Clean Install / Time Machine Restore

If I do a clean install of Snow Leopard and then use migration assistant to migrate my user profile, applications, settings, etc. from the time machine backup that was created under my 10.5.8 installation - is the migration assistant going to carry over "junk" from the prior installation or is it "intelligent" enough to not replace newer files with older versions of the same file (i.e. from the backup).
Is this a worthwhile and viable solution to ensuring a "fresh" start with Snow Leopard while insuring that I do not lose my installed Applications? Thanks!

dvassallo,
dvassallo wrote:
What about with the users "Library" directory - does MA preserver newer copies of files?
No. If you migrate your entire HOME folder from a backup, the entire HOME folder (including your Library folder) will be migrated and replace whatever currently exists.
Scott

Similar Messages

Clean install / time machine / reinstall

Just came back from Genius bar where we did a clean install & reinstalled my apps only. When I came home I 'entered' Time Machine (top left); selected most recent backup (from Genius Bar this morning) & let it run. Came back; laptop was asleep; my laptop has almost the same amount of memory available since prior to my Genius visit:
- I can't find my music
- I can't find my photos
- Apps were installed properly
- because memory is almost the same, I'm assuming my music/photos are on here somewhere
- not a biggy but things are different:
     - I'm still on 10.8.2 but the left side view of Finder looks different;
     - Mail looks different; my "X" "-" "+" buttons aren't Red, Yellow & Green anymore;
     - I can't remove an App from the Dock by dragging it off to go 'poof';
     - I can't drag an App to add to the Dock
Any help would be grateful

Back up all data.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click the following line to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -Rh $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
The first step should give you usable permissions in your home folder. This step will restore special attributes set by OS X on some user folders to protect them from unintended deletion or renaming. You can skip this step if you don't consider that protection to be necessary.
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

Macbook Pro clean install: Time machine permissions problem

So I just upgraded to Mavericks from Lion this weekend. I backed up my old files onto my 2TB external HD. Because my laptop was really slow I decided to do a clean install and then bring over my music, movies, pics, necessary files, etc. as I needed them. However, I have run into a problem: using my computer on a clean install has made it impossible to access files, music, etc. from my old administrative account. I get this error when I try to open folders with the "do not enter" sign:
The folder “Desktop” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.
How can I gain access to my old files without having to partition my hard drive, reinstall the OS from my time machine backup, copying the files to the hard drive and not using time machine (just dragging and dropping directly onto the HD)? Or is that my only option at this point to recover those old files?
Thanks guys!

First make sure you have read & write access to the folder you're trying to restore to. You should be able to see its contents in the Finder, and to move files in and out of it.
This is an exception to the rule that you should never make any changes to backup data. I've tested this procedure in OS X 10.8 only. It should work with later versions, but I don't know whether it works in earlier versions. Use this procedureonly for files that were backed up from your home folder, or a folder on another volume created by you, and would normally be writable by you. Do not touch backups of system or application files.
In the Finder (not in the time-travel view), navigate to the backup volume, then to the folder named "Backups.backupdb", and then to the snapshot you want to restore from. The snapshots are folders labeled with the date when they were created. Inside each of those folders is a file hierarchy like the one on the volume that was backed up. Descend through the hierarchy until you come to a folder named "Users," and inside that, a folder with your user name. The procedure will be different if you're trying to restore files on another volume.
Select the folder and open the Info dialog (command-I). Click the padlock icon in the lower right corner of the window and authenticate. In the Sharing & Permissions section, give your account Read & Write access. You may have to close the dialog and repeat this step in order for the change to show up. Then click the gear icon and select Apply to Enclosed Items from the popup menu.
Try the restore operation again, in the time-travel interface.

Clean Install & Time Machine

If I were to wipe my hard drive and do a fresh install of OS X, is there some way I could maintain the ability to access my old files through time machine?
Thanks for any help with this!

If I were to wipe my hard drive and do a fresh install of OS X, is there some way I could maintain the ability to access my old files through time machine?
Thanks for any help with this!

Fresh install + Time Machine restore = incorrect password

I cleanly installed Leopard today, from a previous version, and after re-intating the 2 users, it wont let me logon - although it will let me log on to my girlfriends account.
This is a big problem for me, as I considered TimeMachine backups to be pretty solid.
Any ideas on how I can login??

