Can i restore from a time machine backup that is not the latest one?

I am trying to restore from a May 7th time machine backup. At that time my username was michaelhood. I had a system crash and when my computer was returned to me I inadvertently set it up under a different username, thinking I would do the restore later. Between May 13 and today, Time machine did backups under the name mhoo4494. Changing the name didn't let me access my May 7 backup, nor did creating a different user account. I have erased the hard drive and am reinstalling from the Install CD. I have set up a third user name. I now want to restore my data from the Time Machine May 7 backup. How do I do that? Migration assistant saw two users -- mhoo and mhoo4494 (michaelhood was not an option). I selected them both, but got no data for either -- no docs, no music, no pictures. This procedure should not be this hard~!!

Hi uclamikey90,
It is possible, using Migration Assistant, to restore the contents of your hard drive selectively. See this article -
Mac OS X v10.6: How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from a Time Machine backup - Apple Support
In particular -
To migrate data from a Time Machine backup
In Finder, press Command-Shift-U.
Double-click Migration Assistant.
Click "Continue" and enter an administrator name and password when prompted.
Select the "From a Time Machine backup or other disk" option, then click "Continue".
Select your Time Machine backup disk or Time Capsule (enter the user name and or password if prompted), then click "Continue".
Select the Time Machine backup you would like to restore (such the most current one you just made), then click "Continue".
Select Items to Migrate, then click "Continue". Note: The "Continue" button will be dimmed until the "Calculating…" stage is complete.
A user account sheet may appear if you have a user name on your Mac that is the same user name in your Time Machine backup. You will have to give the username in your Time Machine backup a new username to avoid conflicts. Note: This will create a new user account on your Mac to hold the data from the Time Machine backup. After migration, you can use the /Users/Shared folder to transfer data files the accounts.
Migration Assistant will begin the process of transferring the items you selected to migrate. When it is finished, click "Quit" to exit.
When you reach step 7, deselect items that you do not wish to migrate. Videos, photos and music are likely candidates for this as they take up a lot of disk space. You can later put items on an external hard drive.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

Similar Messages

Restoring from a Time Machine Backup on a new Hard drive

Hi,
I have a late 2009 iMac and I had the HD replaced (it was included in the recent HD recall).
Before I had it replaced, I made a backup using my time capsule and it was on the latest version of Mountain Lion.
My question is, since I have to install the OS using the original install discs which was Snow Leopard, if I use the restore from Time Machine using Mac OSX Utilities, will my Mac restore my Mountain Lion backup (and have everything like it used to before I had the HD replaced)? Or do I have to reinstall Lion then Mountain Lion then restore from there?
It would be a pain to re download everything.
Hope someone can help me out.
Thanks in advance

Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
You will find that Mountain Lion stores an invisible copy of the Recovery HD. You can boot from your Time Machine backup drive by restarting with OPTION boot:
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the disk icon for your Time Machine backup drive.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
Your computer should boot into the Recovery HD. You will be presented with a main window of options. Select the option to restore from a Time Machine backup then click on the Continue button.

Are all programs / configuration settings restored from a Time Machine backup?

The hardrive in my late 2006 Macbook 2.0ghz laptop has finally kicked the bucket. I confirmed this with an Apple Genius at my local Apple store after she plugged in an external drive and running disk utility to run a diagnostic. However, I forgot to ask her about some details concerning my time machine backup which resides on an external drive that connects via firewire. I do know that my files and folders should be restored without issues. Although, I'm not sure about the following:
1. Will all my non-apple applications / programs be restored?
2. Will my configuration settings for mail be restored?
3. Will my itunes settings be restored (I have an iphone and ipad that connects to itunes)?
4. Will my contacts in address book be restored?
I still have the original drive of this laptop which still works just fine and boots up okay (never erased the OS) where the upgraded drive that I installed a few years ago is the one that failed. Therefore, I will be reverting back to the original drive that is smaller and slower.
The Genius recommended to run disk utility from the Snow Leopard Upgrade DVD (I originally had Leopard installed) to format the drive/install the OS and then do a full restore from my time machine backup. Although, I'm not sure if all my programs and settings for certain apps will be restored. I appreciate any help or other optioins I can possibly do to get back my saved files, programs, and settings.

Restoring from a Time Machine backup manually ?

