Don't see target disk when recovering from Time Machine

on my MacBook (vintage 2006?) I am now running 10.7.5
A few days ago it all of a sudden would not boot correctly. It goes through the start up screens and gets all the way to the screen where you can select a user (I have 4 users [family members] installed on this machine). You can select a user and enter a password and then the screen goes nearly white and then dumps you back to the user selection screen. If you put in the wrong password it errors as it should. If you ask for a password hint it operates as it should. It just won't log in ANY user.
I started it in the mode where you can run disk doctor and everything checks out as OK.
I run Time Machine so I thought "go get a 1 week old back-up, restore it and try that"
So I start up holdinging Control-R and I get to the screens that let you restore etc.
I find the drive, I find a back-up I want.
BUT
when it gets to the "Select a Destination" screen the only drive showing is the external drive I have attached which has the Time Machine back ups on it.
HELP!!!

wait - after sitting there for a long while on the 3 attempt all of a sudden the internal drive became visible.
I have selected it and am now restoring (which I will let run over night)
If this fixes it I will let everyone know.
IF it does not I will ask if anyone has a good idea as to how to fix this boo/log-in problem

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No recovery mode available when recovered from Time Machine

My MBP has been really annoying ever since I bought it last year; every 1-2 months, HDD file structure is completely messed up which is beyond Disk Utility's recovery capability.
So I need to restore entire system from Time Machine after formatting the internal HDD, but every time I do, there is no way to reboot it to the recovery mode (command + R) and always end up with the Internet Recovery.
The only way to get the recovery mode available again is, so far, download the entire OS again and re-install it.
But it is quite time consuming and I would like to minimize the complete recovery time (total recovery time including recovering files from Time Machine and re-install Mountain Lion mounts to 10 hours or longer and I need to do it roughly every month...)
Does anyone have any good way to avoid the re-installation step?
Thank you.

If your system will not load the local Recovery HD partition then you will need to download and reinstall the OS again to get it working (and likely both partition and format the drive as well).
If you are simply trying to restore a Time Machine backup, then you can use the Internet Recovery to do so, by choosing the option from the OS X Tools interface and then choosing a backup instance on your TM drive to restore.

Does anyone know why since upgrading to ML notes are not visible in Time Machine. They used to be part of mail and could be recovered from Time machine but since ML I don't seem to be able to access notes in Time Machine. Any help would be useful.

Does anyone know why since upgrading to ML notes are not visible in Time Machine. They used to be part of mail and could be recovered from Time machine but since ML I don't seem to be able to access notes in Time Machine. Any help would be useful.

Welcome to Apple Communities
Mail doesn't support notes. If you use iCloud, you have them in it because Notes is an application

Had hard drive renewed due to product recall (iMac) backed up complete system on time machine . Had the drive done got mac back tried to reinstall from time machine .The new drive tells me that the space has been taken up but can't find where the file hav

Had hard drive renewed due to product recall (iMac) backed up complete system on time machine . Had the drive done got mac back tried to reinstall from time machine .The new drive tells me that the space has been taken up but can't find where the file have gone. Need to free up the space that the ghost file take up so I can drag drop from ex drive onto harddrive

Here's the scoop, new friend.....
When you boot into Time Machine you'll get the same OS X Utilities screen as you would if you booted into the Recovery HD. So, from there go into Disk Utilities to erase/format your internal drive. After that's done, back out to the OS X Utilities screen and select the restore option. Just follow the prompts to select the TM back up date you want to restore from and where to restore it to. Pretty straight forward.

HT4413 When migrating from time machine to my new hard drive, only some files and applications and setting are transferred, not all of them. In my latest back up I have them all. How can I fix that?

