Clean install of Lion and Time Machine backups

Hi All,
I have a new MBP on it's way to be delivered to my house today, and my question is about Time Machine backups. I'd like to restore from my old MBP's Time Machine data, but I'm a little concerend because I've had some issues with Lion. Specifically, very slow at random times, spinning beach balls, etc. I didn't do a clean install of Lion, just the download/upgrade method, and from what I've read, that's caused some problems for people.
Will a restore from a Time Machine backup replace all of the "fresh" system files, etc. on the new MBP, or only move specific files, or files not present in the system (i.e. app preferences)? I'd rather not have to manually copy and install everything if I can avoid it, but I don't want to transfer any old problems to the new MBP. Thanx.

OK, you're right. I wish Apple would get rid of the Applications Folder in the User Folder.
If you haven't read this yet:
How to use Migration assistant to transfer files from another Mac
I still believe you are relatively safe in not porting over trouble from your previous System.
What trouble are you having

Similar Messages

  • Clean install of Lion and Time Machine Backup: Does it make sense?

    Hello everybody,
    I have updated from Snow Leopard to Lion over the App Store and now my iMac (the 27" one from last year) seems to suffer from several slowdowns. Quite unusual for a new Mac. So I decided to try a clean install. Of course I would like to keep my data, my programs and stuff. I am doing daily backups with my Time Machine, so this should not be a problem.
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    The following I intend to do:
    - backup all data with Time Machine
    - create a Lion install disc
    - boot from the disc, delete the HDD
    - install Lion from the disc
    - boot the new OS and put back the Time Machine backup
    I hope someone can verify that this would work. Since those slowdowns became really annoying I would give it a try.
    greetings
    Michael

    the_whispering wrote:
    So I decided to try a clean install.
    I'd recommend against starting with the "nuclear" option. 
    First, is there a "pattern"?   Does the problem seem to coincide with any particular app(s)?
    How full is your internal HD?  If it's over about 85%, that can contribute to slowness.
    Check for directory damage, by Verifying your internal HD, per #6 in Using Disk Utility.
    Check for unusual log messages that can indicate a problem.  See the tan box in OSX Log Files to locate your system.log, then the blue box there to decipher it, especially the Other Problems section.
    If you suspect a problem with your installation of OSX, download and install the "combo" update, per Installing the"combo" update and/or Reinstalling OSX.  
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    The following I intend to do:
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    - create a Lion install disc
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  • Clean install of Lion and Time Machine

    I have done a clean install of Lion and re-installed all software.
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    Is there any way to do this? I don't want to loose all of the data backed up...will choosing the old Time Machine disk overwrite everyting?
    I don't want to try anything until I'm sure.
    Thanks,
    Margot

    Margotvbp wrote:
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    If it doesn't, or if you use some other method to put your stuff back, you should be able to tell Time Machine to do it, per #B6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • Mavericks - clean install with filevault and Time machine restore

    Hi All,
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    I plan the following action:
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    2 - Create a USB drive with Mavericks on it, I'm using Diskmaker to create it
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    Hi Alain,
    I see you never got a reply to this, but I'm wondering what you finally did? I have very similar questions, but I'm "upgrading" from 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. I also have FileVault activated and use a Time Machine backup. Any comments/suggestions/experience you (or others) would like to share would be helpful.
    Thanks

  • E4200, Lion and Time Machine backup

    Hi there!
    Sorry if I'm double posting this, but I didn't find any posts of this thread.
    Since lion is there for a while, it is still not possible to make a time machine backup on an USB hdd that's connected to the router. 
    Is there a fix or workaround for this? Or is Cisco coming with an firmware update?
    Thanks in advance!
    - Michael 

    fernandoe wrote:
    I know, late to the party... But was wondering if anyone had any success in connecting an HFS+ formatted external HDD to the E-4200, and being able run Time Machine backups against it?
    The disk does not have to be HFS+ formatted. The disk must be formatted in whatever format the NAS, i.e. the E4200 can handle.
    Time Machine saves backup in a sparsebundle on network drives. A sparsebundle can be written on any formatted drive. Doesn't have to be HFS+. I do time machine backups on a NAS with ext3 formatted drives...
    As mentioned before: the problem is with AFP the protocol to access the network drive. AFP is required to access the network drive and if that doesn't work you can't do the backup. You'll have to wait until Linksys fixes this...

