Time machine restore returns only empty folders

I need to restore several folders with lots of files within. When entering TM, I see the files and folders. Selecting on one or several folders and clicking restore, copies only the first and empty folder over. I can repeat this by going back to TM, this time selecting all the files within the folder and click restore. I get asked for my password and all files are succesfully restored. However, there are many folders with many files and I think TM should be copying folders and there contents. The same happens if I manually try to do a copy and paste via the finder.
Background to this: I had my harddrive replaced on my iMac. During set-up, I restored all my contents from the timemachine backup. No problems here. I had one folder, which I had deleted before the last backup from which I restored the iMac, so went back in time to recover it. Then run into problem above.
Folders and files have rwx permission. I have searched through all the discussions, but not found an answer to this.
Thanks for help.

Additional information:
When trying to restore the folder and files to a different destination, I get the error code 36, items can't be read or written.
Checking permissions: the folders in TM have drwxrwxrsx. User is correct = me, group is staff (unknown to me and not in my accounts). So it seems a permission problem. Only thing is strange, that I can restore the files one by one.
Have also checked pondini's troubleshooting tips, still not sure as all files. Should I reset the group on the backup disk? or my own iMac. Seems a bit too risky for me.

Similar Messages

Time Machine - Restoring Files only to a fresh install of OSX

Hi folks,
had my 17' MBP for about a year now and love it, although in the last couple of month it's become frightening slow, jerk video playback and what not.
So I'd like to Format the Mac and re-install Snow Leopard to get full performance back, I have a Time Machine but don't want to do a system restore as I won't get any benefits of renewed performance etc, I'd just like it to restore my non-system files and possibly iTunes to avoid any iPhone/iPod/iPad syncing issues.
Is there any way of restoring just files only without having to manually pick them out of the Time Machine once I've formatted/re-installed Snow Leopard?
Thanks!

mlamb64150 wrote:
can you use that technique for iTunes as well?
no. you would restore iTunes using the finder.
you should restore the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music folder).
JGG

Time Machine Restore - Empty Postgres Databases

Hello,
i just had to restore Lion Server and have a problem with it now. All files are back, but my the databases are completely empty.
I have a dumpall.psql file, but i dont see how to get it back into the postgres database. I know how to deal with mysql, but this seems completely different to it.
I also have PgAdmin installed and can connect to the database.
Can someone point me the right way please?
Another Problem i have is, that the server seems to forget my password. Everytime i try to login with my main user, the password field shakes. I am a 100 % sure it is the right password. I can only login with a second admin account. When i do a restore from an Open Directory Backup in Server Admin it seems to work again for a while, but not for long.
Please help me, i really need the server back to work.

Ok, i'm at least some steps closer:
I have my data back in postgre and all users have their data back on their devices. At least their data up to the last backup.
Here is what i did:
I restored another time machine backup.
Apple claims, that serverbackup (and therefore Time Machine) does backups of the postgre data, which is true.
Apple claims, that the postgre data will be restored in case of a Time Machine restore. In my case it didnt.
You find a dumpall.psql in your time machine backups --> Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Backup (In my case there was a gzip file as well, but it didnt seem to be updated)
I connected with postgre using pgadmin 3 following this tutorial: http://www.mactasia.co.uk/revisited-using-postgresql-in-lion-server
I dropped all databases but the postgres-database.
Open Terminal and write "sudo psql -f infile postgres" with infile being the path to your dumpall.psql (More commands at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/backup.html)
This will write all data from the backup to your database.
Voilá, you will have your data back.
Give the clients time to get the content back from the server.
Never start the wiki again, because it was the one which destroyed everything in the first place.
Still i have a huge problem:
I cant login with my main admin user. I can login with another admin. Then i reset the main user password and i can login with it again. But only once. Any advice on this?

Want to restore my computer, but only with a few files; not a complete Time Machine restore

My computer's messing up and I decided I might as well start fresh, but I want some files and folders back obviously.
I take it, I simply need to:
Turn it off
Turn it on and put the install disc into it, meanwhile holding the C key
Install Snow Leopard
Once it's installed, select the external drive I'm using for backups
Open Time Machine, right click on files/folders I want to restore.
What will and won't work? Because, it seems to me you can't redownload movies from iTunes. What about the settings? Is there some sort of .yml or something somewhere that holds them?
And, something I'm dreading, how will I get my programs back? Will I need to reenter the product key? I have Adobe Production Premium CS5.5, should I deactivate it then reenter the product key? What about the plugins for After Effects? Also I have MPEG Streamclip, and when I bought it, I don't remember having to enter any product key.
And my copy of Office for Mac 2011, I bought the 2008 box and it came with instructions of how you're eligible to get 2011 once it's available, when I went to install Office for Mac on my MBA, the offer was no longer available.
Thanks in advance.

