Restore from Time Machine or fresh install?
Hey everyone,
I will be purchasing a 27" i7 within the next week or so, and was wondering if anyone had experience when restoring from a Time Machine backup versus reinstalling all of your apps. Is there any performance loss from restoring a backup?
I don't really need to restore from backup -- it would just be quicker to not have to reinstall all of my apps manually. But being that this is a new machine, and I want it to be as quick possible, I have this fear that the image of my old machine will somehow "bog down" this new machine.
Are my fears justified, or just crazy?
Thanks guys/gals!
You should only use the +restore complete startup volume from Time Machine+ method if you are restoring to the same Mac or to a Mac that is the same model.
You can use Migration Assistant and use the Time Machine backup as the data source. There is a screen where you can select what to migrate, and you can migrate applications. However, I recommend you only select Users and NOT select +Applications, Settings, and Other...+ Applications are best re-installed from their original source, making sure you have the latest version and weeding out (not installing) apps you no longer use.
Also, before you migrate in any data, I recommend you use your iMac +as is+ for a while. Setup Assistant will offer to migrate data. Decline doing so at that point. Set it up and run Software Update to install the recent updates from Apple, then run it until you are satisfied that it is 100% perfect. Then, if you want to use Migration Assistant, you can run it from Applications/Utilities/.
Similar Messages
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Migrate, restore from Time Machine or fresh install
Folks
Getting an MBP today and migrating from MBA. Should I fresh install, use the migrate tool or restore from Time Machine?You are going to get several answers here depending on users' opinion and experiences. My own view, having done the Time Machine backup as demo in a class, is that, if you have the time and all the settings written down, the best way is to start from scratch. Indeed, the last two Macs I bought, I even installed the OS myself, despite them being out of the box.
Having written that, I do find Time Machine a useful facility and it is possible to selectively bring the data back, which is really quite useful with a new machine. This would be a great tool in the case of a stolen computer or if a hard disk had crashed and it was necessary to get up and running quickly. As a note, I still found that with the TM restore, certain parts (such as Mailboxes and some other network related security stuff) still needed setting up again.
I did use the migrate tool once and was not over-convinced although I understand it has been updated. Someone else should offer an opinion on that.
If time is of the essence, go for the TM or Migrate tool. If you want a more stable and secure environment (perhaps that backup could bring over a problem), go from scratch with a selective backup. -
Restore from Time Machine & OS X install not working
Mid 2009 Macbook Pro
Installed new hard drive, reformatted to GUID, hard drive is verified.
Booted from USB Recovery HD
Selected Restore from TIme Machine
Plugged in external, it shows up, click on it, back up from this morning is there, pick new formatted hard drive
Get error "An error occurred while adding a recovery system to the destination disk. Restart your computer, and then try restoring again."
Do exactly that 3 times
Then try installing OS X
Get this error "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again."
Try that 3 times
Reset PRAM
Tried both again same errorsHi, and welcome to the forums.
First, are you running Leopard or Snow Leopard? Your settings at the bottom of your post say Snow Leopard, but this is the +Leopard > Time Machine+ forum, so I'm not sure which is right.
Did you do the full system restore, starting by booting from your OSX disc? If not, what exactly did you do?
Exactly what is wrong with Software Update? What happens, or doesn't happen? -
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.
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Restore from time machine after clean install of Mavericks
I decided to do a clean install of Mavericks to get rid of all the very old files hiding in my system folders. I made a startup disk following online instructions, rebooted from the USB drive and wiped the drive and reinstalled Mavericks. Then I plugged in my Time machine backup drive and tried to recover particular folders from the latest backup. However, I am getting a permission error that prevents me from going into the old user folder from that backup. It has a red circle/line icon on the folder. How do I get around this so I can select what to restore?
You might be able to view in System Preferences > Users & Groups.
Time Machine - Troubleshooting by James Pond is the best source around for Time Machine help.
I'm not seeing your issue listed. It's possible you will need to do a full Time Machine restore to another drive so you can actually boot from the drive then log into the user. If you have enough space on internal you could partition to restore there without polluting your current new install.
Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions 18. How can I copy my TM backups to a different location?
I backup to Time Machine but I also use a clone and use it over Time Machine when I'm trying to restore a User like youare trying to do. Hopefully someone else will have a better suggestion other than doing a full restore. -
Can't restore from Time Machine during SL install?
