Is the format of Time Machine's backups documented, or standard? Can I extract the files with a non-Mac system?
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1Do be aware of the 2011 work to make Linux HFS less likely to corrupt volumes past 2 TB. Good links and summary at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFS_Plus#Linux– bmike ♦Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 13:03
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You may find this related question relevant: superuser.com/questions/306497/…– Ian C.Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 19:22
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2 Answers
Time Machine is documented well at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427 and this discussion goes into sparse bundles and FileVault so it's worth a read http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1447315
Since backups to an attached hard disk are written as plain files - that would be easier to connect to a non-Mac system. Backups to a Time Capsule are stored in a disk image in sparse bundle format, you will need to have software that knows how to mount those bundles.
Either requires your non-Mac system to be able to read HFS+ volumes - but once over that hurdle, you can simply navigate the Backups.backupdb folder and extract whatever files you need. The folder structure is simply organized by the time the backup completed.
It's barely a format at all. Time Machine just keeps multiple directories, each containing complete copies of your filesystem, using hard links to prevent storing unchanged files multiple times. You can get the files off just by copying them out of the correct directory. The only requirement is that if you're mounting the disk locally, your machine has to be able to mount a HFS+ filesystem.
answered Feb 7, 2011 at 15:31
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Yes, quite right. Thanks for the correction. I've edited my answer. Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 15:47