Restoring MBA from a Time Machine backup

I wanted to check to see how successful I would be in recovering my MBA from a TM backup.
I had my TM USB backup disk connected to my MBA.
I used the Remote Installer on my PowerMac G5 (June 2004) to service the needs of the MBA for a remote optical drive. The connection between the MBA and the PM G5 was across AEBS WiFi running at 802.11g speeds as the G5 was only at 802.11g. The install wall time to get to the initial install pane on the MBA show Language selection took 28 mins of wall time. VERY VERY slow so one must have patience.
So after clicking thru a few Installer windows I'm able to select the Installer's menu bar's Utilities->Restore System From Backup. This then show a window "Select a Backup Source". The beach ball spun and when it stopped spinning no disk was displayed. I had to disconnect my USB TM backup disk and reconnect it for it to show up.
I was given the opportunity to restore to my MBA's SSD or another disk which could be an external disk. If I want to use an external disk to restore to the Installer said to connect it now. Well I my TM USB backup disk already attached to the MBA directly so there was no other way I could think of for attaching another external USB disk - except for the USB port of the AEBS. I did have a 40GB LaCie USB 2.0/FW400 about that was already formatted with GUID so I grabbed that and connected to the AEBS. But alas it did not show up in the Installer's list of selectable disks for restoring to. So I soldiered on and decided to simply restore the MBA's SSD.
So off it went and started to restore from my direct attached USB TM backup disk. This progress was quite quick with an estimated complete time of around 15 mins.
When the Installer finished the restore from the TM backup USB disk I restarted the MBA and all was as it should be.
The direct attached TM backup USB disk was mounted on Desktop with the TM logo on it and my SSD was mounted on Desktop as a normal internal HD without the TM logo on it.

Similar Messages

Restoring data from a Time machine backup of a potentially corrupted drive

I seem to be the queen of failing hard drives, heh. I'm on my third in a year, and will be addressing the root cause of these failures, of course, but right now, I'm wondering how safe it is to restore from my Time Machine backup. Here's the scenario:
-- Drive started throwing I/O errors, detected via SMARTReporter, about 2-3 months ago. No change in how the machine functioned, all OK.
-- I continued to back up daily to TM & Crashplan
-- While traveling for a month (and not backing up anymore, I left TM home), the machine started acting funny. Finder freezing, etc. I decided to clear some caches (by booting into safe mode) and see what happened.
-- This caused the HD to fail completely. Recovery mode, target disk mode, booting into single user mode and command-lining fixes, and DiskWarrior all failed to rebuild the directory. Failures were in multi-linked files/directories, the catalog file, etc.
-- I ordered a warranty replacment drive (and a new hard drive cable for starters).
When I got home, I borrowed another machine and just did a Verify Disk on the TM backup. It came back totally clean. So, my question is: is it safe to restore the data from my TM backup to the new drive when it arrives?

Shouldn't be any problem.
Boot from your SL installer DVD (hold down the C key on startup or hold down Alt/option on start and choose the installer disc).
OK the language page (if present). From the installer screen, go to the menu bar and choose Disk Utility; depending on the OS version it may be in the Utilities menu or Tools menu.
In DU, select your internal drive in the sidebar (the top item with the makers name and serial no.). Run Repair Disk. If that comes up as disk OK, click the partition tab. Select the partiton from the drop-down above the graphic; 1 partiton is all you need. Go to the options button and ensure that the partition scheme is GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for G5 and earlier) and the file system to Mac OS Extended (Journalled). Name the partiton (usually Macintosh HD), click Apply.
When that's finished, select the new volume in the sidebar (indented to the right below the drive) and go to the Erase tab, select Security options and select zero data (one pass is more than sufficient). Click erase. That will take quite some time; probably measured in hours and dependant on the size of the drive.
When that's completed, close DU and continue with the installation.
Shortly into the installation process, you'll be asked if you want to migrate data from another source. Select 'from a Time Machine Backup' and follow the prompts.
See Pondini's FAQs;
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/19.html
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/SetupAsst.html
That should leave you with the same setup as you had on the previous MB.

How do I restore Reminders from a Time Machine backup?

