Restore Time Machine backup after hard drive crash

My hard drive on the mac book crashed, so I replaced it.  Now I need to get my time machine back up on the new drive.  I've already started using the computer and reinstalled lion, so I'm not getting the original "backup" screen.  How do I find my old time machine backups?

Your best bet is to do a full restore from your backups.  See #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Similar Messages

  • HT1553 Advice on restoring time machine backup after hard drive replacement install?

    Can't get past "Select a Destination". Did I miss a step?

    If your replacement disk isn't showing up on 'Select a Destination', the new drive might not be formatted correctly.
    How is it formatted?
    Allan

  • Restoring Time Machine backup to a drive in a "Voyager Dock"

    Restoring Time Machine backup to a drive in a "Voyager Dock"
    I would like to restore a Time Machine volume to a hard drive not installed in the computer it has backed up.
    I have an iMac 24” with a failing drive. It will eventually need to be replaced.
    I have my Time Machine back up for this computer in a Voyager Docking station.
    I would like to have Time Machine “restore” the iMac’s data to a drive in another Voyager Dock running from a computer other than the iMac involved.
    What I hope to do is bring the “restored” drive and the iMac to my Mac service provider and just have them swap the old drive for the new.
    How do I get Time Machine to do this?

    So, You're saying I can do this from a different computer with its own Time Machine?
    In other words, I have my Time Machinedrive  from the dead iMac and a fresh, formatted drive both hooked up to an unrelated computer with its own Time Machine.
    If I enter Time Machine on that computer won't it show me the data it backs up for that computer only?
    Will Time Machine know that there are two Time Machine backups (the one from the iMac and the one from the new host machine), and allow me to select the one from the iMac?

  • My time machine backup external hard drive has failed.  I have a newer external drive already connected to my MAC but can't figure out how to get Time Machine to set up on it?

    My time machine backup external hard drive has failed.  I have a newer external drive already connected to my MAC but can't figure out how to get Time Machine to set up on it

    http://pondini.org/TM/21.html

  • How do I reinstall Mavericks from a time machine backup? (Hard drive failure)

    Ok, so I have a mid-2007 iMac and the hard drive finally died.  It originally shipped with Leopard or something, but I had it upgraded to Mavericks.  I have an external hard drive with a current Time Machine backup on it.  I am about to replace the internal hard drive with a brand new (unformatted) hard drive.  So here is the question: Is there a way to boot from my Time Machine backup and then reformat the drive and do a Time Machine recovery?
    I have the old OS X install disks, but I don't want to have to upgrade through all of the old OS Xs.  I also have a Macbook that I could create a bootable USB from--something like this (http://lifehacker.com/how-to-create-an-os-x-mavericks-usb-installation-drive-145 0280026)--and then I could reformat the drive and recover from Time Machine.  But is there an easier way?  Can I just boot straight from my external hard drive that has the backup on it?
    Thanks for your help everyone, I'm hoping to be able to take care of all of this tonight.

    You can try this. OPTION boot the computer.
    Boot Using OPTION key:
      1. Restart the computer.
      2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
          "OPTION" key.
      3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
      4. Select the disk icon labeled Recovery HD.
      5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
    This should boot the Mavericks Utilities Menu.
    Drive Partition and Format
    1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  SMART info will not be reported  on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    When the formatting is done quit Disk Utility and return to the Main Menu. Now select the option to restore/reinstall OS X from a Time Machine backup. Follow the directions.

  • Time Machine Problem after Hard drive replacement

    Hi all,
    I am new at this so thanks in advance for any help or direction.  I am running Mac OS X version 10.6.8 on an iMac and am having troubles with my Time Machine since having my 1 TB hard drive replaced under the Seagate recall.  Specifically, the store somehow cloned my drive during the replacement process but now when Time Machine runs it doesn't recognize its prior backups as belonging to itself, starts to perform a full backup and then realizes it runs out of room as shown above.
    I am backing up wirelessly to a 2012 dlink network attached storage device and it was working perfectly before having the hard drive replaced.  The first time took ages but since was working fine.  I have spent 3+ hours on the phone with apple support to no avail (trying to associate the old backups with TM and then just trying to delete them to start over..,) and have since been working through the Pondini pages of troubleshooting TM solutions.
         Specifically, I have followed the instructions on http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html going through the green box steps 1-5 successfully first, but then I am unable to complete the process to inherit or associate the old backups (either pink or blue box) due to this error. 
    If I cannot associate the old backups with this 'new HD computer'  then I think that I need to erase all prior backups so that I have room on the NAS to start TM backup from scratch.  However, this is problematic as I cannot 'see' the old backups to try to delete them through Time Machine itself as the computer does not see itself as existing on the timeline prior to the HD replacement date.  I therefore need a way of deleting the whole thing but clearly not through Finder or Terminal from problems mentioned by doing this in prior posts.
    My NAS is partitioned so that all the Time Machine Backups were supposed to be just in one part of the NAS, separate from the stuff we were archiving from several other computers....(I cannot just reformat the entire NAS).  From reading many of the Pondini troubleshooting posts I think that I need to do something to delete the whole sparsebundle? and think I have located it (see image below) (although I am not sure if it is the one from my prior successful backups prior to Nov 18 or from the more recent failed attempts).
    I am carefully reading http://pondini.org/TM/12.html about deleting but at this point am a bit confused as to the best course of action.
    Ideally, I would love to successfully tell TM that it has already backed itself up and that the Backups.backups folder belongs to it and not some other computer, so it can just proceed with updates.
    Failing that, I think that I would try to delete all prior backups to free up the entire 1.87 TB that are designated and apple formatted for TM on the NAS and then restart TM from scratch.
    Not sure if the Backups.backups folder that I have identified has all the info from before November 18th and then could be used to restore itself as I cannot see it through TM.
    Thanks for the advice in advance.  I would be grateful for any assistance and I am sure others having their hard drives replaced would also benefit.

