Time Machine icon in the Dock or in the Menu Bar and choosing Browse Other Time Machine Disks, doesn't that work?
 
redsteven

redsteven

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
561
7
I appreciate your help, but I'm not so sure you understand. Log in to different user ACCOUNT (such as a guest account) and try to access your old user folder. You'll see what I mean.

Example screenshot attached.
 

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DewGuy1999

DewGuy1999

macrumors 68040
Jan 25, 2009
3,194
6
redsteven said:
I appreciate your help, but I'm not so sure you understand. Log in to different user ACCOUNT (such as a guest account) and try to access your old user folder. You'll see what I mean.

Example screenshot attached.
Click to expand...

I do understand what you're saying, I was just trying to make suggestions that might be helpful. It's not always easy to understand the scope of other peoples computer knowledge or what they've tried. Yea, I know that works both ways. :)

Okay, here's another one, can you create a user account on your new setup using the name from your old setup? Then logging in as the old user you should be able to access your old backups.

Are you aware of this site About Time Machine and other tips, there seems to be a lot of in depth information there, maybe something that will help.
 
redsteven

redsteven

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
561
7
Thank you

I haven't tried a user account with an identical name yet but I will (doubted that it would work but certainly worth a try).

I was unaware of that website and took a look at it. Only thing I could find though was:

Each user’s data is kept separate on your backups, in separate user home folders, just as it is on your system; and one user doesn’t have access to other users’ backups, just as on your system. In fact, the backups are arranged in exactly the same way as your system.
Click to expand...

Acknowledgement of the issue, but no work-around. Oh well.
 
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