How to Restore from Time Machine in Single-user mode?

Hi there, I am trying to fix a Macbook Pro that has had its /private folder trashed and emptied. Obviously it won't boot unless you you boot in to Single User mode and I'm wondering if its possible to do a Time Machine restore from the terminal, I would need the 2nd more recent Time Machine image which is sitting on a Firewire HDD.
I was going to just see if I could find the orignal OSX install disk and just do a fresh install of the OS which I don't mind doing (since everything important is backed up in Dropbox), but I can't seem to find the CD anywhere nearby, so the Time Machine option would be much preferred.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure if this is related enough, but I just wrestled trying to restore from time machine too, trying to reinstall 10.5.8 after putting a new HD in my MBP, 2006 vintage.
That took sooooo long to get back to where I was before swapping disks; what did the trick was ordering a free copy of Snow Leopard install disk (free due to Apple trying to push people from idisk to icloud) which was rushed FedEx (yay) and which allowed me to access Time Machine where my ancient original OSX install disk had not.
And all it took was 2 weeks of cursing!

Similar Messages

How to restore from time machine for another user login

I use time machine to back my computer which has multiple user login.
First I set up time machine backup using User A. I checked that User B files in the hard disk is also backed up, and I can restore using User B login.
Then I changed the hard disk today and all users I need to recreate again.
After recreating users, I found that User A can restore files from time machine backup.
However, files originally under User B cannot be restored using either User A and User B. The error message is
"The folder “Documents” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents."
Anyone can help?

Not sure if this is related enough, but I just wrestled trying to restore from time machine too, trying to reinstall 10.5.8 after putting a new HD in my MBP, 2006 vintage.
That took sooooo long to get back to where I was before swapping disks; what did the trick was ordering a free copy of Snow Leopard install disk (free due to Apple trying to push people from idisk to icloud) which was rushed FedEx (yay) and which allowed me to access Time Machine where my ancient original OSX install disk had not.
And all it took was 2 weeks of cursing!

