Restoring Entire System to Earlier Backup with Leopard CPU Drop-in DVD

After some programs failed in a pernicious manner, I decided to return the entire system to a Time Machine backup made earlier today. Time Machine Help "Recovering your Entire system" seems to be the only relevant help. It says to choose Utilities > Restore System from my Mac OS X Install disc. But I was shipped two Tiger Mac OS X Install Discs and a Leopard CPU Drop-in DVD (updates to Leopard). The Leopard Drop-in does not have Utilities > Restore System and I am reluctant to use either Tiger disc to restore my Leopard system.
What should I be doing? I hope the answer provides a restore process that is relatively quick because the changes are relatively small.
Message was edited by: Butterflie14

Butterflie14,
The term "delta" doesn't really apply to Time Machine backups. Each backup is a complete "snapshot" of the entire installation. In order to do this without copying over huge amounts of data, Time Machine uses "multi-linked" files in the various backups, all pointing to the same data. That is, with the exception of any new/changed files; these represent the only real data that is transferred during each backup. Only in this sense does "delta" apply.
Restoring from a backup, at least in the context of "going back to a previous state," is an all-or-nothing proposition. That doesn't mean it has to take a long time. First, the process of erasing a drive takes mere seconds. Second, a Time Machine "Restore" doesn't include a new installation of OS X from the installer disk (which would take a long time), but rather a restoration of the entire system from the backup. As such, it is dependent entirely on the speed of the drive and connecting bus (FW 400, 800, USB, etc.). In the case of my FW 800 drive, a complete "Restore" of a 50 GB system took about 30 minutes.
I agree, to take this step seems like a waste just to recover from some "pernicious" action of a particular application. If you were a bit more specific about what application we're talking about, and just what it did, perhaps I could offer better advice. You can restore anything that has been backed up by Time Machine, but may have been deleted from your internal disk in the meantime, but you cannot really "un-modify" OS X, if that is what has happened. To do so, you must perform a complete "Restore."
Scott

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My 1st iMac, need help with the upgrade to Leopard CPU Drop-In DVD

Hello all, my 1st post as a new Apple switcher!
I just received my new iMac 24" today, and I am not sure about the upgrade to Leopard. (Came pre-installed with Tiger, and came with a Leopard CPU Drop-In DVD). I have read about a few issues with the upgrade / re-install process to Leopard, stemming from the rumor that the Leopard CPU Drop-In DVD is not a full version, but an upgrade only.
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Secondly, in the future, if I need to re-install again, will this "Drop-In DVD" work because Tiger has been removed from the hard drive? Will I just pop in my Tiger disks like the old Windows stuff required?
I plan on just doing the upgrade, but I would like to know what to do in the future if I have to do an erase / install.
Thank you, and the iMac 24" is gorgeous!

Hey, I know what you mean.
I upgraded to Leopard after buying my first mac with Tiger.
I rang customer service and asked how do I install iLife 08 if I do a clean instal,l as when i upgraded my Safari would not play flash, quicktime or open certain websites. Also I had a very long load up period with Blue Screen which bothered me a lot. (I know I am fussy)
Anyway my brother suggested I use Pacifist to get the .pkg files from the Tiger boot disk. He took control of my machine as he has Leopard and did this for me remotely as I am not a wizard like him.
By the way that is a great feature of Leopard.
Anyway this worked for me, only iMovie would not start properly but when I download the updates to iLife 08 they all work perfectly now. Saved my 79 euro as well instead of having to buy again as I think iLife should be supplied on a separate disk, (bad form apple) as they know for many a clean install is likely if they experience serious issues upgrading.
Anyway pacifist http://www.charlessoft.com/ is worth a try if you can't afford to fork out for iLife again like me.
Just make sure you select all the iLife .pkg files and composer files. when it installs if the files are already there just click leave alone and it will install only what it needs. Then run the updates if you have any issues opening any of the programs such as imovie and this should replace any missing files.
I have open and run all the iLife programs and so far so good.