I wanted to restore my new system from a Time Machine backup of my old computer, so I inserted the install disk and restarted holding down "C". I got a message saying "to restore from a TM backup use the utilities menu" ... but ... there is no utilities menu.
Now it reinstalled itself, but my options seem to be limited to using Migration Assistant, which is what I used first time around. Any alternatives?
(I am trying to get around the annoying Photoshop 'Licensing not working' problem http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405970.html)I would try again.
After you boot from the DVD, and select the language, you should see the menu's appear at the top of the monitor. One of them should be for "Utilities". -
Restoring from Time Machine after erase & install
Hi, I have an iMac I rebuilt and when I plug in my Time Machine disk, all the UIDs are mixed up.
this is not surprising as I created users on my rebuilt iMac in a different order.
This issue is how can I correct the ownership of each of my user directories in /Users?
I tried to "sudo chown -R" but it won't let me do this on a Time Machine backup disk.
the only workaround I have right now is restore the user folder and perform a chown after it's been restored.
what I really would like to do is to continue making incremental backups to my backup disk if at all possible.do NOT try to chown stuff on TM backups. if the UIDs don't match change the UIDs of your current users on the main drive so that they do match. go to system preferences->accounts, unlock the lock at the bottom, control-click on an account and select "advanced options". in the popup you'll see the current UID and you can change it there too. after you do that you need to run chown on that user's home directory. do that for every user involved. another thing you'll need to do afterward is chown Temporary directories for all users involved. else it will mess up various cache and temp files. log in as a user and run
sudo chown -R `id -un` $TMPDIR
do that for every user. -
How to restore from Time Machine WITHOUT install discs using a second Mac
It's a question that is asked repeatedly all over the web by Mac users like me that bought in to Time Machine (TM) on the assumption that if their computer died one day it would be a piece of cake to restore from it, only for that day to come and then to be told "ahh, okay the first thing is to get your computers install discs..." (loud crashing sound of world falling around ears).
I've never been able to afford a new Mac and both of my machines were bought second-hand. Neither came with Leopard (both have Tiger and have been upgraded to Leopard via the net). This was never supposed to be a problem as I've been backing up with TM. However it appears that Tiger discs are as much use as an inflatable dart board when it comes to using TM. So I've been faced with the possibility of having to spend £130 (about two hundred Pres Sheets, Yankees) on the Leopard install discs just so that I can have the option of restoring from TM. Bonkers.
However after much nashing of teeth, a very long weekend learning all sorts of things about 'Target Mode', 'Single User Mode', 'Verbose Mode', 'Open Source 9' etc the following solution has worked without the need to go out and buy those over-priced discs...
What you will need:
1 broken Mac requiring restoration
1 second donor Mac running Leopard (or Snow Leopard so long as the broken Mac can run it)
1 firewire cable with the correct fitting at either end to attach both Macs together
1 Time Machine backup
Note: The following is for when you have given up trying to boot from your hard drive. In my case I couldn't boot in to Safe Mode etc. so was forced to format my drive and re-import everything. If you've read this far I'm assuming your at the same point as well and have tried everything else that's out there first.
Also - both my Macs are Power PC's so can't run Snow Leopard, so I can't say 100% this will work with SL (Intel) machines. From what I've read Snow Leopard will work with this procedure too, but if you've found differently please feel free to add your experiences below...
STEP ONE: Format the corrupt Hard Drive or replace with a fresh HDD
*Link the two computers with a firewire.
*If you're replacing your HDD, remove your corrupted hard drive from the 'broken' machine and insert a new one.
*Power up the broken Mac whilst holding down the 'T' key. This will start it up in Target Mode and you'll get a nice firewire symbol floating around that machine's screen.
*Power up the second 'healthy' Mac. This will be our 'donor' machine. When it starts up after a few seconds you will see the hard drive of the broken Mac appear on the donor Mac's desktop.
*Using your donor Mac's 'Disc Utility', format the broken Mac's hard drive (now's the time to partition it etc. if you want to).
STEP TWO: Clone your donor Mac
Your broken Mac is no longer broken and now needs a new OS. But you don't have the discs, right? Well get this... you can clone your donor mac on to your machine, even if they are totally different i.e. a laptop on to a tower.
*Again using Disc Utility, click on your donor Mac's hard drive. The restore tab appears as an option.
