Restoring my computer after hard disk replacement

My iMac hard disks were corrupt and new hard disks were installed today. I now need to restore my computer. The computer is currently going through the process of installing OSX mountain Lion 10.8 and I have a Time machine backup that I want to then import from my time capsule.
My time capsule has the back up from my old hard disks which operated on the latest version of OSX 10.9 Mavericks. Should I upgrade the iMac to 10.9 mavericks before using migration assistant it import the time machine backup, or will it be okay to simply start the migration assistant from within 10.8?
I am pretty confused and nervous - the apple support phone service told me to simply restore the time machine backup from disk utility, but this failed and I subsequently read that this was wrong advice as the backup was from a different computer(ie my old hard disks). I am now desperate to get my computer back working again after a nightmare few weeks of logic board replacement and now hard disk replacement.
Any advice would be appreciated.

It would not be a good idea to restore from the time machine backup, because if your HD was corrupted before it was replaced, then the backups are probably corrupted too. If you try to restore by migrating from that backup, you'll just put corrupted files on your new HD.
The best thing to do would be to:
finish the ML installation
download the Mavericks installer and install Mavericks.
figure out what document files you want to save that are on your TM backup, and copy them to your new HD (not by migration).
reformat (erase) the TM hard drive
reinstall your apps from scratch
once you have everything up and running, then make a new TM backup.
I installed a new HD in my Macbook Pro last year, and I did a clean install like this. It does take a bit more effort but it's worth it. Seems to work better, faster, cleaner, without any problems.
How did your Mac get "corrupted"? This is often due to bad/old/incompatible software, particularly junk like MacKeeper or CleanMyMac, or other worthless, overpriced, completely unnecessary "cleaning" or "maintenance" or "optimizing" applications garbage. If you have anything like this on your Mac, don't even think about reinstalling it.
One thing that I found useful after a few "clean installs" with my Macs was to make a list first of everything that you want to reinstall on your mac, including passwords, essential apps, printer drivers, documents, and the like. Once you start doing the reinstalls it can get confusing so having a list first can keep you on track.

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How do I restore my 27" mid-2011 iMac EXACTLY the way it was after hard disk replacement?

Hi all.
Recently received an email from Apple saying that the 1TB Seagate hard drive in my 27" mid-2011 iMac is apt to fail anytime. Apparently they used some bad hard drives in the mid-2011 27" iMacs which are problematic so they're offering me a free replacement to a brand new hard drive. I'll be sending in my iMac for the replacement sometime in the next few days.
In preparation for it, I've backed up my entire system using Time Machine into an external harddrive. The backup is up to date & includes all system files. I've also made a Lion install disk on an 8GB USB flash/pen drive using Carbon Copy Cloner.
My question is: When I get my iMac back after the hard disk replacement, will I be able to restore my iMac to EXACTLY the way it was before the replacement using the Time Machine backup & the Lion install disk that I've prepared? When I mean EXACTLY, I do mean EXACTLY, e.g I don't have to re-install all the programs I have, my settings for the programs I have will stay intact, everything is where it should be etc...i.e EXACTLY the way my iMac is right now.
If yes, how do I do it? I've read Pondini's guide: http://pondini.org/TM/14.html
However it is less than clear on certain points, e.g in my case, which one do I have to use to restore my system to the way it was...the Time Machine backups I have on the external HDD or the Lion install disk that I made using Carbon Copy Cloner? And how do I go about doing the restore?
I'd appreciate any & all help given. Thanks in advance!

daniirwan wrote:
baltwo: Thanks for your input! I didn't think of wiping the old HDD before sending it in for the replacement..all those sensitive user data! One question: What's a FWHD?
Already answered. Just note that FW is much faster than USB. See http://help.bombich.com/kb/troubleshooting/how-long-should-the-clone-or-backup-t ake for details.
I already have CCC installed so I'll probably try it out. Are the steps outline here the one that I should do to restore the CCC clone when I get my Mac with the new HDD back? See: http://help.bombich.com/kb/overview/restoring-data-from-your-backup#full_volume_ restore
Yes.
Another question: while I'm booted on the backup/clone, and just after I've wiped the old HDD, how do I reinstall the OS to create a generic user account? Will I have to use a Lion install USB disk?
No. IIRC (if I remember correctly), you can either use a saved Lion installer (hopefully it exists on your backup/clone) or use the Recovery HD. If you have the USB stick w/Lion installer on it, use that.

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How do I restore my Users folder to the new hard drive? I have told Time Machine to use the external hard drive, and all the folders are on that external hard drive, but when I go into Time Machine the application doesn't recognize that anything has been backed up. On the right edge of the window, the bars don't have date labels when I scroll over them.
Online Mac help says that it is possible to restore an entire hard drive, by restarting with the disk utilities DVD. However, I don't think that would work for me, since I backed up only the Users file, not the entire internal drive.

