Recovering Mac HD via Time Machine Backup fails because "Restore system from backup" doesn't show in Utilities Menu of original install. DVD

Hi, after serious problems (troubleshooting didn't help) with my iMac G5 (PPC) running Mac OS X Leopard I've tried to recover my Mac HD via Time Machine (exactly as described by David Pogue on page 242 of the Leopard Missing Manual). However, "Restore system from backup" in the Utilities Menu of my original Leopard installation DVD failed to show up. What can I do?
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated -
Ballant

Hi Ballant,
I'm not very good with TM, nor a fan of it, but our resident king of TM, Pondini, has a vast array of very well done TM trouble shootings...
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Similar Messages

"Restore system from backup" doesn't work

Hi folks! I've got a strange little problem and my normal rampage through Google hasn't dug up anything, so I figured I'd ask it here.
I currently have an early 2011 MacBookPro running 10.6.8 on an Intel SSD. A few days ago I figured I'd install an XP boot camp partition for the occasional bout of gaming (mmm... Skyrim... *dreamy look*)
So I made my Time Machine backup up-to-date, burned a CD with drivers, and let Disk Utility play with the partitions. Only thing was it said it couldn't do the job due to space issues and suggested I wipe the disk first.
Ok, no problem. My Time Machine backup was snug and secure and I've got plenty of install experience. I popped in the Lion DVD I'd burned for my other iMac and booted from it. Strangely, it give me an installation error (I guess it tries to install automatically without user interaction). But that's fine since I didn't want to install Lion anyway (I'm addicted to SL's Spaces). So I ran Disk Utility again with the partitions the way Boot Camp had advised (GUID, 2 partitions). This also worked without a problem.
Then I attempted the option "Restore system from backup" in the Utilities menu, and lo and behold: nothing happens. Nothing happened at all. No drive spin-up, no color wheel, no indication of any activity whatsoever. If I select any of the other options, it opens promptly, but clicking the restore option is as productive as a glob of ant spit on a meteor strike.
So I figure, still no worries, maybe the Lion disk has issues. So I take out my Snow Leopard DVD and boot from that. Never gave problems before, but alas: the iMac refuses to boot from it and starts throwing out 3 beeps every 5 seconds or so. (Googling the beeps pointed me to memory issues. Wait.. Whut?!?)
Okaaay. Then I tried it with my Leopard DVD. Once again, won't boot, beeps.
The Lion DVD seems to be the only DVD I can boot my mac from. The only thing I can guess at is that Apple prevents us from installing with older DVD's because of driver issues, which makes sense I guess. But I had Snow Leopard running fine up until now. I've tried several different partitioning schemes including the default one for an installation, but no cigar. Both Disk Utility and futil show both drives are visible and ok.
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance for your time!
regards,
Meindert Honig

lepkitty wrote:
you should see the time machine come up and be able to select a date on the rite. the screen should look like its something out of star trek with several windows going back into a star like looking thing. if you see that then you want to do is select a date then click restore. you will be promoted that doing this will erase the computer, thats ok! its going to erase it and replace it with what your restoring.
You're mixing two very different things. You get the +Star Wars+ display, with the timeline on the right, only when browsing via +Enter Time Machine.+ Restoring something from there +*does not erase your entire computer!+* It only replaces what you've selected to restore.
If you do a full system restore (meaning boot volume), starting with your Install disc (per #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum), there is no "Star Wars" display, and only the drive/partition that you select as a destination for the restore is erased.

Restoring System from Backup

When the mac os x cd installer is running you can go to "Utilities" and "Restore System from Backup". Does this command install snow leopard and then add the time machine files or does it just restore the files (meaning you will have to install Snow Leopard first).

Have a read here How do I restore my entire system?
It restores both the OSX system and the user files (applications and data).
Stefan

Can Time Machine be used to restore system after format?

Hi,
I need to format my Macintosh HD because Boot Camp Assistant cannot partition it. Now I have it all backed up with Time Machine, can I just format and then restore from the Time Machine drive and everything (Leopard, apps, settings & files) will be back to normal?
Thanks

I've just done it and it works faultlessly, the problem is, that after the restore, Time Machine wants to do a complete full backup for it's first backup, rather than realising that it already has a backup folder and continuing on from where it was. Consequently it tells me that I have insufficient space on my hard drive.

