Restore from Time Machine after HD Crash

My Powerbook HD crashed - it had been backed up with Time Machine to an external hard drive. My new hard drive has been installed. I started up with my Leopard Upgrade install DVD. The first screen that comes up says this software can't be installed on this computer. I clicked OK. Then the tool bar is accessible. Under utilities I selected "Restore from Back up" and nothing happens no indication that it is doing anything. I checked under system profiler and my external hard drive with the back up shows up. But it does not show up on the desktop. What should I see on my screen when I choose Restore from the utilities? I just see the Leopard Purple screen desktop. Please help. I have re-started, shut down and started over several times with the same results.

Thanks for the link Pondini, all of that sounds very good, but reality hits when you read posts like this thread. The great thing here is that it worked, but as you see, it was not a straightforward process in reality. It took twists and turns and frustration and menu's that didn't say what they should have.
All in all I'm very happy to hear that TM brought home the goods and made this user's day complete.
I have partitioned 2x the size of my system hard drive on my new LaCie backup drive. That partition will be all the room I am giving to TM. I do not have any documents on my system hard drive, so it is basically a very quiet drive with little going on other than the occasional software update. I think TM will be happy with 2x the size for backup because also, I only use 1/3 of the system drive for applications, the rest is blank. I do all of my work on external drives and I use conventional means to back up my work onto other drives.
I think I am becoming well versed in TM after the OP's experience here. As added insurance, I made another partition on my backup drive and have used SuperDuper to clone the entire system drive, just as more bullet-proof protection against the day when.
Thanks to everyone here. This has been an exciting thread to say the least. Glad it's over,
Ken

Similar Messages

System recovery from time machine after disk crash

Hi there,
recently I am a little unluky with my backup strategy. Here is my latest issue - I am glad if anyone has hints or advice.
On my macbook pro (mid 2009, originally SL) updated till the latest version of Mavericks I recently had a hard disc crash. I replaced the hard drive and wanted to restore my system (and data) from my time machine backup. This Backup is encrypted (in case this gives a hint for something).
What I did is I insert the Snow leopard disk, boot from it and first formated the new HD to the suggested standard for intel based MACs and then chose the option to restore from a time machine backup. I found the time capsule, connected with password, found the backed up files with date and tried to install.
First attemp failed.
Second attemp succed after 10h
Then with the mandatory reboot the system didn't start but stopped with:
panic(cpu 1 caller...
So I decided to install the SL system and try to restore from there in whatever way. Did that and 1 hour later the installation was successfully - Reboot - and then the computer asked for my Log in data (with my Log in Name - which I so far did not set on this installation or on this disk - very suprised. More suprised my password (which I use for 4 years now) did not work.
so back to option 1 try to restore from Time machine.
Ahead of that I reset the PRAM . Now I choose a backup version of an earlier date. This time the installation couldn't be finished but I got the log file.
I couldn't attach the file and didn't want to post it over severl pages...(is there a good way for that, only found adding pictures?)
Well - that's where I am stuck...
Any help is apreciated very much.

Thank you Eric for your fast answer.
this worked and now I have a running SL system. I guess I try to install maverics first and then use the emigration assistent to recover my data.
Still its a pitty that the time machine backup didn't do what it was supposed to. The workarround is very timeconsuming and leaves some concerns about my data and the future safety of time machine backups.
Regards
Thorsten

Restoring from Time Machine AFTER install

My hard drive crashed, so i had to buy a new one (WD scorpio blue). I replaced it, then reinstalled from the install disk (10.4.10, Tiger). That was mistake one. What I meant to do was to restore from my time machine backups on an external HD. I also have the leapord disk that came with, which i forgot to install from, my second mistake. so my question is -- do i have to erase the hard drive and start back over to install from my TM back up, or can i do it either during the upgrade to Leopard or from Tiger?
Thanks.

Matt Clifton wrote:
Boot from your Leopard disk (with your TM drive connected), and go to Utilities - Restore from Time Machine Backup.
So, using this procedure will restore my MB onto a totally new hard drive with all my programs back intact along with any files?
If so, this looks like a great way to replace/upgrade a hard drive. Re "go to Utilities", is this folder or option from the Leopard disk?

