time machine

[zdann120]

I backed u my laptop wirelessly over our home network to a hard drive connected to an iMac with time machine. There is now a sparsebundle file saved on the hard drive, but I cannot open it. How do I access the files directly from my hard drive?

 

[gr8tfly]

If you're trying to restore a file from a Time Machine backup, just run Time Machine from the Dock. It will automatically mount the sparse.bundle image. (If it's from another machine or not your current backup, you can still use Time Machine to "browse" another backup. You can get to that option from Time Machine in the Dock either by click+hold, or right-click.)

Using Time Machine to access it is really the best way to access your TM backups.

 

[zdann120]

If you're trying to restore a file from a Time Machine backup, just run Time Machine from the Dock. It will automatically mount the sparse.bundle image. (If it's from another machine or not your current backup, you can still use Time Machine to "browse" another backup. You can get to that option from Time Machine in the Dock either by click+hold, or right-click.)

Using Time Machine to access it is really the best way to access your TM backups.

I've tried option-clicking on the time machine icon, and backups that were done wirelessly don't show up in the list. I only see backups that were done with the hard drive connected directly to the computer.
I did, however, find a sparseimage final with the name of the computer whose backup I am trying to access, but when I double-click it says "no mountable file systems". How would I access these files?

 

[gr8tfly]

The file should be <name>_<id>.sparsebundle. Double-clicking on it should mount in the finder, though it could take some time over a network (especially wireless). Once it's mounted, it should show up in the "browse" list.

If it's not mounting, there could be a problem with the image itself. You can try a repair using Disk Utility.

(I assume you meant "ctrl-click", not "opt-click".)

 

[devburke]

Everyone always says their backups are in “.sparsebundle”s. But mine’s in a “.backupdb”. Why is that?

 

[JediMeister]

Sparsebundles are for network backups for Time Machine to another computer/server on the network, network storage device, or a Time Capsule. You get a Backups.backupdb folder if its to a USB/FireWire/directly connected drive.

 

[devburke]

Sparsebundles are for network backups for Time Machine to another computer/server on the network, network storage device, or a Time Capsule. You get a Backups.backupdb folder if its to a USB/FireWire/directly connected drive.

Oh cool. So I take it that means if you want to do wireless backups, you can’t do the initial backup over USB or anything?