Cannot restore from time machine

I installed a new SSD into my late 2012 mac mini along with the current HDD. Turned it on formatted the SSD and everything work fine. Next I wanted to transfer OSX and applications to SSD and use HDD for just storage. I backed up using time machine. I looked into a few different was to transfer OS. DIsk utility was wanting to create a fusion drive from the 2 drive. I went with this option.
It wiped the drives and made a new single storage group. I tried restoring from time machine a couple of times but this would not work saying: 'An error occurred while adding a recovery system to the destination disk' I went back into disk utility and checked the disks. Repaired the errors it said and tried again. Did not work.
Next I tried deleting the disk again and installing Mountain Lion from scratch from the internet option in recovery mode. This took I long time and got as far as nearly installing osx but got stuck on 15 mins remaining. I left this all day while I was at work.
Tried doing this a second time and it started downloading from the internet again but something must have gone wrong because when I came back it was back in recovery mode screen.
So not sure what else I can try to get this fixed. There is a suggestion online that this is a known problem with Mountain Lion and 2012 machines, but that doesn't really help me get working agian. The only other thing I can think of trying is un-fusioning the 2 drives and trying to install on just one to see if this works.
Does anyone else have any other steps to try?

Some drive partition configurations can result in the OS X Installer reporting that it cannot create a Recovery System. If this happens, you might want to quit the installation and create an external OS X hard drive with a Recovery System first. You can continue installing OS X on your computer's startup drive after creating an external Recovery System.
Where did yo install the SSD? Lower bay (one nearest the bottom cover) or the uppter bay (normally empty on single drive Mini?
Some users have reported problem with an SSD in the upper bay. Maybe because of the new cable or because of that SATA bus.
Try installing the SSD in the lower bay iff it is not there. Also if yo do not want a Fusion drive, disconnect the HD during the install if the SSD has enough space for the TM backup

Similar Messages

Cannot restore from Time Machine or Reinstall - MacBook Pro Yosemite

Hi all,
I recently started using a new Mac (Macbook Pro 15" with Yosemite) about 2 weeks ago. Upon startup it asked whether I wanted to encrypt and I said yes. It then froze for about 30min with the spinny wheel. After the startup was finally complete I used it normally for the next two weeks but the FileVault encryption in Security & Privacy never completed. It was stuck on "encryption paused" and underneath said "Connect to power adapter to continue encryption". Nothing I did fixed the problem. I then did a Time Machine Backup onto a USB with plans to restore from Time Machine. The backup went successfully with no issues. I put the Mac into recovery mode (command+R) and did Restore from Time Machine Backup. It was able to find my Time Machine Backup on the USB, and in the next window "Select a Destination" it found my HD. I clicked restore and there was an immediate error saying that I should restart the computer and try again. From then on in "Select a Destination" it now says "No Time Machine backups were found." This is strange because I already selected the time machine backup and should be looking for a destination now, but regardless nothing can be found.
From there I went to Disk Utility and verified. There didn't appear to be anything wrong. I did repair disk and it didn't seem to do anything.
Then I tried to do a Reinstall OS X. On "Select the disk where you want to install OS X" the only options are my USB with the backup, or "Recovery HD". If I click Recovery HD there is a pop-up saying "This disk is locked." There are no other choices for install, and leaving Recovery mode doesn't appear to be possible.
Does anyone have a solution to this? So far my experience with Yosemite on two different macs has been torture and I do not recommend.
Thanks!

You have a warranty. Take it back and ask the store to fix it for you. You do not need to encrypt the drive, but the Yosemite installation does so automatically unless you select the option not to do so during the install process. You need to look for that carefully. As of now you would need to turn off FV2 to decrypt the drive which takes about as much time as encryption does - quite a while unless you have a small capacity SSD.