How to restore from Time Machine WITHOUT install discs using a second Mac

It's a question that is asked repeatedly all over the web by Mac users like me that bought in to Time Machine (TM) on the assumption that if their computer died one day it would be a piece of cake to restore from it, only for that day to come and then to be told "ahh, okay the first thing is to get your computers install discs..." (loud crashing sound of world falling around ears).
I've never been able to afford a new Mac and both of my machines were bought second-hand. Neither came with Leopard (both have Tiger and have been upgraded to Leopard via the net). This was never supposed to be a problem as I've been backing up with TM. However it appears that Tiger discs are as much use as an inflatable dart board when it comes to using TM. So I've been faced with the possibility of having to spend £130 (about two hundred Pres Sheets, Yankees) on the Leopard install discs just so that I can have the option of restoring from TM. Bonkers.
However after much nashing of teeth, a very long weekend learning all sorts of things about 'Target Mode', 'Single User Mode', 'Verbose Mode', 'Open Source 9' etc the following solution has worked without the need to go out and buy those over-priced discs...
What you will need:
1 broken Mac requiring restoration
1 second donor Mac running Leopard (or Snow Leopard so long as the broken Mac can run it)
1 firewire cable with the correct fitting at either end to attach both Macs together
1 Time Machine backup
Note: The following is for when you have given up trying to boot from your hard drive. In my case I couldn't boot in to Safe Mode etc. so was forced to format my drive and re-import everything. If you've read this far I'm assuming your at the same point as well and have tried everything else that's out there first.
Also - both my Macs are Power PC's so can't run Snow Leopard, so I can't say 100% this will work with SL (Intel) machines. From what I've read Snow Leopard will work with this procedure too, but if you've found differently please feel free to add your experiences below...
STEP ONE: Format the corrupt Hard Drive or replace with a fresh HDD
*Link the two computers with a firewire.
*If you're replacing your HDD, remove your corrupted hard drive from the 'broken' machine and insert a new one.
*Power up the broken Mac whilst holding down the 'T' key. This will start it up in Target Mode and you'll get a nice firewire symbol floating around that machine's screen.
*Power up the second 'healthy' Mac. This will be our 'donor' machine. When it starts up after a few seconds you will see the hard drive of the broken Mac appear on the donor Mac's desktop.
*Using your donor Mac's 'Disc Utility', format the broken Mac's hard drive (now's the time to partition it etc. if you want to).
STEP TWO: Clone your donor Mac
Your broken Mac is no longer broken and now needs a new OS. But you don't have the discs, right? Well get this... you can clone your donor mac on to your machine, even if they are totally different i.e. a laptop on to a tower.
*Again using Disc Utility, click on your donor Mac's hard drive. The restore tab appears as an option.
*Click on restore and drag the donor Mac's hard drive that contains the operating system in to the Source box.
*Drag the newly formatted hard drive on the broken Mac in to the Destination box.
*Click restore. Your donor Mac's hard drive will now be 'cloned' on to your no-longer-broken Mac. Once this is done, eject the first Mac's hard drive from your donor Mac's desktop. You no longer need the donor Mac.
Ta daa! Your machine now starts up happy and smily again. Time to restore all that stuff that's been sat on your Time Machine drive...
STEP 3: Restore from Time Machine using Migration Assistant
This is the really clever part that prompted me to write this piece in the first place. Time Machine IS accessible without those Leopard install discs you don't have. You need to use something called 'Migration Assistant'.
*Start up your machine as normal and you'll see it is an exact clone of the donor machine. Weird huh?
*Attach your Time Machine hard drive. It will show up as an icon on the desktop and because of it's size, you'll be asked if you want to use it as a Time Machine backup. Err, NO YOU DON'T! Click 'cancel'.
*Open Migration Assistant (if you can't find it just type it in to Finder and click). There are three options, the middle one being to restore from TM or another disc. Yup, you want that one.
*Migration Assistant will now ask you what you want to restore in stages, firstly User Accounts, then folders, Apps etc. It will even import internet settings
And that's you done. Let Migration Assistant do it's thang... altogether I had about 140gb to restore, so it wasn't exactly speedy. This wasn't helped by the fact that my TM hard drive is connected via USB (yes, I know). Just leave it alone and it'll whirr happily away...
Before I go - you don't have an option of when to restore from, and will restore from the last Time Machine save. At least then you should be able to access TM and go 'backwards' if you need to.
Also - for a Mac expert, the above will be up there with 'Spot Goes To The Farm' in terms of complexity. However, for the rest of us the above is only available in fragments all over the net. By far the most common response to 'how do I restore from Time Machine without install discs' is 'you can't'. If I'd found the above information in one place I could have saved a lot of hair pulling and swearing over the last couple of days, so forgive me for sharing this workaround with the rest of the world. Meanwhile your expertise will come in very handy for the inevitable questions that will get posted below, so please feel free to help those people that won't be sure if this solution is the right one for them. I'm no expert, I just want to help people that were stuck in the same situation (and looking at the web, there's a LOT of them).
Hope this is of use to someone, thanks and *good luck*!

Most maintenance and repair, restore and install procedures require the use
of the correct OS X install DVD; be it an original machine-specific restore/install
disc set or a later retail non-specific general install disc set.
By having an unsupported system, perhaps installed via an illegal download or
other file-sharing scheme, where no retail official discs are involved and the
initial upgrade was done by other means outside of the License Agreements,
you are asking us to discuss a matter of illegal installation and use of a product.
There are no legal complete OS X system download upgrades online; only bits
that are update segments to a retail or as-shipped machine's original OS X install.
+{Or an installation where a previous owner had correct retail upgrade discs, &+
+chose to not include them with the re-sale of the computer it was installed in.}+
However, to answer the initial question. To get and use an externally enclosed
hard drive in suitable boot-capable housing, and get a free-running Clone
Utility (download online; often a donation-ware product, runs free) you can
make a bootable backup of everything in your computer to an external HDD.
This is the way to make a complete backup to restore all functions to the computer.
The Time Machine has some limits, in that it can restore only that which it saves.
It does not make a bootable clone of your entire computer system with apps and
your files, to an external drive device. A clone can. And some of the clone utility's
settings can also backup changes to an external drive's system; if that other drive
is attached to the computer correctly.
Carbon Copy Cloner, from Bombich Software; and also SuperDuper, another of
the most known software names you can download and use to clone boot-capable
system backups of your computer's hard disk drive contents, are often cited.
However you resolve the matter of the running OS X system in your computer,
derived from what appears to be questionable means, is part of the initial issue.
Since you do need to be able to fix an existing installation by unmounting the
computer's hard disk drive and run the computer from the other (install disc or
system clone) while it is Unmounted; and use the correct Disk Utility version to
help diagnose and perhaps be able to fix it. You can't use a Tiger version Disk
Utility to fix a Leopard installation, and so on.
So, the situation and replies as far as they can go (since the matter does
constitute an illegal system, if it was arrived at without correct discs) is a
limited one. And file sharing of copied Mac OS X (and other) software is
also considered illegal.
And, one way to get odd malware and unusual stuff, is to get an unauthorized
system upgrade from an illegal source online. You never know what's inside it.
The other reply was not a personal attack; the matter is of legal status and as
you have a product with a questionable system, the answer is to correct it.
And if you want to save everything in your computer, make a clone to a suitable
externally enclosed self-powered boot capable hard disk drive. With older PPC
Macs, that would best be to one with FireWire and the Oxford-type control chips.
However that works out...
Good luck & happy computing!