When migrating from time machine to a new hard drive, not all is transferd, only partial documents, applications , settings etc. How can I migrate the latest back-up with all the content.

sohs wrote:
When migrating from time machine to a new hard drive, not all is transferd, only partial documents, applications , settings etc. How can I migrate the latest back-up with all the content.
If you want to use Time Machine to recover the contents of one of its a backups to a new drive, follow the instructions in Mac OS X 10.6: Recovering your entire system. Note that you must select the "Restore System From Backup" option from the Utilities menu of the Installer disc to do this.
Also note that if you are transferring files to a hard drive to be used with a different computer, you should use Migration Assistant instead. This intentionally will not copy everything because some settings, applications, etc. are not compatible computer-to-computer. Migration Assistant will copy everything that is.

HT201250 When migrating from time machine to my new hard drive, it migrates the first back-up I made several years ago. How can I migrate the latest back-up ?

When migrating from time machine to my new hard drive, it migrates the first back-up I made several years ago. How can I migrate the latest back-up ? I need time machine to migrate the latest back-up. Should I delete the older back-ups ?

As noondaywitch says, it should use the latest backup.
Where are your backups (external HD, Time Capsule, etc.)?
It sounds like there are two separate sets, and you're not connected to the right set.

Cant Recover from Time Machine after Yosemite upgrade

I have a 27" iMac (w SSD Drive) and after the initial Yosemite upgrade i had to uninstall because it hung trying to boot. After some help from Apple I lost all of the data and apps on my hard drive (thanks???). The restore utility (restart option r) restored me back to Mountain Lion. I wasn't concerned as I have a time machine. I tried to restore from Time Machine using command-r and it is said I don't have enough space? I retried the Yosemite upgrade which seems to be working fine (a couple of reboots and has been ok (cautiously optimistic. I Entered Time Machine and clicked on the last valid backup in the timeline (the time line shows many) and nothing? It should have scrolled backwards but it didn't (the bar highlighted red when I hovered over). I tried to use the little arrow to move back and it doesn't do anything? All I can do is cancel? Am I doing this wrong? Any suggestions?

Yosemite has to index the backup.. over wireless this takes days.. no kidding.. even over ethernet it takes a very long time.
Is the TM backup on a Time Capsule or on external drive??
How long are you waiting?? Please don't expect instant indexing even on fast external drive... and on wireless connection to a TC.. forever could be close to the time period.
If you had have asked before you started down this route.. I would have strongly recommended you take a bootable clone from the disk before you attempted anything.. Carbon Copy Cloner creates a reliable and easily tested backup since you simply boot from it.
Time Machine is now so hard to use, so unreliable when you change OS version.. it is seriously time to stop using Time Machine.. or at least supplement it with something more reliable.

How do I create a recovery partition when restoring from Time Machine?

I am planning to replace the HDD in my Macbook Pro with an SSD. I've used Time Machine to backup my HDD (running Mountain Lion) but am trying to find the best way to restore my Time Machine backup to the new SSD once installed.
Given that the new SSD will not have a bootable OS X Recovery partition, I have created a bootable OS X Recovery drive on a USB thumb drive using OS X Recovery Assistant.
In order to ensure that the new SSD has the OS X Recovery parition, should I:
(1) reinstall Mountain Lion on the SSD then recover my data from Time Machine; or
(2) can I simply use the Restore from Time Machine option in OS X Recovery to do it all at once.
I can't seem to work out whether option (2) will create the OS X Recovery partition on the new SSD or just recover the system partition.

Turns out the OS X Recovery partition is only created on a fresh install of OS X. Restoring via Time Machine will not do the trick.

Can I load Lion over Mountain Lion or do I need to recover from Time Machine

I have been having problems with my IMac not waking over the network when my apple tv searches for the itunes library. Instead of recovering a time machine backup with Lion, can I just download lion again and install it on my Mac? I am reluctant to use the time machine back up because I would have to spend some time backing up all the content added since mountain lion was installed.

Use Time Machine. You can't download Lion in 10.8. Press Command and R keys in boot and restore the Lion Time Machine copy

Screwed up Mail How can App & files be recovered from Time machine

Did something while trying to fix a send problem. Now Mail doesn't appear when "opened". Mail menus appear but Preferences, Quit and most menu items are grayed out; there is no mail window.
Can the program and required files be restored from Time Machine? If so what files need be restored?

