I am attempting to restore a time machine backup to a new drive.

I seem to have restored all the files, but the settings arent restore (ie desktop, software settings, where pictures are etc.) how do I restore the settings

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for details.

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HT201250 when restoring a time machine backup to a new computer, does it affect the new operating system on the new computer

when restoring a time machine backup to a new computer, does it affect the new operating system on the new computer?

That depends on how you do it.
By far the best, easiest, most reliable method is to use Setup Assistant when your shiny new Mac first starts up, to transfer your apps, users, data, etc. That doesn't disturb either the OS or basic Apple apps that came with the new Mac. See Using Setup Assistant on Mountain Lion or Lion.
There is a facility to restore an entire system from Time Machine backups, including the version of OSX on the backup, but that's for use when your internal HD has been erased or replaced only. It's not a good idea to restore the full backup of one Mac to a different one. Depending on the circumstances, the installer may not allow it. Even if it does, the Mac may not start up, or may kernel panic, or not work properly.

Transfer Time Machine backups to a new drive

Is there an automated or an easy way to transfer my current Time Machine back ups to the new Time Capsule (I am sure I will inevitably buy it]. Looks like a great system for notebook users but I wouldn't like to start again with time Machine I like having the security of back ups I have already accrued. My current drive is certainly not full and won't be for a while.

So far not very many people have had much success in copying their Time Machine backups to a new drive although the Restore option in Disk Utility ought to be able to do this. However, SuperDuper will support that capability when their new Leopard compatible version is released which should be in a week or so.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/blog/

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.

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.

Restore a Time Machine backup on a newer version of the OS

My MacBook running Leopard (10.5.5) was recently stolen, but fortunately I have a Time Machine backup.
I'll make do with an old iBook running Tiger for now, but when I 've saved up a bit, and when Snow Leopard is released (and preferably a new version of iLife as well), I'll buy a new MacBook.
I was wondering though, what would happen if I would restore my Time Machine backup (made under Leopard) to a machine running Snow Leopard. Of course nobody can tell now, but has anybody tried restoring from a TM backup made in a previous version of the OS? For example from 10.5.2 to a Mac that came with 10.5.4 pre-installed? Do you need to update the OS afterwards?
If updating is necessary: is it easy to use the grey disk that comes with your computer to update the OS? I never needed it before...

In the situation you are talking about, Time Machine offers the option of migrating data, using Migration Assistant, from a Time Machine backup, ie the same process you use to transfer to a new computer but coming out of a backup rather than a previous machine. This process will generally work between different versions of operating system and so it's a reasonable bet it will work to transfer from a backup under Leopard to a machine running Snow Leopard. That process allows you to bring applications and settings across as well, although whether that would be a good idea would depend on how confident you were that your apps would work under Snow Leopard.

Why isn't my time machine backup updating a new drive correctly?

I bought a new larger hard drive and I am trying to use time machine (lion) to restore the new one and copy all my files. I made a Lion startup disk and use the disk utility to erase the new drive and then choose restore from time machine backup. The process runs great and then after about 3 hours it finishes and restarts the computer. Then the white screen with the grey apple and little spinner below it pop up and the spinner just spins forever.
Does anybody know what I am doing wrong? Thanks

It looks like it tries to start loading safe mode and the loading bar appears under the spinning lines under the apple but then the bar gets almost half full and just dissapears. I'm left with just that grey apple screen and the spinning lines again.
The only other startup option that seemed to get me somewhere other than the grey screen is when I hold the "option" key and choose from the hard drive or the dvd drive to boot. I can run from the dvd OS X disk that I made. Is there anything I can do there?

How do I restore a Time Machine backup to a new hard drive in an iMac 5.1?