Selectively restore from Time Machine after reformatting

I just reformatted my drive and reinstalled Mountain Lion and then upgraded to Mavericks. I backed up to Time Machine just before the reinstall. Time Machine did combine my first new backup with the ones before the reinstall, which I can see when I browse through the Time Capsule.
I would like to restore some things from the Time Machine timeline, however when I enter the timeline, the backups prior to the reinstall are named in purple on the dateline and the Finder windows are black and inaccessible. I suspect this is because after the reinstall the computer has a new account name, so the permissions are different on the previous backups with the old account name.
Does anyone know how to get the older backups to be accessible in the timeline? I would like to just selectively restore a few things as needed, and would like to do the "restore from Time Machine" rather than drag copying files from the mounted backup.

I would like to just selectively restore a few things as needed, and would like to do the "restore from Time Machine" rather than drag copying files from the mounted backup.
For this type of activity, you might want to take a look at Migration Assistant on your Mac, located as follows:
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant
More info here: OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks

Can't restore from time machine after SSD upgrade

Macbook Pro 13" mid-2009, 10.7.5 Lion
I just swapped out my 160GB HDD with a 250GB SSD on my MBP. When I booted up, I pressed Command-R to try to get into recovery mode but all it does was showing a gray folder with a question mark on it.
I had previously backed up my HDD with time machine. My original HDD is no longer available because I tried to upgrade to Mavericks (since the command-R was not working) and upon restarting my MBP was locked with system pin code (that is another nightmare all by itself)
What are my options besides getting a 10.7 Lion CD from the apple store and try to boot it up that way? and then restore from time machine?
Any other way I can get into receovery mode?
Thanks (My MBP is now a brick sitting on my desk)

It's a bare drive so it isn't formatted and it doesn't yet have a Recovery HD installed on it.
Your computer originally came with a version of Leopard installed. You can reinstall it if you still have the original discs that came with the computer. Or, if you have a retail Snow Leopard DVD you can reinstall Snow Leopard from which you can then upgrade to Mavericks (Lion is no longer available for re-download.) It's unlikely your local Apple Store has a Lion USB flash drive or DVD although you can certainly make an appointment and ask for their help.
You should see if you can boot from the Recovery HD invisible image in your Time Machine backup drive. Connect it to the computer and use OPTION boot to get the boot manager. If you see a Recovery HD on your backup drive displayed, then boot from it.

How do I Restore from Time Machine after I have reinstalled my system software (Snow Leopard and then Lion) ?, How do I Restore from Time Machine after I have reinstalled my system software (Snow Leopard and then Lion) ?

I have never done this before, so can someone explain in detail how I reintall my system software and then restore from Time Machine please ?

Your profile indicates that you currently have an older version of Snow Leopard (10.6.2). In order to install Lion, a prerequisite is the latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Perhaps a few more details would be helpfull in solving your problem. ex. If all you want to do is to upgrade to Lion, a restoration of data is unneccessary. Download the latest version of Snow Leopard and then download (purchase) and install Lion. User data will remain intact.
If I am missing something, please elaborate.
Ciao.

How to restore from Time Machine after HD change?

Hi I am having my hard drive replaced due to the issue with the Seagate hard drives. I have a Lacie NAS which is working with Time Machine. I wanted to know, once I have my iMac back with a new hard drive, how do I restore everything from Time Machine?
Thanks

Have a look at this thread I posted in earlier and the various links in Pondini's excellent Time Machine resource I linked to:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20367932#20367932

Restore from time machine after hard drive install

I just had apple replace my hard drive on my Imac. I backed up everything with my external hard drive My Book. Tried to do a restore with Time Machine and it won't do it. I get a message that come up that says "Time Machine can't be modified or deleted because its required by Mac OS X. What steps am I missing to restore with Time Machine?

Hello, I personally don't use TM, but...
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imagine something not being covered there.

Restore a MacBookPro from Time Machine after HD-Crash, Lion?

I didn't find my constellation in the discussion – otherwise: Sorry for asking twice. ;-)
I have a MacBookPro (2 years old), had a HD-Crash.
Now is a new HD inside – and I have a TM-Backup on an external USB-HD.
As the MBP didn't com with 10.7 and I have no install-DVD, Apples infos (I found) about restoring don't fit to my situation.
Where can I find an manual to restore 10.7 from a TM-Backup on an external USB-HD to my MBP with the new HD?
Thanks!

