Time Machine restore did not bring over apps because of Mac OS X downgrade?

Question

A client of mine recently took his iMac into the Apple Store to replace a failing hard drive. He brought in his Time Capsule so the techs could restore his data and apps. His old hard drive had been upgraded to Snow Leopard. When he received his iMac back from the shop, only his data was copied back and his non-Apple apps like MS Office were missing. In addition, the Mac OS was downgraded to Leopard (most likely, because that's what was installed on his iMac when he bought his system two years ago).
Before my client took his machine into the Apple Store, I checked the Time Capsule to verify that there were 3rd party applications stored on the hard drive. My question is, did the apps fail to get restored because of the system downgrade from Snow Leopard to Leopard? Also, will upgrading the OS to 10.6 enable these apps to get restored from the Time Capsule using either Migration Assistant or Time Machine?

Answer 1

shiggy wrote:
A client of mine recently took his iMac into the Apple Store to replace a failing hard drive. He brought in his Time Capsule so the techs could restore his data and apps. His old hard drive had been upgraded to Snow Leopard. When he received his iMac back from the shop, only his data was copied back and his non-Apple apps like MS Office were missing. In addition, the Mac OS was downgraded to Leopard (most likely, because that's what was installed on his iMac when he bought his system two years ago).
The first question is, were they full backups? Meaning: had System files been excluded? If so, that could explain (part of) what happened.
When an Apple Store takes in a Mac, they ask what version of OSX it's on, and whether there are backups. If your client is sure he told them Snow Leopard (it should be on the receipt), he should raise holy $*^&#% with the store manager. Politely, of course, but firmly.
Usually what happens is, they go the other way, and install Snow Leopard on a Mac running Leopard; then the user is really confused, trying to use an OS they don't have the disc for (and aren't licensed to use).
Before my client took his machine into the Apple Store, I checked the Time Capsule to verify that there were 3rd party applications stored on the hard drive. My question is, did the apps fail to get restored because of the system downgrade from Snow Leopard to Leopard?
It's hard to tell from here. They may have installed Leopard, then used Migration Assistant, but omitted Apps. (Also a mistake).
Also, will upgrading the OS to 10.6 enable these apps to get restored from the Time Capsule using either Migration Assistant or Time Machine?
Assuming that the last backup from before the failure is still on the TC, and nothing significant was excluded, you should be able to simply restore the entire system to the exact condition it was in at the time of any backup you want. See #14 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.
It is possible, however, that as the internal HD was failing, it corrupted some things in OSX, which were backed-up by Time Machine. So if restoring the last backup doesn't work, you might want to try a previous one.
If significant things, such as System folders, were excluded, you should be able to erase the internal HD, install Snow Leopard, then when the Mac starts up again, use +Setup Assistant+ to transfer everything else. See #19 in the FAQ Tip.