Hi all,
To make a long story short, I reorganized my disk space to create a Fusion drive from the initial hard disk drive and an added SSD one, confident in being able to restore everything from my Time Machine backups.
The creation of the Fusion drive went well but the restore from Time machine failed. This happenned probably (but I realized this too late) because the hard disk drive contained initially my own home directory and Time Machine had backuped 2 drives whereas I was asking it to restore on a "single" Fusion drive now.
So my question is simple : is there a way for me to recover the data (actually my own user directory, I reinstalled a clean system and all applications from scratch) that is available in my Time machine backups "by hand" ? And, if yes, how ?
Many thanks and happy new year to all
Jacky

If you can't restore from a Time Machine snapshot in Recovery, Setup Assistant, or Migration Assistant, then restore as much data as you can in the time-travel view.
Starting from a fresh installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. Enter Time Machine and press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible.* Select the one you want and navigate to your home folder (in the Users folder at the top level of the old startup volume.)
You should now be able to restore your user data. I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of your home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
Then either restore or reinstall all third-party applications, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

Had a recent crash on my macbook, was previously using OS 10.6 I think. Restored from recent Time Machine backup and updated to OS 10.8.2 and now I cannot open Logic Pro 9. I get a 'No entry' Icon and a not supported on this type of Mac message. I cannot

Had a recent crash on my macbook, was previously using OS 10.6 I think. Restored from recent Time Machine backup and updated to OS 10.8.2 and now I cannot open Logic Pro 9. I get a 'No entry' Icon and a not supported on this type of Mac message. I cannot update either as anything up to 9.1.1 tells me I don't need it yet 9.1.2 tells me I need an eligable Logic Pro Version was not found in applications.
All of my files are stored in a separate hard drive with only the actual app having been on my Macbook. Should I just reinstall?

Hi
To run Mouitain Lion you need to update Logic.
For the updaters to work the Logic application must be:
a) Within the Applications folder, and not in any sub-folder
b) Named "Logic Pro" with no extra numbers or spaces
CCT

Restoring from my time machine backup

My macbook pro OS crashed...the local apple store reinstalled OSx 10.6.8, told me to restore from my time machine backup drive. How do I get the backup to go? I've plugged the drive in, the machine finds it, but I see no place to click and start the restore...

To restore your backup:
1. Insert the Mac OS X disc and hold the C key while your Mac is starting.
2. Choose your language, go to Utilities menu (on the menu bar), choose the option to restore a backup and follow the steps.
Another way is to use Migration Assistant > http://pondini.org/OSX/Migrate.html It will create a new user with the transferred files

HT1414 How do I restore from an earlier icloud backup that is not showing up for my ipad?

How do I restore from an earlier icloud backup that is not showing up for my ipad?

You can't. Usually you have only the most recent backup to choose from (I do). Some users has said they get 3 to choose from (this is the max as stated in Apple literature). You can't go back further than that.
The usual advice is that all photos should be synced to a computer (too many users have lost some/all their photos doing a restore - don't trust them solely to icloud). If you've been doing that, you can find them on your computer.

HT201250 After restoring from a time machine backup using migration assistant I can't log in

Hi, I recently bought a Mac Pro and using a Mountain Lion boot disk I made installed a fresh ML install which went fine. During the final part of install it gives you the option of restoring user data etc etc from a time machine backup which I have from my MacBook Pro which again in principal went fine until I went to log in when I got the message 'An error has occurred unable to log into this account a this time'.
Looking on the web I thought at first it was a password issue so restarted with command-r and reset the password, however the same error still occurs. I don't think it is password issue as if you deliberately enter the wrong password it rejects it immediately where as with the correct password it hangs for about 15secs before throwing up the above error.
Can anyone offer any advice?
The only thing I can possibly think of is that on my MBP where the time machine backup is from my home folder is on a 2nd HDD that is not the boot disk and I only have a single HDD on my MacPro.......

You might try to access the desired Time Machine backup from "Browse Other Time Machine Disks" (click Time Machine icon in the Dock).
Also, you might find some help here.

Restoring from partial Time Machine Backup

I've backed up all my user files with Time Machine and I'm wondering if I can do a clean install of Leopard (erase the contents of the drive, install a fresh version of the OS) can I re-attach the Time Machine backup that I've created and easily restore, say, my desktop files to the new OS? Appl seems to suggest that the only way to restore your files from a Time Machine backup is to boot from the backup and restore the files using the Migration Tool. Can I just attach the new OS to my old Time Machine backup and restore piecemeil, one folder at a time (e.g. my music folder, my desktop, etc.). I ask because my leopard install is bunk (virtual memory is eating all my hard drive space, continusely, until it's empty) and I want to do a clean install, but I want to make sure I'll be able to restore the user files I've backed up with Time Machine.
Thanks.

I would be interested in this too. My 24" is coming back from repair and I'd just like to get my music and photos out of the time machine backup against a fresh OS install.
Any thoughts?