*Click on restore and drag the donor Mac's hard drive that contains the operating system in to the Source box.
*Drag the newly formatted hard drive on the broken Mac in to the Destination box.
*Click restore. Your donor Mac's hard drive will now be 'cloned' on to your no-longer-broken Mac. Once this is done, eject the first Mac's hard drive from your donor Mac's desktop. You no longer need the donor Mac.
Ta daa! Your machine now starts up happy and smily again. Time to restore all that stuff that's been sat on your Time Machine drive...
STEP 3: Restore from Time Machine using Migration Assistant
This is the really clever part that prompted me to write this piece in the first place. Time Machine IS accessible without those Leopard install discs you don't have. You need to use something called 'Migration Assistant'.
*Start up your machine as normal and you'll see it is an exact clone of the donor machine. Weird huh?
*Attach your Time Machine hard drive. It will show up as an icon on the desktop and because of it's size, you'll be asked if you want to use it as a Time Machine backup. Err, NO YOU DON'T! Click 'cancel'.
*Open Migration Assistant (if you can't find it just type it in to Finder and click). There are three options, the middle one being to restore from TM or another disc. Yup, you want that one.
*Migration Assistant will now ask you what you want to restore in stages, firstly User Accounts, then folders, Apps etc. It will even import internet settings
And that's you done. Let Migration Assistant do it's thang... altogether I had about 140gb to restore, so it wasn't exactly speedy. This wasn't helped by the fact that my TM hard drive is connected via USB (yes, I know). Just leave it alone and it'll whirr happily away...
Before I go - you don't have an option of when to restore from, and will restore from the last Time Machine save. At least then you should be able to access TM and go 'backwards' if you need to.
Also - for a Mac expert, the above will be up there with 'Spot Goes To The Farm' in terms of complexity. However, for the rest of us the above is only available in fragments all over the net. By far the most common response to 'how do I restore from Time Machine without install discs' is 'you can't'. If I'd found the above information in one place I could have saved a lot of hair pulling and swearing over the last couple of days, so forgive me for sharing this workaround with the rest of the world. Meanwhile your expertise will come in very handy for the inevitable questions that will get posted below, so please feel free to help those people that won't be sure if this solution is the right one for them. I'm no expert, I just want to help people that were stuck in the same situation (and looking at the web, there's a LOT of them).
Hope this is of use to someone, thanks and *good luck*!Most maintenance and repair, restore and install procedures require the use
of the correct OS X install DVD; be it an original machine-specific restore/install
disc set or a later retail non-specific general install disc set.
By having an unsupported system, perhaps installed via an illegal download or
other file-sharing scheme, where no retail official discs are involved and the
initial upgrade was done by other means outside of the License Agreements,
you are asking us to discuss a matter of illegal installation and use of a product.
There are no legal complete OS X system download upgrades online; only bits
that are update segments to a retail or as-shipped machine's original OS X install.
+{Or an installation where a previous owner had correct retail upgrade discs, &+
+chose to not include them with the re-sale of the computer it was installed in.}+
However, to answer the initial question. To get and use an externally enclosed
hard drive in suitable boot-capable housing, and get a free-running Clone
Utility (download online; often a donation-ware product, runs free) you can
make a bootable backup of everything in your computer to an external HDD.
This is the way to make a complete backup to restore all functions to the computer.
The Time Machine has some limits, in that it can restore only that which it saves.
It does not make a bootable clone of your entire computer system with apps and
your files, to an external drive device. A clone can. And some of the clone utility's
settings can also backup changes to an external drive's system; if that other drive
is attached to the computer correctly.
Carbon Copy Cloner, from Bombich Software; and also SuperDuper, another of
the most known software names you can download and use to clone boot-capable
system backups of your computer's hard disk drive contents, are often cited.
However you resolve the matter of the running OS X system in your computer,
derived from what appears to be questionable means, is part of the initial issue.
Since you do need to be able to fix an existing installation by unmounting the
computer's hard disk drive and run the computer from the other (install disc or
system clone) while it is Unmounted; and use the correct Disk Utility version to
help diagnose and perhaps be able to fix it. You can't use a Tiger version Disk
Utility to fix a Leopard installation, and so on.
So, the situation and replies as far as they can go (since the matter does
constitute an illegal system, if it was arrived at without correct discs) is a
limited one. And file sharing of copied Mac OS X (and other) software is
also considered illegal.
