Time Machine Utilities

Installation

Simply save the utility in your system path and mark it as executable.

If you don't know your system path, you can find it with this Terminal command:

echo "${PATH}"

To mark a utility as executable, use the chmod command:

chmod +x tmimport.sh
chmod +x dirdedupe.sh

If you're still lost, do this:

1. In your Home folder, create a new folder called .bin

2. Download and save the utilities to your new .bin folder

3. Use a text editor to open .zshrc (or .bash_profile on older Macs) from your Home folder and add the following line at the end:

   PATH=${PATH}:${HOME}/.bin

4. In Terminal, run the following commands:

   chmod +x ~/.bin/*.sh

5. Quit (or restart) the Terminal.

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tmimport

TIME MACHINE IMPORT

USAGE

    tmimport.sh <backup drive>

DESCRIPTION

    Time Machine Importer modifies the metadata of a backup drive to match the 
    current computer's model and unique identifiers (primary MAC address and
    hardware platform UUID/provisioning UDID) and attempts to 'inherit' the
    backup history.

    The backup drive should be specified by disk or volume name (or path) or
    the mount point of the backup drive. If Time Machine Importer cannot find
    an appropriate disk volume or mount point, it will check to see if the 
    specified directory is a valid Backups.backupdb location (or a machine
    directory under one).

    A future version may attempt to detect HFS+ or APFS partitions serving as
    backup drives, and, if a backup drive is specified as a device path, it
    will automagically choose the correct backup path.

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tmbless

TIME MACHINE BLESS

USAGE

    tmbless.sh <snapshot directory>

DESCRIPTION

    Time Machine Blessing modifies the metadata of a snapshot directory
    (i.e., a datestamped directory inside a Backups.backupdb/machinename/
    directory) so that the metadata reflects a backup completed on that date
    and the metadata of the top-level drive matches that of the current drive.

    These modifications should allow restoration of files within the Time
    Machine restore UI. 

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dirdedupe

DIRECTORY DE-DUPLICATOR

USAGE

    dirdedupe.sh [--execute] masterdir shadowdir

DESCRIPTION

    For each file in shadowdir, replace it with a hard link to the matching file
    (if any) in masterdir.  A file will be considered a match if, and only if,
    it shares the same file name, relative path, and contents.

OPTIONS

    --execute  Actually remove and link duplicate files. By default, this 
               program runs in test mode.