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.

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Hard drive not appearing during restore from Time Machine?

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

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I recently replaced the hard drive in my imac. I successfully migrated all my data etc to the new hard drive. However, i can't back up to the original "backup" on time capsule. Time machined trys to set up a completely new backup for which there is insufficient space. Thus, I need to know how to back up to the existing backup, or. preferably, format the timecapsule disk to creat space and do a completely new backup. Please assist.

plectical, welcome to the discussions!
Time Machine / Time Capsule "sees" the new drive on your iMac as a new computer, so that is why it is attempting to back up the entire contents of the drive.
I don't believe there is a way to tell Time Machine to continue with your current backups, but you might want to check with Apple to confirm.
If there is not, the best option you have is to erase the current contents of the Time Capsule and start over with a new, complete backup of your iMac.
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Allow plenty of time (overnight, maybe longer depending on much data you have to backup) for the first backup and use an ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule directly to your computer if at all possible. Ethernet will be much faster than wireless and there will be less chance of errors on the large initial backup.
Once the initial backup is completed, you can use wireless for subsequent backups since they will be much quicker.

Getting new external drive, can I switch back up time machine drives?

I don't want to loose the info time machine has already captured on my external hard drive called B1, if I install a new hard drive B2, can I just copy B1 to B2 and then point time machine to B2?
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Related question:
I partitioned my 500GB external drive, 30GB in G-1 for a bootable system (currently 10.4.10) and the remaining space in G-2 for Time Machine.
I now want to resize the partitions on the fly in Terminal, to free up 20GB more for TM, but I plan to use Carbon Copy Cloner to first make a backup of both G-1 and G-2, just in case.
If I lose data resizing the partitions and then have to restore the TM backup files from the clone, will Time Machine recognize its earlier files and pick up where it left off, or will it start over?
Aside: Disk Utility in Leopard indicates it will resize partitions on the fly without losing data, but I have read in other threads that data has been lost anyway.
Ken

Not enough space on my new SSD drive to import my data from time machine backup, how can I import my latest backup minus some big files?

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Hello Salemr,
When you restore from a Time Machine back up, you can tell it to not transfer folders like Desktop, Documents. Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures and Public. Take a look at the article below for the steps to restore from your back up.
Move your data to a new Mac
http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht5872
Regards,
-Norm G.

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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.
happy days

Why can't i restore from time machine

I had a hard drive fail (the system drive), and the Apple store was able to load a new system onto a second drive. When I went to restore the whole enchilada from Time Machine, nothing appears to be in time machine - I'm running 10.6.8

JNDewes wrote:
When I went to restore the whole enchilada from Time Machine, nothing appears to be in time machine - I'm running 10.6.8
Actually, if you want to restore everything, see Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14.

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As Snow Leopard wasn't released until August 28, 2009, you must use the white Snow Leopard retail disc with the image of a Snow Leopard as shown on this tip, and it does not say Upgrade, Dropin, or OEM, or a Mac model on if you are going to use it on the MacBook. Note: That installer disc only contains iTunes and no other components of iLife. For iLife, you must find the original 10.5 installer disc that came with the machine, or a retail physical copy of iLife, or update the machine to 10.6.6 and buy iLife from the App Store. iLife from the App Store does not contain iDVD.
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Upgrading to 10.7 or later, be aware Rosetta no longer exists, and what that means.

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Thanks.

Hittlets: If you had a legitimate installation of iPhoto 5, 6 or 7 before you had to replace your drive, then you still have the installer for it on whatever CD or DVD you originally got it from — maybe one of the discs that came in the box with your computer, maybe an iLife installer that you bought separately. iLIfe is not included on any retail OS installer disc or set, which is why you don't find it on your Leopard installer. iLIfe installers are included on the install/restore discs that are shipped with every new Mac. Which version you got that way depends on when your computer was new.

TS1550 My new WD 3tb My Cloud external hard drive can't be seen by Time Machine....

.....though it can be seen and connected to through Finder, I just get this message when I try to backup -The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 2.).
First back up went fine and a couple after but I had to reconnect the WD drive to reposition it and since then Time Machine has not worked. I'm fast loosing patience.
Help please.

There is a long history of WD disk enclosures not being as compatible with Macs as other makes.
The Carbon Copy Cloner site has some notes about this. As far as I can tell you are on the wrong forum.
Whilst it may not be your fault I am afraid it appears that your post is on a forum which is not the best for your OS. It will save the time of the unpaid volunteers here, and may resolve your issue faster, if you could examine the list below and see if there is a more appropriate forum to which you could direct your question.
OS X 10.9 Mavericks
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
OS X 10.7 Lion
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
OS X 10.5 Leopard
OS X 10.4 Tiger
OS X 10.3 and earlier
OS 9, OS 8 & System 7
OS X Technologies
OS X Server
iPad
iPhone
iPod
Other

My Macbook Pro was stolen, and I have replaced it with a Macbook Air. New hard drive is too small for a Time Machine restore. How do I restore my more-expensive apps (ie iWorks) on my new Macbook without repurchasing them?

My Macbook Pro was recently stolen, and I have replaced it with a Macbook Air. I attempted to simply do a restore from the Macbook Pro's Time Machine backup, but since the new Macbook Air's hard drive is significantly smaller, a Time Machine restore was not possible. I even tried to choose only settings or only my User Profile (option) when restoring, but the backup was still too large to do a restore onto the new machine. How do I restore my more-expensive apps (ie iWorks) onto my new Macbook without repurchasing them? Also, I reaad somewhere that if you went to the Mac App Store and attempted to repurchase the app and clicked BUY, it would simply alert you that you have already purchased the app (and trigger a re-download)... NOT THE CASE... So I just dropped another $19.99 for a second copy of Pages... Not my intention....
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LM

you should get a usb backup drive as well. time machine has limited use in my eyes. it saves things. but older things can be errased ad space drops without telling you
nothing beats data redundancy. 2 saves is. 1. and 1 is none
im personally not fond of time machne though i use it only for a recovery parameter for a mac
id never ever myself consider time machine a genuine data backup tool. though most do consider it as such
drive clones such as superduper and carbon copy cloner can clone your entire drive for emergency recovery. and you can boot from them as well o. another mac

I am having trouble installing. downloaded Mavericks but it will not let me install to hard drive, says that is reserved for Time Machine. I have an external hard drive, but disconnected that before download.

I downloaded Mavericks but can't get past the install; it thinks my hard drive is reserved for Time Machine. I have an external hard drive but dis-connected that before download.
I have Time Machine turned off.

Check to see if you have a file name Backups.backupdb on the disk drive.
If the installer sees such a file it assumes that the disk drive is being used by Time Machine.
Allan

HT201250 can't find item lost on hard drive, can i find it on time machine ?

i have lost a spreadsheet. how can i locate it on my time machine backup disk?

Enter your time machine backup (from the TM menu) and search for the item in there - then restore the most recent version of it.

(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

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

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