Hi all,
I recently had a hard drive failure in my mid-2006 iMac 5.1 and have now installed a new drive. The iMac was previously running an up-to-date version of OSX 10.7 - Lion. However I've struggled to restore the machine from its Time Machine backup, trying using both Setup Assistant which has never allowed me to overwrite my startup files with the restore, and several attempts using Migration Assistant and following Pondini's Migration Problems tutorial, which worked partially, but has left me with a series of files/folders, many of which have Permissions problems.
The most recent attempt, using Migration Assistant is giving me a new error message:
You can't transfer from your other Mac to this one because your other Mac uses a newer version of Mac OS X. You must upgrade this Mac before you can transfer from your other Mac.
I'm getting it that the Time Machine data is more current (in terms of OSX) than my desktop machine - which I have prepared using my Snow Leopard start-up disc (but wonder why this is the first time that I'm getting told this on attempting to restore). But how do I get my iMac to a state whereby I can restore from the Time Machine?
I can't upgrade the Mac using Software Update as this will only get me to OSX 10.6.8 (which is where I currently am, although some applications don't seem to want to work in this state - App Store, Safari on occasion); I can't download OSX 10.7 from the App Store as it is no longer there, and I can't install OSX 10.8 as my iMac is not compatible with this release. I seem to be stuck in an infinite loop from which I don't seem to be able to get out of.
Can anyone help at all?
Many thanks in advance for any contributions & apologies if I've omitted any crucial information that might be needed to help me out.
Paul

Thanks den.thed,
Apologies for not replying back sooner - I've been away.
Although your suggestion helped me in getting a copy of Lion that I could use, it didn't help with the restore from Time Capsule issue. I had to download the Lion app onto my MacBook & then transfer it across but it wouldn't let me upgrade my OS for some reason, so I ended up wiping the iMac completely and restoring via my Snow Leopard install disk. For some reason, this time, it let me have the option of using Setup Assistant to access the Time Capsule for a complete restore.
Now, over a week later, with various bits of tweaking and reinstalling some apps that didn't seem to come across, I have my system back.
Thanks for the help anyway.
Cheers,
Paul

Can you restore from Time Machine backup to a smaller drive?

My 2008 Air's original hard-drive just died. I have a recent Time Machine backup. Since the laptop isn't under warranty, I am looking at buying a replacement hard-drive on my own (either SSD or 'standard'). My question is, if I was using ~70Gigs (and had a Time Machine backup to that effect) and place a 64G hard-drive into the laptop and attempt to do a Time Machine restore... what will happen? Will I be able to pick and choose what to leave out? Or will the entire restore fail? Thank you.

As long as there is sufficient space on a drive you can restore to any drive. However, be sure the drive is properly partitioned and formatted. In your case you can not fully restore 70 GBs to a 64 GB SSD, but you can restore the operating system and some of your data. That means you cannot do a full restore but will need to pick and choose after you install OS X.
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 Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. 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 then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

How do I restore from time machine backup onto unmounted disk drive "disk0s2?" :-(

In trying to restore my MacBook Pro after a strange freeze, I seemed to have unmounted the main disk drive. So, I have no drive on which to restore my computer using my time machine backup. What do I do now???

Give this a try:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
See if you are able to get the partition to mount. If not select the Terminal from the Utiilities menu. At the prompt enter:
sudo mount disk0s1
Press RETURN and authenticate. Your password will not be echoed. Press RETURN again. I'm assuming you have a disk with one partition. If that's not correct, then do not use the above command.

Question about restoring from Time Machine backup because of new SSD

Hi,
I have a 15" Late 2011 MacBook Pro running 10.10.1 with a Toshiba hard drive inside. I want to replace the Toshiba HDD with a Crucial MX100 SSD. I use a Time Capsule to backup. After I install the SSD, I would want to restore my data to the new SSD using my Time Capsule, but I have a few questions:
1) My Mac shipped with OS X 10.7; My Mac is running OS X 10.10.1; Should I use Internet Recovery to start the restore (even though when I start OS X Internet Recovery it will download 10.7 recovery), or should I use a USB drive to start Recovery?
2) After booting into Recovery, do I format/partition the SSD into 1 partition, GUID partition table, Mac OS Extended Journaled, etc before restoring using Time Capsule?
3) Do I need to use Trim? Please tell me your opinion on the OS X Yosemite and Cindori Trim Enabler controversy.
4) How do I install Recovery HD on my new SSD?
5) Please tell me all tips you have about this entire process.
Thanks,
Mike

