Restoring with Time Machine after Reimaging

At out school, we use netrestore to create one image with a dummy account and then after reimaging each computer with that account we manually fix everything on the computer. This method has worked wonderfully for us but unfortunately time machine will not recognize its old backups and will not allow restoring of certain things. We do not want to restore everything to the last back up because that would defeat the purpose of reimaging, but we do want to restore things like mail, address book, calendar, desktop, etc. Is there an easy way to fix this?

I don't understand your setup. you want to reimage a computer from a master image and then restore the account settings from a TM backup? why don't you put all that stuff on the master image before reimaging?

Similar Messages

TS3423 Mac book pro stops responding after Maverick OS restart. Currently have a circle with a line through it after 20+ hours. Tried to shut it down and use the Time Machine to restore but no response. How can I restore with Time Machine if it will not s

Mac book pro stops responding after Maverick OS restart. Currently have a circle with a line through it after 20+ hours. Tried to shut it down and use the Time Machine to restore but no response. How can I restore with Time Machine if it will not start?

sonjadg,
you can purchase a replacement pair of grey installation DVDs for your MacBook Pro from either Apple or iFixit. If Startup Manager is only showing an OS X Installer volume, then it sounds like the Mavericks installer had a problem midway through its installation process. To fix this, you’re going to need to erase your internal disk and reïnstall your original version of OS X from the grey Mac OS X Install DVD, use Software Update to get it back to 10.6.8 (presuming that your MacBook Pro originally came with Snow Leopard), and then restore from Time Machine.

Problems after doing full restore with Time Machine

If I reinstall Leopard and and do a complete restore with time Machine, I have to erase my Time Machine backup drive and do a complete TM backup from scratch because TM will not pick up where it left off doing incremental backups. It wants to start over like it's never done any backups at all. It's a pain because it take me 4 or 5 hours to back up 270 GB. I've had to do this twice so far because once I had a problem with my startup drive and just today I made an external hard drive with leopard and restored all my files via TM.
Is there anyway to get out of starting over from scratch when I do a full restore with TM ?

The following procedure works for me if your restore happens to be from the last backup that Time Machine completed. (I'm not sure if it would work just as well if you restore from an older point in the Time Machine history -- but it certainly should!):
After you complete the full restore (which will force a Restart when it completes), log in and then immediately go to System Preferences / Time Machine and Turn Off Time Machine to prevent any premature additional backups.
Now go to System Preferences / Spotlight / Privacy and drag the icons for all your hard drives (including your main hard drive and the Time Machine hard drive) from the Desktop into the Privacy list. This will stop Spotlight indexing of all these drives to speed things up for what follows. You will do the indexing later (see below).
If you have any sort of automatic virus protection active, disable it at this point to speed up what follows.
Then Restart again (to get things into a fresh state), and then immediately do a Repair Permissions for your main hard drive (using Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility). Be patient. This will take 30 minutes or more and the progress bar may not advance until the very end. Do not be alarmed when several hundred notifications come up, as most of them are minor tidying up items, but some are significant. For example, you will see the ownership get adjusted for every help file in every language for every Lexar printer the system knows about (minor). You will also see the permissions adjusted for the root directory of your main hard drive (significant).
And all of these permission and ownership repairs will happen EVEN THOUGH the files you backed up into your Time Machine may have had no such problems. They are, apparently, a result of the method that Time Machine uses to rebuild your file system during the restore.
When the permission repair eventually completes, Quit Disk Utility and Shut Down the computer.
Now reset the Parameter memory (PRAM). PRAM holds copies of certain system settings for rapid access. To do this, hold down the 4 keys Apple-Option-P-R continuously and press and release the power button. When you hear the SECOND startup chime, release those 4 keys. The system will continue to boot up normally. This makes sure the system's Parameter memory is in sync with the System Preferences resulting from the restore you just completed. It probably would have been anyway, but this makes sure. Among other things, this makes sure the system takes proper note of your "computer name" (System Preferences / Sharing) which is crucial to Time Machine's ability to recognize and use your previous backup database on the Time Machine hard drive.
Now log in and fire up Mail to let it automatically finish the restore of its mailboxes by importing the necessary mail lists. Quit Mail when it finishes.
If you have any other, application specific tasks to perform to complete the restore for any other applications, now is the time to do them.
Finally, go back into System Preferences / Spotlight / Privacy, select the line showing your main hard drive in the list, and click the "-" on the bottom to remove it from the list. Repeat this for every other hard drive EXCEPT for your Time Machine hard drive. Exit System Preferences. Spotlight will now begin to re-index those hard drives from scratch. Watch this by clicking on the Spotlight icon in the menu bar. Wait for indexing to finish.
Your restore is now at the point where you can let Time Machine do a new backup.
I suggest you Restart again to get things into a fresh state (not truly necessary, but it is what I do). Then go into System Preferences / Time Machine and, at long last, Turn On Time Machine again. Then do a Back Up Now (right click on the Time Machine icon in the dock and select Back Up Now from the pop up menu).
Because of the restore, Time Machine will now do a Deep Traversal of your entire file system looking for EVERYTHING that has changed compared to the last backup on its hard drive (rather than depending on the file system transaction logs as it normally does to make incremental backups happen much faster). The "Preparing" stage for this will take a long time -- about as long as a Repair Permissions pass in Disk Utility. Eventually Time Machine will start transferring files. This will be a backup of significant size because all the permissions repairs you did above, etc., count as changes as far as Time Machine is concerned, not to mention that certain portions of the file system are rebuilt during the restore. But it should be WELL SHORT of actually doing a complete backup of everything on your system. I.e., it is just a particularly large, but nevertheless incremental, backup added on to the previous stuff on your Time Machine disk.
Crucial to this is that Time Machine recognizes the prior database on its hard drive as applying to your computer. Thus the permissions repair and PRAM resetting steps above.
When that backup eventually completes, go into System Preferences / Spotlight and remove your Time Machine drive from the Privacy list. Exit System Preferences and wait for Spotlight to finish re-indexing your Time Machine drive.
Restart once again, just to get things into a fresh state, and then re-enable any antivirus "live protection" stuff you disabled above.
You are done.
From this point on, Time Machine should do "normal" incremental backups, and the previous history of Time Machine backups should be accessible and used by Time Machine just as before.
--Bob
Message was edited by: BobP1776