Now, on monday the solution by Apples telephone-hotline:
Put in the 10.6-DVD
Start from DVD (by pressing "C")
Choose your language
Menu "Dienstprogramme" (system utilitys?): restore from TM-Backup

Full Restore from Time Machine after new HD / OSX 10.5.6

I've been reading the forums and still haven't found a clear answer to this...
I recently received my computer back from repair with a new HD and 10.5.6 installed.
I didn't 'restore from TM backup' immediately, but would like to now.
When I go into TM, it doesn't show past backups (only 'Now' and Today'); and when I use finder to go into my dedicated TM backup HD, it says 'you do not have sufficient access privileges'. I tried to backup from the computer before restoring, thinking that might kick start TM to recognize past backups, but it crashed in the middle of backing up...twice...
I seem to understand that I can boot from the Leopard CD, and choose a 'restore' option after choosing the language...but why should I have to 'reinstall' 5.1 when I already have a clean load of 5.6???
Any advice (or smart questions that might clarify what I'm doing wrong) are greatly appreciated. I can't believe that the only option is to restore first thing, that there's no way to do so later...??? I would have, but didn't want to restore 100+GB before knowing if the problem I sent the computer in for had been fixed (buzzing screen: actually wasn't fixed at all, so this whole thing is a total waste of my time).
Thanks,
tired in California

jhartshorn,
One performs a "full restore" by booting to the Leopard install disk, choosing a language, then choosing "Restore from a Time Machine Backup" from the "Utilities" menu. The backup drive is then scanned, and you choose from listed backups.
This doesn't "install" OS X in the normal sense, from the DVD, but rather restores the entire system that is backed up. If you had 10.5.5 installed when you made your last backup prior to sending it in, that's what would be restored, along with all of the user data within that backup.
When you received your computer from repair, you made another backup. OK. That backup will have been a new full backup, and will not have been contiguous with your old one. As long as the drive was not formatted (erased) by Time Machine when the new backup was made (was it erased?), your old backup will still be there, and still be accessible to the installer.
Does this answer all your questions?
Scott

I cant restore from time machine after mountain lion update

i recentlz went to Apple Geius to get my HD formatted as i had a corrupt disk. Once cleaned and my hardware all verified as OK, i got the apple store to load Mountain Lion, previously running Snow Leopard. I came home conneted to my time machine and it restored evrything that from this mornings back up no issues.
When i try to access time machine to look at previous days back ups i get error code 6584
also time machine shows no dated back ups beyond today.
Any ideas?
thxs
Simon

First, I strongly suggest that you make another full backup to a locally-attached external hard drive. You should do that anyway. One backup isn't enough to be safe, and backing up over a network is less reliable than backing up locally. Then try each of the following steps that you haven't already taken.
1. Restart the backup device. You can do that by disconnecting and reconnecting the power cord.
2. Hold down the option key and select Verify Backups from the TM menu in the menu bar (not the Dock icon.) This operation may take a long time. If the menu-bar icon (a clock that runs backwards) isn't showing, check Show Time Machine in menu bar in the preferences.
3. Erase the backup device. With a Time Capsule, you do that from within the AirPort Utility application; see its built-in help for details. All backups will be lost, so don't do this until you've backed up to another device. After erasing, select the TC again as a backup destination in the TM preference pane. The first backup should be made over a wired connection, if possible.

Unable to restore from Time Machine after an erase and reinstall - MacbookPro cannot access my old Time Machine backup volume. Desperate for help please?

My MacbookPro would not move past the Apple logo and spinning wheel for a number of hours. After trying the numerous suggestions to solve the issue I eventually opted to erase and reinstall feeling confident my Time Machine backups would come to the rescue. After a successful erase and reinstall I tried to restore all my data from my TIme Capsule using Command-R during start up and by using the Migration Assistant. Neither worked and I have received messages to the effect that the backup volumes on my Time Capsule cannot be access because I have entered a wrong password or because the backup volume is damaged.
When I open my Time Capsule in Finder and click on my sparsebundle I get an eror message saying that the disk image could not be opened and that the resource is temporarily unavailable.
Desperate for some help and comfort that many years of personal data have not been lost.
Thank you.
M