Hi,
For reasons which are long and unimportant I have to restore my mac from a time machine backup without being able/wanting to use a full migration assistant etc
I'm currently having issues with restoring my Reminders from the TimeMachine backup I made. I have manged to restore Notes, by going to Library --> Containers and restoring the "com.apple.notes" folder, but this process doesn't work with the similar folder in Containers ("com.apple.reminders").
Am I doing something wrong here? Where does Mountain Lion store the reminders data?
Many thanks for any help

OS X Yosemite version 10.10.1
I recently lost most of the contents of my Reminders. Although I can't be sure of the cause, I suspect a certain Mac cleaning utility.
I was able to restore my Reminders with the help of Apple Support, but the procedure was not straight forward as the ~/Library/Calendars folder “contains account data and generally speaking it will cause iCloud to activate even if deactivated and remove the data since the time stamp on the data is older than on iCloud”.
Here is the procedure that I followed:
1. Disconnect from Internet
2. Make a backup of your current ~/Library/Calendars folder
Locate Calendars folder using Finder
List the folders in your Home folder
Click on Go → Hold down alt key to see Library → Click on Library → Click on Calendars
Copy the Calendars folder to Desktop
3. Locate Calendars folder in Time Machine
Locate Library folder using Finder
List the folders in your Home folder
Click on Go → Hold down alt key to see Library → Click on Library
Enter Time Machine
Locate Library folder for the day/time you want to restore
Click on Calendars folder
4. Restore Calendars folder
Then Restart and check your Reminders to ensure that they are OK
5. Make a local backup of your Reminders
Export each Reminders list to (say) Desktop
Reminders → File → Export
6. Reinstate previously saved Calendars folder
Locate Library folder in Finder
Copy saved Calenders folder from Desktop into Library folder (over-writing previous Calendars folder)
Restart
7. Update Reminders from local backup
Import each Reminders list from Desktop
Reminders → File → Import → select backup file → select appropriate Reminders list
8. Reconnect with Internet

Restore files from last Time Machine backup after HD erase and install

I just had to do an "erase and install" ... trying to restore files from my last Time Machine backup but after completing the Airport Utility setup / configure steps, it says "waiting to restart" for a few minutes and then says it cannot find TIme Capsule after restart (though TC never restarted). I'm pretty desperate to get my files back as it's Sunday night and my business needs to be up and running by morning. Any help would be greatly appreciated ... even if it's saying I need to take TC into a Mac store to have them retrieve my files.

While in Time Machine, press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible. Select the one you want and navigate to the files you want to restore.

Problem restoring files from a Time Machine Backup! HELP!

Heya,
I have Snow Leopard and have been using Time Macine regularly since May.... I never needed to restore any file until now...
Deleted some must have stuff.. and emtird the trash (of course!).. so went to time machine to restore it...
Looked it up... nice interface.. have stuff since May 2011... nice.. found the 10+Gb of stuff I had deleted.. and restored... Pffffew!
Opend the file... Bzzzz! you loose... file is currupt,,, what?
load again.. still no go? files all look the right length m.. hmm very strance... can;t open then... lets try a simeple file...
restore a text file... size ok.. but... EMPTY!
use HexEdit to open the text file... All ZERO's!
check the otehr files I restores ALL ZERO's!
DOH! restore files I saved into safe old Time machine in May 2011... AL ZEROS!!
***! Everything is ZERO! my last 6 months worth of time machine backups is all gone! Directory structures say they are there.. file sizes are ok.. but NO DATA!!!
Can somone please HELP ME!
G./

