Time Machine question re: full system restore

OK I am pretty sure this in the FAQ but the answer still isn't overly clear to me so I'm going to ask anyway...apologies in advance.
I recently found out that my iMac hard drive is failing, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar in two days to see what is wrong and get it fixed.
In the meantime, I am currently backing up my hard drive using Time Machine but I am hearing conflicting reports as to whether or not I can do a full restore from Time Machine should my iMac have it's hard drive or other components replaced.
So...question: Can I directly restore my iMac (with a possible new hard drive or other components) from Time Machine? If not, how can I do it.
I am most worried about my photos in iPhoto as my wife will murder me if I lose our wedding and honeymoon photos.

LSC wrote:
OK I am pretty sure this in the FAQ but the answer still isn't overly clear to me so I'm going to ask anyway...apologies in advance.
I recently found out that my iMac hard drive is failing, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar in two days to see what is wrong and get it fixed.
In the meantime, I am currently backing up my hard drive using Time Machine but I am hearing conflicting reports as to whether or not I can do a full restore from Time Machine should my iMac have it's hard drive or other components replaced.
So...question: Can I directly restore my iMac (with a possible new hard drive or other components) from Time Machine?
yes, you can. you can do it using full system restore utility on the leopard install DVD. there are no ifs or buts about it. where is that "conflicting info" coming from?
If not, how can I do it.
I am most worried about my photos in iPhoto as my wife will murder me if I lose our wedding and honeymoon photos.

Similar Messages

Ho do i restore my files from time machine after a full system restore?

I have just had a full system restore on my MAC, thanks to the genious bar in Bondi, prior to doing this i backed everything on my external hard drive using time machine, i now want to put everything back on to my MAC, including emails, music, photos, movies and important docs etc. what is the best way to do this?
cheers Colin,

See Here > How do I restore my entire system?
From Here > http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
More Info Here > http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Time MACHINE question regarding hard drive restore...

Ok so i need to restore a hard drive with time machine. im going to be wiping my imac HD for a fresh install, hopefully things will run a little quicker. its seeming a little laggy these days. what im worried about with time machine though is that its going to restore all the little fragments of past installed/uninstalled programs and certain logs and settings ect.. the things that are currently bogging down the system. i know that time machine has a list of exclusions of what it doesnt restore.. but do i have to worry at all about time machine installing these things that i dont want? i would much rather just manually restore the system if this is going to be the case.
also, if i would manually restore the system from the time machine drive, i dont think i can just drag and drop backup folders from time machine and then pick and choose individual files and folders can i?
any help would be much appreciated!
just a heads up.. please dont reply if you're giving me your opinion because you enjoyed your experience with time machine restoration. im looking for fact and reality of what time machine does and does not restore. thank you

D00bysnacks wrote:
Ok so i need to restore a hard drive with time machine. im going to be wiping my imac HD for a fresh install, hopefully things will run a little quicker. Its seeming a little laggy these days.
That's rather a drastic step, which most likely won't help much, if any. Unlike with Windoze, you're usually better off to diagnose and fix the actual problem. See Baltwo's post here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11853228&#11853228
what im worried about with time machine though is that its going to restore all the little fragments of past installed/uninstalled programs and certain logs and settings ect.. the things that are currently bogging down the system. i know that time machine has a list of exclusions of what it doesnt restore.. but do i have to worry at all about time machine installing these things that i dont want?
If you tell Time Machine to do a full system restore, yes, it will do that. With certain exceptions, such as system work files, trash, most caches and logs, it will put your system back just as it was. That's it's purpose, after all.
i would much rather just manually restore the system if this is going to be the case.
Really? See the pink box in #11 Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. Actually, it would be worse, if you don't use +Migration Assistant+ for your data.
also, if i would manually restore the system from the time machine drive, i dont think i can just drag and drop backup folders from time machine and then pick and choose individual files and folders can i?
You can't restore OSX that way. You can copy your data, but that may not work in all cases, and you'll likely have all sorts of permissions problems, as OSX will think the backups belong to a different user.
just a heads up.. please dont reply if you're giving me your opinion because you enjoyed your experience with time machine restoration. im looking for fact and reality of what time machine does and does not restore. thank you
You want free help, but only if it agrees with your version of reality? That's pretty cheeky.

