System Restore Problem - Time Machine

Hello,
I erased my hard drive (after backing everything up, of course) to try to fix some problems I was having with general functionality. When I tried restoring my hard drive from Time Machine I was prompted with two backups to restore from. One was about 90GB and the other was about 60GB. So, naturally I chose the larger of the two.
The problem is that I think the backup was from October 2008 when I actually started backing up far before that (September 2007). Assuming I am correct, does this mean that I have lost everything from before October 2008? For example, since I have a small hard drive (110GB), and I have a lot of files (photos, videos, songs, etc.), I have to continuously backup, then delete files that I don't necessarily need on my internal hard drive. So, if I ever need to go back and restore them, I usually can with Time Machine.
But, since this recent recovery of my entire hard drive, I feel I have lost all the information prior to that October 2008 backup. Or does it mean that anything after October 2008 I lost? Does this make sense? I am still having a hard time understanding what it means to restore databases from a specific time.
Any advice would be most helpful!
Thank you!

tjyoung82 wrote:
Hello,
I erased my hard drive (after backing everything up, of course) to try to fix some problems I was having with general functionality. When I tried restoring my hard drive from Time Machine I was prompted with two backups to restore from. One was about 90GB and the other was about 60GB. So, naturally I chose the larger of the two.
Was this before or after the hardware repair mentioned in your other post?
The problem is that I think the backup was from October 2008 when I actually started backing up far before that (September 2007). Assuming I am correct, does this mean that I have lost everything from before October 2008? For example, since I have a small hard drive (110GB), and I have a lot of files (photos, videos, songs, etc.), I have to continuously backup, then delete files that I don't necessarily need on my internal hard drive. So, if I ever need to go back and restore them, I usually can with Time Machine.
Do NOT depend on this. Time Machine is NOT like most "archival" backup systems. If you delete a file from your internal HD, TM will, eventually, delete it's copy. Depending on the circumstances, that may be in as little as 25 hours, or it may be months later.
One of TM's big advantages is, it will manage both it's space and backups for you, automatically. But that means, if you want to remove old files from your internal and archive them, you need to do it another way.
But, since this recent recovery of my entire hard drive, I feel I have lost all the information prior to that October 2008 backup. Or does it mean that anything after October 2008 I lost? Does this make sense? I am still having a hard time understanding what it means to restore databases from a specific time.
Again, TM is a bit different from other backup systems. If you restored from the most recent backup of your current set of backups (not one of the previous backup sets in your other post), then you should have everything.
For your current set of backups, assume you have the following:
Full backup as of Monday
Incremental backup as of Tuesday
Incremental backup as of Wednesday
If you restore from Wednesday's backup, you get everything: Monday's full backup, plus Tuesday's changes, plus Wednesday's changes.
If you restore from Tuesday's backup, you get Monday's full backup plus Tuesday's changes.

Similar Messages

Downloads folder missing after system restore from Time Machine

I installed a new HDD, installed Leopard, and the did a system restore from Time Machine. Everything seems to work fine except from a big question mark in the dock, where downloads folder should be. Any suggestions pls?

Thank you very much for your quick answers.
Probably the problem originated from excluding the Downloads folder from my backup, although it should have been there in my new installation. The interesting thing was that this folder were nowhere to be found in the Finder, and by trying to download something from Safari, it just wouldn’t.
I did a Repair Permissions from the HDD, not the Leopard DVD, and all came back to normal.
I have to admit, that coming from The Win world, this HDD replacement was the easiest and fastest ever, by far!

System Restore from Time Machine Back up and Mail

Hi
I have around 16,000 Messages in my Mail 3.2 Inbox. I use Gmail IMAP service. One thing I like about Mail is that next to all my messages there are these arrows that indicate whether I have replied to or forwarded a particular message and clicking on them takes me to my response to a particular email.
I need to reformat my MBP HD and want to do a system restore through Time Machine.
My question is, will Mail return to my current state (with all the arrows and tags) after I do the complete restore from Time Machine.
Any help on this is highly appreciated.
Cheers!

Mheck21 wrote:
I replaced the internal because I need more space, I'm not an expert, but I've done it before. I wasn't having trouble I was just running out of room and decided to upgrade?
Ah, ok, that rules that out.
I think it wasn't backing up because it was showing I had files on the external but I couldn't locate them. It's my understanding that the external must be blank to back your computer up with time machine.
No, it doesn't have to be empty (although Time Machine works best if it has its own, exclusive space). Without the error message(s), we don't know what is/was wrong.
I have run the Verify Disk on the internal and it says its all good.
Ah, good. That means you don't have directory problems.
I have not run a Repair Disk Permissions. I am not sure how to do that? Is that also located in the Disk Utility.
Yup, same window, different button.
I tried to just run the update from the update software option in the apple on the top left. I also then ran the combo that I downloaded from the apple site.
With what results? Did they compete? If not, what message did you get?