    Hi all,
    I am a bit disappointed that nobody has offered me any help!  Please?  Pondini?
    Thanks

  • Import apps from time machine backup ext. hard drive

    I just reinstalled by Mac OS X 10.5.8 using my original installation discs. I'd like to selectively import a stand-alone application (vitual piano) from my external hard drive time machine which I had used to back up my Mac. Can I do this after I upgrade to Snow Leopard?

    I solved this myself. I found that, after upgrading to Mac OS Lion from Snow Leopard, some of the aliased folders in my Time Machine backup hard drive are not locked, but the regular folders are locked. Apparently this is new in Lion. (As I mentioned above, my MacBook is too old to upgrade to Mountain Lion.) I had based my query above on my ability to delete things from some aliased folders on my backup hard drive. Fortunately, they are locked in the equivalent non-aliased folders.

  • Restore time machine to new hard drive?

    My hard drive just died and will need to be replaced. Once I have a new hard drive, how can I restore all the backed up contents onto my new drive? Thanks.

    William Huisking1 wrote:
    I have the same question but wanted some clarification. If I restore using this technique, will my new hard drive in my computer be fully up to date with all my Time Machine applications, data, etc.?
    yes.
    The reason I ask, is that I do use superduper as an alternative to make sure I have a full disk image that is up to date. If Time Machine accomplishes the same thing, then perhaps I don't need superduper.
    it's a good idea to have both.
    My Time Machine Backup Disk Drive IS a firewire hard drive. Could I boot from that and then restore?
    you can't boot from a TM drive. if you want to do a TM restore you have to boot from the install DVD. If you want to restore from a SD clone you can boot from this clone and clone it back to the main internal drive. i would probably choose that route but it's up to you.
    Thanks so much.
    Skip
    Message was edited by: V.K.

  • Time Machine backup mirrors Hard Drive, but doesn't back up

    I noticed a few days ago that my external hard drive, on which I store my Time Machine backups, only mirrors the content of my Hard Drive instead of actually backing up. I don't know if it has anything to do with that fact that I finally recently upgraded from OS Snow Leopard to OS Lion, which is the last OS upgrade my late 2007 model MacBook will accept. I'm using 10.7.5, build 11G63
    I can drag files from my Time Machine backup folders going back to Feb. 22, 2013 on to my desktop, but they do not copy. Instead, they move out onto the desk top from the Time Machine folders and the same files disappear from the equivalent hard drive file folders, as if they had been dragged to the desk top. Likewise, any file I drag from any hard drive folder to the desk top disappears from the equivalent Time Machine folder. Conversely, files moved from the desk top to either a Time Machine folder or its hard drive equivalent show up in the other.
    I don't know the significance of the Feb. 22 date, since I upgraded to OS Lion sometime after that.
    Any suggestions?

    I solved this myself. I found that, after upgrading to Mac OS Lion from Snow Leopard, some of the aliased folders in my Time Machine backup hard drive are not locked, but the regular folders are locked. Apparently this is new in Lion. (As I mentioned above, my MacBook is too old to upgrade to Mountain Lion.) I had based my query above on my ability to delete things from some aliased folders on my backup hard drive. Fortunately, they are locked in the equivalent non-aliased folders.

  • Time machine doesn't recognize old time machine backups after new drive

    After getting my original hard drive replaced on apple care. Time machine refuses to recognize time machine backups dating back to October when I first installed Leopard. The Records are there on an "off-board" Lacie drive. Any fixes for this? I have had so many problems with Time Machine I am afraid to turn it back on. Last time it took over 40 hours to do an initial back-up.