Access Time Machine partial backup after system restore

My iMac crashed. I ran Disk Utility Repair Disk on the hard drive and received this message: "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".
I had had Time Machine backing up regularly wirelessly, and previously hadn't noticed any problem with it. So I thought everything had been backed-up properly.
I reformatted the hard drive and chose to restore the system from Time Machine back-up. It turned out that you can only restore from full system back-ups and my Time Machine hadn't made a full back-up for half a year! Previously it had made full back-ups every 2 or 3 days then it stopped doing full back-ups half a year ago without any warning.
I went ahead with the system restore from the half-year-old full backup thinking that I would be able to access the partial back-ups once the system is restored. But I can't! If I access Time Machine, the most recent back-up I can see is the half-year-old full backup from which I restored the system. There are documents, music and hundreds of photos, originally saved to the hard drive since the last full back-up, that I cannot access, even though Time Machine had been backing up every day until the iMac crashed.
How can I retrieve these files from Time Machine?

tmutil listbackups
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2009-11-10-210145
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2009-11-17-053753
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2009-12-02-005634
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2009-12-09-073939
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2009-12-16-000359
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-01-07-164941
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-01-18-194339
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-01-25-073833
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-02-01-071544
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-02-08-192553
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-02-23-011615
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-03-02-073425
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-03-11-001704
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-03-18-134858
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-03-31-004614
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-04-09-084554
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-04-16-142610
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-04-25-210514
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-05-03-040744
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-05-10-080207
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-05-17-020416
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-05-28-002711
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-06-04-010034
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-06-16-000448
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-06-25-213759
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-07-08-002557
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-08-19-222633
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-08-26-193609
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-09-02-203645
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-09-10-075001
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-09-24-000147
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-10-11-071420
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-10-18-071136
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-10-25-192005
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-11-08-105951
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-11-16-082710
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-11-28-000529
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-12-05-094613
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2010-12-12-010050
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-01-09-224521
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-01-16-002322
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-01-23-005302
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-01-30-123816
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-02-06-084024
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-02-13-152616
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-02-21-172006
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-02-28-073952
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-03-07-064607
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-03-14-072117
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-03-21-002338
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-03-28-191153
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-04-05-034614
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-04-12-073716
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-05-01-231606
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-05-08-145446
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-05-15-102229
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-05-22-144213
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-05-29-201711
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-06-05-005053
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-06-13-160254
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-06-25-224356
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-07-02-112247
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-07-11-003808
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-08-21-195918
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-08-28-104051
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-04-001125
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-10-001317
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-15-194157
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-16-210303
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-17-112311
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-18-120910
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-19-194243
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-20-073831
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-21-073034
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-22-075050
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-23-230449
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-24-092757
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-25-001748
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-26-215704
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-27-182748
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-28-192528
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-29-182816
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-09-30-201924
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-01-004110
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-02-003106
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-03-221651
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-04-211443
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-05-213335
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-06-183753
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-07-212855
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-08-204219
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-09-162419
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-11-165739
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-12-225835
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-13-090625
/Volumes/Backup of T’s iMac/Backups.backupdb/T’s iMac/2011-10-13-191539
Oct 13, 2011 was the last full backup, the one used to restore the system.

Time Machine and equivalent of System Restore?

For years Microsoft have had (and needed) a feature called "System Restore" which lets you uninstall operating system updates that may have caused problems.
I had hoped that Time Machine would also provide this capability since uninstalling Apple updates is not really possible. I cannot see any obvious way of doing this. For example, based on the fact that to undelete an email you have to have Mail at the foreground before activating Time Machine I thought it might be logical that if Time Machine can uninstall Apple Updates you would need to first have the Software Update preference pane open. This does not work.
Has anyone else found a way to do this?
While the rest of Time Machine (for undeleting files etc.) is wonderful, a way of rolling back Apple updates (or anyones updates) would be very helpful as well.