See if this helps.
Mac OS X: Changing or resetting an account password

IMac freezes during 10.10.1 install, needs full-on Time Machine Restore.

I failed to use Disk Utility to Verify/Repair permissions before the 10.10 -> 10.10.1 upgrade on a 27" iMac (early 2009, first 27").
The computer restarts and partway through the grey-screen with progress bar, the iMac simply, stops.
I eventually have to power down, and always the same stop.
I boot into the Recovery area, where Disk Utility Repair Permissions first said the drive was un-fixable, then ran fine and made repairs and said it was fine.
I then had to restore the entire machine from Time Machine since it WOULD NOT recover enough to boot.
Time Machine restore was amazing. Many hours, but it restored the iMac to the previous state from the day before, including what e-mails were open.
I figured all the diagnostics had "shaken up" the drive enough to try 10.10.1 again, but the same result. Partway through grey-screen with progress bar, permanent freeze.
Needed 2nd Time Machine restore.
Now I'm afraid to try again.
Is that a dead sector on the hard drive? On a system file that's never used? So confusing. I wish a scan could find it and mark it as unusable.
5 year old Mac drive though. Could be getting Tired.
Thoughts welcome.

I boot into the Recovery area, where Disk Utility Repair Permissions first said the drive was un-fixable, then ran fine and made repairs and said it was fine.
To be clear, use Disk Utility's Repair Disk function, not Repair Disk Permissions. Once it finishes, back up that disk's contents to another device, preferably two or more, and then discard it. If you are concerned about securing its contents, physically destroy it first.
A permanent repair for hard disk corruption does not exist. Firmware contained within the hard disk drive already automatically maps bad sectors "unusable" as you desire. The problem is that as a disk ages and is subject to the inevitable environmental abuse that occurs with all consumer electronics, the number of bad sectors will increase exponentially with time. Replace it.

Time machine restore help

I've recently been having issues with my early 2008 black Macbook. I ran the apple HW diagnostics and determined it is a bad hard drive. I went out and bought a new 500GB SATA HD, and attempted to restore my system using a Time Machine backup. I booted into the Leopard Disc that came with my computer, formatted the drive, and ran the Time machine restore. Everything appeared to go fine (took about 2 hours, no error messages). However, after the machine rebooted and attempted to boot into OSX an error similar to this popped up. http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7792/pict0017lo8.jpg
Any thoughts as to why this is happening? I don't really want to start over with a clean install, that's why I have Time Machine!
Other information:
My computer originally had Leopard, and was upgraded to Snow Leopard.
I have boot camp setup on my mac for Win 7. (I know this isn't backed up or restored as part of a time machine backup, which I'm O.K. with.)
Thanks in advance for all your help.

Any number of possibilities. First, did you prep the drive properly:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Any brand new drive should be setup per the above because they usually are configured for use on PCs rather than Macs.
Second, depends on how you went about the process of restoring your system. Select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine." Look for an article specifically about performing a full system restore. Also, see User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
What you saw was a kernel panic screen. Panics at startup may be indicative of a hardware problem. You might give this a try:
How to run hardware diagnostics for an Intel Mac
Boot from your original OS X Installer Disc One that came with your computer. After the chime press and hold down the "D" key until the diagnostic screen appears. Run the extended tests for a minimum of two or three hours. If any error messages appear note them down as you will need to report them to the service tech when you take the computer in for repair.
Some "common" error indicators:
SNS - sensor error
MEM - memory error
HDD - hard disk drive error
MOT - fan error
To assure the problem isn't with your backup you might consider installing OS X by itself. If all is OK, then you can complete the TM restore using Migration Assistant.

Time machine restore

Hi there,
Before upgrading from Mavericks to Yosemite I wanted to test. So I went ahead and clean installed Yosemite on an external hard drive, then I've restored all apps and data with Migration Assistant using a Time Machine backup.
Besides from 3 apps that lost their activation key during the process, all the rest moved nicely and smoothly. Everything was exactly as it was on my Mac. MS Office up and running, some Adobe apps as well, all working fine.
Although I've read that by doing a clean install, and the restoring a Time Machine backup, I'm actually not having a clean install, as I'm migrating all apps and data I'm even migrating bugs from the old OS.
Is it better then upgrade rather than a clean install and a TM restore?
Thanks

You seem to have already made the transition. As an aside, I think a "clean install" is a colossal waste of time (IMHO only).
Barry

Do I need to remove Bootcamp before Time Machine Restore?

