Time Machine Restore Finishes But Wont Boot And Not Enough Restored

I have just had need to restore my MacBook from my Time Machine backup of yesterday.
Basically I boot from the Leopard DVD, Select Restore and pick the date/time of the backup.
Restore start and finishes OK (if a little short on time I noticed) but on first boot the MacBook crashes and displays a message saying the Mac needs powering off/on.
After this the MacBook will not boot again and displays the same message.
If I boot off the DVD and run disk utility I see only 40gb or so used on the disk when my machine is around 150gb.
I have tried a number of restores going back a day each time and each restore produces the same result.
Can someone please give me some suggestions as to how I might successfully restore from the backup.
If I can't is it possible to reinstall Leopard fresh and then connect the Time Machine drive to the restored system and view the backup from there ?? If so how please.
Many thanks in advance. I can feel a very sleepless night ahead of me.
Kind Regards and Seasonal Greetings
NIALL8-(

Niall Mallyon wrote:
I have browsed the time machine drive both from within finder and iPhoto and the backups appear very irratic.
Have you done a +*Repair Disk+* on your TM drive, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum?
My confidence in Time Machine has taken a severe dent here so I am now going to be taking manual backups of all my data, itunes and photos on a regular basis as well as continuing to use the iPod for storage.
Consider what many of us do: keep a completely separate, independent backup in the form of a "bootable clone" via CarbonCopyCloner (which I use) or SuperDuper, in addition to full TM backups. You might even want to get a portable external HD for this, so you can take it to a secure off-site location. (I learned long ago, usually the hard way, not to trust my backups 100% to any single app or hardware.) And there was a thread just a couple of weeks ago where a full restore had nearly completed when BAM! the TM drive failed!
Just wish I could understand where things went wrong in the first place so I can ensure it doesn't happen again. I'll be sure to browse time machine regulalrly from now one to check things.
From your description of what you see in your backups, it's hard to tell what might have caused this very unusual situation. Something may have gone wrong with one of the previous restores, or there is/was hardware problems with one of the drives, or some sort of OSX problem.

Similar Messages

Ow can I use my time capsule as a time machine backup without using it wirelessly and not as a wireless router?

How can I use my time capsule as a time machine backup without using it wirelessly and not as a wireless router?

bzb888 wrote:
I have a wireless transmitter already, would like to use the capsule just as a back up drive, I tried hooking up from the ethernet port on the imac to the one of the ports on the capsule but then my Wifi would not work. do I hook the cable to the port with the circle or the arrows?
It is better to have the TC as part of the main network in bridge. You do not need to run wireless.
If you want to use the TC plugged in by ethernet and still use wireless for internet, that is possible but the setup is rather more complicated.. the computer must not get confused about which device to use as a gateway or dns server.
See info in this thread on setting this up.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4817218?tstart=30
I need to add.. a USB drive would be cheaper, faster and more reliable. It is really poor use of a TC.

I recently took my imac in for a recall on the hard drive, they replaced my hard drive, i used time machine to restore all my files. Now when I turn time machine on it says back up failed not enough space, it is not overwriting old back ups.

I recently took my imac in for a recall on the hard drive, they replaced my hard drive, i used time machine to restore all my files. Now when I turn time machine on it says back up failed not enough space, it is not overwriting old back ups. Why? Please help

http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Restored system from Time Machine backup disk but the system could not start-up

On MacBook Pro early 2008, restored the entire system from Time Machine backup disk to the entire disk.
The previous system on the backup disk had FileVault turned on.
The restore completed successfully and I was prompted to restart the system via the new restored system disk.
I heard the normal start-up sound, then the Apple logo, but it stuck at the logo screen. And the cooling fan run at almost full speed?
I have been waiting for a few hours, guessing it might FileVault the disk.
Finally I have to shutdown the machine as it stuck at the logo screen forever.
Anyone has the same issue? Any ideas?

BTW, I also tried Repair the system disk, Fix permissions via Disk Utility.
I guess I must lose some files either during the backup or the restore.