AxL wrote:
Yes but +"any changes to any file on the system (mail, photos, documents, etc) would be lost"+ only temporarily.
They are all still on the TM backup, and you can restore them using the TM interface, and there's even an option to recreate a folder that doesn't exist anymore
(better say "that was not yet existing"...)
in the same location or in any other chosen location.
No data loss.
I have since my original post found that booting from the Leopard DVD and selecting restore from Time Machine lets you browse backups to restore from, and that it lists the version of Mac OS X for each. This would make it easy to select 10.5 if hypothetically reverting from 10.5.1 but it also suggests that hypothetically reverting from QuickTime 7.3 would be much harder since all you would have to go on would be a date/time. For this maybe the log in Software Update would be helpful.
Your answer (thanks for it) however does resolve the worry I had about such a restore also reverting user data. Now that you have pointed it out one can of course then do a second restore when back up and running just of the user data.
I would have to say though that this is not an elegant user friendly solution to this particular issue and thus not up to the standards one expects from Apple. Imagine if you are doing this on a machine with multiple user accounts (not unlikely for a home machine). You could also theoretically encounter a situation where you do an Apple update, create a new user, create data, need to remove the Apple update, have to restore the entire machine via Time Machine, and thus lose the user account, and therefore not be able to login to restore the user data. Potentially even if you recreate the user account, it may not have the same exact UID or UIDnumber and thus make restored data inaccessible (users are forgetful and you do not have control over the UIDnumber used).
I still think a more friendly approach would be for the Software Update preference machine to be "Time Machined" like Apple Mail and iPhoto have been so that if you are in Software Update and activate Time Machine it will let you just revert an update without affecting user data.

Late 2007 MacBook Pro is struggling to run, many apps such as iTunes are freezing. I am thinking it is time to do a full system restore to factory, then data restore but do not know how.

Mac is running latest OSX Mavericks software.... But lately, my Mac is crashing repeatedly when I attempt to use iTunes or iBooks, both also the latest releases. Syncing with either iTunes or iBooks is nearly impossible. No disk repair or verification errors. I am thinking that there is some rogue software glitch that has me. I am thinking that I need to do a factory reset followed by a time machine data recovery. I have never done this, does anyone know how? Other ideas, that are not so dramatic?

