Restore from Time Machine. Won't restart. Stuck on "you need to power off" screen

New 500GB HD
Full restore from Time Capsule.
Took forever but did finish.
Screen now says "you need to restart your computer. Hold down the poer button until it turns off. Then press the power button again". I get the Apple screen and start-up chime. And then this screen again.
How to get out of this loop ?

MetalKaryn wrote:
Once OSX is installed, and I finish this, do I install the combo update? You mentioned that I will probably have to do that. Do you know if something will prompt me to let me know that I need to download the combo update?
Check what version of OSX you installed. It's probably printed on the disc, or click the Apple icon at the left of the menubar, and select About This Mac. That will display a small window showing, among other things, the version that's running.
If that's not 10.6.6, you'll need to download and install the "combo" to get back to 10.6.6. You could upgrade to 10.6.8 by getting that one, but it's not necessary.
Reading the link you provided again, do you think it be simpler just to start over and restore from the TC using the SL disc instead of the original MBA instal disc with Leopard? My mom only has about 25GB of data, so it is not a large database. Would this type of restore eliminate the combo issue? I have already gone through the restore about 5 times this weekend!
That might be faster and easier, and no, you wouldn't have to load the combo, since the full restore includes the version of OSX that was backed-up.
Installing OSX would take roughly 40 minutes, downloading the "combo" varies, of course, but they're close to 1 GB, so, especially if you can connect to the TC via Ethernet, that might be the best option.

Similar Messages

Restored from Time Machine, won't startup from Internal HDD???

I went through a process of erasing my internal HDD, secure erase Mac OS Extended (Journaled), partitioning GUID Partition Table, restored from an external time machine backup, 10.9.1.
After restart, the only drive that boots is the "Base System Restore 10.8". I tried to select the internal disk from the startup disk selection and it doesn't appear. The disk appears in Disk Utility, permissions and disk appear okay. I also booted from a USB Maverick 10.9.1 disk image and same result.
What am I missing, seemed like I took a pretty straight forward approach.

MetalKaryn wrote:
Once OSX is installed, and I finish this, do I install the combo update? You mentioned that I will probably have to do that. Do you know if something will prompt me to let me know that I need to download the combo update?
Check what version of OSX you installed. It's probably printed on the disc, or click the Apple icon at the left of the menubar, and select About This Mac. That will display a small window showing, among other things, the version that's running.
If that's not 10.6.6, you'll need to download and install the "combo" to get back to 10.6.6. You could upgrade to 10.6.8 by getting that one, but it's not necessary.
Reading the link you provided again, do you think it be simpler just to start over and restore from the TC using the SL disc instead of the original MBA instal disc with Leopard? My mom only has about 25GB of data, so it is not a large database. Would this type of restore eliminate the combo issue? I have already gone through the restore about 5 times this weekend!
That might be faster and easier, and no, you wouldn't have to load the combo, since the full restore includes the version of OSX that was backed-up.
Installing OSX would take roughly 40 minutes, downloading the "combo" varies, of course, but they're close to 1 GB, so, especially if you can connect to the TC via Ethernet, that might be the best option.

IPhoto '09 Restore from Time Machine... pictures missing, can you help?

I decided to restore an older iPhoto Library (from 2 days ago), and my most recent imports (span of time of a month) have disappeared. The events show up in the Library, but when I click on it, only gray boxes appear... no photos.
Does anyone have a solution to get the photos back? I thought that this was the purpose of having the Time Machine... to be able to restore old files and (in this case) libraries.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys depressed to rebuild the library. Select ALL options.
Click to view full size
OT

Imac won't restore from time machine backup after HD (hard drive) recall replacement