Open Disk Utility. Click once on the external drive left-most icon (not the indented volume name/icon); what does it indicate for Partition Map Scheme? Also, do you have an Intel Mac or a PPC Mac?
Now click "Verify Disk" and see if it finds errors or if it reports "ok."
What I am hoping (this is something of a long shot) is that there will be errors found on the disk that Disk Utility can repair and then your data will be properly associated with the file names and headers. "Verify" simply reports back on the state of the file system and can do no harm; only when you click on "Repair" will it actually try to repair anything. You might want to report back first on the results of "Verify" before trying to "repair."
By the way, this Verify (or Repair) procedure can take ~ hours for a large disk that is mostly full. I did this recently on an external Time Machine drive that was 1.5 TB in size and 2/3 full and it took ~ 3 hours.
If severe errors are found on that disk, something stronger than Apple's Disk Utility might be called for, such as Disk Warrior. Hence better to report back here before roceeding with any "repairs."
The type of error I am hoping you might have is in the file system that relates the filenames and their header (and file sizes) to the locations around the disk where the actual data inside the file are located. If that file system gets damaged, your computer will have trouble finding the actual data that goes with each file. Hence getting zeros when you should have gotten data. Sometimes this can be fixed, sometimes it cannot. Often it can. If the problem is caused by a physical problem with the disk, the likelihood of recovery is low. If the problem is with the file system/mapping to the data on the drive, it very well might be fixable.
Have you had any power failures, system freezes, improper or disorderly computer shutdowns, etc. or unexpected dismounting of the backup drive anytime since you have been using it? Have you ever gone into that external backup drive in the finder and changed any of the files on it yourself, or has it only been touched indirectly through Time Machine?

Restoring from a Time Machine backup manually ?

Hi all,
To make a long story short, I reorganized my disk space to create a Fusion drive from the initial hard disk drive and an added SSD one, confident in being able to restore everything from my Time Machine backups.
The creation of the Fusion drive went well but the restore from Time machine failed. This happenned probably (but I realized this too late) because the hard disk drive contained initially my own home directory and Time Machine had backuped 2 drives whereas I was asking it to restore on a "single" Fusion drive now.
So my question is simple : is there a way for me to recover the data (actually my own user directory, I reinstalled a clean system and all applications from scratch) that is available in my Time machine backups "by hand" ? And, if yes, how ?
Many thanks and happy new year to all
Jacky

If you can't restore from a Time Machine snapshot in Recovery, Setup Assistant, or Migration Assistant, then restore as much data as you can in the time-travel view.
Starting from a fresh installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. Enter Time Machine and press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible.* Select the one you want and navigate to your home folder (in the Users folder at the top level of the old startup volume.)
You should now be able to restore your user data. I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of your home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
Then either restore or reinstall all third-party applications, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

How can I restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. Using Migrat

I would like to restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. When I tried using Migration Assistant it only gives me my internal hard drive as an option to restore to. The internal hard drive on my macbook isnt large enough to store the files.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
OS X can only restore data to the drive where Time Machine backed up files from.
If you want to restore files from the Time Machine backup onto an external drive, your only option is to access to the Time Machine drive manually (open a Finder window and choose your Time Machine drive in the Finder sidebar), navigate through its folders and copy the files you want to the external drive

How do I retrieve mails from a time machine backup of a different computer?

I had to reformat my computer because of a trojan file I couldn't eradicate, and I didn't want to restore files from a time machine backup for fear of reinstalling the trojan. After reinstalling OS Maverick, my MacBook Pro from early 2009 is now back to good performance. However, I would like to retrieve my old archived mails from 2009 onwards, excluding the present year, of course. I know those mails are there, but how can I access them?
Thank you.
Domenico

See if you can inherit the backup.
Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)
See 17.
Time Machine FAQ
Time Machine Troubleshooting

How can I restore my EQ settings from a Time Machine backup?

I recently reinstalled Mavericks, and restored my user account from a Time Machine backup. In doing so I appeared to have 'lost' my personal EQ settings in iTunes, of which I had perfected quite a few to suit various headphones and speakers I've found myself using over the years.
I have a pre-reinstallation copy of the com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist file (found in /Users/username/Library/Preferences) that I believe contains my EQ settings; opening it in Textedit I can see references to the EQ settings I created.
Having tried restoring this particular file from Time Machine and restarting and finding iTunes doesn't recognise the [old] custom com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist file, does anyone know a way I can re-import my old EQ settings, or do I have to try and manually create them again? (gah)
Thanks for any light you can shed on this!

Enter your Time Machine backup (via the TM icon in the menu bar) and find this file
/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist
and hit Restore.
It didn't reflect in iTunes immediately, but after a restart it appears to read the new (old) plist file. You should have your old EQ settings back.
Let me know if it worked for you...

