How do I simply move my existing OSX and data from a faulty hard drive I am replacing with a new one?

Recently I took my computer in to get repaid for a monitor display issue. While it was repaired the shop told me my hard drive was having issues. It turns out they could fix it for me but they were going to charge me $300+. I replace drives all the time at work but never for Macs. How can I go about moving all of my data from the current hard disk to the new hard disk (OS and all)? Can I simply back up the data to an external drive using time machine? I am thinking I would need to just start from scratch and install Mac OS 10.5, upgrade to 10.6, and so on.

tjk has given you the more correct answer. Use TimeMachine, CarbonCopyCloner, or SuperDuper! to make a complete backup of your computer's hard drive. This will make restoring to a new hard drive as painless as possible. Backing up only your home directly would force you to reinstall every program - sometime I prefer to avoid when possible. (All those serial numbers!)
If while attempting to backup the drive you get error messages which indicate the backup will be unusable, then retreat to backup up only the home directory.

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How to use Time Machine to back up and restore from 2 external hard drives

Hi I need some help
I am about to switch internal hard drives and kept a time machine back up to an external hard drive until I had filled it up. That was a few months ago and in order to make space I deleted some files from my internal drive. In the last few months I have filled that space (About 50GBs)on my internal drive. Needless to say those new files aren't backed up.
What I want to do is after switching internal hard drives restore everything including the new files apps and updates etc via time machine
Can I back up my most recent computer situation as it is to a new external hard drive using TM and then restore that to the new internal hard drive and then restore specific folders from my first external TM hard drive?
Thanks a million
Rotang

I am sorry, i am confused about what exactly you are trying to say here.
well, Time machine works on very simple concept. it backs up either all the data from your computer or only selected data(customized) from the computer.
to restore you can follow these steps as mentioned below
To restore files:
Open a window for the item you want to restore.
For example, if you accidentally deleted a file from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder. If you want to recover an email message, open your inbox in Mail.
If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.
Click the Time Machine icon in the Dock.
If Time Machine isn’t in the Dock, look for it in the Applications folder.
Use the arrows or the timeline along the right side of your screen to browse through all the backups Time Machine has created.
If you need more information about an item, double-click to preview it.
The windows behave just like Finder windows, so you can open folders, click items in the sidebar, and use the search field in the upper-right corner of the window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it and then click Restore.
You can restore individual items, multiple items, folders, or your entire hard disk.
If an item you restore has the same name as another item on your computer, you’re asked if you want to keep the current item, the restored item, or both.
The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if it is found in the Documents folder, it is returned to the Documents folder. Time Machine may ask if you want to re-create one or more folders in order to return a restored item to its original location.
And with regards to your question,
Can I back up my most recent computer situation as it is to a new external hard drive using TM and then restore that to the new internal hard drive and then restore specific folders from my first external TM hard drive?
yes, you can do that but but this can be done only by navigating into the Time machine restore folder and then copying the uptdated folder to the destination folder(drive) manually..
http://mac-support.blogspot.com

HT1420 How can I deauthorize a non-existant system. My hard drive died so I bought a new one, reinstalled the OS and iTunes but iTunes seems to think this is a new computer.

How can I deauthorize a non-existant system. My hard drive died so I bought a new one, reinstalled the OS and iTunes but iTunes seems to think this is a new computer.

Try deauthorizing the computer even if you haven't authorized it. If you've already authorized it, deauthorize it twice and then authorize it again.
(67626)

I'm about to transfer the contents of my existing HDD in my (dead PSU) iMac to another computer. I'm just wanting to know if and how I will be able to access my files and documents from the old hard drive once I've made the backup?

I'm about to transfer the contents of my existing HDD in my (dead PSU) iMac to another computer. I'm just wanting to know if and how I will be able to access my files and documents from the old hard drive once I've made the backup?

You are not going to be able to run your old system from the backup on this old computer as the hardware is incompatible.
You need to get a new computer or a refurbished one.

I transferred data from my external hard drive to my restored Mac Book Pro via migration assistant and now my external hard drive in time capsule has red minus signs. How do I get rid of that without getting rid of any of my data?

I used Migration Assistant to transfer my data from my external hard drive via Time Capsule to my restored Mac Book Pro. When I now go into Time Capsule I there are red minus signs in the corner of all the folders that are contained in my back up. How do I get rid of this and access my previous back-ups?

