Hard drive not appearing during restore from Time Machine?

While attempting to restore Time Machine from an external drive to my new MacBook Pro, the hard drive doesn't appear in the graphic. A second external drive I have does appear, but not the Macintosh HD. Suggestions?

Howdy dlayne40,
If your hard drive is not showing in Time Machine, check it with Disk Utility.
OS X: If you can't back up or restore with Time Machine - Apple Support
Check your Drives
Use Disk Utility to check your startup disk and any external drives you are using for backup.
Repair any issues and try again.
Best,
Nubz

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If I install new hard drive can I still restore from time machine?

I'm planning on updating the hard drive in my macbook to a 320gb drive. I currently have a drive with around 120gb of space. I know there are programs available to back up the entire hard drive. But, I've been having issue with my computer lately and I would rather just start over and just back up microsoft office because I don't have the key anymore and my iTunes library. Can I do all this from just my Time Machine back-ups and reinstall everything else? Or is the best way to make a bootable back up to my new drive and then install the hardware in my mac book.
Message was edited by: dsheppard20

I did this just a few weeks ago. I replaced my 80g hd with a 320g hd. I used time machine to backup my computer. All I had to do was swap hard drives. Use the install dvd to start computer. i then used disk utility to properly format the new hard drive (mac journaled). Then I used the restore option. That was all I had to do. Everything from my old hard drive was put on my new one in about one hour. Time Machine backs up your entire hard drive unless you excluded anything. So you can have a clean install of everything just the way it was on your old hard drive just by using Time Machine.

BLACK SCREEN DURING RESTORE FROM TIME MACHINE

I HAVE A 2006 MAC MINI INTEL THAT I JUST REPLACED THE HD AND MEMORY. WHEN I INSTALL LEOPARD NO PROBLEMS. WHEN I GO TO RESTORE FROM TIME MACHINE IT GOES TO ABOUT 20% THEN I GET A BLACK SCREEN LIKE IT WENT TO SLEEP BUT THE EXT HARD DRIVE IS STILL KICKING AND THE WHITE LIGHT IS SOLID ON THE MINI.
RAN DISK UTILITY AND NO ISSUES. RAM SHOWED UP FINE AFTE RINSTALL.
PLEASE HELP

Hello a:
Here is the Apple knowledge base article on that issue:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8963.html
Barry

Super drive is not working after Restoring from Time Machine

well its pretty much the Subject actually, my imac giving me BlueScreen problem so i searched and posted question and the only Solution i got was to Re-install Leopard and i did that by using Leopard DVD and Restored my imac from Time Machine backup, But i got into new problem and now the TIME after restoring from the "Time Machine" my DVD ejecting EVERY CD,DVD etc. even the Leopard DVD which he reads happily.
I dont think its a hardware fault at all, but i'm not a "Genious". Any suggestion!

Issue solved with visit to Genius Bar.
As I understand it here are the steps the Genius did. Attempt to create the account (system preferences->users) with the same information. It will say it already exists. Very carefully read the options. One will say use the existing account. BE CAREFUL because one option will wipe your data.
If you need to do this it might be worth the trip to the Genius Bar as you could wipe your data. One precaution I took was to bring a full copy of that user account onto my desktop (from the backup immediately before the wipe) in addition to the one in the user folder. Once we verified that the account was working I moved the desktop copy to the trash and again verified the account (just to be safe).
Hope this helps someone else.

Safari fails to open after recent hard drive replacement and data transfer from time machine

The hard drive was replaced by apple under replacement scheme due to seagate failures. It was reloaded with latest ios, but safari would not open, reported failure.
I had re -installed my backed up info from time machine. i did go into back ups and copied previous safari app, and dropped it on my desk top. It opened ok. Is there an easy way to get this app onto the system and delete the faulty safari file.
Hope this makes sense.

guess what, all fixed, the safari app installed by apple on new hard drive was 5 something, but 6.02 was needed, i installed 6.02 but it told me i needed OSX10.8.2 which cost me £13.99 but it now works.
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New hard drive and need to restore from time capsule

I replaced my hard drive with a new 1TB drive. Now I need to retore everything from my Apple time capsule. I'm having some trouble doing so. I first booted up with the new drive and selected restore from back up under disk utility and everything seemed to be going fine until I had to restart the computer when it was finished. When I did, I got the "panic" error and the computer wouldn't boot up in any mode (ie safe mode). I then started holding C button to start with the operating disk in and at set it up that way. My back up stuff is on there somewhere because 150GB is being used but my computer looks like it just came out tf the box. I also did a upgrade to Lion last year, How do I get that back?
Thanks for any help

Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Mac air with external hard drive - not being found on Finder, Time Machine, Migration Assistant

I have been using an external drive (Imation Apollo) to access only, old files from previous computer (PC) on a new Mac Air. I had not transferred them across to new computer (didn't want to do that) just accessing them from the HD. It had been working fine until recently. Each time the external drive had been connected Time Machine would come up and ask if i wanted to use this drive for back ups, and I always chose 'Decide later'. So, as yetI hadn't as yet configured Time Machine to do back ups.
Recently I noticed that the extrnal HD was no longer showing up on Finder. Slight panic as i have 5 or 6 yrs of work saved on that HD
Further investigations - it's also not showing up either on on Disk Utility, or on Migration Assistant.
I've done the following:
Tried HD in each of different USB ports - made no difference, HD still not showing up
Tested different Hubs in each port with HD attached - no difference HD not showing up
Tried USB flash drives in the USB ports - These are working fine and show up on finder
Tried the HD on other comptuters (a PC though, don't have access to another mac to do this test)- working fine, the HD is showing up and is accessable
Interrogated the Console logs to try to see if the act of attaching the HD creates a log entry - couldn't find anything
Rebooted computer via shut down, power disconnect - no difference
Reset PRAM - no difference still not showing up
Reset SMC - no differnce still not showing up
So I think I have established that all the USB ports are functioning correctly and able to access other external drive devices, using hubs with external powersource is not the issue, identified that the external hard drive is working OK, and it appears that the Mac itself is functioning normally.
What would be the reason the Mac now does not allow this specific external HD to be identified and accessed. The only possible things I can think of are
if I had in fact pressed 'Do not use' when Time Machine asked 'do you want to use this drive for back ups'. Would that mean that the Mac now totally rejects this HD from being a source of accessible files - I hope not!
I also think that my husband may have disconnected the hard drive from my computer to access some stuff and he just yanked it out rather than use the safe eject method. Could this create an issue? The Hard drive works fine on his PC.
Why is my Mac Air now rejecting this HD and what can I do to access my historical files now.
Any assistance anyone can provide would be very greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Anna

I can't answer why it isn't accessing it, but I have a slightly related issue w my back up drive starting to get noisy.
Realizing that redundancy is safety for critical data. I talked to my brother about my situation the other day & he said he has 3 small Western Digital portable HDs that he rotates for backup. He even keeps 1 in the safe deposit box.
I have read for some time that we should have multiple back ups & also have our critical stuff backed up off site. Amazon HD reviews had a woman telling about how she was very backed up on multiple computers & hard drives, but they were robbed or burgeled & all of them were stolen including her thesis that was on the computers.
Hard drives aren't that expensive. I just bought a new Western Digital 1 TB drive for $89.99. I plan to use it to back up the Seagate that is getting noisy & then maybe alternate them.
Also, when I came back to Mac, I moved practially all of my documents to Mac. I think I just dragged & dropped or something. Photos, Office, & pdfs do fine that way. & then you could back them up to a couple of different external drives & remove from your MacBookAir.
Unfortunately I think most of us do not back up until crisis & then it may be too late.
Also use Time Machine. For the 1st time in my computer life, my computer is well backed up--although now realizing the need for redundancy so will start backing up to at least 2 different HDs alternatly.
So, not sure why it isn't working & hopefully you have come up w a solution by now.
I think what I would do in a situation like this, since you can access it on the Windows machine would be to transfer the data to the Windows machine & then transfer it back to a different back up.
I'm looking into backing up what I still have in Windows using a thumb flash drive. I think it should all fit ok now that they have the larger drives & I don't have very much left in Windows format.

Iphone not recognised after restore from time machine?

Hi folks,
I suffered hard drive failure earlier this week and Apple installed a new one for me with the same OS as before (Leopard).
I restored a six month old backup via time machine, but the computer isn't now recognising my iPhone - either in iTunes or iPhoto. In the six months since I last backed up, I upgraded my handset from a 3GS with software 3.01 to a 4S with the newest software; could this be why my Macbook isn't recognising the phone? I don't know what to do, I've tried all the basic stuff the Apple site advises but no luck and I could do without a trip to a genius bar unless absolutely necessary
Thanks in advance.

I have also tried uninstalling iTunes and reinstalling Mobile Device Support - no luck.

External Drive crashed-how to restore from Time Machine?