Had a recent crash on my macbook, was previously using OS 10.6 I think. Restored from recent Time Machine backup and updated to OS 10.8.2 and now I cannot open Logic Pro 9. I get a 'No entry' Icon and a not supported on this type of Mac message. I cannot

Had a recent crash on my macbook, was previously using OS 10.6 I think. Restored from recent Time Machine backup and updated to OS 10.8.2 and now I cannot open Logic Pro 9. I get a 'No entry' Icon and a not supported on this type of Mac message. I cannot update either as anything up to 9.1.1 tells me I don't need it yet 9.1.2 tells me I need an eligable Logic Pro Version was not found in applications.
All of my files are stored in a separate hard drive with only the actual app having been on my Macbook. Should I just reinstall?

Hi
To run Mouitain Lion you need to update Logic.
For the updaters to work the Logic application must be:
a) Within the Applications folder, and not in any sub-folder
b) Named "Logic Pro" with no extra numbers or spaces
CCT

Can i restore from a time machine backup that is not the latest one?

I am trying to restore from a May 7th time machine backup. At that time my username was michaelhood. I had a system crash and when my computer was returned to me I inadvertently set it up under a different username, thinking I would do the restore later. Between May 13 and today, Time machine did backups under the name mhoo4494. Changing the name didn't let me access my May 7 backup, nor did creating a different user account. I have erased the hard drive and am reinstalling from the Install CD. I have set up a third user name. I now want to restore my data from the Time Machine May 7 backup. How do I do that? Migration assistant saw two users -- mhoo and mhoo4494 (michaelhood was not an option). I selected them both, but got no data for either -- no docs, no music, no pictures. This procedure should not be this hard~!!

Hi uclamikey90,
It is possible, using Migration Assistant, to restore the contents of your hard drive selectively. See this article -
Mac OS X v10.6: How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from a Time Machine backup - Apple Support
In particular -
To migrate data from a Time Machine backup
In Finder, press Command-Shift-U.
Double-click Migration Assistant.
Click "Continue" and enter an administrator name and password when prompted.
Select the "From a Time Machine backup or other disk" option, then click "Continue".
Select your Time Machine backup disk or Time Capsule (enter the user name and or password if prompted), then click "Continue".
Select the Time Machine backup you would like to restore (such the most current one you just made), then click "Continue".
Select Items to Migrate, then click "Continue". Note: The "Continue" button will be dimmed until the "Calculating…" stage is complete.
A user account sheet may appear if you have a user name on your Mac that is the same user name in your Time Machine backup. You will have to give the username in your Time Machine backup a new username to avoid conflicts. Note: This will create a new user account on your Mac to hold the data from the Time Machine backup. After migration, you can use the /Users/Shared folder to transfer data files the accounts.
Migration Assistant will begin the process of transferring the items you selected to migrate. When it is finished, click "Quit" to exit.
When you reach step 7, deselect items that you do not wish to migrate. Videos, photos and music are likely candidates for this as they take up a lot of disk space. You can later put items on an external hard drive.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

Any way to restore iTunes and iPhoto libraries from failed Time Machine backup?

Is there a way to restore iTunes and iPhoto libraries from an unmountable Time Machine backup?
Background: I received an update alert on my iMac (mid-2010, 1TB) from Time Machine (wirelessly connected to a Time Capsule, 2TB 2013) that it required an update and required rebooting, of course, it happened when I was in the middle of a project and I postponed the restart for later. That evening I turned off the computer and coincidentally the next morning, the iMac would not start; it loaded to the Apple logo and about an 1/8 of the progress bar would load before the iMac would turn off.
The iMac had been fine to that day (OS upgrades and all since 2010) so I was assuming something misfired when I declined the Time Machine update. I tried the PRAM and SMC resets mentioned in the forums but no dice. I then went into Disk Utility to try repairs and there were errors on the hard drive that could not be fixed. My next step was to erase the drive and restore from my Time Machine backup. Before doing that I checked Disk Utility and to my horror, it told me that my Time Machine backups were unmountable so of course my first thought was that all my files were gone.
The TC was under warranty so I called support and they referred me to the local Genius Bar. The Genius was great and showed me that my files weren't lost even though the Time Machine backup was unmountable. They recommended I erase the partitions, starting from scratch and I would have to transfer the Time Machine backup files manually by directly connecting an ethernet cable from the TC to the computer. If that didn't work, the hard drive was bad and needed replacement which they could take care of.
I followed their recommendation and the hard drive is fine. I was so relieved to hear that my files were safe that I forgot to ask about all of the metadata that was lost in iTunes (de-selected songs, playlists, rankings, play counts) and iPhoto (geotags, names, etc). Any ideas / help? I sank considerable time into my music and photos and would love to have that time back.
FWIW, I'm in the process of buying an external hard drive as a secondary backup to the TC as my confidence is a little shaken on the product line - the first time I ever actually need a backup and the backup is unmountable. My whole point of spending a little more and buying into the Apple ecosystem for a backup solution was to streamline the backup process and avoid these types of issues.