Will a system restore from Time Machine erase any of the data that is currently on the Mac and not in the Time Machine?

We had a lot of data on our Mac (i.e. photos, iTunes libraries etc) which we backed up via Time Machine. The hard disk corrupted so we had to get it wiped. When we got it back, my parents started using the mac as per usual but they didn't do a full System Restore from Time Machine. So, if I do a full restore now, will it erase any of the new photos, musc etc that is currently on the mac?

The Time Machine restore will only restore what is on Time Machine. Making a clone is probably a better means of ensuring whatever data you want recovered gets recovered together with Time Machine.
Generally speaking, applications that are newer than the operating system from Apple that are included with the operating system are not supported. So in your data recovery process from your clone, you'll have to be careful what data you choose to copy back.

IMac won't reboot after system restore from Time Machine

I just installed a wacom intuos pro tablet on my imac running snow leopard. The system clock reset to 1st Jan2000 and system prefenerces were no longer accesible. I performed a system restore from my time machine but now can't reboot. The restore completed succesfully (or so the it told me). When i restarted the imac i got the usual 'bing' followed by grey screen and spinning wheel swiftly followed by a light blue screen with the cursor in the top left hand corner.
There is sat for an hour befoe I switched off and tried again......same result.
The installation disc is still in the optical drive.
Any advice please on how to remidy this?
Thanks

I have/had a similiar problem. What I did was reset the SMC and PRAM. You can also do a safe boot. For the PRAM, I had to do three times, and my computer finally booted up. Afterwards I verified my disk and repaired my permissions. So far so good. I guessing that Spotlight needed to re-index the system.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570

How can one do a full system restore from Time Machine to a Macbook Air

I recently had a major crash on my two internal disc DualG5. The system internal disk failed completely and I used Time Machine to do a full system restore to the second internal disc. It worked PERFECTLY!! I followed the instructions in support
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html
This involved inserting the Leopard DVD into the optical drive and backing up from my external LaCie time machine backup.
I also have a MacBook Air. I use an external USB HD drive as Time Machine backup. The Air only has one USB port. I have an external DVD drive for the Air. Clearly, I will not be able to mount the DVD and External disk at the same time unless I use a small hub. I guess this will work but is there any other work around. Could I do a full reinstall and then connect the external HD?

Richard,
Alternatively, you could use Remote Disc Sharing (via the DualG5) to do the install and reserve the USB port for the Time Machine disk.
[http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1131]
[http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1777]
Let us know if this was helpful.
Cheers!

Full backup system restore from time machine

Help: I need to rebuild my system from Time Machine.
I am using iMac with 10.6.8. I plan to replace my HDD.
When trying to emulate the system restoration, I used the MAC Install DVD, which allowed accessing the Time Machine external disk.
However, TM suggested only one full backup dated 3/2011......
Can't time machine use all incremental steps between 2011 and today? 3 years......
What should I do before changing my HDD? Any way to force TM to accept a full backup NOW?
And then, will Restore rebuild my system as I see it today?
Thanks,
Moshe

The only one I've ever used is SuperDuper. It and Carbon Copy Cloner have free trail periods so you can experiment. I'm not familiar with the others.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested

Mavericks install failed on my late 2008 MBP. Says I should contact the software provider. Want to do a system restore, using Time Machine, but latest date to use is from last year - even tho did a backup before the download?

I downloaded the free Mavericks upgrade to my late 2008 MBP on Friday. I made sure to plug in my external hard drive so that Time Machine could back up beforehand. (I should say I'm not clear about the different kinds of backups that Time Machine does - I just plug it in and let it go.).
So have tried several times over the weekend to install, it takes 46 minutes each time - only to tell me it can't do it. There was an error message of needing to contact the software provider (or something similar). After searching the internet (on my husband's computer - since my MBP is rendered useless right now) I decided maybe I should wait on Mavericks and just do a system restore. However, when I plugged in the Hard Drive and proceed to System Restore, the latest date available is one from September of 2012 (14 months ago)... I've wondered if the date might be wrong? But I'm afraid to choose it because I'm not sure what I would lose. It might take me back to Snow Leopard rather than Lion... (however, the version on Restore was 10.8.1 which is Mtn Lion, right? Even tho it was last year...)
Some sources online say that I should go into applications and delete the install -- but I can't get to anything on my computer.
I tried to do a reboot in safe mode - but not sure if it worked...
I did look on the installer log error and the latest error is:
Local Host Report crash [378]
Can anyone help me? (Using simpleton, non-techie language?
Thanks