+Can the program and required files be restored from Time Machine?+
Yes, but of course you'll lose the changes since the most recent backup.
+If so what files need be restored?+
Start with this file (path relative to the top level of your home folder):
Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
Quit Mail before restoring, then try again. If it still isn't working, then quit again and restore:
Library/Mail

Copy error -36 when copying from Time Machine disk to Mac

Since using OS X 10.6.(.6), I can't copy certain files from my Time Machine disk to the Mactintosh hard disk without getting a copy error -36. The error doesn't occur with all files: for example pdf files will copy without problems, but Filemaker Pro files and iCal files don't. May be it's important to mention that when I retrieve files from the Time Machine disk, I have to mount the "sparse bundle" with my user files first and then drag the files to the desktop or an other place. This is because I'm running File Vault. If I try to retrieve files that were backed up under OS X 10.5, I get no copying errors at all. So it looks as if Snow Leopard has something to do with it. Is there anybody who has seen this problem before and knows how to solve it?

Ok, I finally was able to complete the Disk Utility Repair, and it says everything is ok. Still the problem in restoring presists.
One thing I noticed is that most files that Time Machine restore chokes on have an added set of permissions added to the file or folder with the same user name as mine, and the permissions level says "Custom". Thus it has 2 sets of permissions defined with the same user name, one with Read/Write and another with the same name that says "Custom." Am I explaining this well? Maybe this is a clue?

Can't recover from time machine because missing space

Hi,
after having some issue with the hard drive of my MBP, I had to erase it. Now I'm trying to recover with a time machine save but when I get to install it, it tells me MACINTOSH HD doesn't have enough space while it's empty (280GO). What should I do ?
Thank you

Starting from a clean 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 the 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 the home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem because 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 the backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set the 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 the 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

HT201250 My MacBook is slow. I have a cleanup programme and I do not have many applications. I would like to clean the disk and restore from Time Machine. Will it still be slow?

I am frustrated having paid for "Clean My Mac" which I run regularly and using tips like cleaning the cache in Terminal view. It is still getting slower. Can I clean off the disk and reinstall from my Time Machine, or will it re load the problem too? How do I do this anyway?

See:
How to eliminate slow Mac problems,
Mac Maintenance Quick Assist,
Mac OS X speed FAQ,
Speeding up Macs,
How to Speed up Macs,
Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance,
Mac troubleshooting: What to do when your computer is too slow,
Essential Mac Maintenance: Get set up,
Essential Mac Maintenance: Rev up your routines,
Maintaining OS X,
Five Mac maintenance myths and
Myths of required versus not required maintenance for Mac OS X for information.
iMac refurb (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), SL & ML, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

Licensing Errors after recovering from Time Machine to an external Hard Drive

My internal HD failed and I'm temporarily using an external drive as my primary HD. I loaded all my data from my time machine backup onto the external drive temporarily until my new mac arrives (next week). Now, I'm getting licensing error code 150:30 when I try to open Photoshop. It says rebooting can fix it. It has not fixed the issue. Any recommendations? I need to work on some files now and am stuck.
Thanks!

Yes. This is very common. Photoshop must never be migrated or transferred, because the license is tied to the Mac and moving it breaks the license.
The cure is simple. Reinstall using your discs and don't forget to apply the updates. You will be starting at 11.0.0.
Gene

Grey Screen when restoring from Time Machine Backup

I was having some issues with my Macbook (circa 2008, aluminum) so I thought restoring from a Time Machine backup might solve the problem. The restore goes fine, always, but unfortunately, now whenever I start it up, it goes straight to the Gray Screen and goes no further. When checking the error logs, I see somewhere around 60% (I'm guessing, based on the time) the error:
bookmark failed to issue extension for item /com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg
And a few other errors. Is there something I should be doing to fix this? Someone recommended reinstalling Lion, but as I have no wireless internet at home (only a plug-in USB 3G thing) it can't verify the installation.

Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store.

Don't see target disk when recovering from Time Machine

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