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I have a PowerBook G4 (17" HiRes, 1.67GHz Power PC) running Mac OS10.4.11. I have purchased the Mac OS X Leopard CPU "Drop in" DVD in order to upgrade my system from "Tiger" to "Leopard."
QUESTION: After I upgrade, what will happen to my current Tiger applications (iDVD, iMovie, DVD player, iPhoto, Preview, etc.)? Will I need to purchase new applications? What about movie bookmarks, etc? Will I need to start from scratch?

If you have sufficient disk space (either internal or external) it is probably best to put a bootable clone of your existing OS onto a separate disk or partition before you do anything else. In this way you will preserve a working OS that you can return to. Please excuse my standard blurb below - it probably has sufficient information on how to do this.
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Erase before the install
Once you have a bootable backup on an external disk it is best to erase the internal disk with the new installer DVD before you install.
During the install
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OS numbers and names
OS X 10.4.x - Tiger
OS X 10.5.x - Leopard
OS X 10.6.x - Snow Leopard
OS X 10.7.x - Lion
OS X 10.8.x - Mountain Lion
More about Macs
The Apple History site has specifications for every Mac ever produced: http://www.apple-history.com/
Upgrade to Leopard
Those wishing to upgrade to Leopard should be aware that install disks can be expensive unless you contact Apple. Details: http://lowendmac.com/deals/best-os-x-leopard-prices.html Standard Leopard installers impose several hardware limitations including speed and RAM size but all these restrictions can be overcome. Google for details. Leopard works well at 500 MHz with 1 GB of RAM and many happy users have less than this.
Upgrade beyond Leopard
OSs beyond OS X 10.5.8 require an Intel processor. If in doubt check this: Click the apple at the top left of your screen and select 'About this Mac'. This will give you your OS number. Then click 'More Info' to see which processor you have. If it says PowerPC you cannot upgrade to Snow Leopard and above. If you have an Intel Mac it is well worth upgrading to Snow Leopard now and then considering other options after that. You can buy Snow Leopard here: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A
Upgrade beyond Snow Leopard
Information about upgrading Snow Leopard to Lion or Mountain Lion: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD256Z/A
Important
Check that your Mac complies with any requirements. If you are not in the US you should use the Change Country link at the bottom of Apple pages.

Cpu Drop-in dvdMac OS X Leopard CPU Drop-in DVD.

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*Hi rcar, Welcome* to Apple's Users Help Users Forums.
IMHO be thankful it came w Tiger. Use a partitioned FWHD and put one OS on a partition w the other OS on the Internal HD. The other partition should be rather large for Time Machine. You might consider more partitions for Bootable BUs. TM is not bootable.
Good Luck, JP

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Banaple wrote:
My mac book pro did not come with a Mac OS X v10.6 installation disc, so I'm not sure how to go about restoring my entire system. What is a Mac OS X v10.6 installation disc?
That is the Snow Leopard installation disk used on older MBPs. It does not apply to a MBP that came with Mt. Lion installed such as yours.
Ciao.

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Have you tried booting straight from the DVD?
From another post:
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"covers machines bought 10/1 thru 12/29 2007, Usually the disks that come with the computers are tied to that specific model"

Am running FCP5, but upgraded to iMac a few months ago. Noted that some features of FCP5 like Boris text are no longer available. Was told by local Apple store that new operating system I now have (Snow Leopard) will drop some such elements. Is this true?

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Mike T.

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The latter requires a pre-existing Tiger system. The former is a standalone installer.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Restore entire system from a Time Capsule backup?