Hello - anyone familiar with this scenario.
I have used TIME MACHINE from the very first day I had my iMac. So it was started almost immediately after the initial boot of a brand new iMac case I ever needed to restore my Mac to that initial Day 1 state.
That day has come, but it's now two years, and in that time I have installed BOOTCAMP, Parallels and Windows 7. That process created another partition, and created the required 'links' between my OSX and Windows via Parallels etc.
So my question is this - can I do a 'Restore from Time Machine' over the top of the new partioned set up of my iMac OR or will it be now totally confused because of the changes I have made to my system in that time, and do I firstly need to remove Windows, Bootcamp, and erase the partitions I created back to one.
So in summary - will Time Machine do this when it restores, or do I need to do it before I restore?
I also have a CARBON COPY CLONE from Day 1 too. Am I better using that instead - and if so, same question - will i need to remove Windows, and my Bootcamped partion first?
(My system is iMac late 2012 still running OSX Mountain Lion if that makes any difference)
Thanks
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), i7 / 3TB Fusion Drive / 24GB Ram

popsynic wrote:
Hi - thanks for responding
"Is Parallels using the BC partition as a VM, or is it a separate VM with its own virtual disk?"
I don't know - basically I have a BOOTCAMP partition and Windows is installed on that (using these instructions from the Parallels website) I can then either open up Windows from in OSX Moutain Lion while keeping my mac running (and windows will run in its own little window - but within OSX. OR I can also choose to boot dircetly wi windows when I tuen on my MAC - and then it runs independently of my OSX.
You are using the BC Windows and running it as VM. There is no separate VM with virtual disk.
"Are you planning to erase the internal drive(s)?"
I wasn't sure - I want to restore my iMac like it was on the day I had it, before I partitoned BOOTCAMP and installed windows. So my question is, will the TIME MACHINE restore get rid of WINDOWS and the BOOTCAMP partition for me as part of its restore - or do i have to that, and then restore using Time Machine
It is much simpler to run BC Assistant and use the last option - "Remove Windows". It is a bit cleaner.
"If the backup on TM which started on Day 1 has continued as you have made changes, including BC/Windows/Parallels, it has continued to backup OS X and partition information. I suggest you backup Windows using Windows Backup to a separate external drive formatted as NTFS, and also consider Winclone or CampTune for a OS X compatible BC backup, if you run into any issues."
As above, I am not bothered about keeping Windows or the BOOTCAMP partition, I want to resore my iMac to the DAY 1 status - when I did my first full Time Machine backup - which was before I created a Bootcamp partition or installed Windows.
I suggest removing Windows via BCA and backing up to Time Machine. You will keep you OS X intact and keep all your files on the OS X side.

Will Time Machine restore software problems as well as data?

Hi all -
I've got a 20" aluminum (2007) iMac with Leopard (all updates installed) and Time Machine. I'm having a shutdown problem that I'm trying to resolve. Yesterday, the computer started powering itself off randomly, as if someone pulled the power plug. I ran both the quick and extended Apple Hardware Tests, and both came up clean (no errors). I'm thinking this may be a software problem.
I'd like to reload Leopard to clean up the software. However, I already tried doing a Restore via Time Machine yesterday, and the problem did not go away. I restored to the previous day - prior to when the shut downs started happening.
My question is - If I reload Leopard using the "Restore" feature of Time Machine, does that also copy any problems I had backed up in software to the reloaded system? My guess is yes, since all of my applications remain intact after the Time Machine Restore.
That said, I find Time Machine to be absolutely brilliant in its simplicity and functionality, and think it should be in every single computer user's hands.
At any rate, I'm fearing that I'm going to have to do a clean install and then reinstall all of my software manually to get a truly clean system, then restore data manually via my Time Machine backup. I hope I'm wrong.
Can anybody shed some light? Thanks,
Shelly

it really does back up almost everything, even broken files. Go back to the initial backup and restore from that. If that doesn't fix it, you've got hardware problems.
Crashes are one thing, hangs another, but actual shutdowns where the computer just goes completely off really indicate hardware problems. Software by itself won't do that, even if it's broken.
- gws