Very sick Macbook Pro OS v 10.6.8 - initially running slow so I tried backing up to Time Machine and reloading the OS but the install disk failed. I was able to recover from the Time Machine back up but many applications are not working properly. Help!

I am also no longer able to back up using Time Machine (backups fail), can't access iPhoto (which was a problem before attempting to reload OS) and I suspect other apps are no longer working. The computer is however running faster in Safari and Mail...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If there are any files you can transfer to a regular storage drive do that first and then disconenct all drives.
Hold c boot off the 10.6.8 disk and use Disk Utility to Erase with Zero option the hard drive, takes some time, let it complete as it's mapping off any bad or failing sectors.
Then install 10.6. log in and update to 10.6.8 (important!)
Now use Migration Assistant to transfer over just your user files, we need to rescue those first out of TimeMachine's EVIL clutches, once you've got that, transfer them to the regular storage drive and disconnect.
Note: if your 10.6 disk fails, call Apple for a replacement, you need the machine specific version, the 10.6.3 retial doesn't have iLife and only works for machines pre 10.6.3 release, not afterwards. Factory installed 10.6.4 machines and afterwards need machine specific disks.
Then either:
Log into the admin/first set up user on the machine and delete the Migrated user, then reboot and use Migration assistant again to TM everything this time
Or
Just install all your programs again from fresh sources.
If your TM drive is really hosed, then you'll need Data Rescue $99 to read the TM files directly and transfer the results to another regular storage drive (not the first one just in case), then pick through the debris and locate your files and transfer them to another drive.
I don't like TimeMachine, but for newbies it's better than nothing.
(I prefer cloning my entire OS X parititon instead, I can access it from any computer (Linux, Mac or PC) and I also can boot my Mac from it. I use Carbon Copy Cloner, but that's for later once your all better. )

Time MAchine won't back up due to not enough space, but there is

TIme Machine won't back up. Displays this:
Actual capacity of the external backup drive is 999.68 GB and available is 135 gb .
The imac internal HD capacity is 999.01GB and used space is 636.321 GB.
This problem has occured periodically in the last 12 months or so, so prior to OS version10.8 install in Jul 2012.
I previously called AppleCare, as I have a contract, and tech said I just need to reformat the external drive and start over.
I did that the last time this happened a few months ago, but I don't like that option, as it eliminates all the prior backups,
What if I needed to try to recover something I deleted 3 weeks ago, for example. I couldn't do so as all backups would have been deleted, of course, by me having refomatted the drive and basically starting over. Also, I noted in another post about a person having a problem due to using a partitioned drive. Mine is not partition, as far as I can tell. See this:
Any ideas? Thanks

The solution is essentially "simple." You need a larger hard drive for these backups or you need to use a different backup solution. By this I mean using backup software that does not preserve an archive of old copies of a file, but simply erases old copies in order to replace them with the new copies. By replacing your backup drive can always accommodate the drive it backs up if it is large enough - say the same size. I can suggest:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
All of the above are capable of being scheduled. Synk Pro makes immediate backups of any changed file on the hard drive. You may configure it to archive changes (like Time Machine) or to delete prior copies.

HT201250 Anyone have time machine "lock up" while backing up and not completing the task?

I have the drive connected for over 24 hrs and time machine will only back up 25% of the 75Gb it claims to need to back up.
I have re tried and get the same result, and T.M. will show "backing up" even after 24 hrs.
I know it is not the drive being too full or being defective, since a partition set up for a pc works just fine.

Hi, many people have, but I think you need to Repair the TM Partion, & maybe your Boot drive, maybe more.
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.

I have a macbook retina with a partition of windows 7 and Yosemite. When I use time machine in Yosemite it wont recognise the macintosh HD, but it recognises the windows hd ( bootcamp). Does anybody know why ?

I have a macbook retina with a partition of windows 7 and Yosemite. When I use time machine in Yosemite it wont recognise the macintosh HD, but it recognises the windows hd (bootcamp ). Does anybody know why ?

Please provide a bit more detail on what 'recognize' means. A screen shot is always very helpful.