Can't find Restore System from Backup In utilities

Ok I messed up my os and I need to do a restore system from back up I can't seem to find the restore system from back option in my utilities when i am running the installer with the os installer disk and when i have my external hooked up it just wants me to install in to that thing I don't know what that would do. I have read the article about restoring the entire system and that what I need to do but I can 't because my messed up os wont let me restart/shutdown with out pushing the power button I am tempted to just erase and install but I don't even know how restore with my time machine and plus i am scared to do it
any help would be most welcome i have been trying to fix this for about month now

I almost understand what you wrote, but it's so confusingly written I'm not sure how to reply. So give this a try:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) 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 quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

HT201250 (1) Where is the "Time Machine menu" and the choice to "Enter Time Machine" (mentioned in the "Restoring data from Time Machine backups" section)?

1) Where do I find the "Time Machine menu" and the choice to "Enter Time Machine" (as mentioned in the "Restoring data from Time Machine backups" section in the Mac Support article "Mac Basics: Time Machine")?
2) How would I restore e.g. a particular photo from a backup I made with Time Machine? I can see how this is done with Word documents, but can't see how to do it with photos?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
1. The Time Machine icon is on the menu bar.
2. If you want to do that with individual photos, it's the same way as for documents. If you want to do it with iPhoto, you have to restore the whole iPhoto library, not only one photo

24 imac snow leopard backup on 27 iMac Lion? Can I restore system from backup?

Hi guys, I have a 24 inch iMac which came with preinstalled Snow Leopard. I am about to buy a new 27 iMac which I beleve comes with preinstalled Lion. I have been using time machine to fully back up my 24 inch iMac. What I want to know, is that when I buy my new 27 inch iMac, will I be able to restore it's system from my Snow leopard 24 inch imac backup? Please get back to me, thank you for your time

Start with Kappy's post here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3525616
As it says in the next-to-last paragraph, you can restore some things, but not others.
"Simple" apps, that were just dropped into the Applications folder, can be restored that way, but be careful not to replace any Snow Leopard versions with Lion versions -- they likely won't work.
"Complex" apps must be reinstalled from their original discs. See Transferring Applications for an explanation.
Some Snow Leopard apps won't work with the Lion file/folder structure. Mail is one for sure, and there may be others.
All told, you may be better off fixing whatever's wrong, if possible, and/or getting used to or finding workarounds for changes you don't like.

[Solved] Restore system from backup using rsync

I am thinking about installing Windows on my computer and I know it work's better to install Windows first, then arch. That being said, I will likely reformat my system, install windows and then reinstall arch. I've made many configurations that I would like to keep but not have to re-implement (it takes a while to set things up!) once I have the fresh arch install. I know from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fu … with_rsync that I can use:
sudo rsync -aAXv /* /path/to/backup/folder --exclude={/dev/*,/proc/*,/sys/*,/tmp/*,/run/*,/mnt/*,/media/*,/lost+found}
in order to backup all important parts of my system. Before doing any reformatting I will run this script to backup my system to an external drive. However, after I have reformatted, installed windows and then arch, what is the correct/efficient way to put the backup files (on the external drive) back into the newly installed system? Even if I set up the partitions (associated to arch) during installation in exactly the same way (albeit they would be smaller since Windows would now occupy some space), I'd imagine that the command:
sudo rsync -aAXv /path/to/backup/folder/on/external/drive/* /
would cause some epic failure? Even if I modified the UUID's in the fstab before rebooting? Would this strategy work if I only rsync'ed a subset of the backup files contained in the external drive (e.g. /home, /etc, /var, ...)? If another strategy, apart from rsync, is best, please let me know. Thanks for your help!
Last edited by jayflo (2013-10-02 22:49:57)

I understand that after rsync'ing the backup files (on the external drive) to the fresh install, that I need to update the fstab (since the UUID's changed). However, if I rsync over the /boot directory, then the backup copy of
/boot/grub/grub.cfg
will now be part of the arch system on my computer. I have a couple questions:
1) If I rsync'd everything except /boot/grub/grub.cfg, what about the fresh install grub.cfg file needs to be updated? Does it also have old UUID's within it that need to be updated?
2) Does the command
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
generate the grub.cfg using /etc/fstab (if at all)? Or does it load the information (which needs to be updated) from some other (memory) source? If it is the latter, would I need to restart my computer (after rsync and updating fstab) before generating grub.cfg? (and...restarting wouldn't work at this point since I have would not have updated the grub.cfg?)