When I try to Verify option it says Unable to Verify - Resource temporarily unavailable.
Here is the past of the log screen:
2013-06-09 15:00:00 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:09:01 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:13 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:21 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Attach Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Initializing…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Attaching…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Finishing…
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500: Unable to attach “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:02:06 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:05:22 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:07:11 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:34:53 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:34:53 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:34:56 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:34:56 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:47:35 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:53:06 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:55:30 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:56:40 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500: Verifying Image “macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500: Unable to verify “macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500:
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Verifying Image “macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Unable to verify “macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500:

Restoring from Time Machine after 1T hard drive replacement

I am a super computer novice. I picked up my computer yesterday after having the recalled Seagate hard drive replaced. I backed up my computer using Time Machine before I took it in on a Seagate "Backup Plus" portable hard drive.
Now, when I have tried to use the restore start up, the computer recognizes that my drive is connected, but says there are no files on that drive it can use to restore the system.
I can see that there are 50GB on the disk, and when I look in it, there are files called "Macintosh HD" so that makes me think that my stuff is in fact on my external drive. why can't my computer see it?
Do I need to get a FireWire cord to connect to my computer? I'm using the USB 3.0 that came with the hard drive.
My computer had Mountain Lion when I backed it up. I think it is back to whatever OS it came with originally. Do I need to update to Mountain Lion? If I do, how do I do so without having to pay for it again? My app store is empty since my computer was wiped.
Thanks for the help, I really need it!

The first thing to do is upgrade back to ML, which you can easily do. Just redownload ML from the app store with the same AppleID you used the previous time you purchased the ML upgrade. Your purchase is tied to the AppleID you used when buying, so you can download it again (as many times as you wish) without payment as long as you use the same AppleID.
Once you have upgrade it to ML, then try the restore from the backup (which I gather was made when while running ML before).

Restore from Time Machine after FileValut issues

Hi,
I foolishly converted my personal folder (including iTunes library) to Filevalut over the weekend. Due to the size it is causing issues and making my Mac incredibly slow and unusable... I should have moved the large files out of my personal folder first.
Yesterday I turned filevalut off, then more than 15 hours later it still said "preparing" - which I guess means it's crashed and is not unencrypting. It seems my best option now would be to restore from a pre-Filevalut backup.
Does anyone know if I now try to restore from a time machine backup taken BEFORE my original file valut encryption - will this work OK or will filevalut have deleted history in my Time machine?
thanks
Matthew

Hello, I personally don't use TM, but...
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imagine something not being covered there.

Restoring from Time Machine after complete reinstall

Hi!
I have some odd problems in my system. Can´t do capital K without using capslock, flickering images, mousepointer freezes when I connect an external drive etc. I have booted from another system which makes all the problems go away which leads me to think it is something wrong in my software. Same problems if I create a new account and I´ve tried an Archive/reinstall without any luck. So I thought I would try a complete Erase and reinstall. I have a Time Machine backup which I would use but my question is. Is it likely that a transfer from my Time Machine backup, after my erase and install, will contain the problems I am trying to get rid of? Any better suggestions to try instead?
Thanks

CurryDallas wrote:
Hi!
I have some odd problems in my system. Can´t do capital K without using capslock, flickering images, mousepointer freezes when I connect an external drive etc. I have booted from another system which makes all the problems go away which leads me to think it is something wrong in my software. Same problems if I create a new account and I´ve tried an Archive/reinstall without any luck. So I thought I would try a complete Erase and reinstall. I have a Time Machine backup which I would use but my question is. Is it likely that a transfer from my Time Machine backup, after my erase and install, will contain the problems I am trying to get rid of?
If the problems are with software and not hardware that's quite possible. but what you describe is pretty strange. if the problems were with the system files an archive and install should have fixed them. if they are with some user preference files making a new account would have fixed them.
You can try doing an erase and install and check if the problems go away. if the do try using migration assistant to import your user settings and home directory ONLY from the TM backup. and if that doesn't work there is always an erase and install followed by manual migration from TM. that's VERY tedious but will give you the cleanest system.
see this post for help on what to migrate
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507
Any better suggestions to try instead?
Thanks
Message was edited by: V.K.

Restore from Time Machine after HD Crash

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