Full backup system restore from time machine

Help: I need to rebuild my system from Time Machine.
I am using iMac with 10.6.8. I plan to replace my HDD.
When trying to emulate the system restoration, I used the MAC Install DVD, which allowed accessing the Time Machine external disk.
However, TM suggested only one full backup dated 3/2011......
Can't time machine use all incremental steps between 2011 and today? 3 years......
What should I do before changing my HDD? Any way to force TM to accept a full backup NOW?
And then, will Restore rebuild my system as I see it today?
Thanks,
Moshe

The only one I've ever used is SuperDuper. It and Carbon Copy Cloner have free trail periods so you can experiment. I'm not familiar with the others.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested

Similar Messages

Will a system restore from Time Machine erase any of the data that is currently on the Mac and not in the Time Machine?

We had a lot of data on our Mac (i.e. photos, iTunes libraries etc) which we backed up via Time Machine. The hard disk corrupted so we had to get it wiped. When we got it back, my parents started using the mac as per usual but they didn't do a full System Restore from Time Machine. So, if I do a full restore now, will it erase any of the new photos, musc etc that is currently on the mac?

The Time Machine restore will only restore what is on Time Machine. Making a clone is probably a better means of ensuring whatever data you want recovered gets recovered together with Time Machine.
Generally speaking, applications that are newer than the operating system from Apple that are included with the operating system are not supported. So in your data recovery process from your clone, you'll have to be careful what data you choose to copy back.

Downloads folder missing after system restore from Time Machine

I installed a new HDD, installed Leopard, and the did a system restore from Time Machine. Everything seems to work fine except from a big question mark in the dock, where downloads folder should be. Any suggestions pls?

Thank you very much for your quick answers.
Probably the problem originated from excluding the Downloads folder from my backup, although it should have been there in my new installation. The interesting thing was that this folder were nowhere to be found in the Finder, and by trying to download something from Safari, it just wouldn’t.
I did a Repair Permissions from the HDD, not the Leopard DVD, and all came back to normal.
I have to admit, that coming from The Win world, this HDD replacement was the easiest and fastest ever, by far!

System Restore from Time Machine Back up and Mail

Hi
I have around 16,000 Messages in my Mail 3.2 Inbox. I use Gmail IMAP service. One thing I like about Mail is that next to all my messages there are these arrows that indicate whether I have replied to or forwarded a particular message and clicking on them takes me to my response to a particular email.
I need to reformat my MBP HD and want to do a system restore through Time Machine.
My question is, will Mail return to my current state (with all the arrows and tags) after I do the complete restore from Time Machine.
Any help on this is highly appreciated.
Cheers!

Mheck21 wrote:
I replaced the internal because I need more space, I'm not an expert, but I've done it before. I wasn't having trouble I was just running out of room and decided to upgrade?
Ah, ok, that rules that out.
I think it wasn't backing up because it was showing I had files on the external but I couldn't locate them. It's my understanding that the external must be blank to back your computer up with time machine.
No, it doesn't have to be empty (although Time Machine works best if it has its own, exclusive space). Without the error message(s), we don't know what is/was wrong.
I have run the Verify Disk on the internal and it says its all good.
Ah, good. That means you don't have directory problems.
I have not run a Repair Disk Permissions. I am not sure how to do that? Is that also located in the Disk Utility.
Yup, same window, different button.
I tried to just run the update from the update software option in the apple on the top left. I also then ran the combo that I downloaded from the apple site.
With what results? Did they compete? If not, what message did you get?

IMac won't reboot after system restore from Time Machine

I just installed a wacom intuos pro tablet on my imac running snow leopard. The system clock reset to 1st Jan2000 and system prefenerces were no longer accesible. I performed a system restore from my time machine but now can't reboot. The restore completed succesfully (or so the it told me). When i restarted the imac i got the usual 'bing' followed by grey screen and spinning wheel swiftly followed by a light blue screen with the cursor in the top left hand corner.
There is sat for an hour befoe I switched off and tried again......same result.
The installation disc is still in the optical drive.
Any advice please on how to remidy this?
Thanks

I have/had a similiar problem. What I did was reset the SMC and PRAM. You can also do a safe boot. For the PRAM, I had to do three times, and my computer finally booted up. Afterwards I verified my disk and repaired my permissions. So far so good. I guessing that Spotlight needed to re-index the system.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570

How can one do a full system restore from Time Machine to a Macbook Air

I recently had a major crash on my two internal disc DualG5. The system internal disk failed completely and I used Time Machine to do a full system restore to the second internal disc. It worked PERFECTLY!! I followed the instructions in support
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html
This involved inserting the Leopard DVD into the optical drive and backing up from my external LaCie time machine backup.
I also have a MacBook Air. I use an external USB HD drive as Time Machine backup. The Air only has one USB port. I have an external DVD drive for the Air. Clearly, I will not be able to mount the DVD and External disk at the same time unless I use a small hub. I guess this will work but is there any other work around. Could I do a full reinstall and then connect the external HD?