My new MacBook Pro keeps asking for my password in any application that I am in. I transferred from old Mac Pro via Time Machine

My new MBP will randomly ask for my password. It doesn't matter what application I am in, it could be in the middle of watching a dvd. The window will pop up.This is my second MBP, my last one kept crashing, and it was finally replaced. Can anyone help, please?
Thanks

Back up all data.
Launch the Keychain Access 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 Keychain Access in the icon grid.
Select the login keychain from the list on the left side of the Keychain Access window. If your default keychain has a different name, select that.
If the lock icon in the top left corner of the window shows that the keychain is locked, click to unlock it. You'll be prompted for the keychain password, which is the same as your login password, unless you've changed it.
Right-click or control-click the login entry in the list. From the menu that pops up, select Change Settings for Keychain "login". In the sheet that opens, uncheck both boxes, if not already unchecked.
From the menu bar, select
Keychain Access ▹ Preferences ▹ First Aid
If the box marked Keep login keychain unlocked is not checked, check it.
Select
Keychain Access ▹ Keychain First Aid
from the menu bar and repair the keychain. Quit Keychain Access.

When I click a backup date to restore bookmarks from backup, get error message "unable to process the backup file". unable to successfully copy bookmarks from default profile to new profile, nor access the backup function successfully. any suggestions?

I had trouble with WiseStamp and was advised to create a new profile. I did and the WiseStamp issue was resolved. However, I now have no bookmarks on the new profile. I copied the places. file from the old profile to the new one, but with no success. The bookmarks do exist on the old profile. I like having WiseStamp working, but need those multitude of bookmarks more! Any advice greatly appreciated. :)

Did you try to restore from another JSON backup?
You can try to move places.sqlite to another location and only leave that backup file in the bookmarkbackups folder.
See:
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_damaged_places.sqlite

Copying Mac App Store Apps may cause Time Machine to fail

Hey folks,
My Time Machine backups started failing the other day with the "error occurred while copying files" error (asking me to run Disk Utility). I ran DU and the drive checked out fine. I eventually checked the backupd logs (Console> filter "backupd") and found that TM was stopping with Error: (-41) SrcErr:No Copying /Path/to/a/file/inside/aMacAppStoreApp. Then saying the backup stopped with error:11.
So I deleted the App and ran the backup again. This time it gave me the same error on another MacAppStore App that I had installed. So I deleted that one too and then TM backup run successfully.
Background:
- There were only two MAS Apps installed (the two referenced above: Quick Note, ARD).
- Both were installed after being downloaded to a different computer, copied to this one, and then a copy made into the Applications folder. They were working fine.
- When I "installed" the Apps, I did not do a drag/drop copy, I did a copy/paste.
- There were two copies of the each App on the filesystem. 1 copy in my "software installers" folder and 1 copy in the Applications folder. Only the copy in the Applications folder failed to backup. The unused copy in the installers folder backed up fine.
Once the backups were working. I then moved the Apps from the "software installers" folder to the Applications folder. I opened the applications and they worked fine. I then ran the backup and it worked fine as well.
So I'm not sure if Time Machine was failing because of my unusual way of copying them into the Applications folder or what? Thoughts? Either way, it seems like a strange thing to cause TM to completely fail.

It's not copy protection issue since after I recopied the App (using drag/drop) the backup worked fine.
You are allowed to copy MAS Apps from one computer to another and run them as long as the target computer is either authorized for the same MAS account or you login to the account that purchased the App.

Upgrade MacBook Hard Drive - Restore System from Time Machine Backup?