    Yes I had been having multiple problems and once saved the entire system in archive and install and also time machine had been active since October when I first installed it. all of this was saved to an off-board Lacie drive I can find the old time machine files easily enough but time machine since the new drive, does not recognize them. Since I got the drive back with tiger installed, I first had to re-install Leopard so I don't know if that caused Time machine to start over . I did do an archive and install at that time but there was nothing really to archive since they had not recovered my old files. If this wasn't bad enough The Technician replaced my administrator password with his own and the was off for a few days and I couldn't do anything for awhile. You have been very helpful thank you for your time on my behalf.
    Respectfully,
    Thomas Carlisle

  • Restoring Time Machine backup to new drive in G5 iSight

    Hi all
    I successfully replaced the hard drive in my G5 and installed OS 9. Man, what a chore to get into the old beast.
    However, I have not been able to upgrade to Leopard using my upgrade disk - this is to bring it back to the same OS as before the HDD upgrade.
    Now I need to restore the Time Machine backup but when I try to boot off the Leopard disk it fails.
    Are there any other ways to get the G5 to see and restore the Time Machine backup?
    Cheers
    Scott

    So, You're saying I can do this from a different computer with its own Time Machine?
    In other words, I have my Time Machinedrive  from the dead iMac and a fresh, formatted drive both hooked up to an unrelated computer with its own Time Machine.
    If I enter Time Machine on that computer won't it show me the data it backs up for that computer only?
    Will Time Machine know that there are two Time Machine backups (the one from the iMac and the one from the new host machine), and allow me to select the one from the iMac?

  • Would Time Machine backup external hard drive attached to my Mac?

    I have a hard drive which is attached to my iMac 24*7. I plan to move all my movies & pictures over to it. Would the Time Machine backup (through a different hard drive) backup my Hard drive?

    Yes, TM will back up any Mac-formatted volume attached to your Mac.
    Regards.

  • Move Time Machine backup from hard drive to Time Capsule

    I have a new Time Capsule.  Can I move my existing Time Machine backup from a hard drive to the TC?  The tips given back in 2010 in this forum are no longer available.

    It is extremely difficult if the disk you are talking about is plugged into your computer.. TM does different kind of file for network drives.. so you need to trick it.
    See Q18 here.
    http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

  • Copy Time Machine backup from Hard drive to Time Capsule

    I have my Time Machine backup on my external hard drive. Is there a way to copy this to the Time Capsule so I don't lose the backup and to save time on the initial backup. Is there a way to make the Backups.backupdb folder into the Time Capsule Sparsebundle? Any ideas?

    AppleCare just told me this was not possible (5-23-8 3:56pm EDT).
    This is too bad as people do not want to lose their archive data and it is possible with pre-existing wifi TM backups (ex. my wifi's MB use to backup to my local iMac and since it is sparsebundle, it can be moved around(now backups up to AEBS/USB 10.5.2) same image file)
    Cheers
    -wsn

  • Can't restore Time Machine backup after iMAC (Lion) Refresh

    I recently did a refresh of my iMAC with OSX Lion. I have been using time capsule to back up my iMAC as well as my Mac Mini for the last 6 months with what I perceived to be no issues.
    When I got to the part in the MAC start up to restore from backup it couldn't seem to find the iMAC backup, only the Mac Mini backup so I skipped that part. I then tried to use Migration Assistant later and the same thing, I couldn't find it. I used finder to locate the Time Capsule and was able to find the backup, but when I double clicked on it said "Mac OS X can't repair the disk "Time Machine Backups". you can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to the files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can".
    Even though it said that it open a new finder window and I was able to find the backups and I proceed to copy of the files over. All seemed well until I opened iPhoto and it wouldn't open (just hung). I did a library restore/repair by clicking Option + Command when opening and after it ran iPhoto opened. When I browsed around though some recent pics that I uploaded either weren't there or corrupted and all my faces were gone.
    I did a fresh install again and tried all over and the same thing happened. Any help on getting back my old backup? Seems to be corrupted or something, but I'm not sure.
    See previous post before this... I was told to post my problem here - as I originally posted on the iPhoto forum before I realized I had a time machine / capsule problem.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/22248885?ac_cid=op123456#22248885
    Help would be appreciated.

    lonniebrunet wrote:
    Hi there,
    I had a look through and I tried to do option A5 - which is repair or verify disk. I dragged the sparebundle for the mackup to disk utility and after trying to do a repair I got the message "disk utility stopped repairing "Time Machine backups".
    Does this mean that my backup is corrupted and useless for a restore with time machine?
    Yes. 
    And that also means copying via the Finder may not get everything.  Corrupted is corrupted.
    Assuming you copied from the most recent backup, you might want to try copying just the iPhoto Library from an earlier one -- that might not be damaged.  If you have room, put it somewhere else, like your desktop.  Or if you have an external HD, that would work.

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