Time Machine restore of multiple accounts

Hi folks,
My mac mini hasn't been reformatted for a couple of years now and is starting to creak a bit. I'm going to do a clean install of Snow Leopard from my OS disks and then use time machine to restore iTunes, accounts, documents etc.
My questions/queries/worries (delete as appropriate) are..
1. Will the time machine restore and 'put back' all 4 accounts on the machine automatically or do i select them from a list?
2. Will I be given an option of which backup date/time to select from (i.e a backup done 20mins ago, one an hour ago, last week,last month) or will it just do the most recent backup?
Thanks in advance

iBook fan wrote:
Hi folks,
My mac mini hasn't been reformatted for a couple of years now and is starting to creak a bit. I'm going to do a clean install of Snow Leopard from my OS disks and then use time machine to restore iTunes, accounts, documents etc.
That's unlikely to help much, if at all. Your best bet is to find out why it's "creaking" and fix that.
My questions/queries/worries (delete as appropriate) are..
1. Will the time machine restore and 'put back' all 4 accounts on the machine automatically or do i select them from a list?
If all you want is to restore everything, don't bother with erasing your HD and installing OSX. Just do a full system restore, per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). The first thing it does is erase your internal HD. And it restores everything from the backup you select.
If you want a fresh version of OSX, then erase your HD and install OSX. When your Mac boots up, +Setup Assistant+ will ask if you want to transfer your data, from the last (successful) backup. If you accept the defaults, it will copy everything but OSX. Or, you can omit some things, like a particular user, if you want. See #19 in the FAQ.
When your Mac boots up again, download and install the 10.6.4 "combo" update. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1048 Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards.
2. Will I be given an option of which backup date/time to select from (i.e a backup done 20mins ago, one an hour ago, last week,last month) or will it just do the most recent backup?
Depends on which procedure you use.

Time Machine restore fails to solve airport issue

I have a had a nightmare trying to reconnect my airport to our wireless network. I completed the usual sets (like buying a new Netgear router and creating a new network!) and all the usual PRAM zapping, plist trashing etc. All this in 10.5.6. I then read that there were tonnes of others with the same issues and so i decided to a complete restore using Time Machine to 10.5.5 (prior to my upgrade). I had had no problems at all connecting to the network under the old OS.
On rebooting in 10.5.5, the problem seemed to be resolved only for the connection to drop again. This leads me to the conclusion that I must have a faulty airport card. I spoke top Apple and they put me on to a tech at the local repair shop. This guy said that all they would do is a complete re-install of clean OS as "Time Machine does not restore all the files when it restores you drive. True or false?
My understanding is that my drive would be wiped and my old system would be restored to it. Has Time machine just restore some parts of the systems and left others in place???
I can do a clean install and I assume that I can re-install my apps using migration assistant, but before I do this, I'd like to know why a "time machine restore" (done using the Leopard Install disc) has not fixed my problem....shoudl I just go back and restore from an even older backup...?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Andy

This is most strange, as when I was restoring my old system from TM (to 10.5.5 where I had no problems), TM & the OSX installer was telling me that all the info on my HD would be wiped - clearly not. Since my wireless problem still persists, I can only assume that you are right and that a TM system restore, does not fix all and that I am going to have to do a clean install of system software and then hope that migration assistant will allow me to reinstall all my software...
The other alternative is "archive and Install". Is this better? My drive is partitioned (a system drive and an archive drive) - can I do an "archive and install" on my system drive partition and retain all my software without affecting the data on the other partition (it is backed up on TM of course...).
A

Time machine restore itunes but not the settings

I did a complete wipe of my iMac and I want to reinstall cleanly, but I want all my ituens music and settings restore.
Time Machine restores all my music but not the settings. How do I get the settings to restore.
iPhone back up are also missing. Where are the backup stored on the Time Machine. I do not want my phone wipe when I plug it in.
thanks all
Erica

I do not know how many times to say this.
I full install from apple site. Lion.
Not a full resinstall from a backup.
Then I started putting back in my backups. Documents, and so forth.
But when I installed the backup for iTunes the settings were gone and so is my MAtch Service.
Also I cannot find the iPhone backups any where.
I only wish to know where the complete iTunes setting/profile bcks and MAtch servie are store in Time Machine and where the iPhone backups are stored.
I have asked this 3 times. What is so hard?
I again saying I did not do a fuill recovery from Time Machine just certain parts. I wanted a clean install of the iMac and I will install piece by piece all the software from scratch.

Time Machine restore crash?