Richard,
Alternatively, you could use Remote Disc Sharing (via the DualG5) to do the install and reserve the USB port for the Time Machine disk.
[http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1131]
[http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1777]
Let us know if this was helpful.
Cheers!

How can I access old Time Machine backups after restoring from Time Machine?

Just restored my iMac and I can only see "Now" when I enter Time Machine. How can I see all the backups and dates I had before I restored?

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.

Imac won't restore from time machine backup after HD (hard drive) recall replacement

I have an imac bought in 2011, running Snow Leopard. It required an HD replacement due to the 1 TB Seagate recall - the replacement was done by a certified Apple repair station yesterday. Before the guy left he started a backup/restore from my latest time machine backup set. It failed. I attempted it two times and got error messages that it failed and the computer needed to be restarted to try it again. No luck. I called the guy back and he told me to call Apple Care. Not thrilled about that response since the guy had just left my house I did what he told me to do. (A quick sideline here: I recognize that a time machine backup should be no big deal and SHOULD work everytime, but it doesn't. It irks me that Apple is replacing my HD through no fault of mine and yet they don't allow the restore of data to be a "covered" expense in this process - this isn't just because this was an authorized repair guy - the Apple store would have done the same).
Back to the issue. When I called apple care they pretty much had me try the same thing again with an earlier back up set. To my knowledge, it didn't work. I say this because it looked like it was working and when I came back to the imac later, it had restarted and once again booted to the OSX install. (The boot disc is still in the imac). When I tried to boot from another location, one did not show up to boot from so I assumed that the data didn't transfer and it forced another restart. So, I tried something else. I tried to re-install the snow leopard OSX without using the restore function. That appeared to work and then when the machine restarted it asked if I had another mac and I chose the option to get the files/apps/etc. from my time machine backup. The computer chose what I can only assume is the most recent backup set (It chose what I know to be a subfolder that appears under the dated backup folder - Macintosh HD--which btw is confusing seeing as that's always the name of the HD on the imac). I again stepped away from the computer so it could do its thing for two hours. When I returned, I was back to the MAC OSX screen that asks you to choose a language. There were no more options to choose DISK UTILITY or RESTORE FROM BACKUP, etc. When I clicked on English it took me right back into the screen where you say whether you have another Apple that you want to transfer data from. I realized that the imac must have restarted and I assumed maybe it was because the boot disk was still in - except how do you get the disc to eject? I also initially assumed that the backup had somehow failed again and triggered a restart. I tried to choose the option to just set up the machine without transferring data and when I got to the choose a name for your HOME folder message I tried to enter the same name I had it as before and it wouldn't allow me to do so, saying that that name was already in use. I also tried a different name and that didn't work either - got the same message (I assume if it is not the same name that it won't sync up with the time machine data from the backup set). So, I almost tried the "select time machine backup" option again until I looked at my HD space. Clearly, there is space that has been used. HD space was 997 at the start and now it's 636. My initial thought is to somehow get back into the setup area where I can use disc utility and erase the whole thing and then start over but 1) I don't think it's going to work even if I could get back there 2) I have no idea how to get this thing to reboot into that mode 3) I can't get the boot CD out to even try to restart to see if this thing did what it was supposed to, SO NOW I AM TOTALLY STUCK! I have not called Apple Care back because quite frankly they were useless the first time. I have a call into the repair guy but who knows how much help he will be. In the mean time, I have a million things to do and a computer that isn't working - Whoever said Apples never have issues needs to be seriously censored!
A few other notes: I use Time Machine Editor to run my backups weekly. It was set up that way from the get go by an Apple rep who came to my house to get us up and running. Editor should not effect the way that time machine does its work, so I doubt there is relevance but thought it worth mentioning.
One other note is that the Apple Care agent tried to have me do something called a "Source" something or other from the disk utility screen but when she realized that my backup file (shown by date) contained many other sub files (11-27-12/MacintoshHD/MyNamesIMAC/etc.), it was not possible to run this operation - thus we aborted. Sorry I don't remember the name of the process and unfortunately now can't access that option to go find it.
If you can help me, I would be eternally grateful! I am open to having a phone conversation if you are willing to give me your email to mail you my number. I have so much work to do this week and this was the last thing I needed. Did I mention this was supposed to be EASY?
I used to be quite the geek with my PC - still on the learning curve with the mac but not enjoying it. I am fairly tech savvy and I can follow instructions for a step by step solution if you've got one.

