Restore from time machine running snow leopard

I just had my Seagate HD replaced due to a recall.  Got my iMac back with the OS installed from apple and a clean machine.  Trying to restore to my previous state through TM but it won't allow me to access the recovery promt upon startup. (Command+R) The only other option given was to run the OSX installer disk and go through the utilities option to restore by TM. It sounds like the computer starts reading the disk at startup but then just freezes at the gray screen with the apple logo.  Any other alternatives or similar cases?

rkaufmann87 wrote:
I'd strongly recommend Pondini's Time Machine article called Restore Time Machine Backups.
I have followed that article but those methods are not working.  As stated, it will not enter recovery mode upon startup so I can access Recovery HD.  When I insert the disk as well as start it with C on startup it freezes at the gray apple screen.
Linc Davis wrote:
What version of OS X were you running before the recall?
Snow Leopard 10.6.8
They installed it back to the same version, however the install disk I have is for 10.5.6 if that makes a difference.

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    Mail has gone crazy. Header's and messages are mixed up. New Mac Book Pro. Migrated files from Time machine running snow leopard. Reinstall or new computer needed?

    Ok; I'm not sure what you're doing.    36 hours is rather long.  Seems like a new migration.  Not what I intended.
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  • I want to erase from Leopard and restore from Time Machine, help!

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    You could try restoring your backup to a new drive before you over-write your working system. That will allow you to test your backup and skills before risking too much down time.
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  • Is there anyway to restore from time machine without leopard cd?

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    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2008011623365026

  • Time Machine to Snow Leopard not working

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  • 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).
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    *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.
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    *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
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    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!

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