Mail and Safari Crash after Full Restore with Time Machine

I did a complete restore with time Machine. I opened Mail and it did it's thing importing all the mail and creating it's new index and folders. Now Mail and Safari will not work. They crash every time I open them.
They were working fine, the only reason I did the restore was I inadvertently formated my hard drive while trying to install boot camp.
Anyone have any idea what to do?
Mario

I have exactly the same problem as iGin. All other programs appear to be behaving normally, just Apple Mail and Safari crash immediately after starting them up - very annoying!

OS X Restore with Time Machine via LAN does not work

Hi all,
i did a full backup of my mac mini with mountain lion on a time capsule via LAN. Tried to do a full restore on a new hard disk and connect to the time capsule after i booted into a restore environment. I was able to choose the time capsule as the restore source and connected using my dedicated backup user, which was also used to create the backup before. But after i cannot chose my just created backup!
Using a local USB disk with time machine everythings workes fine. But the main reason why i chosed time capsule is, that i can make my backups of all the used mac books and minis via LAN / WLAN...
So, is there anybody else experiancing this Problem?
Regards,
David

Hi,
tested OS X Restore with Time Machine via QNAP NAS Box - working without any problem. So with the Time Capsule it might be firmware problem?!
Will update thies Thread when i've any news...
David

Restore from time machine after hard drive install

I just had apple replace my hard drive on my Imac. I backed up everything with my external hard drive My Book. Tried to do a restore with Time Machine and it won't do it. I get a message that come up that says "Time Machine can't be modified or deleted because its required by Mac OS X. What steps am I missing to restore with Time Machine?

Hello, I personally don't use TM, but...
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imagine something not being covered there.

Restoring with Time Machine help!!!

I have searched for many hours for an answer to my problem to no avail. I have seen multiple discussions on here about this issue, but none seem quiet the same.
I use an Intel iMac, 500GB, Snow leopard, and all the most current updates.
While trying to cmd+q Safari from the ESPN fantasy page I received the spinning rainbow ball. I gave it about ten minutes to quit and nothing. I tried to key a force quit and nothing. So I then did a hard reset pressing the power button. Once it restarted the screen froze on the grey startup and seconds later gave me the Folder with a question mark icon flashing. I found the Snow Leopard install disc and put it in to restart. I restarted and held "c" while doing so.
Mac OS X Installer appears and I follow it to a point where I can select >utilities and select disk utility or restart from back up.
I first tried to use my Time Machine backups that are stored on a Lacie 1TB external, but I receive a message that "this disk does have enough space." I tried selecting all the way back a year ago when I started using it to restore. No luck.
Next I tried going to the >utilities >disk utility selection and it only shows the install cd and a hard disk labeled "Media" but in the Total cpacity: it reads 0 Bytes. I don't know where to go from there.
Now I am am deleting the back ups from August 1, 2010 and before to try and free up space and attempt a restore with Time Machine.
Does anyone have any ideas or solutions or anything. I have 120GB of music, CS5, Logic Pro 9, Office, and many other programs all at risk. Yes, I paid for all of them. I just don't have time to spend installing it all again, especially when some of my work depends on them.
Tragic, huh!
Thank you
Chuck