I downloaded the free Mavericks upgrade to my late 2008 MBP on Friday. I made sure to plug in my external hard drive so that Time Machine could back up beforehand. (I should say I'm not clear about the different kinds of backups that Time Machine does - I just plug it in and let it go.).
So have tried several times over the weekend to install, it takes 46 minutes each time - only to tell me it can't do it. There was an error message of needing to contact the software provider (or something similar). After searching the internet (on my husband's computer - since my MBP is rendered useless right now) I decided maybe I should wait on Mavericks and just do a system restore. However, when I plugged in the Hard Drive and proceed to System Restore, the latest date available is one from September of 2012 (14 months ago)... I've wondered if the date might be wrong? But I'm afraid to choose it because I'm not sure what I would lose. It might take me back to Snow Leopard rather than Lion... (however, the version on Restore was 10.8.1 which is Mtn Lion, right? Even tho it was last year...)
Some sources online say that I should go into applications and delete the install -- but I can't get to anything on my computer.
I tried to do a reboot in safe mode - but not sure if it worked...
I did look on the installer log error and the latest error is:
Local Host Report crash [378]
Can anyone help me? (Using simpleton, non-techie language?
Thanks

Full system restore using time machine - error

I have a mid-2010 17 inch MacBook Pro, currently in Afghanistan and my hard drive crashed. I have an external hard drive that I have used for time machine backups. Just installed my new hard drive, followed the instructions for using disk utility, system restore, etc. when I go to restore my system, it gives the following error:
"An error occurred while adding a recovery system to the destination disk. Restart your computer and then try restoring again."
I've restarted, I've used both the option key on boot up, command r, I've gone to Pondini's site for troubleshooting. Cannot get it to restore.
I'm not sure if I maybe need to reinstall Mountain Lion, I shouldn't because it should be in my backup HD. But downloading Mountain Lion here in Afghanistan is not plausible with my connection speeds. Over 100 hours download time.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Not Disk Utility. That is for restoring an IMAGE you made with Disk Utility. You need to boot the system from the original OS X install disc and use the option to restore from backup found in the Utilities menu item once the system boots from that OS X reinstall disc.
Or if you made your TM backup with Lion, Mt Lion or Mavericks installed that TM backup drive has a copy of the Recovery HD files on it and you can boot the system from that drive.

Can't fully restore my Time Machine/Time Capsule Backup to my newly-wiped SSD/HDD