And, one way to get odd malware and unusual stuff, is to get an unauthorized
system upgrade from an illegal source online. You never know what's inside it.
The other reply was not a personal attack; the matter is of legal status and as
you have a product with a questionable system, the answer is to correct it.
And if you want to save everything in your computer, make a clone to a suitable
externally enclosed self-powered boot capable hard disk drive. With older PPC
Macs, that would best be to one with FireWire and the Oxford-type control chips.
However that works out...
Good luck & happy computing! -
Install new hard drive, restore from Time Machine, File Vault Problems
Hello all,
I spent way too much time on this seemingly simple task, so I thought I would share my experience with others so they can avoid some pitfalls when upgrading a hard drive in a system that uses File Vault 2 encryption. The basic goal here is to replace a drive in a system that has only one drive, and the OS is Mavericks, and then have the new drive encrypted as before.
The problem is that a Time Machine restore onto a new drive will leave that without a Recovery Partition, which is required for File Vault 2 and some other important things. So we need to build a recovery partition. There are possibly several ways to do this.
Here's what worked for me (this is compiled from many sources that I found and already closed the tabs in my browser so I can't list all my sources):
1) Make a full backup to an external hard drive using Time Machine.
2) Go into the App Store and download OS X Mavericks but dont install it (close the window when it pops up asking to continue the install). Do this even if you already have Mavericks. At this point, there will be a folder in your Applications folder called Install OS X Mavericks (or similar).
3) Insert a USB drive that is at least 8 GB and format it using Disk Utility, naming it the default "Untitled".
4) Open a terminal and type
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
5) Wait for this to finish (took me about 30 min). Eject the USB drive and power down.
6) Remove the old hard drive and set it aside. Keep it for a few weeks until you know the new drive is working as expected.
7) Install the new hard drive and insert the USB drive. Hold the option key and press the power button. Choose to boot from the USB installer.
8) Use the disk utility to erase whatever partition shipped with the new drive, replacing it with a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) system. Verify that GUID is the partition type (in Advanced options).
9) Close the disk utility and install Mavericks. This can take a long time. My new drive is an SSD, and it sat at the "1 second remaining" part for about 20 min. Let it reboot (maybe it was 2 times?) and go through the setup until it finishes the install.
10) Boot into the freshly installed OS and open a terminal and type:
diskutil list
11) If there is a partition listed as Apple_Boot Recovery HD (mine was 650 MB), then you now have a recovery partition. If not, then go into the App store and download Mavericks, but don't use the USB this time, choose to do a regular install (or reinstall to be more correct).
12) Now there will be a recovery partition on the new drive and Time Machine will not overwrite it when restoring. Power down the system.
13) Plug in the Time Machine backup drive used in step 1. Press the option key and power on. Choose to boot from the recovery partiton (Mavericks).
14) Choose to restore from Time Machine backup. Wait until it finishes and log into the old familiar account.
15) Start a terminal and verify the recovery partition is still there (type diskutil list and see that the Apple_Boot Recovery HD is there). If it's missing, choose to download Mavericks from the App Store again and run the installation from this one.
16) Once there is a Mavericks recovery partition on the restored data you can simply turn on File Vault from the System Preferences Security section. It will require a reboot and then you login and wait for it to finish.
What a major pain to go through all of this for the sake of upgrading a hard drive. This should not be anywhere near as complicated. I hope this helps others avoid the very time consuming trial and error I went through in developing this procedure.Talked with Apple last night. Everything we did to restore lost images failed to fix the issue. I did have the images still on my camera's SD card so I was not breaking out in a cold sweat.
All Time Machine backups showed the same issue. HOWEVER, I suddenly remembered I also had a SuperDuper backup and voila. The images were there.
Moral of the story: you can't ever be too rich or have too many backups (I also have an offsite backup). -
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? -
Had to install a new hard drive early 2008 iMac, now can't restore from Time Machine.
Had to install a new hard drive in a early 2008 iMac, now can't restore from Time Machine. Backups show in Time Machine but I can't select them.
Serial Number QP*****1LW
<Edited by Host>Here are some notes on Time Machine problems.
http://pondini.org/TM/
Troubleshooting.html
I have asked the hosts that your serial number be removed. Best not to publish it, -
How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks
How to restore files from Time Machine after Clean Install of Mavericks. I know the data is there but seems unaccessable because I may have changed the Computer or Owner name. Is there any way to fix that now?