Select the drive and Finder > Get info and at the bottom "ignore permissions on this volume"
You can copy the files, but the ownership on the files still belongs to the other user account, once your done copying, then perform a #6 Reset Users Permissions and that will set all the ownership to that account.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Another method is to copy the entire folder, then change it's permissions.

How do I transfer applications & data from my old hard-drive to my new one?

My old hard drive started to crash, it was on it's way out and making funny noises. I have brought a new hard drive and connected it to the same leeds as the old one. I have put the opperating system on to the new hard drive and it is all up and running..... but.
I want to transfer all my old applications like garage sale and limewire without having to pay for them again and transfer all my music and photos from the old hard drive to the new.
So:
1: How do i get the old hard drive out of the position it's in it seems glued in and i can't see any screws?
2: How do i connect both hard drives and transfer everything from the old to the new? Do i need to buy another set of leeds or should they be in the computer
Your help would be most appreciated.....
power mac G4 466MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi
You should be able to have both drives installed at the same time in the rear U shaped bracket. One needs to be mounted in the bottom of the bracket, have it's jumpers set to master and be connected to the end connector of the ribbon cable. The other needs to mounted above it, have it's jumpers set to slave and be connected to the middle connector of the ribbon cable. The computer should have the leads to do this, i.e. one ribbon cable with two connectors and two molex power connectors. With both drives installed, you can then drag your music and photos etc from the old to the new. You could try dragging the applications, although if they install additional files elsewhere they'll need to be reinstalled from the original CDs or DVDs.
The old drive may be screwed into the U shaped bracket from below. There should be a single screw which secures the bracket to the chassis at the front, although it may be hidden under the ribbon cable. If you unplug the ribbon cable and undo the single screw you can remove the bracket still containing the old drive, by sliding it forwards and lifting it up at the front. The screws securing the drive to the bracket can then be undone from beneath.

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.
When I start a backup. Time Machine says "Oldest Backup: None; Latest Backup: None", so it seems like it should do a complete backup, but it only does a partial.

Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Mobile backups: OFF
          Auto backup: YES
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
          Destinations:
                    Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
                    Total size: 999.86 GB
                    Total number of backups: 64
                    Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
                    Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Too small
                              Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
          /sbin excluded from backup!
          /usr excluded from backup!
          /System excluded from backup!
          /bin excluded from backup!
          /private excluded from backup!
          /Library excluded from backup!
          /Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy

How do i recover data from an external hard drive that was accidentally deleted? After I verified the drive, a message appeared that said my drive needed to be repaired. When I tried to access the drive again, the 700 Gigs of music is gone!

How do i recover data from an external hard drive that was accidentally deleted? After I verified the drive, a message appeared that said my drive needed to be repaired. When I tried to access the drive again, the 700 Gigs of music is gone!

Stop using the drive immediately, un plug it.
Buy a copy of ProSoft DataRescue 4 and use it to search for deleted files.

HT1660 Can I play movies and music from my external hard drive or do I have to re-instll them on my computer?

Can I play my movies and music from my external hard drive or do I have to reinstall it on my computer?

Hello B3NN13,
If you would like to add the music from your external hard drive to iTunes without copying it to the iTunes Library on your internal hard drive, you may find the following article helpful:
Add files to your library without adding them to your iTunes folder
When you add an item already on your computer to your iTunes library, iTunes places a copy of the file in your iTunes folder. The original file remains in its current location.
You can change this setting so that files are added to your iTunes library without being added to the iTunes folder. You might want to do this, for example, if you prefer to store video files on an external disk but still want to view them in iTunes.
Choose iTunes > Preferences, and click Advanced.
Deselect the checkbox next to “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.”
From now on, when you drag a file to your library or choose File > Add to Library, the item appears in iTunes, but the actual file isn’t copied or moved.
Tip: You can temporarily reverse this setting by holding down the Option key while you drag files to the iTunes window.
iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored
Sincerely,
- Brenden

How can i recover my data from an old hard drive after replacing it?

How can I recover my data from an old hard drive after replacing it?

Internal or external hard drive? Was the drive still working before you replaced it?

How do i retrieve data from my external hard drive?

how do i retrieve data from my external hard drive?