Cannot restore from Time Machine since upgrade to 10.7.3

I am using a Mac Mini (Mid 2010) using the 2nd HD for backups of Time Machine.
Yesterday, the Mac could not start up and always stop at the First Aid panel (which contains i) an option for restoring from time machine, ii) reinstall Lion, iii) help online ... Whenever I choose restore from backups, the Mac was frozen at the multiple language choice panel. So, I have to reinstall OS Lion. It's successful. Then I restore from backups in 2nd HD and the strange thing happens. It doesn't matter what version of backup I choose, it appears that the contents in my wiki is updated only to March 2012. When I browse the Time Machine, it's really a surprise that I update 10.7.3 by the end of March 2012. Since then, despite the fact that the backups run regularly and backups versions appear in Time Machine, the contents of my wiki (which is added and modified everyday) are not updated. All backups under 10.7.2 are okay.
Can anyone know about this problem?
Best regards,

Well, I know about the problem but do not know a solution I am afraid. I had the same problem where the wiki, calendar and addressbook were a couple of months old after a restore from time machine two weeks ago. I did not relate this to the upgrade to 10.7.3, but that could easily be the case. I never did time machine restores before.
I was able to restore calendars from client side time machine backups (a lot of work), but the wiki I could not restore to an up-to-date version. My guess is that files were restored correctly, but not the postgresql databases. So I started to make daily backups from postgresql myself now. This post helped me with that:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17008934#17008934
Another thing I started doing was creating a bootable clone on a usb disk with carbon copy cloner, which is incrementally updated twice a day now.
But I hope that Apple will fix this in an upcoming update. I would be nice if you could rely on Time Machine backups.

Cannot restore from Time Machine... "not enough space" but there is

I am trying to restore a 140GB file from Time Machine. I can see it both through the Time Machine interface and by going through Finder.
I have 202GB free on my Mac hard drive. Whenever I try to restore the file, or copy it through Finder, I get "Preparing to Copy" for a while and then "The item can't be copied because there isn't enough free space".
No idea how to resolve this - any ideas?

Gosh, I was not expecting that and nothing mentioned in iCreate or MacFormat tuition articles. My task is to move and partition data from my external hard drives, so that I can create partitions to hold various storage for BOOTCAMP to use.
Looks like my external drives are not capable of the task!

10.5.8 mac pro cannot restore from time machine backup

Hey there,
I've had a mac volume die on me so I ordered the 10.5.8 cds from Apple. I installed the OS on a new hard drive and trying to migrate from time machine backup and the backup failed to move both my user and application settings. I've tried using the migration assistant, this also fails and doesnt show me the correct volumes in TM. Please help!

What have you done to repair and rebuild the directory of your old drives?
One word of caution is that Alsoft Disk Warrior is/was not (not sure latest version) to deal with the huge size of some TimeMachine backup volumes which as Ricks said, are complex and prone to failures.
I wanted to see how it would work to have one TM drive for dailys, another for just run once a week, and system clone before any updates. Plus a small handy emergency only boot drive volume (40GB).
So you are stuck with 10.5.8 due to cost of software applilcation upgrades? and with Lion there is no support for old PowerPC, no Rosetta to run and support those. And then ML coming soon which seems to drop support for pre-2008s.
Metadata is trash as in temp cache and in a smart backup - like CCC and such - would never be backed up or shouldn't be - they should be deleted and is one case and use for things like CCleaner to be run (until Safari and Chrome do job limited age and size of disk caches).
Caches and temp files and logs can be source of problems.
SyncServices - 10.5.x started using that and that would get messed up at least when I looked at it 10.5.2+ era.
I'd dual boot SL and 10.5.8
10.5.x came out 4.5 yrs ago. In that time I upgraded boot drive couple times, formatted/initialized when it came out and again a year later 10.5.6 and then with 10.6.0 or about once a year to clone, erase, restore.
You used your backup drive for two years.
Originally hoped that it would be easy and possible to clone TM backup drives for safety and so you coudl take a good set with a year of data on it and instead of start over, take it and make a copy for archive your files. A good file history.
There are programs that add to and help manage and allow the user to look at and choose backup sets from different points in time. I take it you can't do that.
I would invest in more backup drives, internal and external, while try to build a new solid footing and foundation - so you can install, clone, do more modifications and installs and updates, so you never have to redo.
With backup clones you would never have to worry about reinstalls or lost files. CCC will with a large enough volume also allow archive of file changes. TM is probably good - for those that didn't and dont' like to backup.
I would hope though have seen enough errors, but you are using the initial TM backup program which has had three more OS versions and 3 yrs since to improve form 10.5.8 (came out June '09).