Computer wont boot after time machine restore

Hi Guys,
I did a time machine restore last night and after it completed and i did a restart the computer gets stuck on the gray screen. I waited like 2 hours and it still doesn't get past that screen. I have tried every boot shortcut including target mode, single user mode etc. One problem is that i have disabled sounds so i cant hear the chime therefore not knowing when to push and hold the "t" or "c" button.
Am i doing something wrong? when do i start holding c or t?
Even when i put the mac osx dvd in it won't even boot from that. also tried holding c and booting from the dvd and that doesn't work.
please help

Begin with the usual diagnostics in hopes of successfully booting your macbook. As Eric mentioned, have you tried booting with the Option key ?
If that fails, try the following, before forced to a re-install of the OS:
1: Boot up the machine via Safe Boot by holding the shift key. Since your volume is off, ideally you want to wait a second or two where the chime would come in. Note that if the safe boot is successful it will take some more time to boot as it checks for disk errors. Make sure and repair your permissions if you get through !
2: If that fails reset your PRAM, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Can't Boot After New HD + Time Machine Restore

So a couple days ago my 27" iMac running Snow Leopard started making some weird noises and stalling out. Annoyed, I talked for a couple hours with apple tech support which eventually lead me to run an Apple Hardware Test. This test returned the error
"Alert! Apple Hardware Test has detected an error.
4HDD/11/40000000 SATA(0,0)"
I scheduled an appointment at the Genius Bar, and they replaced the hard drive.
After that I got it home and did a System restore from my time machine backup. It finished fine, but when I restarted it got stuck on the grey apple screen with the spinning dial thing.
I called apple back and they had me do a couple things like repair disk, verify disk, and one person had me reboot into this command line mode and type some stuff in. Nothing worked. After that They had me try to reinstall the OS first from archive, and next by erasing the hard drive and doing it. Both times the install fails with a big yellow exclamation point saying that it couldn't install support files and the OS couldn't be installed.
Any ideas how to fix this?
I'm currently trying to restore from my time machine backup again, but I'm not hopeful.

Here's what I got - apologies for any formatting peculiarities.
The problem: 10.6.6 mac won't boot after time machine restore to disk.
Further symptoms: Booting with Command-v shows several errors: usually blued and loginwindow collapse with errors from launchd. Errors will be of the style "dyld: Symbol not found: CSSMOID_APPLE_TP_MACAPPSTORERECEIPT" and other CommerceKit / CommerceCore framework errors.
A solution: Your Framework Security library may be an older version (possible cause with Time Machine below). The easiest way to fix this is to find another, working 10.6.6 Mac, and update the Security library on the broken machine.
Identifying if you're affected:
1) Boot the broken machine into "target" mode - hold "Command-t" during boot until the [Firewire|http://itunesu.utah.edu/terms/images/Firewire_Icon.png] icon appears.
2) Connect the broken machine to the working 10.6.6 machine with a firewire cable.
3) On the working machine, the disk of the broken machine should mount.
4) Open Terminal
5) Run "ls /Volumes" - the name of disk you mounted should be there (in this example, we'll use "Macintosh HD".)
6) Typing in the path of the broken machine, run:
<pre>
nm /Volumes/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security | grep random_fd | cut -d. -f2
</pre>
(this does a dump of the library, looking for the version value)
If this comes back with the value 22457 (or less?), your Mac is not booting because it does not have the updated version of the Security library, which is required in 10.6.6 since Snow Leopard added the Appstore / Commerce framework.
Fixing if you're affected:
1) First, make sure the working 10.6.6 Mac has a correct version of the framework:
<pre>
nm /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security | grep random_fd | cut -d. -f2
</pre>
For 10.6.6, this should be at least "22458"
2) *Be extremely careful at this point* - Make sure on the mounted disk (not the machine you are working on!) run the following
<pre></pre>
2a) Make a backup of the broken library
<pre>
mkdir /Volumes/Macintosh HD/savedLibrary
cp /Volumes/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security /Volumes/Macintosh HD/savedLibrary
</pre>
2b) Copy the working version over the non-working version:
<pre>
cp /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security /Volumes/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
</pre>
3) Eject the mounted disk from the working Mac, disconnect the firewire cable, and reboot the "broken" Mac. It should come up.
If it doesn't, you have problem(s) that are probably outside the scope of this. I'd also suggest restoring your original security library that you saved off.
Suspected cause:
It appears that Time Machine never recorded the change to the Security library after the update. If the library hadn't changed, the machine should have failed to boot like it did after restore the moment a 10.6.6 update was applied.
Inspecting the contents of my Time Machine backups before and after updating shows that Time Machine never updated the Security Framework library - why is still not 100% determined, but restoring from it is definitely broken. Combing through the backup databases on my Time Machine disk:
(I upgraded to 10.6.6 on January 6)
<pre>
for name in 2010-12-30-093337 2011*
do
echo -n "In backup on ${name}, version of Security library is: "
nm "${name}/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security" | grep random_fd | cut -d. -f2
done
</pre>
In backup on 2010-12-30-093337, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-04-100707, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-05-082402, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-06-092846, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-07-094827, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-10-093559, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-11-110542, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-12-094137, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-13-103238, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-14-113145, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-18-112856, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-20-114953, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-21-103642, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-24-102321, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-27-002508, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-27-011931, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-27-104406, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-27-114322, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-27-123928, version of Security library is: 22457
In backup on 2011-01-27-134523, version of Security library is: 22457