If your hard drive can be detected and shows up as a drive letter in my computer but you can't access your files,then you can recover your data off it with data recovery software easily.This way is the easiest and the most inexpensive way to recover your data.If you bring it to a computer repair shop that is available for data recovery servise,they will cost you $500-1000 or more.Hmm, a lot of money.
I managed to recover data from crashed hard drive with Tenorshare Data Recovery.If needed,you can download it and scan your hard drive for free to preview whether your data can be recovered.It will show you thumbnails for recoverable pictures.

How do I recover data from my dead hard drive?

How do I recover data from my dead hard drive?

Is it dead or corrupt? There are recovery programs out there, however if your HD is head, paying pros to do data recovery is VERY costly. Some have removed the platters and installed them in likewise drives that dont have head crashes, but torque tolerances are tight, and doing it right is a bit advanced and tricky for most. Ive done HD disk swaps 4 times and had success 3 of the 4 times. It requires cannibalizing another working HD. In the future remember the golden rule, 2 copies is 1, and one is NONE.
Its likely you could find a local computer repair station that can do it for you cheaply. HD dont really "die", they have fried SATA bus, or crashed HEADS........the platters DO demagnatize over long time due to heat and degauss of the data (poor storage, etc).........but in specific, a HARD DRIVE DOESNT DIE ,.........only the flying head mechanisms that read and write the data, and SATA / bus that feeds the data DIES,.......but the data (unless corrupt or magnetically corrupted) is THERE

How do I restore data from an external hard drive back to a restored mac?

how do I restore data from an external hard drive back to a restored mac?

Hello, Esmin77.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
I see you want to restore your MacBook Pro from an external drive. Here is an article that may help you with this process if you used Time Machine to backup these files.
OS X Yosemite: Recover your entire system
Cheers,
Jason H.

How can't I move all my contacted and photos from my old iCloud account to my new account

How can't I move all my contacted and my photos from my old iCloud account to my new iCloud account . And how do I know I got photos saved on my iCloud account

If you sign into your old account using your iPhone and turn on contacts (Settings > iCloud) then once all of your contacts are on your iPhone turn contacts back off and select keep on my iPhone. Then delete account on the old account and sign in with your new iCloud account and turn on contacts and select merge. That will get your contacts over.
If you have photos stored in iCloud it will be in My Photo Stream. This section only keeps the last 30 days of auto uploads from any of your devices or computers that are using this feature. You can access these photos by signing into the old iCloud account in Settings > iCloud and enable Photos > My Photo Stream. If you have any photos in there, they will load into your Photos App. In the Photos App, tap Albums in the bottom right, then tap My Photo Stream. There is no way to upload them to your new iCloud account once you sign into it short of creating a Shared Photo Stream and inviting yourself to it.
In the end you should really try to keep one Apple ID for everything when possible as there is no way to merge Apple IDs and you can end up in a tangled mess.
How to export iCloud contacts as vCards: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH3606
My Photo Stream FAQs: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4486
Shared Photo Stream FAQs: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5903

Will my files i saved using time machine still exist if i delete from my computers hard drive?

I recently had a problem with my computer. I bought an external hard drive and used time machine to back up my 15in mac book pro before sending in for repair.
I have gotten my computer back and needed to delete files from the hard drive on the computer ( close to capacity). Was I safe to do so knowing that everything is saved on my external?
My concern is that if I plug in the external hard drive it will now see those files have been deleted from my computer and delete from the external as well.
-David

Just wanted to add to this conversation - Time Machine will keep copies of your files for some time. It is a backup system, after all. Deleting the files from your main hard drive will not cause Time Machine to go and delete them from your backups.
However, eventually, Time Machine is likely to run out of space on your hard drive, and it then does some cleaning up so it can continue working. A file that is not on your hard drive will not exist on your Time Machine backup forever. Eventually it will be deleted to make room for more recent backups. I can't predict how long this will take, but if you have bought a 1TB or so drive for your Time Machine backups, I would suggest that you might be able to keep some months of backups online - after that, old files that you no longer have on your Macbook Pro will be cleaned away.
So Glenn is spot on - if you want an archive copy of those files, you should make a separate backup - Time Machine does not keep your files forever!
Hope that helps.
Ivan

How do I simply move my existing OSX and data from a faulty hard drive I am replacing with a new one?

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