All iPads DESPERATELY NEED HELP: How to access Time Machine?

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Thank you for your replies!


I'd feel really guilty if I ever did anything like this so this isn't an option for me! 😢



Wait so the iPad Air M4 can access files on Apple Time Machine but the iPad Air M3 cannot? You gotta be kidding me! I just bought an iPad Air M3!

They meant m4 MacBook Air.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

I hate to speak in definitives but I do not ever see iPadOS adding the functionality you’re looking for.

 

[maflynn]

I'd feel really guilty if I ever did anything like this so this isn't an option for me! 😢

Apple offers this no strings attached and I don’t feel bad about a multi-trillion dollar corporation dealing with reselling a used Mac

 

[It’s always something]

Apple offers this no strings attached and I don’t feel bad about a multi-trillion dollar corporation dealing with reselling a used Mac

This is stealing. Exodus 20:15.

 

[maflynn]

This is stealing. Exodus 20:15.

No it’s not

You’re using a benefit they advertise.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Take your external HDD drive to your local Apple Store and explain your situation. Ask them for help temporarily connecting your drive so that you can access the files you need and then copy those files to a second external drive. If the files you need are document related and or photos etc., you can connect the recovered files external drive to your new iPad and view them that way.

 

[NoBoMac]

The Files app on iPadOS does support HFS+ formatted drives and APFS drives, so whatever format your Time Machine drive is in is supported.

Correct. But the new caveat is that it looks like unencrypted HFS. So if the TM drive is encrypted, still out of luck with i*OS devices.

Note: An external storage device must have only a single data partition, and it must be formatted as APFS, APFS (encrypted), macOS Extended (HFS+), exFAT (FAT64), FAT32, or FAT. To change the formatting of a storage device, use the Files app on iPad or a Mac or PC.

And probably a pain to navigate the file structure on an iPad as well vs using the TM interface that Mac would offer.

 

[It’s always something]

No it’s not

You’re using a benefit they advertise.

The “benefit” they advertise is not: “Take a new computer home, use it for some personal task, and then return it to us for a full refund,” and to do that would be to commit a fraud.

In this case it would rob Apple of the difference between the profit on a full price sale and the profit on a refurbished one. It doesn’t matter if it’s less than a drop in a bucket to Apple. Theft is theft.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Sorry I can’t buy a new Mac then return it… I’d feel far too guilty!

They meant m4 MacBook Air.

Thank you for your reply!

I was really hoping I could use my iPad Air to access my files on Time Machine…

It seems like Time Machine is only useful when you have more than one Mac???

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Sorry I can’t buy a new Mac then return it… I’d feel far too guilty!

Thank you for your reply!

I was really hoping I could use my iPad Air to access my files on Time Machine…

It seems like Time Machine is only useful when you have more than one Mac???

You cannot, and probably will not ever, be able to access a Time Machine backup file/folder/drive from iPadOS. If you need the files, you'll need a Mac.