My Macbook Pro was stolen, and I have replaced it with a Macbook Air. New hard drive is too small for a Time Machine restore. How do I restore my more-expensive apps (ie iWorks) on my new Macbook without repurchasing them?

My Macbook Pro was recently stolen, and I have replaced it with a Macbook Air. I attempted to simply do a restore from the Macbook Pro's Time Machine backup, but since the new Macbook Air's hard drive is significantly smaller, a Time Machine restore was not possible. I even tried to choose only settings or only my User Profile (option) when restoring, but the backup was still too large to do a restore onto the new machine. How do I restore my more-expensive apps (ie iWorks) onto my new Macbook without repurchasing them? Also, I reaad somewhere that if you went to the Mac App Store and attempted to repurchase the app and clicked BUY, it would simply alert you that you have already purchased the app (and trigger a re-download)... NOT THE CASE... So I just dropped another $19.99 for a second copy of Pages... Not my intention....
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
LM

you should get a usb backup drive as well. time machine has limited use in my eyes. it saves things. but older things can be errased ad space drops without telling you
nothing beats data redundancy. 2 saves is. 1. and 1 is none
im personally not fond of time machne though i use it only for a recovery parameter for a mac
id never ever myself consider time machine a genuine data backup tool. though most do consider it as such
drive clones such as superduper and carbon copy cloner can clone your entire drive for emergency recovery. and you can boot from them as well o. another mac

Is it possible to boot or Time Machine restore from an external Thunderbolt disk drive?

