Combine fresh system install and Time Machine Backup

Hi all !
There´s a question that´s more generally Leopard and Snow Leopard related:
In trying to find causes of a system slowdown I decided to go for a complete fresh system install. BUT I also want to use my data saved in the time machine backup without spoiling the freshly created system folder.
I also want to update the system to the current OS version before restoring from BU.
Is there a way to keep the fresh system folder deriving from a fresh installation and just replace the rest of the data (that´s not present yet) with the time machine backup ?
I think the handy command "Restore System from Backup" from the OSX system installer wouldnt be a good idea. It would copy ALL the files from the backup, and would overwrite my fresh system folder, so that I´ll end up with the same old, probably faulty system.
Could the migration tool do the job ?
Thanks for your knowledge !

habschi2 wrote:
In trying to find causes of a system slowdown I decided to go for a complete fresh system install. BUT I also want to use my data saved in the time machine >backup without spoiling the freshly created system folder.
You should be able to migrate, for example, just your data using TM. But, TM is a bit unpredictable. Why not make a bootable clone of your internal on an external. It would serve fail-safe purposes, migrations purposes, and data-backup purposes. At the end of your install, you could, as groups only, migrate your data, users, settings, and apps--using your discretion. I would migrate only my data and my settings.
Is there a way to keep the fresh system folder deriving from a fresh installation and just replace the rest of the data (that´s not present yet) with >the time machine backup ?
See above.
I think the handy command "Restore System from Backup" from the OSX system installer wouldnt be a good idea. It would copy ALL the files from the backup, and would overwrite my fresh system folder, so that I´ll end up with the same >old, probably faulty system.
Absolutely correct.
Could the migration tool do the job ?
You can use Migration Assistant with TM, but I have never done so. So, I can't advise. The clone I mentioned takes care of all you issues in a very straight forward manner without dealing with the confusion of TM and MA that can arise.
(8878)

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Mavericks install and Time Machine backup disk

Anyone come across this?
Trying to install Mavericks and get the message :
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This is my Macbook Pro Hard Drive and my time machine backups are saved to an external drive which was not connected when I was trying to install Mavericks
Currently running 10.7.5

The requirements for Mountain Lion are:
OS X v10.6.8 or later
2GB of memory
8GB of available space
and the supported models are:
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
If your machine does not comply with these requirements you may be able to install Lion, for which the requirements are:
Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2GB of memory
OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
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Fresh Leopard Install and Time Machine

Leopard has been a miserable experience on my Imac 1.8Ghz G5. It has played havoc with the fan management and constantly overheats causing an abrupt switching off with a “pop” (presumably a safety feature). I am planning a completely fresh Leopard install on a wiped hard drive (which was not done originally). What folders or files should I NOT back up in Time Machine so that none of my previous system is restored. Basically I want everything back as it is now, Apps, e-mails, bookmarks etc. but a completely fresh system. Presumably I need to restore the Library folder, but is there anything in the System folder that I will need to restore? I have done an Archive and Install before, but that has not helped. I have reset the PRAM and SMC also. Looking at various Boards, fan problems are commonplace. I hoped that the first update would sort this out, but it didn't. A fresh install seems a reasonable next step. Any advice would be appreciated.

It's time for Apple to fess up and admit that Leopard, while great in potential, was rushed out prematurely. I've never seen so many forums dealing with OS-X failures like we see with Leopard.
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Not one--NOT ONE product that Apple let out this year was correct out of the gate. ****, they couldn't even get a freakin' keyboard right!!
Bad Apple, Bad.
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I had to restore my system from a time machine backup. It Failed...

I had to restore my system from a time machine backup. It seemed to go alright up to it asking me to resart to complete the installation, but it would not boot. It forced a panic screen that told me to force quit my computer and resart which did not resolve anything.
Now I have installed the original Leopard 10.5 but I used to have 10.6.8 on it. How can I get it back to 10.6.8? or do I have to buy it again?
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thanks,
R.

It seems you had a kernel panic (see attached link):
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3742
Regarding upgrade to Snow Leopard (10.6.8), you will have to install the disk you used originally. If you have lost it, then you will have to get a new one. The Apple online store sells them for about $29. When you install Snow Leopard, you should then do a Software update.
Ciao.