That link is great... obviously found some issues! Thank You.
I am thinking I might try using the "Support" links next to the fails next?
EtreCheck version: 1.9.15 (52)
Report generated August 21, 2014 at 2:35:21 PM EDT
Hardware Information: ?
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,1
1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores
8 GB RAM
Video Information: ?
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - VRAM: 256 MB
System Software: ?
OS X 10.9.4 (13E28) - Uptime: 2 days 16:52:37
Disk Information: ?
ST9640320AS disk0 : (640.14 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Mac Drive (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 639.28 GB (114.05 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-868
USB Information: ?
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
Logitech USB Receiver
Seagate Backup+ Desk 5 TB
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
Seagate Backup Plus Drive (disk2s1) /Volumes/Seagate Backup Plus Drive: 5 TB (736.23 GB free)
Seagate Backup+ Desk 3 TB
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
disk3s1 (disk3s1) <not mounted>: 262 KB
Seagate 3TB Backup+ (TV, Home, ++) (disk3s3) /Volumes/Seagate 3TB Backup+ (TV, Home, ++): 3 TB (806.51 GB free)
Seagate Backup+ Desk 3 TB
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 262 KB
Seagate 3TB B+ (Movies) (disk1s3) /Volumes/Seagate 3TB B+ (Movies): 3 TB (758.4 MB free)
Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Gatekeeper: ?
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ?
[loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.2.6 - SDK 10.4) Support
[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.2.6 - SDK 10.4) Support
[loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.2.6 - SDK 10.5) Support
[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.2.6 - SDK 10.4) Support
Startup Items: ?
HP IO: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP IO
Problem System Launch Daemons: ?
[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
Launch Daemons: ?
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support
[loaded] com.leapfrog.connect.shell.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support
[running] com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd.plist Support
[running] com.tunabellysoftware.TGFanHelper.plist Support
[failed] com.vmware.launchd.vmware.plist Support
[running] com.zeobit.MacKeeper.plugin.AntiTheft.daemon.plist Support
[loaded] net.sourceforge.MonolingualHelper.plist Support
Launch Agents: ?
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ?
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
[failed] com.akamai.client.plist Support
[running] com.netputing.airprintactivator.plist Support
[loaded] com.seagate.dashboard.plist Support
User Login Items: ?
Macs Fan Control
Zinio Alert Messenger
Documents To Go Desktop
AdobeResourceSynchronizer
ClamXavSentry
Safari
Mail
Internet Plug-ins: ?
Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.4 Support
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.10 Support
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Support
Flash Player: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
NP_2020Player_IKEA: Version: 5.0.94.1 - SDK 10.6 Support
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.10 Support
CouponPrinter-FireFox_v2: Version: Version 1.1.6 Support
GarminGpsControl: Version: 2.7.3.0 Release Support
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 51 Check version
Audio Plug-ins: ?
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins: ?
Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins ?
BrowserPlus_2.9.8: Version: 2.9.8 Support
UploadManager: Version: (null) Support
ContentManager: Version: (null) Support
RocketEngine: Version: (null) Support
3rd Party Preference Panes: ?
BrowserPlus Support
Flash Player Support
Launchpad-Control Support
Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X Support
Rapport Support
Seagate Dashboard for Mac OSX Support
Time Machine: ?
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: ON
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Mac Drive: Disk size: 595.37 GB Disk used: 489.15 GB
Destinations:
Seagate 3TB Backup+ (TV, Home, ++) [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 3 TB
Total number of backups: 35
Oldest backup: 2014-08-08 08:06:28 +0000
Last backup: 2014-08-21 17:56:24 +0000
Size of backup disk: Excellent
Backup size 3 TB > (Disk size 595.37 GB X 3)
Time Machine details may not be accurate.
All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
Top Processes by CPU: ?
      6% Mail
      2% WindowServer
      0% ClamXavSentry
      0% fontd
      0% aosnotifyd
Top Processes by Memory: ?
87 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
82 MB Safari
66 MB Mail
49 MB Finder
41 MB com.apple.WebKit.Networking
Virtual Memory Information: ?
4.74 GB Free RAM
1.20 GB Active RAM
334 MB Inactive RAM
1.03 GB Wired RAM
12.64 GB Page-ins
42.78 GB Page-outs

How to use Time Machine to do a system restore after clean install of mavericks

Hi I have a late 2008 MacBook Pro 15" ... I updated from mountain lion to mavericks and was having issues with mavericks running slow. Took it to Apple today and they were great with helping me upgrade the RAM to the max (8GB DDR3) ... I asked them to do a clean install of Mavericks as well. I have Time Machine backups that I would like to use to restore to my previous settings but I can't seem to figure out what to do.... When I enter Time Machine and I try and select a past date, it doesn't let me choose a date to "restore" ... What am I doing wrong? Please walk me through it thanks!