I have a MacBook that I want to upgrade the hard drive of. Am I right in thinking, all I need to do is:
Run Time Machine one last time, to make a recent backup of the MacBook
Install the new hard drive in the MacBook
Insert the Snow Leopard DVD, and start a clean installation
During installation, select the option to Restore System From Backup...
Will this copy across ALL of the contents of the old MacBook's hard drive, to the new MacBook's hard drive? A perfect clone? Because that's what I want to do.

I performed the installation, restoring a Time Machine backup from the external hard drive to the new blank internal one I put inside the MacBook. Everything went fine, except for one problem.
Now, whenever I try to open Safari, it immediately crashes with the error message:
"Safari quit unexpectedly
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)"
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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...

OS 10.6 - Please help - problem restoring system from time machine!

Hi there,
Today I installed a little program to convert flac audio files to mp3. When I ran the program the computer froze, so I rebooted but then I could move the cursor but not click on any menus or icons on the desktop, they just wouldnt respond - so basically I couldnt use the computer. After re-booting a few times with the same result I decided to reinstall the system using time machine from an external hard drive. I reinstalled OSX, then reinstalled Snow Leopard, then reinstalled the system from a previous save from Time Machine. It said the installation was successful, but when the computer restarted a message comes up saying "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again". Ive done this about 5 times now but it always just says the same message without starting properly. WHAT DO I DO???? I really need to use my computer tomorrow so any help is hugely appreciated!!! TIA
PS. i have done a hardware test in "loop mode" and it says everything is fine

HiDef Jules wrote:
Hi there,
Today I installed a little program to convert flac audio files to mp3. When I ran the program the computer froze, so I rebooted but then I could move the cursor but not click on any menus or icons on the desktop, they just wouldnt respond - so basically I couldnt use the computer. After re-booting a few times with the same result I decided to reinstall the system using time machine from an external hard drive. I reinstalled OSX, then reinstalled Snow Leopard, then reinstalled the system from a previous save from Time Machine.
how exactly did you reinstall the system from TM? please give details. the correct way to do it is to boot from the snow leopard DVD and use the "restore system from backup" utility in the Utilities menu. there is no need to reinstall anything prior to using that utility. the restore utility wipes your hard drive and restores it to the state it was in at the backup time.
It said the installation was successful, but when the computer restarted a message comes up saying "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again". Ive done this about 5 times now but it always just says the same message without starting properly. WHAT DO I DO???? I really need to use my computer tomorrow so any help is hugely appreciated!!! TIA
PS. i have done a hardware test in "loop mode" and it says everything is fine

My 5 year old iMac's hard drive is at the point of failing. I'm trying to save al files on it, but it wont allow backup via Time Machine to an external hard drive. How can I keep from losing all the files and programs if the hard drive fails?

I'm concerned that my iMac, purchased 5 years ago, is about the crash and I can't back up my files and programs to an external hard drive via Time Machine because the computer freezes after only a couple hundred MB and gets nowhere near the required amount.
How can I save these files and programs if the computer hard drive fails or has to be replaced without the backup being able to be done? I need to do something quickly, but I'm not sure what I can or should be doing.

Get an external hard drive, some good ones that I like are the OWC, http://www.macsales.com Mercury Elite Pro drives...they are very good and reasonably priced.
Get the drive, connect via USB or FireWire, then use Disk Utility to format the new drive as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), and then use Disk Utility to Restore the current drive to the new drive. Restore actually clones the drive so you will have a bootable backup on the external drive.
After you have formatted and named the external drive, click Restore in the main Disk Utility window, drag the name of the old hard drive to the Source box, and drag the name of the new external drive to the Destination box. DU will make an exact clone of the internal drive on the external drive.
That clone will be a complete backup of the operating system and all of your data.
You can test it by restarting the iMac and hold the Option key. That will give you a grey screen showing all bootable drives. Just click the external drive, then click the upward pointing arrow under it and the iMac will boot from that drive.

Recovering Mac HD via Time Machine Backup fails because "Restore system from backup" doesn't show in Utilities Menu of original install. DVD

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