The ability to load OS X Internet Recovery is provided by firmware independent of the SSD. Just make sure your MBP has the latest firmware, which was released years ago.
You won't need a separate step to install OS X. Answered more completely in (2).
Merely format the SSD Use Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and as many partitions as you desire. One is sufficient.
Only Crucial can answer that. You might be better off purchasing a SSD from a company known to support Macs, such as OWC / MacSales. I have several of their SSD products and haven't had to devote a moment of thought to Trim.
That's done by virtue of the Recovery firmware. It will recognize that no Recovery partition exists and will create one, after which you won't have to use OS X Internet Recovery (though it will remain an option).
If you obtain your SSD from OWC that's really all you need to know. Mechanically, it's not much more complicated than installing memory. As far as recovering the original HD's contents, restoring from the Time Machine backup is also straightforward. TM doesn't know and doesn't care that it's a SSD.

HT5096 I need to transfer a time machine backup to a new drive. It keeps failing.

I have a 2TB Time Capsule that I was using for Time Machine for both a MacBook and an iMac. The iMac sparse bundle became corrupted earlier this spring and I was unable to delete it, so I need to reformat the TC. First, however, I need to move the TM sparse bundle for the MacBook to a new drive that I have set up just for TM for the MacBook. After reformatting, I plan to only use the TC for the iMac. I tried moving the sparse bundle tonight to the new drive, following directions listed in several places on this site and on Pondini's site. However, it failed. I am going to guess that it failed b/c I was not hooked up to the TC via ethernet. (I was on WIFI). The new backup drive is a 2TB external that was plugged directly to the MacBook. So, now I have connected them via ethernet. I am again reparing the TC volume using Disk Utility, just to make sure all permissions, etc, are ok before moving. Will I be able to move this file to the new drive easily, or should I plug the new drive directly to the Time Capsule and move it that way (while MacBook is connected via Ethernet).
Alternativey, is there a way to just archive that sparse bundle for the MacBook before I erase the drive?
FYI I am still running Snow Leopard on these machines, but trying to clean up the time machine backups today before installing Lion and moving to iCloud, so time is of the utmost importance here.
Thanks so much!
Kat

OK, this has now failed twice. I repaired the drive using DU and there were no problems (even though it took 2 hours to go thru everything to verify). Right now, the MacBook is connected via Ethernet to the TC. The new TM drive (WD 3TB external, USB 3.0/2.0) is attached to the MacBook via USB. I really need to keep this TM backup for the MacBook and also need to erase the TC. How can I accmplish both? I thought that there was a way to archive a TM sparse bundle?

Moving 1 of 3 Time Machine backups to a new drive?

I have an unpartitioned external hard drive that is the destination for time machine backups for 3 separte computers. I would like to issolate one of these and move it to its own separate hard drive but the only instructions I've been able to uncover for moving backups involves cloning the disk. Is there a way to move only one of these?

Clone the disk and then delete the backups you don't want. Any other method is going to take many times longer and may fail.

Can I restore from Time Machine backup after replacing hard drive

I'm planning on replacing the 250GB hard drive in my mid 2010 13 inch MBP with a larger one. My MBP comes with Snow Leopard, and I've installed Lion and recently Mountain Lion from App Store. Can I use my Snow Leopard disc to boot up the laptop after replacing the hard drive, and restore Mountain Lion and everything else from the latest backup in Time Machine without having to install Snow Leopard?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Press Command and R keys while your Mac is starting and restore your backup. You shouldn't use 10.6 to restore the Mountain Lion backup

How to restore a Time Machine Backup onto two Hard Drives?

Hey guys,
configuration as following:
I got a SSD, which contains all system stuff as well as apps. Further there is a HDD on which all kind of Multimedia is stored. I've put a symlink from my Home Folder to that Multimedia-HDD: Users/IceThunder -> Volumes/Multimedia.
Before my Mac crashed - I still don't know what was causing that - i backed up everything, so now I find two folders (System and Multimedia) in my .backupdb folder. If I use Time Machine to restore the state before it crashed it only offers to restore everything(?) on one specified disk, which is not what I want to.
Is there a way to get back an exact copy of the former state? How can I tell Time Machine to restore folder "System" on my SSD and folder "Multimedia" on my HDD?
Thanks in advance
IceThunder

Time Machine should restore to the disks from which the backups were made as long as each has the same name as before. For more help on this see Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help.

I am attempting to restore a time machine backup to a new drive.

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