I understand the basics, I just want to know how to restore certain items essentially on a new computer without restoring everything.

HT3275 I've 1.85TB empty space on my time Machine, but it only backs up to the beginning of the previous month. it should have weekly back-ups for every month before that. Any ideas why it deletes stuff older than a month?

I've 1.85TB empty space on my Time Machine, but it only retains back-ups to the beginning of the previous month. I should be able to access weekly back-ups for every month before that until the disk is full. Any ideas why it deletes stuff older than a month?
Thanks, Rigby.

If you are using Ethernet to connect your Mac to the Time Capsule, are you allowing at least 2-3 minutes for Time Machine to fully load when you open the application to see your backups?
If you are using wireless to connect, you may need to allow 8-10 minutes or longer for everything to fully load, depending on the speed of your wireless connection.
If you see only white time "bars" on the timeline at the right of the screen, you are seeing temporary backups. Permanent backups are displayed with purple "bars".

Lost "Last Import" after Time Machine restore

I recently had a hard drive fail on me but was up to date on Time Machine backups. So after a rebuild of 10.6.2, I restored my system from Time Machine. But now, I noticed that the last batch of pictures I imported before the hard drive went, are gone. They are still listed in iPhoto under Last Imported. And their Events Descriptions are showing up but all pictures are just empty grey squares, leading me to believe the links were lost. So I opened up the contents of the iPhoto Library and sure enough those file folders were gone also.
Any ideas what could have happened? Maybe ways to get them back?
I'm assuming the pictures are gone at this point - about 215 including my son's 3rd Birthday. Fortunately though, I have lo-rez versions on my iPhone.

Experienced this myself today with the latest iPhoto on a Time Machine restore after a failed hard drive.
I would guess the cause is that iPhoto writes the 'last import' into a cache file, and not to the Originals folder on the hard drive until the next import. Since Time-Machine excludes many cache files from its backup to save time and space from meaningless change (caches should always be able to be rebuilt), the photos were never copied to the backup drive.
However, this is merely a guess, and is the only reason I could fathom as to why Time Machine did not back up photos that have been on the disk for over a month. Quick testing with local files wrote directly to the disk, which makes me think it may be only from a camera or some other device, but I am not sure exactly.
If someone happens to find a way to get back the photos, let us know. Exploring the iPhoto library in Time Machine yielded me nothing, neither did rebuilding the cache database or looking for orphaned photos.

Time Machine restore fail - best method to reinstall OS?

I've just had a Time Machine restore fail on me, startup gets to blue screen but no further. Also tried the next previous backup. Trying to decide whether to reinstall Snow Leopard on my not-quite-restored drive and then do the combo update to the last OS version, or whether to do a clean install (wipe drive) and then use the Migration Assistant to import everything.
I have a ton of software / plugins authorised which will take me an age to reinstall, hoping that whichever method will retain all the pref files in macintosh hd/library and user/library. That being said I was in the process of trying to fix my intermittent system freezes, it was happening at the last TM backup so maybe aiming to return to duplicate system / user folders is a bad idea?
Many thanks for any help.
Harry

hazza26 wrote:
Hi again
I have ended up having to erase my drive and do a fresh install of SL. When I get to the welcome page I opt to import all my setting from my TM backup. It started ok this morning but the progress bar has been stuck at "4 hours 46 mins left" for the whole day. How best to proceed now?
Cancel it. You'll probably have to turn your Mac off via the power button.
Can I do a disk repair on the backup data, and if so how?
Yup. See #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Then you'll have to erase your OSX volume and install OSX again, since the transfer was incomplete.
Or, if the repair finds and fixes problems, you might want to try a full restore again (much less likely to have problems with transferred apps), but perhaps from an earlier backup, before the problems started. If that seems to complete normally, but won't boot, then just install a fresh version of OSX over the old one, then download and install the "combo" update and repair permissions.
Or should I try to mount the backup and manually pull off all my critical data?
Only as a last resort. You may have all sorts of permissions problems that way, and of course will have to reinstall all your 3rd-party apps.
Thanks again for your much appreciated support
You're quite welcome. Hang in there!

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.