  • Clean install selective restore from time machine backup

    Hi,
    My harddisk crashed, and I have just installed a new harddrive.
    I have just installed a fresh OS and am wondering if it is possible to selective restore stuff from my time machine backup.
    I only want to restore some of my data file.
    When I plugin my time machine backup. the preference pane does recognize that i have previous backup. But when I go into time machine state, the older stuff doesn't show up.
    how can i get my old files back?
    I can't see anything from before I changed my harddisk and did a few reinstall of the OS.

    Restoring specific files or folders
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    Restoring your entire system from a backup
    If you are restoring a backup made by a Mac to the same Mac
    With your backup disk connected, start up your Mac from your Mac OS X v10.5 or Mac OS X v10.6 installation disc. After starting up, use the Restore System from Backup feature of the Mac OS X Installer.
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    Click the Time Machine icon on your Dock to enter the Time Machine restore interface.
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    Control-click (or right click) the highlighted item(s) and select "Delete All Backups of..." from the contextual menu, or select "Delete all backups of..." from the Action Item menu.
    Authenticate with an administrator password when prompted.
    Important:  Do not use the Finder to move to the items to the Trash, or to move or delete items in your Time Machine backup repository. The folder containing your Time Machine backup repository is called "Backups.backupd" and is located on the external disk or Time Capsule you have chosen in Time Machine preferences.

  • Lion's Time Machine backup crashes Mountain Lion

    I have a OS X Lion's Time Machine backup with a few user accounts.  Now I need to restore one user account and its data to a MacBook Pro with a replaced hard drive installed with OS X Lion and nothing else.  I was told by Apple guys to:
    1)  upgrade to Mountain Lion first;
    2)  connect the OS X Lion Time Machine backup, then run the Migration Assistant (Mountain Lion).
    The first time I did it, I migrated everything to the MacBook Pro.  Then the user accounts and home folders all mixed up.  The Lion's applications replaced Mountain Lion's applications of the same names, so and so... Problems gradually surface in two days, that I spent.  The Mountain Lion crashed and the MacBook Pro had to reinstall the OS X Lion, then repeat 1) and 2) above.
    The second time I did it, I told Apple of my experience, and they told me to uncheck everything else except the user account I wanted to migrate.  Then after doing 1) above, and at 2) above, I found that nothing could be unchecked.  I told Apple, and they told me to go ahead.  After migrated everything, including Applications and the user accounts and data, The Mountain Lion crashed in many native applications, again. (Long story cuts short!)
    Now, the thrid time, after wasting my week's time.  Apple still tells me to upgrade to Mountain Lion before recovering the user from the TM backup drive.  And I have again spent 6 hours in such things as wiping out everything (I guess Apple used Disk Utility to create 1-partition, quickest), install OS X Lion, and I installed Mountain Lion (less than 2 hours inlcuding download and install), then manually "copy" the one user account needed from the last completed (not the "Latest" and not the one with .InProgress) Time Machine dated backup/Machintosh HD/Users to the new INTERNAL Machintosh HD/Users.  (The current logged-on account is "test" which is different from the one I need to migrate.)
    What next?  I shall create a new user account and assign the migrated user as the home folder of the new user account.  Does it work?  I don't know.
    Why not simply restore the user account and data from OS X Lion's Migration Assistant, then upgrade to Mountain Lion?  Why?
    What about other applications?  (e.g. Microsoft Office for Mac 2011), native iPhoto, iTunes....?)
    Scenario: If my Time Machine backup was started a year or 2 years ago from Snow Leopard or Lion, and all the way to Mountain Lion.  Then one day the drive crashes.  Can Time Machine / Migration Assistant give me a one-click-done restoration?  Or I need to go through this teasing process again?
    Is Time Machine serving its purpose?  (Who's purpose?  Increase Apple's sales? or Recovering everything for the Mac user with a crashed drive?)

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    Restore Lion to your HDD. During setup, use setup-assistant to restore your data from TM-Backup.
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  • After clean install of Snow Leopard, Time Machine did not restore all files.  When I try to restore these files I get "Not enough disk space" error.  What do I need to do to get these important files back onto my Mac from my external hard drive??