On receiving my leased, Bootcamp-enabled MacBook Pro, I saw that there were no installation discs for Windows or OSX, and that there were 2 partitions (or so I thought) for Mac and Windows: 375GB each. As I produce music using software in both OSs, I wanted to create a 185GB FAT-32 partition to store my sound samples, projects etc. I attempted to create this partition by resizing (halving) my Bootcamp partition in OSX Disc Utility. The first time I attempted it, resizing was possible, but after the new partition was created, I had problems booting and so had to edit my GPT in order to boot again. Once ‘fixed,’ (by deleting the new partition) I couldn’t resize the Bootcamp partition to fill the 185GB gap, and that 185GB was ‘lost.’ The Bootcamp partition was 375GB but its used space + free space added up to 190GB
So the other day, I tried to follow what I thought was a more logical approach, which I was *sure* would work. My plan was to:
Use Windows Backup (and/or Clonezilla, or Disk Utility) to store an image of my Windows partition.
Uninstall/wipe the Windows partition using BootCamp Assistant, creating 1 big OSX partition
Use BootCamp Assistant to re-partition the HDD for Windows, OSX and ‘shared,’ and then re-install Windows, leaving 175GB for shared music production files
Restore the image/backups (approx 70GB) and carry on as before.
During the process, I deemed that this wasn't possible on my system for a variety of reasons: My laptop already had 4 partitions (Windows Recovery, Bootcamp/Windows, Mac Recovery HD, and Mac) and my understanding is that the MBR of my SSD only supports 4 partitions in its Bootcamp + OSX-compatible state. I have never got this '5 partition' strategy working.
I was unable to restore my Windows partition after re-installing Windows via Bootcamp. As a solution, I then decided to wipe the OSX partition (at that point the only 'visible' partition on the disk) and in-place re-install Mac OS X, with a view to installing Windows after OSX.
Once I wiped my hard drive, however, restoring my files and settings, didn't work as expected. Time Machine backups etc were inaccessible after a normal re-install. Re-installing with file transfer at setup froze at the 10% mark, with an estimated 200 hrs to go. The option to try a full-system restore via Time Machine is greyed-out. Even the Migration Assistant failed at a similar point. On the occasions where it claimed to complete successful (most recent situation) it seemed to neglect files, etc., and I'm now stuck at this stage.
I can view files/backups in Time Machine but I can't completely restore my computer to the state it was on 18th May...and 11 days without a fully-functioning laptop is really annoying. I wasn't able to ‘clean’ *or* ‘in-place’ re-install OSX using my existing settings and so I'm frustrated that Time Machine isn't a flawless backup & restore process. Migration Assistant didn’t transfer everything. Can I get things back to the way they were?
Things that haven’t restored correctly:
None of my icon customisations at the top of the screen were there (DropBox, Evernote, Google Drive, Kuvva, the way battery icon was displayed
Safari: Top Sites, History, Plugins
Logic Pro: Downloaded sounds, presets (10+GB), recent items, plugin settings/AU manager
Mail: Settings (and I’m assuming, the downloaded/cached mail: 7GB)
Trash can: Empty
All recent item lists apart from cloud-based services like Evernote, Notes, contacts
iTunes library
Dock view and settings
Settings for most programs
And I'm sure there are more!

Thanks Pondini; I'd hoped you'd reply. I'm still getting used to this tech, no can't even quote here.
Pondini wrote:
AkaraE wrote:
Time Machine backups etc were inaccessible after a normal re-install.
If you mean you installed OSX and created a user account, then couldn't find the backups, that's because they're treated as being from a different disk, until you either transfer your data or do a manual "associatedisk". See the blue box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #19 for details.
Yet to try the associatedisk...didn't realise this was possible until reading your guides. The explanation makes sense now. On installing OSX it said transfers were possible after installation, so I put off transferring as the first 'restore' had frozen on 10%, thinking I'd do it afterwards.
Re-installing with file transfer at setup froze at the 10% mark, with an estimated 200 hrs to go
That sounds like damaged/corrupted backups. Try to Repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
Yet to try...didn't realise this was possible until reading your guides
The option to try a full-system restore via Time Machine is greyed-out.
You mean, on the Mac OS X Utilities menu on the Recovery HD? I've never heard of that. That should always be selectable, so you can specify where the backups you want are located. Nothing happens when you click it? Can you click the other options there?
Even the Migration Assistant failed at a similar point. On the occasions where it claimed to complete successful (most recent situation) it seemed to neglect files, etc., and I'm now stuck at this stage.
Also sounds like directory or file problems on the backups.
This is just when I go into Time Machine/Star Wars. I can't just go to the latest backup and click "Restore" (which I assume would just restore my whole computer/HDD, although I have no experience in this). I can only select files and restore them individually.
Time Machine isn't a flawless backup & restore process.
There has never been any such thing.
I bought into the Time Machine 'hype' and thought it was an easy and reliable tool, but was a lot more difficult to do a full restore than I thought.
Trash can: Empty
Correct. Time Machine (like most backup apps) don't back up trash.
All the rest should have been backed-up and restored. Do you see them in the backups? What, if anything, was excluded from being backed-up?
As a non-native Mac user, I'm not sure where all these things are stored...perhaps in Library? I think that not having the full hard-drive just restore annoyed me...I felt that backing up my whole hard drive every hour should've allowed me to restore everything to as it was without a hitch, and when it didn't work I just tried a few things before posting on here.
If repairing the backups finds and fixes things, you might want to try again.
Gonna try now
If not, and if you can see the missing items via the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display), you should be able to restore them selectively.