CSmith615 wrote:
Okay, so I have mentioned this twice, in both post that I have written, the hard drive is not showing in the disk utilities,
Yes, I understand you can't see the +*internal HD.+* I advised you to do a +*repair disk+* on your backups.
Tell me that there is nothing I could have done, that it was on the verge of crashing since it was probably under a lot of stress.
Correct; other than dropping your Mac or having it zapped by a power surge, you didn't break the internal HD.
I have already erased some of the backups from August 1 2010 and before. I still have from this past sunday, 21st until August 2nd. Please elaborate how it will corrupt the backups. I plugged the external into my macbook pro and trashed those backups mentioned before.
The message you were getting was that there wasn't enough space on the internal (since it showed zero), not the backups.
If you did that via the Finder or Terminal, they may be corrupted.
Unfortunately, Apple doesn't do a very good job of warning folks not to do that.
You shouldn't have to delete things there, since Time Machine will do it automatically when the disk gets full. But if you want or need to, you can do it via Time Machine without harm. See #12 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
So, repair them per #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). If they're ok, or can be repaired, your best bet when you get your Mac back is to do a full system restore, per #14 in the FAQ.

Problems restoring files with Time Machine after hard drive failure

Hello everyone,
I had a Mavericks (10.9.5) installation on my Mac Mini when my hard drive suddenly "died". I therefore replaced the hard drive with a new one and started the recovery mode using the cmd + R keyboard shortcut during booting. I then partitioned and formated the new hard drive and afterwards selectd "Restore from Time Machine Backup" (see the screenshot on the following page: https://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/). To my surprise, the following error message was displayed: "An error occurred while adding a recovery system to the destination disk". After some research, I discovered that this problem is probably caused by a Mountain Lion installation bug (http://macdailynews.com/2013/02/28/new-macs-suffering-from-os-x-mountain-lion-in stallation-bug/). This leads to my first question:
1) Why does the recovery mode start the Mountain Lion (10.8.5) installer and not the Mavericks (10.9.5) installer?
Anyway, since this problem left me no alternative, I selected "Reinstall OS X" instead, which downloaded Mountain Lion from the Internet. After the installation was complete, I used Migration Assistant to recover my two accounts, their apps and data. However, after the process was completed, I discovered that some files were missing in a folder that I was using before the hard drive "died". This leads to my second question:
2) Why are some files missing from that folder?
Anyway, I though I could quickly recover these lost files by entering Time Machine. I did that and selected the respective folder. However, having that folder or any other folder selected, Time Machine doesn't display any previous back-ups on its timeline although the latter goes back as far as 26 August 2013.
3) Why doesn't Time Machine display older versions of that folder on its timeline?
I will greatly appreciate any help!

Try E2/4 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems
James Pond (Pondini) died last year unfortunately.

External HD as Startup Disk won't work after Restoring with Time Machine

Hey all, this seems very simple; very, very simple at that... But I might be overlooking something here:
I recently had a MacBook running the latest OS X Leopard, until my cat decided I didn't need it anymore and added a glass of water to the mix! So after weeks of freaking out and praying... I found myself with a loaner computer, this iMac G5 1.8 GHz, successfully running leopard for the most part.
Here's the good news: I had Time Machine backing up all my files from the MacBook that can't swim. It was backed up on a partitioned 1tb Western Digital hard drive, like 700gb for TM and 300gb for an external HD.
What I am trying to accomplish is to use the TM backups from the 700gb side to "restore" the system onto the other 300gb external HD side, and use this is the main disk on my iMac G5.
So far, after a 7 and a half restoring session with my Leopard install disc, I think the 300gb external HD is prepped and ready to go, but I can't select that HD as a startup disk, and when I first restarted after the restoring session with my Leopard disc, the startup disk I wanted was "not found" and it quickly went back to the 80gb iMac internal drive. HELP!
Maybe this isn't possible because I'm backing up and installing onto the same HD?