Use Migration Assistant to migrate your previous account from the Time Machine backup. Migration Assistant is in your Utilities folder.
Read: OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks
When doing so, select your previous User account but do not migrate "Applications", "Computer and Network Settings" or "Other files and folders". De-select those choices. Subsequent to using Migration Assistant, you will need to reinstall any essential software you may require.
"Essential software" means programs that have been verified by their developers to be compatible with Mavericks, and specifically excludes junk such as "cleaners", "boosters", "optimizers", or ill-conceived "anti-virus" garbage. Install that essential software from original sources such as the App Store, developer's websites, or original optical media, and not from untrustworthy download aggregator hosting sites such as C net dot com, Mac update dot com, etc, and not from backups that may have been corrupted.
Be aware that if you already created an account with the same name as the one you want to migrate, Migration Assistant will offer to rename the account it's about to create. In other words if you're already logged in as "Tara", and you want to migrate the account named Tara from the Time Machine backup, it will offer to name the migrated account Tara1. Migration Assistant will tell you what it's going to do, but the warning is easy to overlook. Therefore you might consider creating another, temporary account with Administrator privileges, and deleting the one you created subsequent to erasing your Mac and installing Mavericks.
For those instructions read: OS X Mavericks: Set up users on your Mac. Follow the instructions under "Add a user". Be sure to select “Allow user to administer this computer.”
Log in under that temporary account, then use Migration Assistant. Confirm everything works as you expect, then you can delete the temporary account.

Will full restore from Time Machine backup replace fresh system files?

My ol' iMac G5 has been sluggish and buggy lately. I'd love to do a clean install of Leopard, and then do a full restore from a Time Machine backup.
My question is, will this help? Or will the Time Machine backup simply replace the newly installed system files, leaving me with the same sluggish, buggy OS?

no, this will not help. when you do a full system restore TM will wipe your hard drive and replace everything with the copy of the system at the backup time. You might try doing an erase and install followed by using migration assistant to migrate your user data and/or applications form the Tm drive. that might result in a cleaner system. however, the cleanest way would be to do an erase and install followed by manual migration from the TM drive. Use [this post|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507] as a guide on manually migrating your data. You'd also have to manually reinstall all your apps.

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!

Unable to boot after Time Machine full system restore!!

I was having some serious slowdowns with my computer. I did multiple RAM and HD hardware tests, everything seemed to be working fine. I had recently deleted a bunch of files in order to free up some HD space, so I thought that may be the culprit. So I did a Time Machine backup and restored the Powerbook to it's original 10.3 software. All was fine. Then I upgraded back to 10.5 and all was fine. Then I did a Time Machine full system restore overnight and got the message "Your restore was successful, you must now restart your computer" (or something to that effect). Now I get the start-up chime and startup screen (apple logo) but then the computer shuts itself down. I have reset the PMU and PRAM to no effect. I have tried booting up in safe made, also no dice. I have tried starting it up with the time machine HD attached - doesn't help. I guess I'll need to hit the genius bar but wanted to ask the friendly discussion forum folks first. thanks in advance.

Hi coldengray
Did you try to start from your System-CD? Hold down C-key during startup, start DiskUtility from the menu and verify/repair disk and permissions there.
If the CD is not available you can also connect your TimeMachine-Disk, select it as startup volume in System Preferences/StartupDisk, restart and then run DiskUtility from folder Applications/Utilities
Good luck P

Time Machine: Full System Restore On New iMac...

I currently use Time Machine on my 24" iMac with a 500GB external hardrive. If something were to happen to my current iMac (i.e. My kid knocks it off the desk and it breaks), and I was forced to buy a new one, would I be able to use Time Machine to restore the new iMac to the last Back-Up of the old iMac? If so, would it automati ally transfer all of my pictures, movies, music, etc. to the new iMac as well? Thanks for any help y'all can give me on this subject.

J Double DuBB wrote:
I currently use Time Machine on my 24" iMac with a 500GB external hardrive. If something were to happen to my current iMac (i.e. My kid knocks it off the desk and it breaks), and I was forced to buy a new one, would I be able to use Time Machine to restore the new iMac to the last Back-Up of the old iMac?
not using full system restore utility on the leopard install DVD. your current system lacks hardware drivers that would be needed for a newer computer and if you do a full system restore of your current computer onto a newer computer using the restore utility on the leopard DVD it will most likely not even boot.
however, during the original computer setup you'll be given an option to transfer user data, settings and applications from a TM backup of your old computer. that option does not transfer system files but it does transfer everything else including your pictures, movies, music etc.
You can also do the same thing later using Migration Assistant (it's in /Applications/Utilities).