HT3275 I cannot restore from Time Machine. Error 8003.

This is what happened in sequence:
• I had problems with Microsoftt Word. I checked the disk utilities and got a message saying that I needed to reformat the disk. I erased the disk and reinstalled Lion.
* I restored all my files from my external disk using Time Machine, and all the files seemed to be restored without any problem, but they didn't appear on my hard disk. Time Machine was trying to backup while I was restoring the disk, and I wonder if this could have affected things.
• I tried to back up again, but the files in Time Machine were grayed out. I opeed a new finder window and pressed Command + shift + C, and I could see the old back up files. I tried again, but got an errror -8003 message after a while.
" I checked the external disk with disk utility and it appears to be OK. My hard disk is also OK.
* I tried going into Time Machine and restoring a few of the applications to my hard disk. I got a message saying they are already on my hard disk (so perhaps the first restore did work after all), but I can't see them anyway. I also got a message saying that the applications on the back up disk were locked.
My life is on the files backed up in Time Machine. I would be grateful for any help or advice.

I could solve the problem by restoring everything manually from my back up disk. I still have some issues, but at least all my files are safe.

Cannot Restore from Time Machine Backup

Hi everyone,
I recently formatted my hard drive due to some issues with boot camp. I had planned on using my external hard drive that I used with Time Machine to restore all of my stuff. However I have been having some major issues restoring from my backup. I select Restore System from Backup and than my external disk with my time machine backup on it. Everything seems to be working correctly until i hit 21.5% and then the restore stops and the screen goes gray. I get a log of what went wrong and it says i hit an error when restoring four songs from my itunes library. If anyone can help me figure out what I can do to fix my problem I would be immensely grateful. Thanks

dougcleary wrote:
I get a log of what went wrong and it says i hit an error when restoring four songs from my itunes library.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
What does the error message say? Does it name the songs (files)? If so, are they some you loaded very recently?
If so, try selecting a backup prior to when you loaded them.
If not, or you don't know, try repairing your backup disk. Instead of selecting +Restore system from backups,+ select +Disk Utility,+ then select your TM drive and do a +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on it. If it finds and fixes anything, you may be able to do the full restore.
If not, your best bet may be to install OSX, then when your Mac boots up, and +Setup Assistant+ asks if you want to "transfer" data from a different Mac or it's backups, do that. See #19 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Select everything except the folder your iTunes library is in (Music, unless you've moved it). That will get everything else so you can boot up and run normally.
Then use Time Machine's "Star Wars" display to restore as much of your music as you can, per #15 in the FAQ. You may have to try several times to get what you can, and avoid what you can't.

Cannot restore from time machine to drive

I needed to restore a project to production hard drive 1 with Time Machine. The production drive 1 is not my startup drive. I tested some file restorations on the startup drive and had no problem. The most I get is the folder of whatever project I want to restore. That's all. Just a folder. No contents. Once I got an error (I forgot what it was). Another time it caused the Finder to crash. I did a test on production drive 2 and was prompted to enter an administrator login and password (I do all my work on a non-Admin account).
All of my login accounts have Read & Write access to that drive according to the Info window on the drive. I do not see any relevant information in Console that might give me a clue.
Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to restore my project?