Thank you for the reply. I tried the Disk Utility to repair my TC's Time Machine backup disk with no luck, it stopped with the message:
Disk utility stopped repairing "iMac"
Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
It took a night but I was able to copy all the TC Time Machine files to the external hard drive as a backup to a backup just in case. I'm still pretty bummed the TC's backup didn't allow for Disk Utility's restore functionality. Fortunately, the iPhoto library backup I dragged to the iMac from the Time Capsule backup worked without a hitch. On the downside, the "iTunes Library.itl" backup I dragged over is locked so now I'm checking out the forums for any ways to fix that. I temporarily created a new iTunes library with all my apps and music but plan on reverting to the old iTunes library if possible so I can start syncing my iOS devices again.

Trouble with restoring an iPhoto library from a time machine backup.

I'm having trouble restoring my iPhoto library from a time machine backup.
I have created a new library in my pictures file.
When I try to restore the library the restore process is trying to copy it to an external drive that no longer exists - it failed and I had to have it recovered and all the recovery (including backups) data is now on a different external hard drive.
iPhoto had been using that old external drive location to start. iPhoto is now pointed to the newly created iPhoto library in my pictures file on my MacBook Air.
Is there a way to have the restoration process point to that new iPhoto library that is now empty and not to the old external drive?

You might try this with the restored library:
Starting over from scratch with new library
Start over with a new library and import the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from your original library as follows:
1. Open the library package like this.
2. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and, when asked, select the option to create a new library.
3. Drag the subfolders of the Originals (iPhoto 09 and earlier) or the Masters (iPhoto 11) folder from the open iPhoto Library package into the open iPhoto window a few at a time.
This will create a new library with the same Events (but not necessarily the same Event names) as the original library but will not keep the metadata, albums, books slideshows and other projects.
Note: your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.

I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and i can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help

I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and I can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help? I can find the mail folder in my libraries, but the Restore Button is grayed out

OSX treats the reformatted drive as a different one; it's the same as replacing it, and the old one is no longer connected.
See #E3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting to see and restore from the "old" drive.
And, you may not want to restore via the Finder; see the blue box in #15 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Can I restore my mac from a Time Machine backup once I have used BootCamp to partition and set up Windows (without erasing all of the Windows content)?

A few months ago I partitioned my mac using BootCamp and successfully installed Windows and a few Windows-only programs (games). I never restored my mac from the Time Machine backup and now I would really like all of my files back on my mac. I am wondering if I insert the osx install disc and restore from Time Machine backup, will that get rid of the partition I made for Windows? Will the Windows side of my hard drive stay in tact or will everything on that side get erased when I restore the mac side from the Time Machine backup. It was a HUUUUUUUGE pain to do the BootCamp partition and get everything Windows set up and I would really like to not have to do that all over again. I just want to make sure that if I insert the mac osx install disc and restore from Time Machine backup it will only affect the Mac partition, NOT the Windows partition.

Hi,
Time Machine does not touch your BootCamp Windows.
It simply said ignores it completely.
Nonetheless, I am curious as to why you wanna restore a Time Machine backup.
Usually during partitioning with the BootCamp Assistant in OSX to make the Windows partition your OSX stays intact.
Regards
Stefan

Restoring MBA from a Time Machine backup

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