Transferring iTunes Library to another system, from a Time Machine backup

Transferring iTunes Library to another system, from a Time Machine backup
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Thanks!

You should be able to restore iTunes and iPhoto files if the Lion system was running the same version of those applications that you'll have on the Snow Leopard system. However, you won't be able to restore files for applications like Mail, Address Book, or Safari, as the versions of those won't match.

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Yes, you have several options: (In all cases Mac OS 10.5 Leopard is required as previous OS X versions can not work with Time Machine backups.)
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*Full Restore Via Time Machine Only*
Alternatively, you can use the installation DVDs to do a full system restore. Insert the installation DVD. When the welcome window appears, go to the Utilities menu and select “Restore System From Backup…” and choose the drive that your Time Machine backups are on. Then select the date of the backup you would like to restore from. This will completely erase your internal drive and restore your system to a relatively same condition it was in on the date of the backup you choose. (See this article for a list of files that TM does not restore, http://shiftedbits.org/2007/10/31/time-machine-exclusions/) The advantage here is that you retain many of the personal preferences/settings that had been established with the previous system. Additionally, no further installation of 3rd-party software is required. The disadvantage is that BECAUSE you retain many of the personal preferences, settings, and system files that had been present with the previous system, you run the risk of reintroducing problems you experienced with the previous installation, including any issues that necessitated the OS reinstall in the first place. Using Disk Utility at this point to repair any permissions issues is advised as well.
*Full Backup After Restore*
Bear in mind that in all cases Time Machine will perform a full backup after a full restore. This is normal. Time Machine will resume incremental backups after the full backup has completed. To view previous backups, Control-click or right-click the Time Machine icon in your Dock or Option-click the Time Machine menu extra and Choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks," then select your previous backup volume. You will enter Time Machine and be able to browse your previous back ups and restore files. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338)
Hope this helps.

Clean install of Lion and Time Machine backups

Hi All,
I have a new MBP on it's way to be delivered to my house today, and my question is about Time Machine backups. I'd like to restore from my old MBP's Time Machine data, but I'm a little concerend because I've had some issues with Lion. Specifically, very slow at random times, spinning beach balls, etc. I didn't do a clean install of Lion, just the download/upgrade method, and from what I've read, that's caused some problems for people.
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Clean install of Lion and Time Machine Backup: Does it make sense?

Hello everybody,
I have updated from Snow Leopard to Lion over the App Store and now my iMac (the 27" one from last year) seems to suffer from several slowdowns. Quite unusual for a new Mac. So I decided to try a clean install. Of course I would like to keep my data, my programs and stuff. I am doing daily backups with my Time Machine, so this should not be a problem.
But thats my question: Does it make sense to put back all data from the Time Machine from a backup on a clean install? Doesn`t it possibly put back all the old problems with all the slowdowns I experience right now?
The following I intend to do:
- backup all data with Time Machine
- create a Lion install disc
- boot from the disc, delete the HDD
- install Lion from the disc
- boot the new OS and put back the Time Machine backup
I hope someone can verify that this would work. Since those slowdowns became really annoying I would give it a try.
greetings
Michael

the_whispering wrote:
So I decided to try a clean install.
I'd recommend against starting with the "nuclear" option.
First, is there a "pattern"? Does the problem seem to coincide with any particular app(s)?
How full is your internal HD? If it's over about 85%, that can contribute to slowness.
Check for directory damage, by Verifying your internal HD, per #6 in Using Disk Utility.
Check for unusual log messages that can indicate a problem. See the tan box in OSX Log Files to locate your system.log, then the blue box there to decipher it, especially the Other Problems section.
If you suspect a problem with your installation of OSX, download and install the "combo" update, per Installing the"combo" update and/or Reinstalling OSX.
If that doesn't help, try installing a fresh version of OSX (that won't disturb anything else), per the same article.
The following I intend to do:
- backup all data with Time Machine
- create a Lion install disc
- boot from the disc, delete the HDD
- install Lion from the disc
- boot the new OS and put back the Time Machine backup
If you want to restore everything from your Time Machine backup, all you have to do is start up from your Recovery HD and do the restore. That will erase the HD and copy everything, including OSX, from the backups. Thus, it's unlikely to help, unless you had unrepaired directory problems.
Or, after you install Lion, use Setup Assistant to transfer everything except OSX from your backups. See Using Setup Assistant on Lion. Functionally, that's pretty close to just installing a fresh copy of Lion as above.