Moving files from a Time Machine backup manually vs restoring from a Time Machine backup

I have read several articles saying that contemporary Macs and OSs are built such that they clean themselves up - defragmentation, general sweeping, etc. I was told by the Genius, however, that there are many little files that are left lying around after installs, uninstalls, file making, and file deletion that will gum up the works. He recommended that I set up my computer as though it's brand new and manually transfer files over from my Time Machine backup folder on my ExtHD.
Because I couldn't find a discussion of this specific topic online, I thought I'd bring it to the community myself. Is there an advantage to setting up the computer from scratch and manually moving the files (provided I use Migration Assistant for applications)?
For background: My Mac was running slowly, and after doing some research and talking to a "Genius", I thought it would be wise to reformat my HD and restore my system. Aside from sluggish performance, I was experiencing strange symptoms - like free disk space remaining the same even after deleting huge files, permissions errors, etc. I tried doing a permissions repair (a process I'd been told to do before when experiencing issues, even though I never knew what that really did), and read that I should verify my disk as well. Disk Utility told me that I had to reboot from the repair disk to perform the necessary repairs. The repair disk Disk Utility told me that my disk had some major issues and needed to be reformatted and restored.
HOURS LATER: I am back up and running now and Disk Utility is showing the appropriate amount of free disk space.

Let's start with some basics.
Check under the Apple in the Menu bar About this Mac > More Info
How much Memory do you have installed?
What size is our hard drive and how much free space?
You'll find the term Genius does not necessarily mean they are expert. Even on this forum, you'll find varying difference of opinions and levels of expertise.
I have read several articles saying that contemporary Macs and OSs are built such that they clean themselves up - defragmentation, general sweeping, etc.
This is true. Apps like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneUpMyMac, Washing Machine or anything like these apps might appear to be helpful, can do too more harm than good. As a result of the 'cleanup' it can leave your Mac non-functional Mac. The forums are full of users with computers that no longer work correctly after running these so call 'cleaners'
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4171
Your Mac runs maintenance in the background for you > Mac OS X: About background maintenance tasks
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2319
I was told by the Genius, however, that there are many little files that are left lying around after installs, uninstalls, file making, and file deletion that will gum up the works.
I'm going to disagree here. Get rid of the installer from downloads after installing. After removing an app, most of the little files do no harm and take up very little space. However some applications mostly crapware/cleaners will leave files that continue to run silently in the background takeing up resources.
Don't install stuff you don't really need. There is no magic bullet to clean up your messes.

Can iCloud documents in Mobile Documents folder be restored from a Time Machine backup?

Integration with iCloud seems much improved so far in Mountain Lion. Thanks, Apple! Just to be on the safe side, though: are documents stored in the ~/Library/Mobile Documents folder included in Time Machine backups, and fully restorable? This seemed a little uneven prior to Mountain Lion.
I just wanted to make sure that these documents are always backed up in case there is ever a problem with iCloud (or in case I simply make a mistake and an unintended change or deletion propogates across all my devices and I need to restore an earlier version).

Wow! It didn't occur to me that it would work this way, although of course it makes perfect sense—and it works. I just tried it.
It doesn't actually seem to work with older documents (I tried in Pages), and I'm not sure if that problem has to do with Mountain Lion, or previous versions of iWork apps, or both. But I tried it with a fresh document, deleted it restored it, and was able to use it. So finally it seems that iCloud works the way it should.
Thanks again.

I have replaced my old hard drive with a new SSD drive. Can I restore a complete Time Machine backup

I have replaced my old hard drive on a MacBook Pro midyear 2010 with a new SSD drive. I have a complete system backup of my old drive in an external hard drive using Time Machine.
Questions that I would like to get answered.
1) Can I connect my external hard drive to the macbook pro and use that to boot up my machine by pressing and holding down the Options key? Once booted up successfully, can I use Disk Utility to format the new SSD and then restore the complete time machine backup?
2) If that is not possible, can I use my old drive which I can connect using a USB adapter and use that to boot up by following the same strategy as listed in Step#1 above?
3) If neither options are possible, do I need to use a bootable USB drive for Mavericks OS X to boot up the machine,
I have Mavericks OS X ( 10.9.6) and I do not have a DVD of the OS.
Any help is appreciated.