FYI, here is a log after TM finished a backup.
"Mecca" is the starup drive. "Photo-Grafix" and "Medina" are the production drives 1 and 2.
1/27/13 11:33:32 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Starting standard backup
1/27/13 11:33:32 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Backing up to: /Volumes/PGXRAID-01/Backups.backupdb
1/27/13 11:33:55 AM
/Users/macprouser01/Library/Input Methods/SpellCatcherIM.app/Contents/MacOS/SpellCatcherIM[833]
CGSKeyTranslateInitialize: KLGetCurrentKeyboardLayout or KLGetKeyboardLayoutProperty is not available, fall back to USA keymap
1/27/13 11:34:08 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
No pre-backup thinning needed: 6.16 GB requested (including padding), 55.54 GB available
1/27/13 11:34:11 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 93 files (156 KB) from volume Photo-Grafix.
1/27/13 11:34:11 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Waiting for index to be ready (100)
1/27/13 11:34:41 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[2044]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/zz/zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:34:41 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[2044]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/zz/zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:34:41 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[2044]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/zz/zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:34:41 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[2044]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/zz/zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:34:41 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[2044]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/zz/zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:34:41 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[2044]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/zz/zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:34:41 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[2044]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/zz/zzzivhrRnAmviuee++++KE+++3Y/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:46 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[1226]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/Vh/Vhul-x3UHCWfWIpIIo8kUE+++TM/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:46 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[1226]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/Vh/Vhul-x3UHCWfWIpIIo8kUE+++TM/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:46 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[1226]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/Vh/Vhul-x3UHCWfWIpIIo8kUE+++TM/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:46 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[1226]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/Vh/Vhul-x3UHCWfWIpIIo8kUE+++TM/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:46 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[1226]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/Vh/Vhul-x3UHCWfWIpIIo8kUE+++TM/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:46 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[1226]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/Vh/Vhul-x3UHCWfWIpIIo8kUE+++TM/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:46 AM
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Support/mdworker[1226]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/Vh/Vhul-x3UHCWfWIpIIo8kUE+++TM/-Caches-//mds
1/27/13 11:35:50 AM
mdworker[1226]
CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary.
1/27/13 11:36:03 AM
mdworker[1226]
CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary.
1/27/13 11:36:10 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 4579 files (891.5 MB) from volume Mecca.
1/27/13 11:36:10 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Waiting for index to be ready (100)
1/27/13 11:37:02 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 4747 files (2.3 GB) from volume Maryam.
1/27/13 11:37:07 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 4796 files (2.3 GB) from volume Medina.
1/27/13 11:37:17 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.37 GB requested (including padding), 53.19 GB available
1/27/13 11:37:18 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 17 files (0 bytes) from volume Photo-Grafix.
1/27/13 11:37:18 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Waiting for index to be ready (100)
1/27/13 11:37:29 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 1222 files (2.4 MB) from volume Mecca.
1/27/13 11:37:31 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 1227 files (2.4 MB) from volume Maryam.
1/27/13 11:37:33 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Copied 1235 files (2.4 MB) from volume Medina.
1/27/13 11:37:35 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Starting post-backup thinning
1/27/13 11:38:07 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Deleted backup /Volumes/PGXRAID-01/Backups.backupdb/MacProAdmin’s Mac Pro/2013-01-25-211501: 53.28 GB now available
1/27/13 11:38:07 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
1/27/13 11:38:07 AM
com.apple.backupd[2114]
Backup completed successfully.

Cannot Restore From Time Machine Backup - Account Exists Error

I used Time Machine to perform a full backup of my machine, then performed a Delete and Install of Leopard. I am trying to use Migration Assistant to restore from my Time Machine backup, however it tells me my account name already exists. It will not allow me past this screen no matter what I try to rename the account I am transferring. It will not allow me to choose to replace the existing account name either.
I tried to create a new Admin account to use for Migration Assistant as other posts suggested, but it still will not allow me to migrate the files from the Time Machine back. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Create another account. Login to this account and delete the account that in conflict and then try Migration Assistant again to restore from TM backups.