I got a recall and had the drive replaced. I have retored 3 timesa dn even had apple do the job and it is still not right. I still can't get a simple ghost of the data from time machineback tot he new drive.
This is Apple's explaination as taken from their web page.:
Restoring your entire system from a backup
If you are restoring a backup made by a Mac to the same Mac
With your backup drive connected, start up your Mac from the Recovery system (Command-R at startup) or Mac OS X v10.6 installation disc. Then use the "Restore From Time Machine Backup" utility.
Note: If "You can't restore this backup because it was created by a different model of Mac" appears when restoring a backup that was made on a different Mac, follow the onscreen instructions.
I even posted this information on the community and apple removed it... because they don't like the:
Off-topic or non-technical posts
Non-constructive rants or complaints
But here is my experieince:
Take in 27iMac running 10.6.8, 5-7 days, what a joke, my boss will be happy to pay for a week without working. Finally get, "if you have TM back up, 3 days." Get machine back with 10.6.3, hit the R recovery, click TM back up, runs for 2 hours, reboots, looks great. Box up take back to office... update to install - OH NO, still running 10.6.3. Updates crash with no specific error on install, BUG PROBELM, nothing runs.
Call Apple... after hours, tells me to boot using 10.6.2 disk, wipe, reinstall OS, udate to 10.6.8, THEN do the restore. GREAT! Only thing 10.6.2 DVD won't read... now back on phone... take back to the store, Genius says, he'll ix it just like it was. PROMISES it'll be fixed.
Pick up next day, supposedly, booted to disk, wiped drive, reinstalled, updated to 10.6.8 and THEN did the RIGHT restore... Looks GREAT... apps run and 10.6.8 OS. Back to the office... NOT RUNNING right!!!... fonts messed up, drop box app needs new install, cocktail needs upgrade, Fetch not working, memorized paths gone... back ups locked out of permissions... ***!!
4 hours on phone with apple and still no rsolution - to missing "settings". Seems there are THREE WAYS TO RESTORE (according to apply tech)... Running MIGRATE ASSISTANT and being able to choose your files, including settings, "R" RESTORE after they load a new OS... or NOW WAITING for them to send me a bootable 10.6.3 disk and then boot from disk, w/o installing OS and doing a restore from TM. I think this is done via the disk Utilties application.
So now can't back up without doing a full 400 GB back up since permissons are screwed and possibly destroying any good back ups... can't work, like having hands tied behind back. WAITING for solution! Very upset!!!
I did my first restore just like they said and now an 10 days without proper machine. Just FYI. I thnk I am going to make the store do the tech work so I have somthing to fall back on.

After restoring from Time Machine to new Hard drive, system will not boot

I replaced my hard drive on my Macbook (2008 model) with a larger drive. I then put in my Snow Leopard disk, and followed the steps to restore from Time Machine backup. a few hours later it said it was restored, but when trying to boot up, I just get a blue screen with an occasional flicker to the Leopard screen. I tried an earlier back up as well but with the same results. Any suggestions??

Same exact problem here just yesterday, folks.
Got a bigger hard drive on my MacBook Pro (15-inch Core 2 Duo) and installed it. Followed the restore procedures from Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/333319/the-secret-of-the-time-machine+assisted-hard-drive-swa p). Then got the blue screen immediately after the chimes.
I only managed to transfer my old disk content by using CarbonCopyCloner.
Having said that, your solution looks uselful, Portland Mac! :
Portland Mac wrote:
... But when I decided to try and just do a fresh install and work my way back through all my software, I started by installing Snow Leopard and suddenly it boots and everything from my Time Machine backup is there...
But I would not say the following:
Portland Mac wrote:
... On a new drive apparently you have to install Snow Leopard before you do a time machine restore.
Am I mistaken, or did you do a fresh install after restoring your TimeMachine backup?
In any case, I found an interesting Apple article that might confirm that there is a problem: [Mac OS X v10.6: Issues after restoring a Mac from a Time Machine backup made with a different Mac ("Restore System From Backup…")|http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3243]. Or is it a completely different thing?
And another discussion that might give some good advice: [http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12578529#12578529]. Personally, I will now do as the man says: two backups, on two different external hard drives, using different apps, the other one being CarbonCopyCloner...
For info, and I don't know whether that matters, my backup disk had been full and some past content had been erased automatically by Time Machine. But I don't think this should have mattered...