Time machine restore selective intonation vs full installation compromised system

I have some questions regarding the above mentioned issue
I have reviewed notes regarding selective app restore method and am aware that there are issues assossiated with failed apps since the original app installer installs files in various libraries and system settings
My backed up Mac contains rogue programs such as the programming app python 3 and various rogue bugs and system settings.
1 Does a full restore reset all backed up system settings or does it keep the fresh installation and include all your apps and settings such as mail accounts mail folders documents pictures movies podcasts etc without the bugs
2 Should the answer to 1 be a yes all compromised settings will be restored, then will I have issues with installing VMware fusion as its an encripted integrated app that I keep all my master business applications but store documents in the Mac documents area.
Other factors
1 My accounting tax business has been hacked over and over again for the last 7 months from start of tax season
2 I have lost 50% of my clients due to the interruptions and been hospitalized twice from sitting on the computer for extended hours and days reinstalling fresh system and restoring Mac documents only, 3 times over, as well as trying to learn everything about best practice, hacks etc
3 I'm using fire vault 2 however the time machine backup is not encripted are there any potential problems with either of the two methods?
4 I will be using a proxy server when I next build the Mac will this be enough to mitigate potential security breach using the full time machine restore method?
5 I have many apps that I have not purchased through the app center and have not kept the keys and will be a headache to get all my details
6 what implications are there as far as the prior keychain access is consurned? How does that get restored?
What is the most effective and efficient method to restore from time machine given above scenario?
Thanking you in advance
Peter

Thank you for your advice
I tried consulting Telstra premium services and other third party security consultants. I explained my steps and procedures upon each fresh installation and the extent of the hacking and they refused to service me. Additionally Telstra security center replied on the issue of using a proxy server that they only support windows operating systems. Last night an apple consultant told me to obtain the proxy server address and he will guide me through to setting it up. I hope this will resolve the security issue. However I'm not entirely sure. My iPhone was also hacked and 8 GB of data used in 1 day untill I caught on. Freaked me out since I had disconnected from the wifi.
I'm currently installing from flash drive and transferring my information from time machine. I think it's a full restore.
I am investing in a website in a couple of weeks however I'm not currently hosting one on my laptop.
Cheers
Peter

ALL Photos missing after Time Machine restore (help)

So, I accidently formated the wrong drive while in Windows, (big oops) which gave me the opportunity to take Time Machine for a test drive.
I put the DVD in, and was able to restore from the TIme Machine drive. Very impressed! Everything came back just as I had left it except - whats this? The default Leopard wallpaper instead of a picture of my son? Huh strange, I thought. Until I noticed I had no photos in iPhoto.
There seems to be reminents of photos in the iphoto database - the size is 1.3gb instead of the 7gb it used to be. But 0 photos in iPhoto 08.
I went into iPhoto and choose File/Browse Backups. I selected Nov 8th, which was the last day of my backup and showed all 7000+ photos, and clicked "Restore All". This brought up something odd - a 2nd iPhoto icon in the dock, which showed a progress bar for the restore. Once the restore was completed, I still had a 2nd iPhoto icon the the bar, which was iPhoto running - but no photos in iphoto! I exited the 2nd iphoto, which disappeared, and launched my normal Iphoto icon. Still no photos! (That just seems odd that it would launch iPhoto with a 2nd icon)
So, I moved my iphoto database, and launch iPhoto in order to create a fresh database - thinking maybe that was the issue. I then did File/Restore again, and went through the whole processes again, including the odd 2nd icon. Still, no photos! And another 1.3gb iphoto database!
Is it normal for a Time Machine restore to not include your photos? Surely you are not supposed to restore them separately from within Iphoto?
What do I do now? At this point, everything went very well - except no photos! Which is awful and not at all expected! 7000+ family photos! At least, if I ask iPhoto/Time Machine to restore 'all photos' you would think it would restore 'all photos' - not show a progress bar, and then show me no photos!
p.s. I just tooked at the iPhoto Library. The 1.3gb is in /Data/ which contains folders 2000-2007, my Events, and thumbnails of all the photos - but no actual photos (the 'Originals' folder is missing).
I then went back in time, and found the 8gb iPhoto Library database. I supposed I could copy it over manually via Time Machine, and not iPhoto's Restore/TM - but - i'm so far off track of how this should have went I don't know what to think!
p.s.s. So I did just that - copied the 8gb iPhoto Library manually from TM, and pasted it in place. I help down option, and launch iPhoto, selecting the 8gb library - and BOOM... no photos!
Something is #$%# up here.
Message was edited by: metzen79