Complex problem - Time Machine backup missing "Applications" directory

OK - I have a 2 or 3 year old iMac - Intel 1.83 mh / 4gb memory OS 10.5.7. System has been working fine and time machine seems to have been backing up fine. Today, we had a strange problem with the HD, probably some weird hit - it wouldn't boot, and I tried multiple times. I finally booted from the CD and used the disc utility to try and examine/repair the disk - no luck. I got an error message. I then went back to the CD and restored the entire system from Time Machine. The restore seem to work fine. The system re-booted OK --- EXCEPT --- there were no apps - and I mean zip. Aside from the finder, there was no Terminal app, couldn't find any apps in spotlight, and I couldn't see the app directory anywhere on Time Machine. I believe all of my data was restored OK. It's difficult for me to tell if somehow the apps were all deleted from time machine or they're there and just not visible.
Anyway, I then restored the OS (10.5) from my CD, and it has restored the basic apps that come with it - mail, terminal, disk utility etc. However, I still can't see the apps on Time Machine.
This is somewhat disconcerning since I had assumed that I could do a complete system restore with time machine.
I'm open to any advice you might have.
Signed - frustrated with Time Machine

BaNzOmBiE wrote:
I also noticed that on the time capsule there are more recent backups that I was not offered to restore by the mac os x boot disk.
Maybe not. Did you do a full restore, by booting from your Leopard Install disc, and selecting Utilities then +*Restore from Backups+* from the menubar? If so, the list of backups you saw was not shown in your local time zone: it's in *U.S. Pacific Time,* (because you only specify your language when booting from the Leopard Install disc, not your local time zone).
If you selected the last backup shown, then you got the last one, even if the date & time didn't seem right.
I don't know what to do.
Shall I start the recovery process from scratch using the same backup (and wait 13 more hours..)? Or maybe try to manually copy the applications directory on the restored mac and see what happens.
Are you sure it's not there? I know that sounds silly, but be sure you're signed-on as an Admin user, check the top level of your internal HD, and other places. What happens if you click the Apple icon in your Menubar, then +System Preferences?+ It may be some sort of permissions problem -- if the restore utility can't restore something, it will fail, not just skip things.
If all else fails, your best bet might be to do an Archive and Install, preserving users and settings, per the *Archive & Install* section of the Glenn Carter - Restoring Your Entire System / Time Machine *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
Then use the normal Time Machine app to restore the other apps.

How do I restore the entire system from a Time Machine external drive?

Hello everyone,
Up front - I have searched through numerous threads but have not yet been able to solve my problem - even though it is presumably easy for many.
So... I had to bring in my late 2009 27" iMac to Apple to replace the hard drive - mine was one of the thousands affected by the defective Seagate 1 TB disk recall. I was told that the disk would be cloned, but nevertheless I made a full system backup with Time Machine to a dedicated external hard drive.
A week later and I now have my iMac back - but when I boot, I only see a white screen with a pointer, so it appears that the drive was not cloned - but that I now have a blank 1 TB disk, correct?
I have also tried booting with the external drive attached, thinking that the dedicated Time Machine external drive would allow me to boot directly from it and restore the system if need be - I booted with CMD+R, tried again with ALT ... no luck.
And I cannot find my Mac OS DVDs...
So... is the drive blank, or am I missing something here?
If so, how can I boot from the external Time Machine drive, or is that not possible either?
Any pointers greatly appreciated, thanks very much in advance.

Call Apple to get replacement DVDs > http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57
1. Insert the Mac OS X DVD and press C key while your computer is starting.
2. Go to Utilities menu and restore the backup.
You should have made a clone instead of the backup because Apple gives the hard disk without OS X

How do I Restore from Time Machine after I have reinstalled my system software (Snow Leopard and then Lion) ?, How do I Restore from Time Machine after I have reinstalled my system software (Snow Leopard and then Lion) ?

I have never done this before, so can someone explain in detail how I reintall my system software and then restore from Time Machine please ?

Your profile indicates that you currently have an older version of Snow Leopard (10.6.2). In order to install Lion, a prerequisite is the latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Perhaps a few more details would be helpfull in solving your problem. ex. If all you want to do is to upgrade to Lion, a restoration of data is unneccessary. Download the latest version of Snow Leopard and then download (purchase) and install Lion. User data will remain intact.
If I am missing something, please elaborate.
Ciao.

After restoring from Time Machine to new Hard drive, system will not boot

I replaced my hard drive on my Macbook (2008 model) with a larger drive. I then put in my Snow Leopard disk, and followed the steps to restore from Time Machine backup. a few hours later it said it was restored, but when trying to boot up, I just get a blue screen with an occasional flicker to the Leopard screen. I tried an earlier back up as well but with the same results. Any suggestions??