I have an imac bought in 2011, running Snow Leopard. It required an HD replacement due to the 1 TB Seagate recall - the replacement was done by a certified Apple repair station yesterday. Before the guy left he started a backup/restore from my latest time machine backup set. It failed. I attempted it two times and got error messages that it failed and the computer needed to be restarted to try it again. No luck. I called the guy back and he told me to call Apple Care. Not thrilled about that response since the guy had just left my house I did what he told me to do. (A quick sideline here: I recognize that a time machine backup should be no big deal and SHOULD work everytime, but it doesn't. It irks me that Apple is replacing my HD through no fault of mine and yet they don't allow the restore of data to be a "covered" expense in this process - this isn't just because this was an authorized repair guy - the Apple store would have done the same).
Back to the issue. When I called apple care they pretty much had me try the same thing again with an earlier back up set. To my knowledge, it didn't work. I say this because it looked like it was working and when I came back to the imac later, it had restarted and once again booted to the OSX install. (The boot disc is still in the imac). When I tried to boot from another location, one did not show up to boot from so I assumed that the data didn't transfer and it forced another restart. So, I tried something else. I tried to re-install the snow leopard OSX without using the restore function. That appeared to work and then when the machine restarted it asked if I had another mac and I chose the option to get the files/apps/etc. from my time machine backup. The computer chose what I can only assume is the most recent backup set (It chose what I know to be a subfolder that appears under the dated backup folder - Macintosh HD--which btw is confusing seeing as that's always the name of the HD on the imac). I again stepped away from the computer so it could do its thing for two hours. When I returned, I was back to the MAC OSX screen that asks you to choose a language. There were no more options to choose DISK UTILITY or RESTORE FROM BACKUP, etc. When I clicked on English it took me right back into the screen where you say whether you have another Apple that you want to transfer data from. I realized that the imac must have restarted and I assumed maybe it was because the boot disk was still in - except how do you get the disc to eject? I also initially assumed that the backup had somehow failed again and triggered a restart. I tried to choose the option to just set up the machine without transferring data and when I got to the choose a name for your HOME folder message I tried to enter the same name I had it as before and it wouldn't allow me to do so, saying that that name was already in use. I also tried a different name and that didn't work either - got the same message (I assume if it is not the same name that it won't sync up with the time machine data from the backup set). So, I almost tried the "select time machine backup" option again until I looked at my HD space. Clearly, there is space that has been used. HD space was 997 at the start and now it's 636. My initial thought is to somehow get back into the setup area where I can use disc utility and erase the whole thing and then start over but 1) I don't think it's going to work even if I could get back there 2) I have no idea how to get this thing to reboot into that mode 3) I can't get the boot CD out to even try to restart to see if this thing did what it was supposed to, SO NOW I AM TOTALLY STUCK! I have not called Apple Care back because quite frankly they were useless the first time. I have a call into the repair guy but who knows how much help he will be. In the mean time, I have a million things to do and a computer that isn't working - Whoever said Apples never have issues needs to be seriously censored!
A few other notes: I use Time Machine Editor to run my backups weekly. It was set up that way from the get go by an Apple rep who came to my house to get us up and running. Editor should not effect the way that time machine does its work, so I doubt there is relevance but thought it worth mentioning.
One other note is that the Apple Care agent tried to have me do something called a "Source" something or other from the disk utility screen but when she realized that my backup file (shown by date) contained many other sub files (11-27-12/MacintoshHD/MyNamesIMAC/etc.), it was not possible to run this operation - thus we aborted. Sorry I don't remember the name of the process and unfortunately now can't access that option to go find it.
If you can help me, I would be eternally grateful! I am open to having a phone conversation if you are willing to give me your email to mail you my number. I have so much work to do this week and this was the last thing I needed. Did I mention this was supposed to be EASY?
I used to be quite the geek with my PC - still on the learning curve with the mac but not enjoying it. I am fairly tech savvy and I can follow instructions for a step by step solution if you've got one.