You can not easily change the "short name" of an Account -- the name which is used for the Home folder among other things.
You CAN create a new account with the naming your want (System Preferences / Accounts) but if you are having file/folder permissions problems they may still remain due to the fact that the system actually knows accounts by numeric IDs that are made visible as the "short name".
This can be a little tricky to sort out.
One thing you might want to try is using Migration Assistant and pointing it at your Time Machine drive as source. Tell it you just want the Account (no applications or settings). It may be able to create a new account (bearing the original name) and bring your files over for you correctly. You will have to set account preferences yourself, and since you didn't save system files on your Time Machine, you will have to re-install applications from the original application install sources.
--Bob

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Finally my questions:
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2) If not, I need to know how to recompile the the Originals subfolder system so I can maintain some the the organization, and then how I reipmort back into iPhoto'09
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Scott
That Library is gone. What you need to do now is start over with a new Library.
There is no way to restore your Albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc. This is a completely new beginning.
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library' .
From each of the Originals folders in each of the Back Up packages drag the folders of images to the iPhoto Window. Iphoto will import them and make Event folders from them. It will ask you do you want to import duplicates. Say no.
Only import from the Originals folders. Otherwise you will get massive duplication.
Regards
TD

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Hey Dave W RI,
Perhaps, it would be more helpful, for you to search this forum for terms like recover music, or something related.
That would return threads, from others, that have had this same question.
Hope this helps,
Generik

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guess what, all fixed, the safari app installed by apple on new hard drive was 5 something, but 6.02 was needed, i installed 6.02 but it told me i needed OSX10.8.2 which cost me £13.99 but it now works.
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OT

I use windows and i got my hard disk replaced now when i try to sync wirelessly my ipod detects my computed as being a different one how can i make it forget the old one?

i use windows and i got my hard disk replaced now when i try to sync wirelessly my ipod detects my computed as being a different one how can i make it forget the old one?

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RE: Apple iMac 27 Hard Disk Replacement Complaint

Dear Customer ServiceManager,
RE: Apple iMac 27” Hard Disk Replacement Complaint
On May 12, 2011, Ibought an iMac 27” for my daughter from your official Hong Kong website (www.apple.com/hk).
I am writing tocomplain about my dissatisfaction of your poorproduct quality, irresponsibleattitude of your customer service, and most importantly my painful experience with your Apple Careservice. I am also very disappointed with how your Apple Care staff made a discriminating comment about your low income Hong Kong customers.
On July 28, 2011, mydaughter received an email from your company ([email protected]) informing her that the hard disk of her newly purchased iMac wasdefective due to factory error. You promised to replace the defective hard disk with a brand new onefree of charge, but when she asked your HK Apple technical support if therewould be on-site replacement service, your staff told her that she can onlyeither carry the 30-pound iMac herself to their service center or pay HKD1200for the Apple Care which offers the on-site replacement service.
First of all, I foundyour request very unreasonable. Mydaughter was not the one who broke the hard disk, your company informed herthat you gave her a defective one. So why is the responsibility and the cost of taking the iMac for repairshould be borne by her, as an innocent customer, who paid HKD18, 000 for aniMac directly ordered from your official website? She did nothing wrong but your company required her to barethe cost of transporting a 30-pound iMac and the risk of causing damage on theway.
Secondly, I believeyour company has deceitfully forced my daughter to buy your Apple Care, whichis completely against her original will. Since she is just a 22-year-old girl, it is impossible for her to carrythe 30-pound iMac by herself. Andclearly, she was not given a choice but had to pay HKD1200 for the AppleCare. This made me doubt if thisis a scam of your company. Is thisa way of how Apple make extra money by giving your customer faulty products anda mission impossible, then forcing us to pay for a service that we did notneed?
Anyway, thepainfulness of enjoying your Apple Care service has just started…
On Aug 10, 20111:30pm, your service man came to change her hard disk with just a look as ifthe process was very ‘efficient’ and left after half an hour, even her Mac OShas not yet been completely installed. After he left, my daughter found that the OS could not be installed, soshe called your service center immediately and under her strong request, he hadto come back on the same day and check the new hard disk. He found it proved to be a defectiveone again. I was shockinglysurprised that your company, which always claims to produce products of highquality, selling at an expensive price, replaced my claim-to-be defective harddisk with a defective one again. Iwonder how Apple’s quality control is done? Your company didn’t even bother to check if the new harddisk is working before replacing it for customers.
My daughter requestedfor a new one, but then your service center said they had no new stock andasked her to wait until further notice. But without any definite date, it means my daughter’s brand new computercannot be used for… I don’t know how long. Please notice that I paid HKD18,000 to buy a first-classproduct of high quality, as claimed by your company all over the world.
So my daughter had tocall your service center again and forced them to return her original harddisk. Till 5:00 pm on the sameday, another technician came to reinstall her original hard disk into hercomputer. Surprisingly, all thedata in her original hard disk was still there, which means there is a riskthat all her personal data and information had been accessed by your servicecenter staff.
As a father, I had totake over the matter from my daughter and called your hotline 2112 0099 at5:00pm on Aug 10, 2011. After 30minutes, I could finally talk to one of your technical support staff for 10minutes about my complaint. Heasked me to hold the line and wait for him to transfer my call to his seniortechnical support colleague, so I kept on waiting for 15 minutes, but finallythe line was being cut and no body contacted me and my daughter again.
I had to call yourhotline again at 6:00 pm and waited for another 15 minutes to reach one of youradvisors. He passed my line toyour senior technical support advisor located in Singapore. He said he is just a technical supportadvisor, so he could not take my complaint directly. He needed to talk to meagain on the next day with a customer service advisor. He promised if he could not reach me onmy mobile phone, he would leave his direct line for me so that I would not haveto waste another half an hour to reach him through the hotline.
On Aug 11, 2011 5:28pm, I received a voice mail from your senior technical support advisor asking me to call him back but he didn’t leave any direct telephonenumber as he promised. So I triedto call back the caller ID, which was shown on my phone. However, the auto reply of this numberwas, “This is an invalid number”. I asked the Hong Kong Telephone Company to help me to call but even theycould not reach this number. Theytold me this number was from Shanghai, China. So I had no choice but to call your hotline again. After 25 minutes, one of your advisorstook my call and I had to repeat my story to him again in order to have him putme through to talk to your senior staff 42058 again. I asked him why he didn’t leave his direct number for me tocall him back as he promised. Hesaid he forgot! What a surprisinganswer to leave your customer nothing but a number that he knew clearlycouldn’t be reached.
By that time, I havewasted nearly 45 minutes to reach him, and it was already 6:20pm and thecustomer service advisor was off work. Therefore, I made an appointment with him again and we agreed that hewould call me between 9:31-10:00am on Aug 12, 2011 morning. I took half day-off from my work towait for your senior staff to call me.
Unfortunately, Iwaited until 10:10 am and nobody contacted me again (I left both my mobilenumber and email to them).
Finally, I called the hotline again and waited for 15 minutes, an advisor put me to your on-dutyCustomer Service Manager, Ken. After I told him my name, he realized that he should be theone responsible for calling me this morning, but since he had a meeting thatmorning, he forgot to call me again! The Apple staff didn’t keep their promises after all which disappointedme a lot. It seems to me thatApple is unwilling to accept negative feedbacks from customers.
Ken told me thatthere was nothing he could do.
At the end, I wasreferred to a Customer Relations staff, Ms. Wing Liu. Her response was also there is nothing she can do exceptgiving me a case number of my complaint. Since then, I never get any response from Apple regarding my case.
I believe Apple has afull record of all my conversations with your staff and thus, should be able tolook into my case thoroughly. Isincerely hope that Apple can take my feedback seriously and respond to my complaintin a responsible manner, but not just trying to suppress your customers, whohave already been treated unfairly, from claiming their rights. Otherwise, it is really a shamefor Apple to claim itself delivering high quality products and services allover the world.
Yours truly,
Tommy Fong
Apple Customer
<Personal Information Edited by Host>