Can anyone help me restore my entire system (MacBook Pro, os x 10.5.8) from a set date in time using Time Machine. I use a Time Capsule wifi for back-ups. I have found lots of tutorials and how to's that say it can be done, but none which actually spell out how to do it step by step if you're not changing Macs or using a more modern operating system. I've been to two Apple stores with all of my equipment and the instructions from the Genius Bar haven't worked when I get home to start the back-up. One Apple store wiped my iPhone and restored and synched it to a store laptop when I had my own with me, so now those don't synch or recognize each other and I've lost all my iTunes settings. The second store said I needed to restore my Mac with a snapshot from my HD, which seems like the place I'm restoring to, not restoring from.
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smnolmagic wrote:
Can anyone help me restore my entire system (MacBook Pro, os x 10.5.8) from a set date in time using Time Machine.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14 for all the gory details.
The second store said I needed to restore my Mac with a snapshot from my HD, which seems like the place I'm restoring to, not restoring from.
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And since you're still on Leopard, the only way to have backups on your internal HD would be if you'd created a separate partition on it and directed TM to back up there, instead of to your Time Capsule.
Since Lion has been out for about 18 months, the AppleStore folks may have forgotten (or never known) the differences from Leopard and Snow Leopard.
I want to first ensure TM is backing up to the Time Capsule and not to my Mac before I do a complete restore.
Use the Time Machine Browser (the "Star Wars" display) to see your backups. You might want to review the Time Machine Tutorial, and perhaps browse Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
When I go into TM I see the dates on the right hand side, but none are pink as some tutorials read they should be? Is that a new addition with later operating systems.
Yes, that's a change effective with Lion. The "Local Snapshots" are shown in white, backups on an external HD, Time Capsule, etc., in pink. But on Leopard, all you'll see is white. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #15A for details.
From what I'm reading I can restore the computer to what it looked like in a point in time when I know everything looked and synched correctly, a few days before the problem without losing too much data?
Yes, per #14 in the FAQ as above. Once that's done, you can then selectively restore more-current items from subsequent backups, if you want.
However, note that, on Leopard, doing a full system restore makes your internal HD look like it's an entirely different disk to OSX and Time Machine. Once you're running on the restored version, you'll need the procedure in #E3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to see the backups from the "old" disk.
Also, when you do the next backup, it will be a full one -- everything you just put back on the disk will be backed-up in full. That will take a long time and probably a lot of space on the TM drive.

Restoring Entire System with Time Capsule

Hello,
I configured my Time Capsule with custom user accounts (AirPort Utility -> Disks -> File Sharing -> Secure Shared Disks: with Accounts). I think this may be causing a problem with selecting a backup source for an entire system restore to a re-formatted disk.
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Message was edited by: OscrDGrch
Message was edited by: OscrDGrch
Message was edited by: OscrDGrch

OscrDGrch wrote:
Hello,
I configured my Time Capsule with custom user accounts (AirPort Utility -> Disks -> File Sharing -> Secure Shared Disks: with Accounts). I think this may be causing a problem with selecting a backup source for an entire system restore to a re-formatted disk.
That's probably right. You're more likely to find someone who knows how to deal with that in the +Time Capsule+ forum, hiding in the +Digital Life+ section, at: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1253

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If you do not want to reset the router you can just power cycle the connection and then check the connectivity status. If still the issue persists and if you do not want to loose the router settings then you can take the back of the current settings. The Backup and Restore feature of the Linksys router enables the user to backup the current settings of the router and restore them after resetting the device. It is recommended to back up the router's configurations before resetting the router to factory defaults or upgrading the router's firmware. This way, there will be no need to reconfigure the router after performing reset or upgrade.
Here is the link to take the Backup and Restore the settings: http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx?pid=93&login=1&vw=1&app=search&articleid=15849&userrole=Links...
The check the connectivity status again…

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Need instructions for restoring a Photoshop Elements 3 backup with incrementals

This seems like it should be in the documentation, but I can't find it. The help docs only seem to explain restoring a full backup.
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This seems like it should be in the documentation, but I can't find it. The help docs only seem to explain restoring a full backup.
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If I had to restore the entire catalog in the future, should I start by restoring the full catalog, and then go back and restore each incremental backup on top of what I've already done?
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Restoring Entire System to Earlier Backup with Leopard CPU Drop-in DVD

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