I cannot able able to start my macbook and then i started my mac in a recovery mode now mac os X utility window opens with 4 options 1. Restore From Time Machine Backup 2. Reinstall Mac OSX 3. Get Help Online 4. Disk Utility if i try to restore my mac wit

i cannot able able to start my macbook and then i started my mac in a recovery mode now mac os X utility window opens with 4 options 1. Restore From Time Machine Backup 2. Reinstall Mac OSX 3. Get Help Online 4. Disk Utility if i try to restore my mac with time machine no option appears if i reinstall from Mac OSX error comes and cannot able to recover from disk utility please help how can i reinstall mac OSX

Guitar21,
your MacBook Pro has booted into its Recovery mode. From the OS X Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. On the left-hand side of the Disk Utility window, select your internal disk’s boot partition (typically called “Macintosh HD”). On the right-hand side, press the Verify Disk button if it’s not greyed out; if it is greyed out, or if it reports that errors were found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu to restart in normal mode. Does it get to the login screen now?

HT1338 Attempt to install Mountain Lion has highlighted need for internal disk repair. Even after "repair" ML still says disk is damaged. Attempt to restore from Time Machine back-up failed - cannot 'see' internal HD to restore to. Help!

Attempt to install Mountain Lion has highlighted need for internal disk repair. Even after "repair" ML still says disk is damaged. Attempt to restore from Time Machine back-up failed - cannot 'see' internal HD to restore to. Help! Has attempt to install ML caused these problems or just highlighted existing need to Repair Disk? Even so, why can back-up from Time Machine not see the internal drive to restore to?

Csound1, William & Sig .... thanks for taking the trouble to reply. I fear you are right - I'll need a new disk. I'm booked in at the Apple Genius Bar in Bordeaux, France on Wed ... quite a challenge as my French isn't great! The current internal disk is 500gb, does anyone know whether I can upgrade my 21.5" iMac (circa Oct-2009 vintage) to a larger size internal disk, 1Tb or even 2Tb? I already have one external 2Tb drive and another one on order (I have masses of media stored and more planned as I've just taken up photography). Seems a bit of a pain managing with only 500gb internal storage. OR, can you advise me on how I can store all my photos on my new 2Tb external drive - I can't seem to figure out how to set the path for iPhoto to see them (I can't even figure out where they are stored right now!). Same with iTunes, how do I set the default storage to the external drive (I moved everything manually and then imported them all from the new drive - it worked but seemed very convoluted). Any advice on how to manage multiple drives gratefully received. And thanks again for previous replies.

I tried to instal 10.8.3 to my MBP and it crashed. I then tried to restore from Time machine but when it is about 50% through a message comes up "the files cannot be restored"

I tried to instal 10.8.3 to my MBP and it crashed. I then tried to restore from Time machine but when it is about 50% through a message comes up "the files cannot be restored" Can anyone help me to get out of this mess?

Back up all data.
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the OS. You don't need to erase the boot volume, and you won't need your backup unless something goes wrong. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.

Cannot Reinstall OS X Lion OR Restore from Time Machine

With Firevault enabled, I attempted to reinstall OS X Lion from Recovery Mode. After being asked to enter the password to unlock the encrypted 'Mactinosh HD' disk, the reinstallation began. Everything seemed fine until the install process was supposedly finished, then a window popped up explaining that there was an error and to try again. I tried again and the same thing happened. I also tried to restore from Time Machine with no success (the same thing happened). I opened Disk Utility via Recovery mode and verified/repaired the 'Macintosh HD' disk and its permissions, but the reinstall/Time Machine restore still fails. Then I erased the disk with Disc Utlilty, and attempted this again with no success. My computer no longer boots into OS X at all (it didn't even before I erased the disk via Disk Utility). It can only boot into Recovery Mode or Windows--I'm basically running a pretty overpriced Windows PC.
I am using a 21" iMac with an Intel Core i5 processor, CPU @ 250GHz, have 4 GB of RAM, and am (supposed to be) running OS X 10.7 Lion. Right now I'm using Windows 8 Consumer Preview x64 bit on a Bootcamp partition on the same computer if that matters to anyone. If there's any useful information I could provide to help you help me then please let me know! This is a pretty sucky issue that I'm having a great a deal of trouble and frustration with and any help would be very very appreciated.