How to restore from Time Machine onto an external drive

Hi all,
I am a backup freak, and I don't feel entirely safe with Time Machine taking care of backing up my system unless I can test every now and then that I would be able to do a full restore. I've had problems in the past with .Mac/MobileMe's Backup.app, which would not be able to restore from an otherwise apparently successful backup, for one reason or another.
So, is there a way to test a full restore from Time Machine onto an external hard drive?
Thanks for your advice

Allamistakeo wrote:
Hi all,
I am a backup freak, and I don't feel entirely safe with Time Machine taking care of backing up my system unless I can test every now and then that I would be able to do a full restore. I've had problems in the past with .Mac/MobileMe's Backup.app, which would not be able to restore from an otherwise apparently successful backup, for one reason or another.
So, is there a way to test a full restore from Time Machine onto an external hard drive?
of course. connect an external, boot from the snow leopard DVD and choose "restore system from backup" from the utilities menu. follow the instructions and choose the external drive as the restore destination. make sure it's properly formatted. it should be formatted mac os extended with GUID partition scheme.
also, you might want to consider doing secondary backups in addition to TM by making a bootable clone on another external drive. use CCCloner or Superduper for such backups.
Thanks for your advice

How to restore from time machine different OS

I am going back to snow leopard (from OS 10.8 back to 10.6) using my mac book pro (mbp). I backed up my data using time machine then loaded the orig OS from disk (leopard). This erased my HD on my mbp. I loaded the orig OS successfully (leopard). When I tried to restore data and apps from time machine, it said I could not because the time machine was backed up using 10.8 (and I needed to upgrade if I was going to restore from time machine). The point is I dont want to upgrade (I am downgrading away from 10.8 back to 10.6). Another option is restore from another mac. I have another mac (mini) running 10.6 and I transfered the time maching data from my mbp to the mac mini. Now I am trying to restore data and apps from the mini to the mpb (using a firewire). Is there any easier method??

You made a mistake: create a Time Machine backup on Mountain Lion. Doing this, you can't restore the backup on older versions, so if you want to downgrade, you will have to restore the files manually, taking so much time, and you will have to reinstall all your applications.
To transfer your files from your Mac mini to the MacBook Pro, you can use FireWire without any problem (furthermore, it's the fastest way). Connect the FireWire cable, open Migration Assistant on both computers and follow the steps

How to restore from Time Machine after HD change?

Hi I am having my hard drive replaced due to the issue with the Seagate hard drives. I have a Lacie NAS which is working with Time Machine. I wanted to know, once I have my iMac back with a new hard drive, how do I restore everything from Time Machine?
Thanks

Have a look at this thread I posted in earlier and the various links in Pondini's excellent Time Machine resource I linked to:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20367932#20367932

HT5097 How to restore from time machine?