Same exact problem here just yesterday, folks.
Got a bigger hard drive on my MacBook Pro (15-inch Core 2 Duo) and installed it. Followed the restore procedures from Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/333319/the-secret-of-the-time-machine+assisted-hard-drive-swa p). Then got the blue screen immediately after the chimes.
I only managed to transfer my old disk content by using CarbonCopyCloner.
Having said that, your solution looks uselful, Portland Mac! :
Portland Mac wrote:
... But when I decided to try and just do a fresh install and work my way back through all my software, I started by installing Snow Leopard and suddenly it boots and everything from my Time Machine backup is there...
But I would not say the following:
Portland Mac wrote:
... On a new drive apparently you have to install Snow Leopard before you do a time machine restore.
Am I mistaken, or did you do a fresh install after restoring your TimeMachine backup?
In any case, I found an interesting Apple article that might confirm that there is a problem: [Mac OS X v10.6: Issues after restoring a Mac from a Time Machine backup made with a different Mac ("Restore System From Backup…")|http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3243]. Or is it a completely different thing?
And another discussion that might give some good advice: [http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12578529#12578529]. Personally, I will now do as the man says: two backups, on two different external hard drives, using different apps, the other one being CarbonCopyCloner...
For info, and I don't know whether that matters, my backup disk had been full and some past content had been erased automatically by Time Machine. But I don't think this should have mattered...

Install new hard drive, restore from Time Machine, File Vault Problems

Hello all,
I spent way too much time on this seemingly simple task, so I thought I would share my experience with others so they can avoid some pitfalls when upgrading a hard drive in a system that uses File Vault 2 encryption. The basic goal here is to replace a drive in a system that has only one drive, and the OS is Mavericks, and then have the new drive encrypted as before.
The problem is that a Time Machine restore onto a new drive will leave that without a Recovery Partition, which is required for File Vault 2 and some other important things. So we need to build a recovery partition. There are possibly several ways to do this.
Here's what worked for me (this is compiled from many sources that I found and already closed the tabs in my browser so I can't list all my sources):
1) Make a full backup to an external hard drive using Time Machine.
2) Go into the App Store and download OS X Mavericks but dont install it (close the window when it pops up asking to continue the install). Do this even if you already have Mavericks. At this point, there will be a folder in your Applications folder called Install OS X Mavericks (or similar).
3) Insert a USB drive that is at least 8 GB and format it using Disk Utility, naming it the default "Untitled".
4) Open a terminal and type
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
5) Wait for this to finish (took me about 30 min). Eject the USB drive and power down.
6) Remove the old hard drive and set it aside. Keep it for a few weeks until you know the new drive is working as expected.
7) Install the new hard drive and insert the USB drive. Hold the option key and press the power button. Choose to boot from the USB installer.
8) Use the disk utility to erase whatever partition shipped with the new drive, replacing it with a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) system. Verify that GUID is the partition type (in Advanced options).
9) Close the disk utility and install Mavericks. This can take a long time. My new drive is an SSD, and it sat at the "1 second remaining" part for about 20 min. Let it reboot (maybe it was 2 times?) and go through the setup until it finishes the install.
10) Boot into the freshly installed OS and open a terminal and type:
diskutil list
11) If there is a partition listed as Apple_Boot Recovery HD (mine was 650 MB), then you now have a recovery partition. If not, then go into the App store and download Mavericks, but don't use the USB this time, choose to do a regular install (or reinstall to be more correct).
12) Now there will be a recovery partition on the new drive and Time Machine will not overwrite it when restoring. Power down the system.
13) Plug in the Time Machine backup drive used in step 1. Press the option key and power on. Choose to boot from the recovery partiton (Mavericks).
14) Choose to restore from Time Machine backup. Wait until it finishes and log into the old familiar account.
15) Start a terminal and verify the recovery partition is still there (type diskutil list and see that the Apple_Boot Recovery HD is there). If it's missing, choose to download Mavericks from the App Store again and run the installation from this one.
16) Once there is a Mavericks recovery partition on the restored data you can simply turn on File Vault from the System Preferences Security section. It will require a reboot and then you login and wait for it to finish.
What a major pain to go through all of this for the sake of upgrading a hard drive. This should not be anywhere near as complicated. I hope this helps others avoid the very time consuming trial and error I went through in developing this procedure.

Talked with Apple last night. Everything we did to restore lost images failed to fix the issue. I did have the images still on my camera's SD card so I was not breaking out in a cold sweat.
All Time Machine backups showed the same issue. HOWEVER, I suddenly remembered I also had a SuperDuper backup and voila. The images were there.
Moral of the story: you can't ever be too rich or have too many backups (I also have an offsite backup).

System Restore Problem - Time Machine

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for