Let me first document the steps that did not work and then I will document the steps that worked.
1) Replaced the hard drive with SSD.
2) Connected the original hard drive using a USB adapter to the MacBook to make it behave like an external device.
3) Powered on the machine and on hearing the chime pressed Command-R to start in recovery mode.
4) Chose the Disk Utility option to erase and format the SSD. The format chosen was Mac OS Extended Journaled.
5) Once the formatting was done, then clicked on the "Restore" tab in Disk Utility
6) In the Source field, dragged my original hard drive from the left pane and placed it in the field
7) On the destination field, choose the new SSD drive. Clicked on "Restore". Gave me a warning, accepted the warning and the restore was under way.
8) I had 236 GB to restore so took 3.5 hours before it was done.
9) Disconnected the external hard drive ( my original internal HDD), shut down the machine and powered on again.
10) Heard the chime and after that it was a white screen with no Apple logo.
Was visibly upset and started thinking what my next move will be. Then tried these steps
1) Again powered off the machine.
2) Connected my internal HDD once more as an external drive
3) Powered on and on hearing the chime, pressed Command-R as before
4) Once the OS X utilities screen popped up, this time chose Install OS X
5) Erased the contents of SSD once more and reformatted it using Mac OS Extended Journaled.
6) Installed OS X by following the prompts.
7) Once the OS was installed, I was presented with an option on how to transfer data to this new Mac
8) Chose the option to move the data from my original HDD.
9) Took another 3 hours to move the data.
10) Removed the original HDD once the transfer was complete, powered down the machine and started it once more.
11) Booted successfully and all my content is now accessible on the new SSD.
Moral of the story - It is the spirit that counts.

Restoring from Lion Time Machine backup and keeping Lion recovery partition

I am installing a new hard drive in my MacBook Pro. I have a Time Machine backup of everything, but I'm aware that just restoring the Time Machine backup to the new drive will not restore the Lion recovery drive/partition. What is the best way to move my data to the new drive? Am I best doing a clean install and moving everything over by hand from the Time Machine backup?

I've just done this. I booted from a Lion Recovery USB stick then restored from a Time Capsule. I had no RecoveryHD partition after it.
However, if you download and run the Lion installer once you log in to your desktop it will re-create the RecoveryHD partition. Long way round though.
Best solution is to make a bootable USB (8GB) or DVD from the Lion installer App. Then do a new install of Lion to get the Recovery HD partition created. Once installed you can restart and boot up using the newly created Recovery HD and restore your entire computer from the Time Capsule. Hey presto, your computer should be back to the way it was.

REstoring from old time machine backups on new install

Hi, I've been looking for good documentation on this and haven't seen an answer yet.
I want to blow away and reinstall my OS (10.5.1) I made a full backup to my time machine disk and I had planned on reinstalling the OS and all my apps for a clean start, then when the time came to move my photos and itunes back just connect my time machine disk to the new installation and copy the data back. Once I was satisfied that everything I needed was restored from the time machine dist to the new install I would go ahead and re-enable time machine on the new install and blow away my old backups starting from scratch. Has anyone done this yet? I do not want to plug in the old time machine disk and not be able to access the data that was created by the old installation. I would be bitter to say the least. Before anyone suggests another means of backing up I have thought of that, but, I'd like to see if this works.
I understand the scenario of beginning an install and choosing to restore that way, but, the reason I'm reinstalling is to start with a fresh OS form scratch an be able to restore selectively.
Thanks for reading my wordy post, I look forward to hearing back!
Thanks again

I think I'm facing the same issue as you. I ran Time Machine on my MBP. Now I've bought a new iMac. I started it with the Leopard CD and instead of installing Leopard on the new machine, I selected Restore from Time Machine Backup (or something like that). Everything from my old machine is now on my new machine. Sweet!
Only one problem. I've now enabled Time Machine on the new iMac and it tells me that there's not enough room on my external 320 GB drive for its first backup. It also tells me that its first backup will be 112 GB in size! This large size leads me to conclude that Time Machine will not add to the backups from the old MBP, but instead start a new series for the new iMac. To confirm this, I looked on the backup drive.
On the external backup drive, there are a series of 4 KB files, one for each machine that has previously been backed up. These names are nearly identical to the machine's MAC address (which you can find by open Network Preferences > Airport > Advanced). Time Machine will create a sparsebundle file for each machine backed up over the network; its name will have the format MachineNameMacAddresssparesebundle (Backups made when the backup drive was connected locally are saved in a folder called Backups.backupdb). So, to delete an old backup from a machine you're not using any more, you need to delete the 4 KB file containing the machine's MAC address, AND either the sparsebundle file OR the machine names' folder inside the Backups.backupdb folder.
Hope this helps.

HELP - Restoring from a Time Machine backup onto an OS 10.3 PowerBook

I've been having a lot of problems with my computer running the latest version of OS 10.5 so I did a Time Machine back-up then reinstalled the software install/restore disc that came with my PowerBook 1.25 ghz (OS 10.3).
I forgot that 10.3 didn't include Time Machine and I can't find my OS 10.5 disc, so I can't restore my computer using the backup.
Is there anyway to restore my computer by directly accessing the Time Machine files without first installing OS 10.5? I really don't want to have to buy that OS again especially since 10.6 is right around the corner.

Sorry, without a Leopard Install disc, you're out of business.
If you've still got your receipt, Apple may replace the disc for a nominal fee. I don't think an Apple store will do this, but if you're near one, it's worth a call. Otherwise, try AppeCare.

Can i restore from a time machine backup that is not the latest one?

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