I've backup my Macbook Air Using time machine before reformat it to have window partition.
However, after installing OS Lion 10.7.4, how do I restore back all my application and data on my last backup from time machine?
Thks

See
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

How to restore from Time Machine when backup is larger than HDD

In an attempt to upgrade my 13 inch, 8GB 2010 MacBook Pro (750 GB HDD) from Mavericks to Yosemite, the Yosemite install was stuck at "about a minute remaining" for hours (overnight). So I cancelled the install and tried again only to be stuck at the same spot. I took the mac to an Apple Genius Bar to have it looked at while it was stuck at that install step. They couldn't fix it and did a fresh install of Yosemite. Luckily, I had backed it up about a week before, so I wasn't losing a whole lot. I attempted to restore from the Time Machine backup using Migration Assistant (2TB external USB 3.0) of the latest backup but the estimated time to restore from backup kept climbing to more than 150 hours. Eventually it had an error message that there wasn't enough free space on the HDD (the same 750 GB drive that my backups were from). There was less than 100GB of free space on the HDD before attempting the upgrade.
How can I restore at least a portion of my Time Machine backup, like my Documents and Apps? I don't even mind going back to Mavericks so that I can use my computer again! For example, I need MS Office but I cannot use it on Yosemite if I do not first get my original backup working again so that I can unregister the current version (the product key is "lost" with my inaccessible backups!).
Most of the information I can find online is how to prepare for a proper backup, but at this point since Apple Genius did a fresh install, Time Machine has my only backup!
Any advice would be great!
p.s. This may be useful to know: I had several virtual machines from Parallels: Windows, Ubuntu, etc before I upgraded to Mavericks from Snow Leopard. Mavericks required an updated Parallels that I never got but I'm sure those VMs are hiding in my backup drive.

OS X Yosemite: Restore items backed up with Time Machine
While in Time Machine, 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 the files you want to restore.
If you need to restore from a backup of the hidden user Library folder, first select a snapshot, then press shift-command-G. A Go to Folder dialog will open. In it, you'll enter the path to the folder. The dialog will help you by automatically completing the parts of the path when you start to type them.
The path begins with slash character ("/"). Enter that. The rest of the parts will be separated by slashes.
The next part is the date and time of the current snapshot. Enter a "2", and the rest of the date should be filled in automatically. Press the right-arrow key to jump to the end of the path. Enter a slash to start the next part.
Next is the name of the volume (usually "Macintosh HD" unless you gave it a different name.) Start to type that, then jump to the end and enter a slash.
The next part is "Users", followed by a slash.
Next is your (short) user name, which is also the name of your home folder.
Finally, enter "Library", then press return. You should now be in the Library folder. From there you can get around as in the Finder.

How to restore from Time Machine?

Hello, my Macbook Pro's hard disk failed. A local service (not Apple - this is Romania) changed my hard disk to a new one, put the Snow Leopard system back and copied most of the files from my old hard disk to the new one. But not all my files are OK, some of them are damaged.
This happend in 7 december and I have a Time Machine copy from 22 of November which would be good for me.
How should I proceed - restore the whole system from Time Machie - or can I restore only parts of it (like mail, photos, etc.)?
Thanks
Tamas

Read thru this, Pondini is the reident Time Machine guru.
It should answer all your questions.
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
Hope this helps

How to restore from time machine with Lion preinstalled?

Yesterday I got an iMac and OSX.7 Lion was preinstalled. I set up a time machine disk and performed a full backup, and it will work for file histories, but if my main disk fails how do I restore from this time machine backup?
I never had to restore in Leopard or Snow Leopard, but I believe the procedure was to insert your optical install and/or rescue disk and from there was an option to restore from a time machine backup. If I don't have a rescue disc, as no media whatsoever came with the iMac, how do I perform a restore?
I think if you upgrade to Lion it gives you a recovery partition but I don't think I have that with Lion preinstalled. At least I can't find it. Ideas?

Sorry, I RTFM'd and found this: "To open the Mac OS X Utilities application: Restart your computer while holding down the Command and R keys". From there you can restore from a time machine backup. Sorry for the post.

How to restore from time machine after HDD upgrade on macbook pro?

Hi,
I have recently bought a WD 2.5 inch SATA 750GB 7200RPM 16GB HDD and plan to use it on my macbook pro 13 inch 2.4ghz early 2011. I will leave the pysical installation part to Apple Service. I have my Time Machine backup on an external hard disk. So, once I get the upgraded macbook, what are the steps I should follow for a complete Time Machine restore? (Including the formatting on the new HDD).
One more question; when I transfer my applications to the new HDD will Time Machine "remember" their activation codes and license information ?
Thanks a lot.

http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/14.html
This has all the instructions for a complete restore, including how to format the disk. Pondini's site probably has anything else you want to know too.
Good luck!

2nd External Drive - how to restore from Time Machine backup?