(There are several questions - search for "?".)
I purchased a Seagate Backup Plus for Mac Desktop Drive 3 TByte with default USB 3.0 interface, and also acquired the Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter for Backup Plus Desktop Drives and Thunderbolt cable.
I do a redundant backup to the Seagate Drive using both Carbon Copy Cloner (nightly) and Time Machine (hourly) using its Thunderbolt adapter. BTW: One never knows when Time Machine will choke - see discussion titled, "UPDATED: Serious Time Machine bug on Mountain Lion", which I had; Rest In Peace Pondini (James Lewis Pond).
Booting from the external Seagate Backup Plus via Thunderbolt inteface from System Preferences -> Startup Disk:
I select the Time Machine OS X, 10.8.5 Startup Disk (Thunderbolt attached drive), click Restart, confirm my choice, the computer reboots, however, it reboots from the internal Macintosh HD OS X, 10.8.5, NOT the selected external Thunderbolt drive. The SSD drive was used as the Startup Drive, not the selected external Time Machine volume as indicated by the display free disk space command (df(1)) and seeing that the Macintosh HD OS X, 10.8.5 volume is mounted as root. That is very deceptive in that both the internal and external drives will appear in the same manner from a GUI point of view! OS X doesn't even inform me that it did not boot off the selected volume. This is the first half of the problem, that is, Is it possible to boot from an external Thunderbolt disk drive? In my case, the answer is deceptively No. Can anybody else boot off a Thuderbolt attached disk drive? Note that if I remove the Thunderbolt adapter, and attach the drive via its USB 3.0 cable, the MBP boots off the external Seagate Backup Plus just fine, as is expected.
Booting from the external Seagate Backup Plus via Thunderbolt inteface from boot-time "Option - Select startup disk" method:
When I restart the MBP using the startup Option key to select the startup volume, the externally connected Seagate drive ONLY SHOWS UP if it is attached with the USB 3.0 cable, not when it is attached with via the Thunderbolt interface. Can anyone else boot off a Thunderbolt drive with the startup Option key sequence? At least the MBP doesn't deceive me in this case - I know right away that the external Thunderbolt drive is not an option when connected as such.
Time Machine restore from the external Seagate Backup plus via Thunderbolt interface from the "command-R - Recovery Parition" method:
After booting from the recovery partition, I attempt to perform a Time Machine restore from the Thunderbolt connected Seagate Backup drive. When Time Machine attempts to present me with a viable backup Time Machine volume, the external Thunderbolt drive is never offered as an option. So I switch the Time Machine volume to use its USB 3.0 interface, and then Time Machine displays that drive as an option, and the MBP proceeds with the restoration as expected. The interesting thing to note is that while booted in the recovery partition via the Thuderbolt cable, the MBP Disk Utility may be selected, and the Thunderbolt attached drive may be operated on just fine. Can anybody else restore their MBP using Time Machine and the Recovery Partition via the Thunderbolt interface?
This is also a big problem for me in that I am forced to restore my MBP via Carbon Copy Cloner using the USB 3.0 interface, because I cannot even boot off that volume's Thunderbolt interface. Of course, the option may be that I could use yet another eternal USB 3.0 drive, boot from it, and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to restore the Macintosh HD via the aforementioned drive connected by a Thunderbolt cable, but that is less than ideal and not elegant, so I'm not going there.
Another side issue is that the commercially available program, TechTool Pro 7's eDrive, which I installed on the Time Machine volume, will not boot off that eDrive as advertised, but I won't got through those steps here, because that would be beyond the scope of this issue, however, I must say, It does not work either when the Time Machine volume is connected via the Thunderbolt interface, but works just fine when connected via the USB 3.0 interface.

If this helps anybody else make a decision about whether to consider Apple because of Apple's superior customer service:
Apple sells this entire line of drives right in their store, from 1TB to 4TB. I spent 1 and 1/2 hours, yesterday, confirming that the 3TB model IS NOT 100% Thunderbolt compliant. A MBP cannot boot, nor can it Time Machine restore from this drive, though EVERYTHING about the drive is normal.
Apple's South Coast Plaza store management had at least two responses to me personally about how to proceed:
1. Buy a different drive from another drive manufacturer, and to attempt to return the drive to COSTCO. A lead genius suggested going with GTech drives, for instance.
2. Wait for Seagate to fix their problem.
I told Apple management in the store that the drive is advertised as Mac Compatible (see picture) and that it is advertised as being a Thunderbolt drive (see picture). I pressed management that my purchasing decsion to get the best possible MBP Retina was based on the availablity of Inexpensive Devises (raID), and that not having this complete compatibility is a show-stopper for my needs, and that I wanted a refund. Their response? They needed to talk with "Merchendising" to see if they are on or off the hook for these kind of 3rd party assertions, and would get back to me.
I am not holding my breath.
Note: I do not hold this against the Geniuses that helped me, nor against the management I've dealt with, nor the upper level engineers that I've corresponded with through Apple Care - their problem solving skills were helpful - although I could have arrived at similar conclusions given enough $$$. (For instance, try a Lacie TB drive and see if that works - we did, and it did not work. Or, we have a different TB cable and a different TB adapter, let's try those - we did, and it did not work.) I blame myself for not doing enough homework before going with Apple's solutions.