Full restore from Time Machine fails

I am trying to replace a failing hard drive. The failing drive in in a box. A new one is in the computer.
When I try to run a full restore from Time Machine it comes up with an error saying the restore failed. No useful information like codes or reasons are given.
I'd prefer to do a full restore, but I fear the cause is too much system file corruption on the TM drive. I think the only alternative is to recreate the four user accounts and somehow copy the files back to the accounts.
Before I swapped the drives I set all permissions on the files in each account to admin=read/write, user=read/write, other=read only. I then created a couple incremental backups to Time Machine.
Currently I have 10.5.0 installed. I have to install 10.4, then upgrade, which is a very lengthy process.
The old drive is still (barely) functional. While using it though, if I try to run any program, the system hangs for minutes at a time, (BBOD).
How should I proceed? Is there a way of repairing the backup? Do I try the copying all the files? I have no way of using the Migration feature since I only have the one Mac. I do have a PC.
Thank you in advance.

Melnibonean wrote:
When I try to run a full restore from Time Machine it comes up with an error saying the restore failed. No useful information like codes or reasons are given.
It's possible that as the HD was failing, it corrupted something in your installation of OSX, and that was backed-up, so when you restore it, you're restoring damaged items.
Try again, but pick an earlier backup, from before the problems started.
When you do, once it starts, select Window, then +Show Log+ and +Show All logs+ from the menubar. Watch the messages; if it fails again, note what it says. That will tell us, roughly, where it was, so we may be able to avoid it.
Currently I have 10.5.0 installed. I have to install 10.4, then upgrade, which is a very lengthy process.
Huh? Why would you install Tiger?
How should I proceed? Is there a way of repairing the backup?
Possibly, depending on what's wrong.
Instead of selecting +Restore System from Backup+ from the Utilities menu, select +Disk Utility+ and use it to do a +*Repair Disk+* on the backups (via your Leopard Install disc). Then quit DU and try +Restore System from Backups.+
I have no way of using the Migration feature since I only have the one Mac.
Yes, you do, if the backups are ok. You can use +Setup Assistant+ or +Migration Assistant+ from your backups (or a clone), not just another Mac. But they both only use the most recent backup, which may be damaged, so try the full restore first.

89 hours for Restore from Time Machine backup!! Is this typical?

Trying to restore my iMac after a hang up in the boot process....grey screen----->apple----->progrees bar to 1/10 full----->shutdown.
Troubleshooting steps thus far,
-Booted from Lion install USB.
-Ran Disk Utility and all tests show that the startup drive is in good order.
-Went to Restore from a Time Machine backup and chose Iomega USB 2.0 backup drive.......internal HD would not show up in destination list.
-Went back to Disk Utility and erased internal HD and formatted for HFS+ (Journaled)
-Tried to restore from Time Machine again, was able to select internal HD as destination this time.
-Estimated time.......89 HOURS!!!
24" iMac (Mid 2007)
2.8 Ghz Core 2 Extreme
4 GB Ram (667 Mhz)
500 GB HDD (ATA)
2 TB Iomega USB 2.0 backup drive.
I understand this machine is no spring chicken, however, this amount of downtime seems excessive. Why so slow? Any ideas to speed it up?
Thanks.

Sounds like your internal HD may be failing.
If it's working slowly, having to do numerous retries, etc., everything will be very slow.
Note that Disk Utility won't necessarily find that sort of problem with a HD; it only checks the file system on the drive for consistency -- all the various directories, catalogs, etc.
Less likely, but possible, are problems with RAM, the USB drive, the USB port on your Mac, or even the USB cable.
Unless you're well into the restore, you might want to try running this: Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test. Run the Extended tests (that may take an hour or more, depending on how much RAM you have). Write down any error code(s) it shows.

Full restore from Time Machine fails what now!

Just upgraded to 10.8 and all was fine except on crucial pice of software that was supposed to work in 10.8 but didn't.
I tried to revert back to 10.6 via full restore but it failed. Now I just tried to restore from TM backup of the 10.8 restore point.
It fails too. All my HDs check out fine. What went wrong and how can I get back to working?