I just realize Apple might have blocked my daughter's Apple ID from posting in your discussion forum.
My daughter was trying to go to this Community Page by logging into her account. But your Communities webpage displays a "We'll be back soon" webpage. Then I try to login with my Apple account and it works fine.
<Email Edited by Host>

It seems like I just missed the interval for the hard disk replacement program. I purchased in March 2009 a 24 inch Intel iMac . How much does it cost to have apple support at an Apple Store replace a hard drive?

It seems like I just missed the interval for the hard disk replacement program. I purchased in March 2009 a 24 inch Intel iMac . How much does it cost to have apple support at an Apple Store replace a hard drive?

My hard drive continually has the floating beach ball and will take massive time to fulfill a request. And then will not boot up...so then I have to do a restore and rebuild hard drive from a past saved time machine version. Works for a little bit...then the floating beachball comes more and more...until it will not boot up again. So then I restore from a previous time machine saved version....and again it works for a day or so ... until it happens again. Now it's happening faster and faster...so I think my hard drive is dying.

Hard Disk Replacement for Toshiba Portege R500-S5006X

I have a Toshiba Portege R500-S5006X which is out of warranty. I would like to replace the hard disk. What hard disk should I purchase? What is the maximum capacity (size in GB), maximum RPM speed and size in inches I can use in this laptop? Will a SATA-2 hard disk work in this laptop? Any other information I need to know about the hard disk replacment? I would be happy to get an answer from an official Toshiba technician.
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I don't know if the Toshiba people who post here are technicians, I suspect not, so you might be waiting for a while if that's the only person you would accept information from...
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The following is a spec page for one of the stock drive options (they used a couple different drives, but pretty much equivalent)
http://storage.toshiba.com/storagesolutions/archived-models/MK1646GSX
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What is the best hard disk replacement for my notebook?

Hi, what hard disk replacement should i buy for my notebook HP G62-a016sl, considering the price/quality ratio? I would not want to spend more than 60 euros/dollars.
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This question was solved.
View Solution.

I finally got the second hard disk you recommended and i can confirm that the problem of the jerkily computer was the hard disk (almost failed) and not software. Thank you very much!

Is it possible to get an ipod 80gb classic's hard disk replaced?

My ipod classsic 80gb is not able to sync more that about 1500 songs in total. Anything above that gives me an error(50).
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Restoring my computer after hard disk replacement

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