After Full System Restore, Time Machine Won't Complete Back Up

I successfully did a full system restore using Time Machine. The Restore worked but Time Machine has not worked since I completed the Restore.
It says "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.." Please help. I don't know what to do. The TM Widget Activity Log is posted below:
Starting standard backup
BStarting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 529.6 MB requested (including padding), 30.58 GB available
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /private/var/CheckUpAgent/data.float.net.sent.ca_history to (null)
Copied 5546 files (34.6 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 526.8 MB requested (including padding), 30.54 GB available
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /private/var/CheckUpAgent/data.float.net.sent.ca_history to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /private/var/CheckUpAgent/data.float.net.sent.ca_history to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Akili Nickson’s iMac/2011-03-17-080109.inProgress/25E02D47-EB07-4E59-B2D8-0A9CF26A0042/Macintos h HD/private/var/CheckUpAgent
Stopping backup.
Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /private/var/CheckUpAgent/data.float.net.sent.ca_history to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Akili Nickson’s iMac/2011-03-17-080109.inProgress/25E02D47-EB07-4E59-B2D8-0A9CF26A0042/Macintos h HD/private/var/CheckUpAgent
Copied 57 files (23.1 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11

Akili wrote:
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /private/var/CheckUpAgent/data.float.net.sent.ca_history
There seems to be a problem with that file. See the blue box in #C3 of [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).
Note that the /private folder is normally hidden, so you'll need to click the +Show inisible items+ box.

Restore with install DVD and Time machine backup that excludes system

Hi, I need restore my PB G4.
I backed up my data using TM but excluding all system files. Is there a possibillity to reinstall the system with the DVD and then rebuild the individual accounts using Time machine?

Yes, you have several options: (In all cases Mac OS 10.5 Leopard is required as previous OS X versions can not work with Time Machine backups.)
*Full Restore Via Migration Assistant & Time Machine*
You can use the installation DVDs that came with your Mac and reinstall Leopard (Mac OS 10.5). During the installation process you will be asked if you would like to Migrate data over from your Time Machine backups. The advantage here is that you start with fresh system software. The disadvantage is that you may lose many of the personal preferences/settings that had been established with the previous system. But this may be only a minor inconvenience to reestablish these. Depending on whether you choose to migrate your applications over as well, you may be required to reinstall any 3rd-party software or standalone Apple programs. Don’t forget to run Software Update once the initial installation is complete to bring your system up to date. Using Disk Utility at this point to repair any permissions issues is advised as well.
*Full Restore Via Time Machine Only*
Alternatively, you can use the installation DVDs to do a full system restore. Insert the installation DVD. When the welcome window appears, go to the Utilities menu and select “Restore System From Backup…” and choose the drive that your Time Machine backups are on. Then select the date of the backup you would like to restore from. This will completely erase your internal drive and restore your system to a relatively same condition it was in on the date of the backup you choose. (See this article for a list of files that TM does not restore, http://shiftedbits.org/2007/10/31/time-machine-exclusions/) The advantage here is that you retain many of the personal preferences/settings that had been established with the previous system. Additionally, no further installation of 3rd-party software is required. The disadvantage is that BECAUSE you retain many of the personal preferences, settings, and system files that had been present with the previous system, you run the risk of reintroducing problems you experienced with the previous installation, including any issues that necessitated the OS reinstall in the first place. Using Disk Utility at this point to repair any permissions issues is advised as well.
*Full Backup After Restore*
Bear in mind that in all cases Time Machine will perform a full backup after a full restore. This is normal. Time Machine will resume incremental backups after the full backup has completed. To view previous backups, Control-click or right-click the Time Machine icon in your Dock or Option-click the Time Machine menu extra and Choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks," then select your previous backup volume. You will enter Time Machine and be able to browse your previous back ups and restore files. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338)
Hope this helps.