So far, this is where I am at... and I think I'm on the right track!
I don't care what is on this loaner computer (it's one of those... you know, "long-term" loans from my parents...) So I reinstalled Leopard, fresh install. I had an option of restoring from Time Machine, and then I realized I'd be restoring to the wrong disk, so why not install Leopard onto my external partitioned HD that I have been wanting this whole time?
Looking closer, apparently I need to completely repartition my WD external hard drive with an Apple Partition Map because I'm using it with my Power PC-based iMac G5 (beggars can't be choosers!) If I had an Intel-based Mac, I'd be OK with my partitioned HD that I set up with a GUID Partition Table with my drowned MacBook, right?
So, like I said, I am on the right track... all I'm waiting for is to borrow an addition external HD to shuffle some files around before I can do this right... hopefully. Another question: am I able to duplicate my Time Machine Backup HD to another external HD? Or will I have to get really creative or "ghetto" in my attempts to bring one restore of my past computer?
Thanks for all your help and support! And to answer the other question so far, all my HDs are connected via firewire. Thanks!!
-kevin
Message was edited by: Kevin Cramblet

Restore from Time Machine after HD Crash

My Powerbook HD crashed - it had been backed up with Time Machine to an external hard drive. My new hard drive has been installed. I started up with my Leopard Upgrade install DVD. The first screen that comes up says this software can't be installed on this computer. I clicked OK. Then the tool bar is accessible. Under utilities I selected "Restore from Back up" and nothing happens no indication that it is doing anything. I checked under system profiler and my external hard drive with the back up shows up. But it does not show up on the desktop. What should I see on my screen when I choose Restore from the utilities? I just see the Leopard Purple screen desktop. Please help. I have re-started, shut down and started over several times with the same results.

Thanks for the link Pondini, all of that sounds very good, but reality hits when you read posts like this thread. The great thing here is that it worked, but as you see, it was not a straightforward process in reality. It took twists and turns and frustration and menu's that didn't say what they should have.
All in all I'm very happy to hear that TM brought home the goods and made this user's day complete.
I have partitioned 2x the size of my system hard drive on my new LaCie backup drive. That partition will be all the room I am giving to TM. I do not have any documents on my system hard drive, so it is basically a very quiet drive with little going on other than the occasional software update. I think TM will be happy with 2x the size for backup because also, I only use 1/3 of the system drive for applications, the rest is blank. I do all of my work on external drives and I use conventional means to back up my work onto other drives.
I think I am becoming well versed in TM after the OP's experience here. As added insurance, I made another partition on my backup drive and have used SuperDuper to clone the entire system drive, just as more bullet-proof protection against the day when.
Thanks to everyone here. This has been an exciting thread to say the least. Glad it's over,
Ken

Selectively restore from Time Machine after reformatting

I just reformatted my drive and reinstalled Mountain Lion and then upgraded to Mavericks. I backed up to Time Machine just before the reinstall. Time Machine did combine my first new backup with the ones before the reinstall, which I can see when I browse through the Time Capsule.
I would like to restore some things from the Time Machine timeline, however when I enter the timeline, the backups prior to the reinstall are named in purple on the dateline and the Finder windows are black and inaccessible. I suspect this is because after the reinstall the computer has a new account name, so the permissions are different on the previous backups with the old account name.
Does anyone know how to get the older backups to be accessible in the timeline? I would like to just selectively restore a few things as needed, and would like to do the "restore from Time Machine" rather than drag copying files from the mounted backup.

I would like to just selectively restore a few things as needed, and would like to do the "restore from Time Machine" rather than drag copying files from the mounted backup.
For this type of activity, you might want to take a look at Migration Assistant on your Mac, located as follows:
Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant
More info here: OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks

FCP X Crash. Restored with Time Machine, but Timeline still empty.

Hi!
I just started with FCP X (Trial Version).
After 2 days of hard work I had a crash (spinning wheel, forced closing).
The Timeline is empty now.
I restored the folders "Final Cut Projects" & "Final Cut Events" completely with Time Machine, but no matter how far I go back, the timeline remains empty.
(event and imported media are visible, though)
Does FCP X save project data anyplace else on my mac ???
Thank you in advance ...