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

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

(new drive) Doing a full restore from time machine backup

I wanted to replace my old drive with a new larger drive. Once the blank new drive is in the imac, how does one do a full system restore to the new blank drive? Is that possible? And before removing that old drive, should I first do some other type of time machine backup manually? Do I need to do a final FULL backup first? And can time machine do a full restore to a new blank drive, restoring everything as before?

Hi randy, you don't say which OS version you're on.
Very best would be an actual clone to another external drive you can boot from.
Likely you'll need to Format the new drive first...
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html
(To Install OSX on an IntelMac the Drive it needs the GUID Partitioning scheme mentioned at the bottom.)
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/DU.html
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
You could first hook the new drive to one of thses, format it then clone it before replacing the old one...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-TO-IDE-SATA-S-SATA-Converter-CABLE-Adaptor-w-POWER-/ 120711932292?forcev4exp=true&forceRpt=true#ht_3469wt_1174

User not showing after restoring from time machine backup

I was having issues with my 2009 Macbook pro. took it to the Genius Bar. Diagnosistics all showed ok. (I had done troubleshooting before I had the appointment). They suggested wipe and reinstalll from my time machine backup. I agreed.
Returned home to do the reinstall. When I went to log in found that one of my user accounts did not show in the log in - only my main and "guest" accounts. On checking the "users" folder the user is present. It also does not show in the system preferences user screen but when I try to recreate it says it exists. Note I have done this wipe and reinstall with Mavericks
Help! Most of the content I have on my main BUT there are several things that are not.
Thank you for your attention.

Issue solved with visit to Genius Bar.
As I understand it here are the steps the Genius did. Attempt to create the account (system preferences->users) with the same information. It will say it already exists. Very carefully read the options. One will say use the existing account. BE CAREFUL because one option will wipe your data.
If you need to do this it might be worth the trip to the Genius Bar as you could wipe your data. One precaution I took was to bring a full copy of that user account onto my desktop (from the backup immediately before the wipe) in addition to the one in the user folder. Once we verified that the account was working I moved the desktop copy to the trash and again verified the account (just to be safe).
Hope this helps someone else.

Upgraded HD, not able to restore from Time Machine

My MBP came with Leopard installed, and a Snow Leopard upgrade DVD. I have since upgraded to Lion through the App Store. Yesterday I decided to upgrade my HD with the thought that I would use Time Machine to move my old system to the new hardware. After using the Leopard recovery disc that came with my MBP 17" I wasn't able to use Time machine because of an OS compatibility issue. There was a warning saying that the OS that I just installed was oldr and my ime Machine backup wouldn't work.
Will I have to pay for the Lion upgrade again to get the same computer to be compatible to the Time Machine backup that I have?

I upgraded the HD of the MBP. Before taking out the old HD I ran Time machine one more time then removed the HD, replacing it with the new one. I reinstalled Leopard from the OEM recovery disc that came with the computer on to the new HD, installed the updates for Leopard, and tried to use Time Machine to recover the setup that was on the old HD before I removed it - Lion, my applications, documents, etc.
Is there another way that I should be moving the system from the old drive to the new?

HT4718 Installed new hard drive, click on restore from time machine, get to 'select a destination' but just keeps searching for disks.. any help please?

Installed new hard drive and want to restore from time machine.
Get as far as 'select a destination' then it goes no further - just keeps 'searching for disks'
Help anyone please?

1. Be sure your drive is attached and mounted.
2. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next step.
3. In the Finder, choose Go > Utilities. The /Applications/Utilities folder will open.
4. Launch Disk Utility.
5. Click the icon for your external hard drive in the sidebar on the left.
6. Click the Erase tab along the top of the window.
7. From the Volume Format menu, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
8. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the Name field.
9. Click the Erase button.
Make Sure that you choose the correct drive

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).

Having trouble restoring from Time Machine

I replaced my HD, on my iMac 2007 Intel 20"' model A1441. After formatting I tried to restore from Time Machine, but continue to receive error messages saying it can't restore the drive. I went over to disk utilities & restored from there, but it renames my hard drive to "time Machine Backup" so I have two backup disks. Is there a way to rename it? Because all the data transfers over. The whole thing is very frustrating! My system was running on OS 10.8.5.

That's not how you restore from Time Machine. If you followed the instructions linked below and it didn't work, erase the volume and install OS X. When you restart, follow the prompts to transfer your data from a snapshot.
OS X Yosemite: Recover your entire system

Hard drive not appearing during restore from Time Machine?

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