Macbook stuck on startup when trying to restore from time machine

Recently, my MacBook Pro (running 10.6.3) crashed and when I tried to restart, it got stuck on the grey startup screen with the Apple logo with the spinning gear beneath it. I tried several times to start my Mac up, but each time it got stuck on that screen. I left it for an hour and came back with the same screen still up.
I then booted up off the install disc and used the disc utility to check my HDD status. It reported a fatal error in my HDD so I bought a new hard drive. After installing the new hard drive in my macbook, I once again booted up from the install disc and told it to restore my hard drive using my last time machine backup (which was created one day before the initial crash). Once again, the computer got stuck on the grey startup screen mentioned above.
I force-shutdown and started up again off the install disc. This time, I installed Snow Leopard fresh without any restoration from a previous backup and my computer started up just fine. Since then, I have tried numerous times to restore my machine from several time machine backups made in the last few weeks and each time, it stalls when I try to boot up. But each time I install Snow Leopard by itself, everything works normally.
What's going on in the time machine backup that is causing all of this? Is there some kind of startup routine that just gets stuck in a loop that I can delete from my time machine backup files? Please help!

Sly Park Mark wrote:
After installing the new hard drive in my macbook, I once again booted up from the install disc and told it to restore my hard drive using my last time machine backup (which was created one day before the initial crash). Once again, the computer got stuck on the grey startup screen mentioned above.
Two possible causes:
You used a Leopard install disk, instead of a +Snow Leopard+ one. All you needed to do was install Snow Leopard over it; but since you've now done other things, your best bet is to just do it over, using a Snow Leopard disc.
Whatever was going wrong with your internal HD damaged some things on your system, and that damage was backed-up, so is restored along with everything else. In that case, do it over, but select an earlier backup.

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When trying to restore from time machine system won't find my hardrive

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I tried to repair with the disk utility, but there was an error whenever I did.
I next tried to recover with my time machine back up. However, when I attempt this time machine cannot find a disk to install to.
Is my hard drive dead? Is there a fix that I'm not seeing?
Thanks.

Try a manual restore to a different Mac.. the new hard disk means the Mac is now seen as a new machine.
See Q14-17 here. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Particularly 17..
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Thank you,
Mark

Mark Seay wrote:
Every time I select a photo and hit "restore" I can hear the computer start working and then iPhoto "unexpectedly quits" I was and still am using iPhoto '08. Any ideas as to why this is happening or how I can recover my photos?
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
I've seen people report having success restoring their entire iPhoto library from a Time Machine backup by using the Finder.
If you use the "more options" link in this discussions group's search box and use the search term "iPhoto AND restore" (without the quotes), you'll see a number of results, including this one:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12892641

I tried to instal 10.8.3 to my MBP and it crashed. I then tried to restore from Time machine but when it is about 50% through a message comes up "the files cannot be restored"

I tried to instal 10.8.3 to my MBP and it crashed. I then tried to restore from Time machine but when it is about 50% through a message comes up "the files cannot be restored" Can anyone help me to get out of this mess?

Back up all data.
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the OS. You don't need to erase the boot volume, and you won't need your backup unless something goes wrong. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.

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Command + R keys are for Macbooks running Lion and Mountian Lion only. ( i could be wrong on this)
you have a couple of options:
Do a clean install of Snow Leopard via Install DVD.
Clone your old hard drive to your new hard drive via Carbon Copy Cloner
Or click on the link below to give you a better idea.
Hope you get it sorted out.
http://pondini.org/TM/14.html

Trying to restore from Time Machine - HELP please

I tried to restore from time machine this morning...and am getting this error :good morning, "an error occurered (2) while copying, there is no such file or directory"
any idea?????
TIA

lol, it didn't say goodmorning.
Last night my mac froze, i had to turn it off buy the button on the back...i tried to turn it on, it just hangs at the gray screen with the apple on it and the little circle things goes around and around and around. I put in my leopard OS disk and went to utilities to do a disk scan repair, it said no valid packages found...i dont know what to do with that...Ithought i could do a simple restore from my time machine...what you saw above is the error i got...
I don't know what to do or how to get my machine back to normal.
Can you help me?

Lost all photos on my iPhoto and get the ERROR WRITING TO DISK when trying to reload from Time Machine. iPhoto cannot import your photos because there was a problem writing to the volume containing your iPHOTO LIBRARY . Looking for solution.

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Problems such as yours are sometimes caused by files that should belong to you but are locked or have wrong permissions. This procedure will check for such files. It makes no changes and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.
First, empty the Trash, if possible.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
find ~ $TMPDIR.. $ -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 $ 2>&- | wc -l | pbcopy
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear.
The output of the command will be a number. It's automatically copied to the Clipboard. Please paste it into a reply.
The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.

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Run it in compatibility mode and input the credentials.
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Are you sure the new drive is formatted properly?
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Select the top line of the drive (with size and make). Be sure the *Partition Map Scheme* at the bottom says +GUID Partition Table.+
Then select the next line, with the name you gave it, and be sure the Format shown towards the lower left is +Mac OS Extended (Journaled),+ unless you made it +Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive, journaled),+
Also see how much space it shows for Available to the right.

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10.6.8 Combo Updater

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2.8 Ghz Core 2 Extreme
4 GB Ram (667 Mhz)
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2 TB Iomega USB 2.0 backup drive.
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Sounds like your internal HD may be failing.
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Macbook stuck on startup when trying to restore from time machine

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