Thanks for responding.
So under the partition tab, I should reformat to one partition, reinstall Leopard, and see what happens from there? Selectively restore applications, music, pictures to my system once it's reinstalled and properly updated? Anything else I may need to do or restore?
Why not reformat under the erase tab, zero out the disk, and reinstall? Any difference?
Just a little worried and unsure is all. If it's a hardware thing, I can accept that and take it in to be serviced. But, if it is a software issue, I don't want to do any irreparable harm during the erase-and-reinstall process. Just want to make sure I get it right.
Message was edited by: Immolate

Do I need to remove Bootcamp Partition before restoring with Time Machine

Hello - anyone familiar with this scenario.
I have used TIME MACHINE from the very first day I had my iMac. So it was started almost immediately after the initial boot of a brand new iMac case I ever needed to restore my Mac to that initial Day 1 state.
That day has come, but it's now two years, and in that time I have installed BOOTCAMP, Parallels and Windows 7. That process created another partition, and created the required 'links' between my OSX and Windows via Parallels etc.
So my question is this - can I do a 'Restore from Time Machine' over the top of the new partioned set up of my iMac OR or will it be now totally confused because of the changes I have made to my system in that time, and do I firstly need to remove Windows, Bootcamp, and erase the partitions I created back to one.
So in summary - will Time Machine do this when it restores, or do I need to do it before I restore?
I also have a CARBON COPY CLONE from Day 1 too. Am I better using that instead - and if so, same question - will i need to remove Windows, and my Bootcamped partion first?
(My system is iMac late 2012 still running OSX Mountain Lion if that makes any difference)
Thanks

popsynic wrote:
Hi - thanks for responding
"Is Parallels using the BC partition as a VM, or is it a separate VM with its own virtual disk?"
I don't know - basically I have a BOOTCAMP partition and Windows is installed on that (using these instructions from the Parallels website) I can then either open up Windows from in OSX Moutain Lion while keeping my mac running (and windows will run in its own little window - but within OSX. OR I can also choose to boot dircetly wi windows when I tuen on my MAC - and then it runs independently of my OSX.
You are using the BC Windows and running it as VM. There is no separate VM with virtual disk.
"Are you planning to erase the internal drive(s)?"
I wasn't sure - I want to restore my iMac like it was on the day I had it, before I partitoned BOOTCAMP and installed windows. So my question is, will the TIME MACHINE restore get rid of WINDOWS and the BOOTCAMP partition for me as part of its restore - or do i have to that, and then restore using Time Machine
It is much simpler to run BC Assistant and use the last option - "Remove Windows". It is a bit cleaner.
"If the backup on TM which started on Day 1 has continued as you have made changes, including BC/Windows/Parallels, it has continued to backup OS X and partition information. I suggest you backup Windows using Windows Backup to a separate external drive formatted as NTFS, and also consider Winclone or CampTune for a OS X compatible BC backup, if you run into any issues."
As above, I am not bothered about keeping Windows or the BOOTCAMP partition, I want to resore my iMac to the DAY 1 status - when I did my first full Time Machine backup - which was before I created a Bootcamp partition or installed Windows.
I suggest removing Windows via BCA and backing up to Time Machine. You will keep you OS X intact and keep all your files on the OS X side.

How to restore from Time Machine after HD change?

Hi I am having my hard drive replaced due to the issue with the Seagate hard drives. I have a Lacie NAS which is working with Time Machine. I wanted to know, once I have my iMac back with a new hard drive, how do I restore everything from Time Machine?
Thanks

Have a look at this thread I posted in earlier and the various links in Pondini's excellent Time Machine resource I linked to:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20367932#20367932

Can't restore from time machine after SSD upgrade

Macbook Pro 13" mid-2009, 10.7.5 Lion
I just swapped out my 160GB HDD with a 250GB SSD on my MBP. When I booted up, I pressed Command-R to try to get into recovery mode but all it does was showing a gray folder with a question mark on it.
I had previously backed up my HDD with time machine. My original HDD is no longer available because I tried to upgrade to Mavericks (since the command-R was not working) and upon restarting my MBP was locked with system pin code (that is another nightmare all by itself)
What are my options besides getting a 10.7 Lion CD from the apple store and try to boot it up that way? and then restore from time machine?
Any other way I can get into receovery mode?
Thanks (My MBP is now a brick sitting on my desk)

It's a bare drive so it isn't formatted and it doesn't yet have a Recovery HD installed on it.
Your computer originally came with a version of Leopard installed. You can reinstall it if you still have the original discs that came with the computer. Or, if you have a retail Snow Leopard DVD you can reinstall Snow Leopard from which you can then upgrade to Mavericks (Lion is no longer available for re-download.) It's unlikely your local Apple Store has a Lion USB flash drive or DVD although you can certainly make an appointment and ask for their help.
You should see if you can boot from the Recovery HD invisible image in your Time Machine backup drive. Connect it to the computer and use OPTION boot to get the boot manager. If you see a Recovery HD on your backup drive displayed, then boot from it.

Restoring with Time Machine after Reimaging

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for