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Time Machine and rename computer

netnothing

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
3,831
451
NH
Anyone have any idea what happens (if anything) to Time Machine if you rename your computer?

I only ask because I know TM puts everything in a Backups.backupdb/computername directory.

Just curious if anyone has done this. Does it change the directory name? I'm guessing it doesn't break TM functionality?

-Kevin
 
When you say rename computer... I assume you mean rename your home folder. I personally don't know, but just make sure you don't try it :eek:
 
Well, if he is using running Leopard you can't rename your home folder accept from root level, finally Apple!
 
Zwhaler said:
When you say rename computer... I assume you mean rename your home folder. I personally don't know, but just make sure you don't try it :eek:
Click to expand...

No, I mean rename the computer name....the name in Networking (or sharing, can't remember) and the name that shows up in the sidebar if you set it to show your computer.

-Kevin
 
HLdan said:
Well, if he is using running Leopard you can't rename your home folder accept from root level, finally Apple!
Click to expand...
Good good. Now we won't have ten threads a week on how people "ruind ther mack!1"

kbmb said:
No, I mean rename the computer name....the name in Networking (or sharing, can't remember) and the name that shows up in the sidebar if you set it to show your computer.

-Kevin
Click to expand...
I don't think that has much to do with your actual USERname, which (correct me if I am wrong) is what TM uses to name the folder in your backup folder on your ext drive.
 
Zwhaler said:
I don't think that has much to do with your actual USERname, which (correct me if I am wrong) is what TM uses to name the folder in your backup folder on your ext drive.
Click to expand...

Not for my TM backup folder, it's named after my computer name, not my username. Just a note, I changed my computer name from the default name BEFORE I started TM initially.

-Kevin
 
I guess another question to this is....what if I change a hard drives name? Because TM puts all the files in a directory named whatever your HDD name is...what happens if you change this?

I guess I was/am hoping someone has tried this, so I don't have to mess up my TM backups.

-Kevin
 
I've just migrated to a new computer, and changed the name at the same time. Time Machine wants to start again. So I'm guessing changing the name of your computer means you can't use your old backups.

I've tried changing the name of the backup folder and it wont let me. Even as a root user!
 
pulsewidth947 said:
I've just migrated to a new computer, and changed the name at the same time. Time Machine wants to start again. So I'm guessing changing the name of your computer means you can't use your old backups.

I've tried changing the name of the backup folder and it wont let me. Even as a root user!
Click to expand...

Good to know. Anyway you can keep the name of your computer the same?

-Kevin
 
pulsewidth947 said:
I've just migrated to a new computer, and changed the name at the same time. Time Machine wants to start again. So I'm guessing changing the name of your computer means you can't use your old backups.

QUOTE]

I believe that is true; if you change the name you can't use the backups. I did a clean install of Leopard migrating my users, apps, and such from a Tiger clone on an external HD. I had to change the computer name on the Leopard version before using Time Machine because the old name didn't conform to the conventions necessary (I had a ' in there that I had to get rid of). I've read, I think in Apple documentation, that if you want to use the Time Machine backups to migrate stuff to a new computer, the new computer has to have the same name as the old. That makes sense.
Click to expand...
 
Change machine name and Time Machine updates

I was reading through this and looked at the Apple online support info for Time Machine. Time Machine may not see backups if the name of the computer is anything but a letter or a number. I renamed my system w/out spaces, apostrophes, etc. To change the machine name to all ASCII characters, you go to System Preferences --> Sharing.

I was mid-backups with Time Machine and I noticed that it updated the directory name of its backup directory. It seemed to take a bit longer to backup on that run.

When I entered into Time Machine, the computer name is the new name that is showing under several days' worth of backups. The backups are visible with that new name and it all looks good. I didn't try a restore, but it looks good.
 
MinkysBear said:
I was mid-backups with Time Machine and I noticed that it updated the directory name of its backup directory. It seemed to take a bit longer to backup on that run.
Click to expand...

So is what you are implying that before making a migration, change the machine name to the "target" desired name and do a TM backup?

for the record, I just rebuilt my computer with a new name (without doing the above) and TM backup disk just believes it's a new machine. Good news is at least all the directories are intuitively named and I can manually get the versions of the backup files I need - whew!
 
whoa - I stand corrected - I made that post while doing my first TM backup after rebuilding my computer and surprisingly it did end up renaming the machine name in the .backupdb and as far as I can see, it is doing an incremental backup!

Does anyone else out there have a bit more insight in regards to how TM uniquely identifies each machine?

In this case, it is desirable behavior (perhaps even neat as it captures the evolution of my configuration!) but I'd say in most other instances, perhaps not!
 
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