I got a recall and had the drive replaced. I have retored 3 timesa dn even had apple do the job and it is still not right. I still can't get a simple ghost of the data from time machineback tot he new drive.
This is Apple's explaination as taken from their web page.:
Restoring your entire system from a backup
If you are restoring a backup made by a Mac to the same Mac
With your backup drive connected, start up your Mac from the Recovery system (Command-R at startup) or Mac OS X v10.6 installation disc. Then use the "Restore From Time Machine Backup" utility.
Note: If "You can't restore this backup because it was created by a different model of Mac" appears when restoring a backup that was made on a different Mac, follow the onscreen instructions.
I even posted this information on the community and apple removed it... because they don't like the:
Off-topic or non-technical posts
Non-constructive rants or complaints
But here is my experieince:
Take in 27iMac running 10.6.8, 5-7 days, what a joke, my boss will be happy to pay for a week without working. Finally get, "if you have TM back up, 3 days." Get machine back with 10.6.3, hit the R recovery, click TM back up, runs for 2 hours, reboots, looks great. Box up take back to office... update to install - OH NO, still running 10.6.3. Updates crash with no specific error on install, BUG PROBELM, nothing runs.
Call Apple... after hours, tells me to boot using 10.6.2 disk, wipe, reinstall OS, udate to 10.6.8, THEN do the restore. GREAT! Only thing 10.6.2 DVD won't read... now back on phone... take back to the store, Genius says, he'll ix it just like it was. PROMISES it'll be fixed.
Pick up next day, supposedly, booted to disk, wiped drive, reinstalled, updated to 10.6.8 and THEN did the RIGHT restore... Looks GREAT... apps run and 10.6.8 OS. Back to the office... NOT RUNNING right!!!... fonts messed up, drop box app needs new install, cocktail needs upgrade, Fetch not working, memorized paths gone... back ups locked out of permissions... ***!!
4 hours on phone with apple and still no rsolution - to missing "settings". Seems there are THREE WAYS TO RESTORE (according to apply tech)... Running MIGRATE ASSISTANT and being able to choose your files, including settings, "R" RESTORE after they load a new OS... or NOW WAITING for them to send me a bootable 10.6.3 disk and then boot from disk, w/o installing OS and doing a restore from TM. I think this is done via the disk Utilties application.
So now can't back up without doing a full 400 GB back up since permissons are screwed and possibly destroying any good back ups... can't work, like having hands tied behind back. WAITING for solution! Very upset!!!
I did my first restore just like they said and now an 10 days without proper machine. Just FYI. I thnk I am going to make the store do the tech work so I have somthing to fall back on.

BLACK SCREEN DURING RESTORE FROM TIME MACHINE

I HAVE A 2006 MAC MINI INTEL THAT I JUST REPLACED THE HD AND MEMORY. WHEN I INSTALL LEOPARD NO PROBLEMS. WHEN I GO TO RESTORE FROM TIME MACHINE IT GOES TO ABOUT 20% THEN I GET A BLACK SCREEN LIKE IT WENT TO SLEEP BUT THE EXT HARD DRIVE IS STILL KICKING AND THE WHITE LIGHT IS SOLID ON THE MINI.
RAN DISK UTILITY AND NO ISSUES. RAM SHOWED UP FINE AFTE RINSTALL.
PLEASE HELP

Hello a:
Here is the Apple knowledge base article on that issue:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8963.html
Barry

IMac won't startup after restore from time machine

After I restore my backup from time machine ( twice ) mi iMac halt at startup and won't startup. It stuck at the apple logo forever. I also restarted holding down command R safe mode and install OS X and it will startup okay but can't see my buck up files and applications here. Then I restore from time machine again using an earlier backup and it won't startup again. Please any help I will appreciate.

There could be a few reasons for this.
First what version of OS X do you have installed?
What version of OS X is the Time Machine Backup file from?
Did Reinstalling OS X from Recovery install the same version you had before reinstalling?
If you have not changed OS X versions then:
It sounds like there may be a bad file in the backup that is causing the computer to not startup after restoring it. This is especailly true if the computer boots just fine after a fresh installation of OS X, but without the Migrated Data being restored.
If that is the case, then the solution is not a quick one. You have to hunt down the bad file.
Moving Files Manually (Not in Migration Assistant)
Manually access your Time Machine backup folder from within Finder (you should see the backup drive in a Finder Window or on your Desktop). Once open, manually move data from the User folder (documents, music, movies, photos etc.) into their respective folders on the Mac. Reboot after each folder you move to see which folder contains the corrupted file then delete the affected folder/file after reinstalling OS X from Recovery.
If none of the files cause the computer to hang at startup after moving all your User data, then the issue is from within the System or Library folders.
NOTE: DO NOT manually move Applications, System, or System Library files over to the Mac. You can cause major issues with the current installation by doing so. It is safer to just reinstall all the Apps from wherever you got them so they can recreate their support files and such themselves.
2- Using Migration Assistant
Basically, if you have discovered the affected file. You can just simply delete it from the backup folder.
Reinstall OS X after you have done that, and use Migration Assistant to automatically migrate the data over minus the affected file/folder.
Its a pain in the rear, but it will at least let you salvage most of your data.
Let me know what happens riorec!
- Captain

After lion 10.7.3 update messed my mac had to restore from time machine now Outlook won't connect with microsoft exchange, any idea?

after lion 10.7.3 update messed my mac had to restore from time machine now Outlook won't connect with microsoft exchange, any idea?