    After clean install of Snow Leopard, Time Machine did not restore all files.  When I try to restore these files I get "Not enough disk space" error.  What do I need to do to get these important files back onto my Mac from my external hard drive?? 

    Janet.b wrote:
    About 3 years old...pretty dated now I guess.  Am thinking I may just need to have it upgraded by a Mac tech.
    For what the Apple Store's charge you can buy almost buy a new computer.
    Just for giggles I brought my old laptop in for a drive upgrade and asked, they wanted $600 for a drive that only cost $120 at the time and it was a slow 5,400 RPM drive. The new Mac's of a similar make were going for $1000.
    I did the drive replacement myself, got a faster drive of better quality for $300 instead.
    Then another time I asked for a RAM upgrade from 4GB to 8GB, they wanted to charge $400 + $35 for the labor.
    The same RAM is on Crucial.com for $90 and all I need is a 00 micro phillips screwdriver.
    So you see what's going on here.
    I think what you should do, if your out of warranty/AppleCare, is to call up the local PC tech guy who also does Mac's and have them fix you right up.
    They can offer more personalized care which you need. Clone your old drive to the new and everything.
    With Apple they are overworked at the Genius Bar and just place roadblocks so you buy a new machine instead.
    For instance, all new iMac's now have proprietary drive software installed on the hard drives for heat monitoring. So now the only choice a user has is to bring their iMac into a Apple Store for a very expensive drive upgrade, which a person then decides the money is better spent buying a new machine.

  • Recover OSX Mountain Lion using Time Machine Backup

    Hi,
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    Sanil

    As Linc stated, you can boot from your Time Machine backup of OS X Mountain Lion.
    Restart your machine and hold down the Option key. Select the Time Machine backup drive to boot from. When it boots into the TM drive you will get the same OS X Utilities screen like in the recovery HD. You can use Disk Utilities to erase your Macintosh HD then restore your Mac OS X from Time Machine.

  • Since upgrading to Lion, my time machine backups are failing - error message: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Jackie Scanlon's Time Caps/Jacqueline Drabczynska's MacBook.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1). Any ideas?

    Since upgrading my Macbook to Lion, the time machine backups are failing - error message: "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Jackie Scanlon's Time Caps/Jacqueline Drabczynska’s MacBook.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1)."  I have rebooted the TIme Capsule and it worked OK, but don't want to do that every time.  Any suggestions?  Thanks

    Any new info on this? 
    I had the exact same problem and went crazy and spent a hecka lot of time trying to deal with my brand new 2TB Time Capsule and almost brand new MacBook Pro.  Then I thought I fixed it...and I tried SO MANY things, I don't really know what did it...except taking out any apostrophe's in names of stuff that Apple puts in there...BUT...now it's back.
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  • After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

    After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

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  • Clean install of Lion and proper Time Capsule procedure.  Advice Please.

    Good day all,
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  • Mavericks install and Time Machine backup disk

    Anyone come across this?
    Trying to install Mavericks and get the message :
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    The requirements for Mountain Lion are:
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      and the supported models are:
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    MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
    MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
    Xserve (Early 2009)
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  • Combine fresh system install and Time Machine Backup

    Hi all !
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    habschi2 wrote:
    In trying to find causes of a system slowdown I decided to go for a complete fresh system install. BUT I also want to use my data saved in the time machine >backup without spoiling the freshly created system folder.
    You should be able to migrate, for example, just your data using TM. But, TM is a bit unpredictable. Why not make a bootable clone of your internal on an external. It would serve fail-safe purposes, migrations purposes, and data-backup purposes. At the end of your install, you could, as groups only, migrate your data, users, settings, and apps--using your discretion. I would migrate only my data and my settings.
    Is there a way to keep the fresh system folder deriving from a fresh installation and just replace the rest of the data (that´s not present yet) with >the time machine backup ?
    See above.
    I think the handy command "Restore System from Backup" from the OSX system installer wouldnt be a good idea. It would copy ALL the files from the backup, and would overwrite my fresh system folder, so that I´ll end up with the same >old, probably faulty system.
    Absolutely correct.
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    (8878)

  • Restore with install DVD and Time machine backup that excludes system

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