Time Machine Restore Mangles Permissions and Groups

Circumstance:
My Macbook Pro running 10.5.5 gave a gray spinner after a restart last week. The restart was to clear out a couple of system processes eating up CPU when I had left it alone for a few hours.
Action:
After Disk Utility, zapping PRAM, and the probably some other standard trouble-shooting actions didn't fix the stuck start-up problem, I decided to try a full system restore from my Time Machine backups. I had previously successfully restored individual folders and files. Time Machine backs up wireless to a USB hard drive connected to my AirPort Extreme. To speed up the restore, I ran an Ethernet cable to the MBP from the Airport. The restore completed successfully. All the folders & files are correct, looks the same, etc. I restarted using the restored boot drive.
Problem:
The MBP is like a museum now--I can look but I can't touch. I first noticed something was wrong after logging in the first time because I couldn't move a file into a folder via drag-n-drop. Then Terminal went into a spinning beach ball when I opened it. Spotlight was not running. Then I noticed that my entire boot disk was read-only. I got info on the boot disk, and the Users & Groups list was strange--everyone was read-only, "wheel" had read-write and was the owner, and staff had read-write. Basically, it's like me, the Finder, an all applications have lost all their write/execute permissions on the entire drive.
*Unsuccessful Steps Taken:*
Ran Disk Utilities' Repair Permissions from Leopard dvd. Ran fsck -fy after mount / -uw from Leopard dvd Terminal and from single-user boot mode. Time Machine restore direct from TM disk via USB. Joined my user to wheel group. Changed my user password from Leopard dvd (which repairs home folder permissions). Played with chown to make all wheel-owned items staff-owned.
*Open Theories:*
Airport Time Machine restores strips ACLs and Permissions. I have to restore over wireless, not ethernet or usb. My TM backup is screwed up somehow.
Whew. This has been going on for a while, so I'm ready to give up and do an Archive & Install and begin manual migration from the backups, but my MPB is a fine-tuned machine and I hate to lose that, especially since it taunts me by being so close to normal (I can see everything! My desktop background and apps are there!).
Any help much appreciated!

The "full restore" from Time Machine is only for OSX drives.
For data-only drives, use the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display). See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #15.
Depending on your setup, you may also want to review Transferring Home Folders not on a Startup volume.

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...

Ridiculous & grotesque HD crash and Time Machine restore failure! Help?

Trying to make this short. iMac 24" 2009 2.66GHz, 640GB HD, NVIDIA 9400, 4GB ram.
Bought used, installed operating sys from disks, then upgraded to Snow Leopard. All was working fine. Set up Time Machine and it made several backups over two days.
Tonight, for reasons unknown, came into office and screen was on (instead of asleep or screen saver) and fan going 1000 MPH--LOUD!
Cut it off, rebooted, would not boot. Gave me "No bootable device" msg. Booted with OSX 10.5 disk, did UTILITIES/RESTORE FROM BACKUP, restored from Time Machine.
When it rebooted, the gray apple showed up and seconds late a gray shade descended and a black box in center of screen says "You need to restart your computer. Hold down power button until it's off, then press powerbutton again." Says this in 5 languages.
So I did, and the box keeps coming back. Repeatedly.
So then I reboot from OSX 10.5 disk again, go to UTILITIES/RESTORE FROM BACKUP, and restore from ANOTHER Time Machine backup from the iMac 24" I'm replacing, also Snow Leopard updated.
Same result. Black box, "You need to reboot," etc.
***? Am I missing a key step in the full restore? Please advise ASAP as this is driving me batty. not only do I not know what went wrong in the first place (somewhere early on I ran disk utility and did all 4 of the repair/verify options there; all said HD was fine), I have no clue why Time Machine won't restore like I assume it's supposed to!
Please help me before I kill again!

BeerBellyBilly wrote:
My Mac wouldn't boot. Since I had my trusty Time Machine Backup I formatted the drive and tried to use Migration Assistant to use Time Machine Backup to restore everything but when I tried the backup had an error. Is there anything I can do to restore my mac?
You do not use migration assistant to restore from a TM drive.
You boot into your Leopard DVD and use it to restore from TM drive.
You do not need to do anything with your internal drive. Just follow the instructions.

Time Machine Restore Finishes But Wont Boot And Not Enough Restored

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