Looking to format and start fresh....time machine backups

I have a 13" MBP purchased with Snow Leopard, currently running Lion. I am looking to start from scratch - just because I have a ton of stuff on here that I don't need, a bunch of junk. I just feel like it is time to start over.
That being said, I have my re-install disk that came with the laptop. I also have time machine backups from earlier today.
My questions are - if I go through with this and re install fresh-
1. How do I get back to Lion (I ultimately want to get to mountain lion)
2. What will happen with my time machine backup from my laptop now (pre-format) once I start running time machine on my laptop post-format? Will it over write? Will I still be able to access the archived data?
Thanks
sb

You don't use the 10.6 disk or the TM drive.
You need to copy your Users folders to a regular external storage drive, not just TimeMachine as it will restore stuff you don't want.
10.7 has a Recovery HD partition on the drive which you hold command r boot into to erase and install OS X Lion onto the Macintosh HD partition. Provided you have your AppleID and password, fast, good Internet connection.
Create the same named user on the machine as before.
You then hit AppStore and update to 10.8 if your machine qualifies for it.
You then hold option key and click on Purchases to redownload any software you installed from there.
You if 10.8, then need to turn Gatekeeper in System Preferences to "Install from Anywhere"
You then install 10.8 compatible software from outside sources.
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table
Last you connect the external storage drive and go through your folders and cherry pick what you want and don't want on the new setup. Nothing from the User/Library folder.
Then once that's complete, you create a couple of bootable clones, each on their own external drive using Carbon Copy Cloner, these are hold option key bootable drives for restoring or use when the hard drive dies or becomes corrupted.
You then hook up TimeMachine, it will update to 10.8 and your new configuration wiping all the old stuff pretty much away due ot the large change, or else you can keep it disconnected to restore back to 10.7.5 with, but you need to erase the drive c booted from the 10.6 disk first as you can't go backwards with TM, only on a wiped drive.
Most commonly used backup methods
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

New Install Works Fine then System Crashes After Time Machine Backup

I have installed Snow Leopard and everything went fine. I setup my external drive as the backup drive for Time Machine and did a backup. Then when I next used it, various applications started crashing. Then the System began crashing and gave me the gray screen restart and would never load again.
I got out the Snow Leopard disk and used DIsk Utilities to repair the disk and permissions, which seemed to work well. The computer worked great for a while. Then after I used Time Machine to back it up, when I next used it the System began crashing again.
What is going on here? It seems to be too much of a coincidence that the problems started immediately after I performed my first Time Machine backup to an external drive.

Woodwyn wrote:
Actually I already did that more or less. I re-installed the Snow Leopard printer drivers from the DVD after I previously repaired my system using DIsk Utilities. After which, I was prompted to download and install the 10.6.2 Combo update again. Which I did. After which, I ran disk utility and repaired and permissions verified the disk. But if you think going back to the original 6.0 install is important, then I presume you also mean I need to run all the subsequent updates as well?
So you only re-insalled printer drivers and updated the existing OS to 10.6.2? Then that may be enough. Otherwise, if the issue returns, I would suggest a full re-install of the OS at 10.6.0 followed by updates to 10.6.2.
However, first I am going to repair the drive and NOT enable Time Machine or perform a back-up, to see how long it lasts without crashing. The last two times, the crashing began within an hour of finishing the install and repairing the disk (immediately following a "co-incidental" Time Machine backup both times, of course). It's entirely possible Time Machine is not the culprit, however, that will confirm whether it has been the trigger.
Good troubleshooting strategy. Only time will tell.
Another thought occurs to me...Is the RAM that is installed on your Mac the original cards supplied by Apple - or did you upgrade it with 3rd party RAM yourself. The crashing you described earlier could very well be from a bad RAM card - even one that came from Apple.
It is one 2GB card, or two 1GB cards? If the crashing continues, I would suggest taking one of them out and seeing how things perform, then switching them and seeing if things change.

Upgrade to Maverick and Time Machine Backup

Hi,
I just finished upgrding to Maverick with a fresh install on my Mac Pro (2009 model). Prior to upgrading, I have been using Time Machine to do the routine backup of my computer system.
My question is whether I should continue my Time Machine backup with the original backup set or I should start a new backup set?
But if I start a new backup set, how can I get to some of the older files in the old backup set in case I need to restore those files from the Mountain Lion version?
Thanks in advance.