I've had a similar problem. On my first boot up after installing 10.7.4, Firefox would not open. Crashed every time. Safari was not affected. I have no idea if it was related to the flash plugin, but I did install a the latest version of that a couple of weeks ago.
Here's what fixed it: a second boot up.

My MacBook Pro recently shut down on me all of a sudden. When I restarted it, it popped up with a gray box with 'OS X Utilities,' then listed various options such as 1. restore from time machine backup, 2. reinstall OS X, etc. what do I do now?

My MacBook Pro recently shut down on me all of a sudden. When I restarted it, it popped up with a gray box with 'OS X Utilities,' then listed various options such as 1. restore from time machine backup, 2. reinstall OS X, 3. get help online and 4. disk utility. what do I do now? I have not backed up to Time Machine in a few days, so I'm not sure I should restore from time machine backup, is there something else I can do? Help!

Guitar21,
your MacBook Pro has booted into its Recovery mode. From the OS X Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. On the left-hand side of the Disk Utility window, select your internal disk’s boot partition (typically called “Macintosh HD”). On the right-hand side, press the Verify Disk button if it’s not greyed out; if it is greyed out, or if it reports that errors were found, press the Repair Disk button. Once the verification/repair is completed, exit Disk Utility and select Restart from the Apple menu to restart in normal mode. Does it get to the login screen now?

HT1379 I had to restart by resetting the NVRAM/PRAM. Now I have a window showing OS X Utilities. My options are restore from Time Machine Backup (which I could do), Disk Utility to repair or erase, get help online or reinstall OS X. What should I do?

I had to restart by resetting the NVRAM/PRAM. Now I have a window showing OS X Utilities. My options are restore from Time Machine Backup (which I could do), Disk Utility to repair or erase, get help online or reinstall OS X. What should I do? The problem began when I tried to restart my computer and the only thing I saw was the grey screen, Apple logo, and the timer; the computer wouldn't restart from there.

I searched through trouble shooting options on the Apple Support page and was able to make it this far.

Replaced HD yesterday Was able to restore from Time Machine Now, it won't back up to Time Machine. I removed the TM and tried to add it- the error is "The disk image for "computername.sparsebundle" is in use. Try ejecting the disk image - How do I do?

Replaced HD yesterday Was able to restore from Time Machine Now, it won't back up to Time Machine. I removed the TM and tried to add it- the error is "The disk image for "computername.sparsebundle" is in use. Try ejecting the disk image - How do I do?

Hello jfilbey,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Power cycle the disk Time Machine is backing up to.
For more information on this, take a look at:
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Best of luck,
Mario

Installed new harddrive and I am trying to restore from time machine external back up. I restarted the computer and held the Command key and the R and the restore utility does not appear. what can I do

I installed new hard drive and I am trying to restore from time machine external back up. I restarted the computer and held the Command key and the R and the restore utility does not appear. what can I do