Melnibonean wrote:
When I try to run a full restore from Time Machine it comes up with an error saying the restore failed. No useful information like codes or reasons are given.
It's possible that as the HD was failing, it corrupted something in your installation of OSX, and that was backed-up, so when you restore it, you're restoring damaged items.
Try again, but pick an earlier backup, from before the problems started.
When you do, once it starts, select Window, then +Show Log+ and +Show All logs+ from the menubar. Watch the messages; if it fails again, note what it says. That will tell us, roughly, where it was, so we may be able to avoid it.
Currently I have 10.5.0 installed. I have to install 10.4, then upgrade, which is a very lengthy process.
Huh? Why would you install Tiger?
How should I proceed? Is there a way of repairing the backup?
Possibly, depending on what's wrong.
Instead of selecting +Restore System from Backup+ from the Utilities menu, select +Disk Utility+ and use it to do a +*Repair Disk+* on the backups (via your Leopard Install disc). Then quit DU and try +Restore System from Backups.+
I have no way of using the Migration feature since I only have the one Mac.
Yes, you do, if the backups are ok. You can use +Setup Assistant+ or +Migration Assistant+ from your backups (or a clone), not just another Mac. But they both only use the most recent backup, which may be damaged, so try the full restore first.

I'm having a problem with logging into a FileVault-protected user account after restoring from Time Machine backup.

Hi all,
My computer had been running really slowly for a while, so I decided to erase the whole hard drive and reinstall the operating system, and then I was going to restore the files I cared about from Time Machine. The main account, which had all my documents and photos, was FileVault-protected. The last thing I did before erasing the hard drive was to run one last Time Machine backup. As far as I remember, I always ran Time Machine backups with the FileVaulted user logged in.
I don't remember whether I was using FileVault 1 or 2. I had been using FileVault 1, but I installed Lion as soon as it came out and I thought I had migrated to FileVault 2 at that point.
Once I erased the hard drive and reinstalled the operating system, I browsed the Time Machine disk and, within the Users folder, there was no folder for the main user account. When I tried to reinstall everything by restoring from Time Machine backup, I'd get the option for all the user accounts, but when I tried to log in with the main one I'd get the dreaded "You are unable to log in to the FileVault user account "User" at this time. Log in failed because an error occurred." Finally, when attempting to restore from the Time Machine backup again, I noticed something strange: After the computer got to about 10% done restoring, it declared itself completed successfully and rebooted.
I've tried a number of tips that came up from questions about similar issues on the Apple support forum, but had no luck. Is there any way to get these files back? Did they ever even get backed up?
Thanks.

Hroodbwai wrote:
I can't find it! not sure what's going on but the only folder shown is the " Shared" folder.
Did you have only the one user account? If there were others, they should also be in the "Users" folder. You probably won't have access to the files inside them, but they should be there.
From what can make out, it looks like it's not backed up any of the files for the filevault account. Can't see user folder when looking through previous backups in Time Machine galaxy view.
Are you doing that from a Finder window set to your internal HD, or your computer name? It should look something like this (with the Finder in List view):
|
|
I'd been logging out and backing up manually on a regular basis.
Scheduled backups should run normally; but they won't back up the File Vault sparse bundle, nor will any run manually.
The only time it's backed-up is when you actually log out.
You should have seen this window on logout:
|
|
followed by this one:
|
|
If you didn't see the second one, or cancelled it, the account wasn't backed-up.

Can't restore from Time Machine backup error message

My hard drive on my Macbook failed a few days ago. Just makes a clanking noise and won't boot up etc... I installed a new drive, formatted it, and selected restore from Time Machine backup from the installer screen. It started restoring from my backup I had on an external drive and everything was fine untill it got about 6% done then get a message that says "An error occured when restoring from the backup" It is pretty non descriptive. It also says please restart your system and try again or something to that effect. I tried again, same problem. When I try to copy files over manually I eventually gets some error that says there is a problem with a file and it will quit. Any ideas on how to get my data? I can see all my files on there, but can't get them. My backup disc is just used for backup on this one machine nothing else, so it shouldn't have a problem. Help!

Good to hear MA is doing something!
>I have never had much luck with Time Machine...
Same here, not one good backup or restore, can't tell which.
You can set any of these to Clone/Update as often as you wish...
Carbon copy cloner...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/products/tribackup.html

During upgrade to Lion on Macbook Pro the upgrade stops at OS utilites after rebooting asking to restore from time machine backup or install new copy

My Daughter is currently upgrading her MacBook Pro to OS X Lion. During the upgrade the system rebooted and then stops at the OS X Utilites menu. I have installed this same upgrade on My MacBook Pro and the family iMAC without issue. Did the upgrade encounter a problem? The only options are to Restore from Time Machine Backup, Reinstall Mac OS X, Get help, or Disk Utility.
I'm not sure how recient the backup is on the TimeMachine for her system and she is concered that she may loose a lot of updates she has made to iTunes and iPhoto.
Please help.

I have 8 GB of RAM, but would that even matter during install? Performance once installed and running sure, but I questiong whether the installer would demand that much more, or why it would affect mountain lion when restoring from a time machine backup.

Full backup system restore from time machine

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for