Yes, Mavericks has smashed people's old backups.. start a new backup in a different location.. or archive off the old backup from the TC onto a USB drive.. wipe the drive and start again. You can then access the backups on the USB any time you want.. plug it into the computer and use TM to look at the files.
Spend a bit of time reading how TM works.
And what you can do with it.
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
Even if you just skim through FAQ.. check out how to mount TM backups from another mac..(effectively your old Mountain Lion install is another mac).
http://pondini.org/TM/17.html
Keeping your old backup intact makes good sense.. !!

How do a clean install from Time Machine Backup which is in other partition of internal hard drive

I have 2 partitions in my internal hard drive they are
1. Mac OS (Sysem Files)
2. HDD (Other Personal Documents).
I did Time Machine Backup in HDD partition. So now i want to do clean install from the Time Machine Backup without format the whole drive since my system not booting meant that system crashed and cant boot in anyway (Just consider ). Also I have MAC bootable USB stick.
Thanks in advance .

Having never seen a setup like that, I'm not sure how it will work.
In theory, just erase the Mac OS volume, then install, choosing to recover from a Time Machine backup.
When you boot into Recovery, open Disk Utility and select the Mac OS volume, not the whole disk. Erase it, then quit DU and restore from the Time Machine backup. However, this is the part I'm not certain of. I would imagine the partition with TM backup will be mounted, but I don't know.
If you can't see the Time Machine backup from the Recovery HD on the drive, try it from the USB Recovery stick (it is a Recovery USB and not the old Lion install USB, correct?)
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718
If you don't have a "built-in" recovery HD because of your partitioning, then you would have to boot from that USB Recovery disk.
Your setup is severely flawed. A backup on the same drive as the data is not a backup. You will lose everything with a disk failure.
Also, partitioning off your OS on a Mac is not necessary and is probably counterproductive. OS X is not Windows.

Using external hard drive as both a boot drive and time machine backup

My internal 1TB hard drive on my iMac is dead and I don't have the money to replace it at the moment.
I have everything backed up on an external 1TB drive using Time Machine. As a workaround for the time being,
Is there any way I can install the system on the external drive and use that as the boot drive without erasing the Time Machine
Backups? It seems to me I would have to have two partitions for the external drive, one for the system, and
one for Time Machine. But is there any way to add a partition without erasing the existing one with
Time Machine only on it?
Sorry if line breaks here are weird. Doing this from iPhone.

Neil , I have a mid 2010 27" imac running 10.6.8 and i want to install Lion , when i purchase Lion from app store will it give me any install options as I would like to be able to dual boot using SL and Lion , I have 500 gigs left on my 1 tb drive (should I do this) or would I be better of using an external bootable drive as I also want to use Ubuntu and or Linux down the line.
Any and all support , help and advice will be appreciated.
If you would like to e-mail me you can find it on my profile page.
Thanks

Mavericks install and Time Machine

Hi all,
Running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard and going to install Mavericks. Current system and backups are good. Running Time Machine and also FileVault is enabled.
Want to know what I need to do (or not to do) so Time Machine can continue backing up right where it left off on Snow Leopard when I install Mavericks.
Is that possible or do I need to start a whole new TM backup with Mavericks?
Any help/thoughts on this or related to it are very welcome!
Thanks

Hi Alain,
I see you never got a reply to this, but I'm wondering what you finally did? I have very similar questions, but I'm "upgrading" from 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. I also have FileVault activated and use a Time Machine backup. Any comments/suggestions/experience you (or others) would like to share would be helpful.
Thanks

How do i determine system version on time machine backups

I want to restore Leopard to 10.5.5 as I am having a lot of problems with Mail with 10.5.6. I did the Mail update but that didn't work and I had to reimport all my mailboxes and now I have a mess. I don't remember the date I upgraded to 10.5.6 so I would have to reinstall December 14th backup which is the first I have and I know that Apple released 10.5.6 on the 15th of December. but I may have installed it much later--is there any way to read the system version number off the time machine backups?

when you are using full system restore utility on the leopard install DVD it will display the OS version next to every restore point.

Combine fresh system install and Time Machine Backup

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