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

Restoring from Time Machine doesn't work

I am attempting to restore from Time Machine on my 13" Late 2008 MacBook, but the restore stops about halfway through.
Some background information: A few weeks ago my computer started exhibiting some weird behaviour. It would turn the disk off or log me out after a few hours (I typically sleep with it on and use at as my alarm clock). Then, apps would crash and quit unexpectedly. It would kick in the HDD when I was not using anything that required it, and the fan would turn on for no reason. Then the worst thing happened: Some days I would get the dreaded "You need to restart your computer" screen multiple times. It almost seems like a virus. The problems persist after multiple PRAM and SMC resets. Sure enough, I tried turning on my computer yesterday and it just won't even start. It would give me the Apple logo, a spinny loading indicator, and then it would give me a very slow progress bar. As soon as the progress bar gets to about one tenth of the way, the computer turns off.
I have everything backed up to a very recent Time Machine. I opened the computer in Recovery Mode and verified the disk. It needed repair. So I repaired it, and it said the repair was unsuccessful and needed to be restored. So I tried restoring it. I ended up having to erase Macintosh HD and reinstalling Lion (which thankfully I could do over the Internet). After reinstalling that, I tried "Restore from Time Machine." It got to about 30% of the restoration and then took me back to the Utilities page spontaneously. It didn't give me an alert or an error of any kind. It has done this multiple times. I may try Migration Assistant and see how that works. I know that a 4-year old MacBook is a bit of a dinosaur anyway, but the machine has been very useful and powerful for the whole time I've had it, and this is not how I'd like to see it die.
I also have a lot of important data on the Time Machine and fear that whatever afflicted my MacBook may afflict the MacBook Pro I intend to get soon, which I will load my TM onto.
Any and all help is deeply appreciated.
-Sam Taylor

I have always had problems restoring from my backups. I just replaced my hard drive and did a restore and now there are no icons in the dock (all ?'s) and I cannot click on my Applications folder in any finder window. (Oh, and the fans run constantly at top speed after being on for about 3 minutes.)
This is probably the 10th restore I've done in the past couple of years and I don't think one has worked for me.

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!

Can't restore from Time Machine backup error message

My hard drive on my Macbook failed a few days ago. Just makes a clanking noise and won't boot up etc... I installed a new drive, formatted it, and selected restore from Time Machine backup from the installer screen. It started restoring from my backup I had on an external drive and everything was fine untill it got about 6% done then get a message that says "An error occured when restoring from the backup" It is pretty non descriptive. It also says please restart your system and try again or something to that effect. I tried again, same problem. When I try to copy files over manually I eventually gets some error that says there is a problem with a file and it will quit. Any ideas on how to get my data? I can see all my files on there, but can't get them. My backup disc is just used for backup on this one machine nothing else, so it shouldn't have a problem. Help!

Good to hear MA is doing something!
>I have never had much luck with Time Machine...
Same here, not one good backup or restore, can't tell which.
You can set any of these to Clone/Update as often as you wish...
Carbon copy cloner...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/products/tribackup.html

Unable to restore from Time Machine

Hi
I'm having some problem restoring from Time Machine. Here are the steps i've taken to do that but it won't boot after restoration.
Macbook Pro, 2011 Model with 10.7.3.
1. My Mac have 3 partitions (MacHD, Drive A, Drive B) - MacHD has Lion and all other apps, A & B are for my stuff like music, movies etc...
2. I backed it up using Time Machine but in the option I only back up MacHD (A & B) are not backed up.
3. Restarted and Command-R into Disk Utility
4. Erase MacHD using DU. Note: I enabled FileVault so once that's done, its locked but it can be unlock from Disk Utility
5. Restore from TimeMachine, now here's the problem
Once time machine is finished, it reboots my Macbook but keeps going back to the set up screen.
I tried to change the start up disk but this is the error i have is this “you can’t change the startup disk to the selected disk. Building boot caches on boot helper partition failed”
Now i've tried these steps
6. Tried to use http://d43.me/blog/126/building-boot-caches-error-when-changing-startup-disk/ --> by going into Terminal but still doesn't work
the command in that help doesn't work, sudo nano /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
7. Tried Reinstall Mac OS X but the screen come up and said 103days 40hrs to dl the god darn Lion (note I have Lion installESD.dmg stored on Drive B, is it possible to access that and install from drive B?)
8. Can't seem to find the Lion Recovery partition, how can i boot into that? When hold Command-R, it boots into Internet Recovery for 15 misn then go back to the choose languague and the 4 options (restore from TM, Reinstall OSX, Disk Util and somethign else I can't remember)
Basically I want to either restore from my TM back up to current state or re-install new OS X to the MacHD without wiping out the whole drive.
Thanks for your help.

Yes, but you would need to erase/reformat the hard drive to re-install Snow Leopard.
Star with Section E in the first linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Restore from Time Machine. Won't restart. Stuck on "you need to power off" screen

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