This is what it says in the help file:
Reverting to a previous Mac OS X version
If you’ve used Time Machine to back up your computer, you can easily revert to a previous version of Mac OS X if you’re experiencing trouble after installing an update.
IMPORTANT: Reverting to the previous version of Mac OS X will erase any additions or changes you’ve made to the files on your computer after installing the new version of Mac OS X. To save new or revised files, copy them onto a different disk or back them up using Time Machine before you follow these instructions. Use Time Machine only if you’re reverting to a previous version of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), since Time Machine is not available with Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier.
To revert to a previous version of Mac OS X:
Insert the disc you used to install the new version of Mac OS X, and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.
In the Installer, choose Utilities > Restore System From Backup.
In the Restore Your System dialog, click Continue.
Select your Time Machine backup volume.
Select the Time Machine backup you want to restore. To restore your computer to the state it was in before you installed a new version of Mac OS X, choose the most recent backup.
Follow the onscreen instructions.
If you backed up any individual files as described under the Important message above, you can restore them now. If you backed them up using Time Machine, recover them using the Time Machine application. (You’ll find the Time Machine application in the Dock or in the Applications folder.)
Hope this helps
Denisimo

Music icon changed after time machine restore

I recently did a Time Machine restore and everything went well, except now my audio icon files are white instead of black like they were before I did the restore.
Here is what they look like now:
but before they were black with the grey music symbol. Does anyone know if this is a setting that changes this?
Thanks.

If the user account is associated with an Apple ID, and you know that account password, the Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password.
Otherwise, boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select Utilities ▹ Terminal from the menu bar.
In the Terminal window, type this:
resetpassword
That's one word with no spaces. Then press return. A Reset Password window opens.
Select your boot volume if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Follow the prompts to reset the password. It's safest to choose a password that includes only the characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9.
Select  ▹ Restart from the menu bar.
You should now be able to log in with the new password, but you won't be able to unlock the Keychain. If you've forgotten the Keychain password (which is ordinarily the same as your login password), there's no way to recover it. You’ll need to reset your keychain in the preferences of the Keychain Access application.

Older MB (Core Duo [not '2']) Time Machine restore issues

The hard drive in a family-member's MacBook died and I'm trying to find the path to restoration. Regular Time Machine backups were made right up to the point of failure. I've installed a "new" drive in the MacBook (an Apple-sourced drive which formerly lived in a Mac Mini) and attempted to use the utility functions on the Snow Leopard install disk but have had no luck.
Note that this is a "Core Duo" MacBook. Not a "Core 2 Duo" machine. It cannot run Lion due to the hardware limitations enforced by Apple.
The MacBook had been updated to the latest versions of software on a regular basis. I think that the O/S version may have reached the point where the TIme Machine backups are in the "new" format where the Snow Leopard disk utilities cannot be used to restore the backup and only the Lion utilities work. (I just went through this with my MB Air.)
I have tried using a Lion install disk to run the restore but receive the "No Entry"/"Banned" symbol at boot. This makes sense as the MB is beneath the minimum hardware requirements for Lion.
When I first tried the old Mini drive in the MacBook, it booted up just fine to the Mini's condition 3 years ago. Surprising and encouraging.
I then booted from the Snow Leopard DVD and ran the Time Machine restore utility to restore the most recent backup to the newly-installed HD. All seemed to go well. The restore completed but on restart, the system hung in the gray-screen/apple-logo/spinning-gear in perpetuity. I tried restoring the second and third eldest backups with the same result.
In order to verify the health of the HD, I used the Snow Leopard disk to erase the drive. Then I installed a fresh copy of Snow Leopard. And then I patched it up to current standards.
So. Now I have a squeaky-clean new install of Snow Leopard on a MacBook (Core Duo, which cannot run Lion), a dated Snow Leopard installation DVD in hand, a solid series of dutifully-recorded Time Machine backups on a Time Capsule, and no freaking clue of where to go from here.
Everything I've read online seems to be based on the assumptions that I can a) use the older utilities on the Snow Leopard disk to install Time Machine backups made under a version of Snow Leopard compatible with the disk utility, or b) I can boot up using Lion installation media (USB or DVD pulled from the DMG in the downloaded Lion app-store installation app) and restore the "late model" Time Machine backup to the hard drive.
Has Apple just f'd me over? This computer is used by my college-student child and I would appreciate any suggestions.
A bit about me: I'm an IT professional -- a DBA -- who is by no means a Mac expert. After years of Windows machines, I returned to the Mac fold 4 years ago after a 14-year absence.
I could really use a good piece of solid advice at this point.
Thanks,
- Eric

It sounds like it's working perfectly. With Fusion I don't believe it is backed up, I know for sure Windows isn't. You may want to contact Pondini to ask about Fusion. As for your Adobe apps you can thank Adobe for that, you will need to re-install the apps, I believe this is one way Adobe ensures users aren't violating their licensing. I believe you will need to manually install the Adobe apps which shouldn't be a big deal as long as you have licensed software. Your data should have come over smoothly and frankly that's the most critical part. Reinstalling some apps should not be a problem.
I'd recommend looking over Pondini Time Machine Tips and if need be contacting Pondini directly (he has a contact section on the page) he has a lot of experience with TM and as you have already seen migrating Macs. He can provide much more information than me.