Question Regarding A Full System Restore...

My MacBook is just over a year old and I'm noticing some odd behaviors of late. More beach balls and jumping cursors when typing emails etc. ( The cursor issue is irritating... I'll be typing and suddenly the entire message will delete, or the cursor will jump to another area within the email and I don't realize it... as I'm typing it's inserted in the middle of something I've already typed.)
I was wondering if I should do a full system restore? This is my first Mac, so my only experience doing a system restore back to the factory settings has been with a Microsoft PC and THAT is a pain. I do regular SuperDuper and Time Machine backups on my MacBook, but if I do a system restore and THEN do a restore from my SuperDuper or Time Machine won't that just put back onto my MacBook whatever is causing the beach balls and cursor issues? I would prefer to not have to do a full system restore and then reinstall individually all of my current applications as well as reconfigure my Airport Extreme/ Express and Apple TV etc.
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks !
Chuck

Hi - there's a few things i would do first if you haven;t done them already of i were you. Firstly, check your disk permissions in disk utility - go to spotlight and type in disk utility - click on the application and then in the right hand pane select you macintosh hd - once you've selected that go to the bottom middle of the whole pane where it says repair disk permissions - this can sometimes help rectify any cranky issues you have.
You can also fix your preferences - this site tells you how along with some other useful tips on sorting out system problems:
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
Another thing to try is to run your routine maintenance scripts - your machine will run these automatically but only if your machine is on in the early hours of the morning! I've heard that under Leopard if your machine is not on the scripts will run as soon as they can after missing the scheduled time but i've no evidence of this in my Console logs. Anyway, manually running them is easy - there are daily, weekly and monthly scripts. To run them all at once:
open the terminal application from spotlight
at the command prompt type:
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
press return and it may ask you for your system password. type that in and press return
it will take a few minutes to run these scripts.
you may also need to clean out your caches as per the detail in the article listed above. you can get software that performs these tasks for you e.g. macjanitor, onyx, maccleanse etc
and if you do have to reinstall, i'd go for the fresh install - yes it is a bit time consuming but it loads and loads quicker than windows! make sure you back up your important data first.
all the best!

Can I do a full system restore of a 10.5 system by booting on a 10.6 CD?

Dear all,
I am trying to support my parents whos MacBook just failed (harddisk dead). They have now gotten a new harddisk installed and wants to restore the setup from their TimeCapsule.
I would prefer to do a full system restore, so that it gets back to exatly how they had it before. A 'user only' setup would require them to reinstall all third party apps including MS Office etc., which will be tricky for them.
Few questions:
1. Does a 'full system restore' restore everything, including applications and system files? Will it be going back to an exact clone of what they had?
2. They ran a Mac OS 10.5.x system, but cannot find their installation CD. Can I lend them my Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) CD to boot, while still restoring their 10.5.x system? (I don't want them to have 10.6 as I am not sure about compability with all their 3rd party software/drivers etc.)
3. Any other things I should keep in mind for a successful restore?
Thanks,
Magnus

Magnus Olsson wrote:
2. They ran a Mac OS 10.5.x system, but cannot find their installation CD. Can I lend them my Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) CD to boot, while still restoring their 10.5.x system?
No. Well, you can do the restore, but it won't boot.
You need a Leopard disc. It can be the original that came with their Mac, or a Retail (black) version, and it doesn't matter what version of Leopard it is, since you don't load OSX but only use the Installer utility. Thus borrowing one doesn't violate the license.
They really should have a Leopard disc, not only to do a restore, but also if they need to do a +*Repair Disk+* on the internal HD. And they would need the original disc, for the Apple Hardware Test on it; AppleCare will send them a replacement for a nominal fee.
3. Any other things I should keep in mind for a successful restore?
Yes. See #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum, for detailed instructions. Note the caution there, under the green box, about turning TM off immediately after the restore.

Time Machine question re: full system restore

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