I have had Time Machine configured to back up my photos and videos on an external drive. My Time Machine backup is a separate drive attached to my MacBook by FireWire. I have Leopard OS. I have in the past successfully retrieved deleted photos from the Time Machine backups using iPhoto.
Now, unfortunately, the external drive with the photos and videos has developed a problem (possibly power-related) so that my MacBook no longer recognizes that drive. Obviously, this means that iPhoto can't find/open that photo library. Which means that iPhoto can't access the backup via Time Machine. Help! The photos must surely be on the Time Machine backup but I can't figure out any way to retrieve them.

callipygia600,
This one's easy. Purchase a new drive to replace the one that went "belly up." Format (erase) it using Mac OS Extended, and give the volume that will be created the exact same name as the bad drive. Navigate into the new (empty) volume in the Finder, then open Time Machine from the Dock.
You should be able to navigate "back in time" and see the backed up contents. Select everything you see, and click "Restore." It will all be restored to your new external drive. The key is to use the same name for the new drive.
In the meantime, your backup can be accessed in the Finder if necessary. Using the Finder, navigate into the "Backups.backupdb" folder on the backup drive, then into the latest backup. You will see one folder named for your startup disk, and another named for your secondary/external volume. Within that second folder you will find the items that were stored on the bad drive. You can safely copy these to another volume using the Finder, but do not attempt to move or modify them otherwise (do what you like with the copies).
Scott

External Drive crashed-how to restore from Time Machine?

I've been using TM to back up my internal, as well as an external drive. The external has been acting a bit flaky the past week or so, and I think it just bit the dust. How do I go about just restoring the data that was on it to a new external HD? I don't want to affect the internal HD at all. TIA.

Do not use exactly the same name for the new drive. Once your replacement drive is properly formatted, connected, and mounted, turn TM off and just open a Finder window and +Enter Time Machine.+ Navigate to the last backup before the old drive died, and select your computer name in the Finder's sidebar.
That should produce a list of folders representing both the internal and external drives. Select the external and click the "gear" icon in the Finder sidebar. Select +Restore <item> to ...+ and you'll get a prompt where you can select the new drive as the destination. The restore will, of course, take a while.
Be warned that when your turn TM back on, it will back-up everything on the new drive, so it will be lengthy and take a lot of room on your TM drive. You cannot prevent this, unfortunately.

Missing songs and Playlists: how to restore from Time Machine

Here's my story. I synced my iPod a week ago before vacation (and this was backed up with Time Machine). When I returned and launched iTunes, I found that all my playlists and podcasts had disappeared. I also noticed that on my iPod I had ~4500 songs; iTunes has only 4100, so I'm missing about 400 songs.
If I open up Time Machine and restore my my whole iTunes folder (in User>Music) will that, theoretically, restore all my songs?
If I've added new Music to iTunes (that wasn't in the TM backup), will those songs be over-written by the week-old backup?
It's too tedious (and not at all obvious) which songs are missing, so hoping Time Machine can come to my rescue.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Argelius

Argelius wrote:
Here's my story. I synced my iPod a week ago before vacation (and this was backed up with Time Machine). When I returned and launched iTunes, I found that all my playlists and podcasts had disappeared. I also noticed that on my iPod I had ~4500 songs; iTunes has only 4100, so I'm missing about 400 songs.
If I open up Time Machine and restore my my whole iTunes folder (in User>Music) will that, theoretically, restore all my songs?
yes.
If I've added new Music to iTunes (that wasn't in the TM backup), will those songs be over-written by the week-old backup?
yes, they will.
It's too tedious (and not at all obvious) which songs are missing, so hoping Time Machine can come to my rescue.
You can do the following. in "view options" in iTunes add a column "date added". sort by that column and back up all the songs added since the time of the last backup. quit itunes and restore the old library and the old itunes preference file. start itunes and import the songs you've backed up.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Argelius

Most of my notes and reminders have gone - why? how to restore from time machine?

has this happened to others as well? Where in the library are the files stored, so I can retrieve it fromtime machine? ... just hope this doesn't happen to my contacts and calendars as well.
thanks for any help
Andreas

Have a look at Pondini's complete guide to Time Machine:
http://pondini.org/TM/14.html
And here's Apple's info:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

How to Restore from Time Machine in Single-user mode?

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