What are the recovery options from an encrypted Time Machine? Luckily, this hasn't happened yet, but I would like to make sure that I have a recovery option after my iMac would be stolen or lost in fire, etc.

I have an iMac 27-inch, Late 2009, running OS X 10.9. File Vault is turned ON. Time Machine is set up, with encryption ON, on an external hard drive.

Suppose I lose the iMac, but retain de external hard drive, what are my recovery options and how would I go about that?


Can I access individual files on the Time Machine from a different Mac?
Can I buy a new iMac and migrate "everything" on the Time Machine to that new iMac? (Will "everything" include settings, software, keychain, etc.?)
As far as I know, both can be answered with yes. Of course, you'll need the password you used encrypting the backup.

Accessing individual files would work by clicking the Time Machine symbol in the menubar while holding alt and selecting something like "Search other backup volumes" (I'm from Germany so I don't know what it says exactly). Then you should search the backup like any other after you've entered the password.

When you use migration on another Mac, everything should be copied (except for some machine specific files maybe).