Is there a known issue with SL and the Time Machine restore (or FW 800) by chance?
Symptoms:
While attempting a restore using the SL install disc, the progress bar read-out goes beyond 100% (to 100.6% for example) and the time remaining goes to some rediculous number (17 days, 12 hours...., for example) and does not complete after about 1 hour (normal completion time under Leopard 10.5.8 was about 30 minutes without a single crash or strange read-out).
This has occurred twice since upgrading to SL 10.6 (now at 10.6.2).
I am restoring about 60 GB of data for the system restore.
I am using the same software and hardware as I did with Leopard (Mac Pro - early 2008 and a LaCie 500 GB external drive for TM via FW 800 interface) other than running SL.
I have initiated a clean install in the mean time, so no real rush for a solution, but I am wondering if anyone knows of either a FW 800 issue or a SL TM issue that I should be aware of.
At this time I plan to use Disk Utility to make a clone of the clean install and then just do manual file backups until I can actually trust TM to not crash on restore (I trusted it under Leopard 10.5.8 as much as I trust any backup tool - +insert major grain of salt here+).
Thanks for any insight.
Message was edited by: CorkyO

CorkyO wrote:
Is there a known issue with SL and the Time Machine restore (or FW 800) by chance?
no, there are no known issues of that sort. most likely your backups are corrupted somehow. try repairing the TM disk with disk utility on the install DVD. any errors?
Symptoms:
While attempting a restore using the SL install disc, the progress bar read-out goes beyond 100% (to 100.6% for example) and the time remaining goes to some rediculous number (17 days, 12 hours...., for example) and does not complete after about 1 hour (normal completion time under Leopard 10.5.8 was about 30 minutes without a single crash or strange read-out).
This has occurred twice since upgrading to SL 10.6 (now at 10.6.2).
I am restoring about 60 GB of data for the system restore.
I am using the same software and hardware as I did with Leopard (Mac Pro - early 2008 and a LaCie 500 GB external drive for TM via FW 800 interface) other than running SL.
I have initiated a clean install in the mean time, so no real rush for a solution, but I am wondering if anyone knows of either a FW 800 issue or a SL TM issue that I should be aware of.
At this time I plan to use Disk Utility of clone the clean install and then just do manual file backups until I can actually trust TM to not crash on restore (I trusted it under Leopard 10.5.8 as much as I trust any backup tool - +insert major grain of salt here+).
you don't need to do manual restore. if the full system restore refuses to work you should try using Migration Assistant. after you do an erase and install of SL, on the first reboot you'll get setup assistant which will offer to import your user data and applications from a TM backup. try that. you can also do it later using Migration Assistant located in /Applications/Utilities. only if this doesn't work then you can try manual restore.
Thanks for any insight.

Time Machine restore fail - best method to reinstall OS?

I've just had a Time Machine restore fail on me, startup gets to blue screen but no further. Also tried the next previous backup. Trying to decide whether to reinstall Snow Leopard on my not-quite-restored drive and then do the combo update to the last OS version, or whether to do a clean install (wipe drive) and then use the Migration Assistant to import everything.
I have a ton of software / plugins authorised which will take me an age to reinstall, hoping that whichever method will retain all the pref files in macintosh hd/library and user/library. That being said I was in the process of trying to fix my intermittent system freezes, it was happening at the last TM backup so maybe aiming to return to duplicate system / user folders is a bad idea?
Many thanks for any help.
Harry

hazza26 wrote:
Hi again
I have ended up having to erase my drive and do a fresh install of SL. When I get to the welcome page I opt to import all my setting from my TM backup. It started ok this morning but the progress bar has been stuck at "4 hours 46 mins left" for the whole day. How best to proceed now?
Cancel it. You'll probably have to turn your Mac off via the power button.
Can I do a disk repair on the backup data, and if so how?
Yup. See #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Then you'll have to erase your OSX volume and install OSX again, since the transfer was incomplete.
Or, if the repair finds and fixes problems, you might want to try a full restore again (much less likely to have problems with transferred apps), but perhaps from an earlier backup, before the problems started. If that seems to complete normally, but won't boot, then just install a fresh version of OSX over the old one, then download and install the "combo" update and repair permissions.
Or should I try to mount the backup and manually pull off all my critical data?
Only as a last resort. You may have all sorts of permissions problems that way, and of course will have to reinstall all your 3rd-party apps.
Thanks again for your much appreciated support
You're quite welcome. Hang in there!

Clean Install / Time Machine Restore

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