Hi Linc,
my back-up data is managed by Time Machine; the actual data is on a second internal Hard Drive with a capacity of 1TB - not partitioned. I am using Time Machine and have access to all data backed up since Mavericks Clean Install but not the data prior to this date.
When I open the 1TB drive in Finder I can see a folder "Backups.backupdb/Sigi's Mac Pro/ followed by many folders of backup dates going back to 2010-09-20-103441 and up to 2014-02-07-142414 all followed with folder Macintosh HD. February 7th 2014 was the date of the clean install.
These Backups are followed by backup date folder 2014-02-08-075554 with a subfolder of MacPro-320GB (this is the name I assigned to my Boot Drive during formatting; I suspect I should have assigned the same name as before ie. Macintosh HD) and 2014-02-11 with a subfolder Macintosh HD, these are the ones I get access to by way of Time Machine > Restore.
Weird thing is on Febr 11 when I relised my possible mistake and renamed the Bootdrive back to what it was initially ie. Macintosh HD despite this I have access to all backup data since the Clean Install in both folders MacPro-320GB as well as Macintosh HD but not to any data prior to the Clean Install.
Is there something that Time Machine knows and prevents access or is it simply a matter of renaming the subfolder 2014-02-08-07554/MacPro-320GB to ........./Macintosh HD?
I like to restore selectively and not everything - It was hard work reinstalling apps that were supposed to be the troublemakers (ref my discussion on Maverick problems) but I now need to get onto data specific to some of these apps as well as other data I may have missed. Long story? Yes and sorry.
Sigi -
Clean install and restore from Time Machine: Will i lose my applications ?
I want to do a Snow Leopard clean install instead of a an upgrade.
1) How do I do the clean install and restore it from Time machine during the install ?
2) If I do the clean install and restore from Leopard's time machine backup, will I retaing all my applications or I will only retain my personal files ?
- If I don't retain my applications, how will my photos in iPhoto be restored without iPhoto ?If you did a complete TM backup, then all your files, users, settings, and programs will be restored. You will have the opportunity to restore using TM at the end of the install. I would back at least my data up separately.
To erase and install (i.e., clean install), start up to your DVD and stop after selecting your language. Use the menus to start Disk Utility and erase your drive. Quit Disk Utility and proceed with your installation. At the end, you will be able to choose to reclaim your settings, files, and apps from TM.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost) -
Installed new hard drive and want to restore from time machine.
Get as far as 'select a destination' then it goes no further - just keeps 'searching for disks'
Help anyone please?1. Be sure your drive is attached and mounted.
2. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next step.
3. In the Finder, choose Go > Utilities. The /Applications/Utilities folder will open.
4. Launch Disk Utility.
5. Click the icon for your external hard drive in the sidebar on the left.
6. Click the Erase tab along the top of the window.
7. From the Volume Format menu, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
8. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the Name field.
9. Click the Erase button.
Make Sure that you choose the correct drive -
Attempt to install Mountain Lion has highlighted need for internal disk repair. Even after "repair" ML still says disk is damaged. Attempt to restore from Time Machine back-up failed - cannot 'see' internal HD to restore to. Help! Has attempt to install ML caused these problems or just highlighted existing need to Repair Disk? Even so, why can back-up from Time Machine not see the internal drive to restore to?
Csound1, William & Sig .... thanks for taking the trouble to reply. I fear you are right - I'll need a new disk. I'm booked in at the Apple Genius Bar in Bordeaux, France on Wed ... quite a challenge as my French isn't great! The current internal disk is 500gb, does anyone know whether I can upgrade my 21.5" iMac (circa Oct-2009 vintage) to a larger size internal disk, 1Tb or even 2Tb? I already have one external 2Tb drive and another one on order (I have masses of media stored and more planned as I've just taken up photography). Seems a bit of a pain managing with only 500gb internal storage. OR, can you advise me on how I can store all my photos on my new 2Tb external drive - I can't seem to figure out how to set the path for iPhoto to see them (I can't even figure out where they are stored right now!). Same with iTunes, how do I set the default storage to the external drive (I moved everything manually and then imported them all from the new drive - it worked but seemed very convoluted). Any advice on how to manage multiple drives gratefully received. And thanks again for previous replies.
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