Whenever I try to do this it says "Error trying to turn off encryption". The message does not offer much in the way of an explanation aside from that. Maybe that's simply an 'incorrect password' message? I entered my adminstrator password which works to unlock the drive, but apparently not to turn off encryption unless the error has nothing to do with my password. I opted to have Apple hold on to my Filevault restore key which I was too lazy to write down when I first enabled the feature, so if that is the password required to turn off encryption I suppose I'll need to call Apple Care to retrieve it. =/
By the way, the computer no longer boots into reguar Recovery Mode but now boots into internet recovery. Interestingly enough, another attempt at Time Machine recovery also appeared to work (saying that it was done successfully) but in fact it didn't.
Also, whenever I try to change startup disc to Macintosh HD it says "Error: Building boot caches on boot helper partition failed". Whenever I restart holding the Options key to view available drives/partitions, only Windows and My Passport (external hard drive) appear.

Restoring from Time Machine doesn't work

I am attempting to restore from Time Machine on my 13" Late 2008 MacBook, but the restore stops about halfway through.
Some background information: A few weeks ago my computer started exhibiting some weird behaviour. It would turn the disk off or log me out after a few hours (I typically sleep with it on and use at as my alarm clock). Then, apps would crash and quit unexpectedly. It would kick in the HDD when I was not using anything that required it, and the fan would turn on for no reason. Then the worst thing happened: Some days I would get the dreaded "You need to restart your computer" screen multiple times. It almost seems like a virus. The problems persist after multiple PRAM and SMC resets. Sure enough, I tried turning on my computer yesterday and it just won't even start. It would give me the Apple logo, a spinny loading indicator, and then it would give me a very slow progress bar. As soon as the progress bar gets to about one tenth of the way, the computer turns off.
I have everything backed up to a very recent Time Machine. I opened the computer in Recovery Mode and verified the disk. It needed repair. So I repaired it, and it said the repair was unsuccessful and needed to be restored. So I tried restoring it. I ended up having to erase Macintosh HD and reinstalling Lion (which thankfully I could do over the Internet). After reinstalling that, I tried "Restore from Time Machine." It got to about 30% of the restoration and then took me back to the Utilities page spontaneously. It didn't give me an alert or an error of any kind. It has done this multiple times. I may try Migration Assistant and see how that works. I know that a 4-year old MacBook is a bit of a dinosaur anyway, but the machine has been very useful and powerful for the whole time I've had it, and this is not how I'd like to see it die.
I also have a lot of important data on the Time Machine and fear that whatever afflicted my MacBook may afflict the MacBook Pro I intend to get soon, which I will load my TM onto.
Any and all help is deeply appreciated.
-Sam Taylor

I have always had problems restoring from my backups. I just replaced my hard drive and did a restore and now there are no icons in the dock (all ?'s) and I cannot click on my Applications folder in any finder window. (Oh, and the fans run constantly at top speed after being on for about 3 minutes.)
This is probably the 10th restore I've done in the past couple of years and I don't think one has worked for me.

Disk Repair notified me it could not repair the HD. Iam to reformat the disk and restore backed up files. OS Utilities give me a "Restore From Time Machine Backup" option. I have not reformatted the disk; does this restore option do both?

Disk Repair reported that it could not repair the HD Disk. I am to reformat the disk and restore backed up files. OSX Utilities give me a choice of restoring from time machine backup (which I have on MyPassport) but no information on reformatting the disk, which I assume I have to do first. How do I reformat the HD ...or does the restore from Time Machine do both things?

Boot OS X Recovery and use Disk Utility.
If Disk Utility reported the disk cannot be repaired though, you should replace it with a new one.

Cannot restore from time machine

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