Time Machine restore to new computer

My iMac G5 has completely failed, and I am getting a new iMac Core2Duo. As the old computer is dead, I won't be able to use migration assistant to copy my stuff from the old computer. So I will need to restore my files from the Time Machine back-up.
Slightly worried because I'm moving from a PowerPC to Intel machine.
Any tips or ideas? I know I will need to go through the install DVD to initiate the restore process.
Any help would be really useful!

I was just going to make a post myself but thought perhaps I could do it as a reply to this post.
I have had the same issue and ... Time Machine doesn't work. Apple Care has been pretty much useless in solving my problem. Background: 6 month old 24' iMac, I'm doing a software update and the OS update (10.5.6) fails. System resources are corrupted so I have to do an OS reinstall. Except that doesn't work. Bad file system. Only fix is to wipe the disk and reinstall. That doesn't work, Apple replaces the hard drive "bad firmware". Hmm.. So I go to restore from Time Machine - the restore won't work either from the new install or the migration assistant. The symptom is that the Time Machine app can see the external hard drive, knows it's a time machine disk, but says no system is present. I don't get the list of folders (dates) I'm supposed to get at the various restore points. The Time Machine disk is fine. I can use the finder and see all the files and folders. I can do the painful drag and drop restore. I'll have to reinstall apps from scratch but the data is there. I've deleted the interrupted backup, deleted the "Latest" folder, done a variety of stuff Time Machine tech support has suggested. It just doesn't work. No explanation. I've got a good Time Machine backup and essentially a new machine and no-go.
What I would do is make a back up of your time machine disk. I would get another disk and do a drag and drop copy of the data you care about. Make a backup of the backup in other words. Then use the Time Machine restore function to selectively restore folders.
What I think is happening here is that despite the assertion that Time Machine is a simple incremental backup, I think that there are ties between the source and the target at the system level. In my case I had a more complex file system than usual, multiple user accounts, and probably a corrupted OS that migrated itself onto the time machine volume. I think Time Machine is looking to the system files somewhere on the Time Machine disk and if those are corrupted your Time Machine disk as a source for a full restore is useless.
I'll probably make a separate post on this so sorry in advance on that but if anyone has any ideas on how I can solve this and help the original poster Mr. Tanner avoid this, it would be great. Maybe a Time Machine system engineer is reading and can offer some help. I live in San Jose and I'm happy to bring my Mac and Time Machine disk over to Cupertino....

Time Machine Restore Stalled

I had a failure of a 160 Gig hard drive on my 17" G4 Powerbook 1.67Ghz (2 gig ram, running OS 10.5.5). I bought a Western Digital 250Gig Hard Drive to replace the bad drive. I have an ongoing back up from Time Machine. After installing the new HD I inserted the OS 10.5 DVD and asked it to RESTORE from Time Machine. The process began without a hitch.
When I left last evening I was at about 63% complete and the display said I still needed about 24 hours to complete the RESTORE process
It is now the morning of day three of the restore process.
I arrived this morning to a black screen (as expected). I touched the keyboard to awaken the machine's display as I had over the past two days ... to see the restore processes progress ... nothing happened. The light (next to the latch was burning bright. I touched "enter", I touched "return". Nothing. The display would not come to life. I waited.
After another ten minutes, still nothing after repeated attempts to awake the machine via typical means. So then I touched the "power" button for about a half second (not long enough to shut the machine down) and the display came to life. I was relieved, but only for a moment.
The display showed 67.7% restored. Only a few percentages above 12 hours ago. Very strange. I thought, "I'll check the log to see if there is any indication of why the slow process has slowed down even more.
No cursor is visible. No track pad input in noted o the screen. Crap!
Now every 5 minutes or so the display goes dark (as I would expect) but it will only wake up when touch the power button, and still no cursor or mouse visible.
Now after an hour of watching the screen, re-awakening the screen, and watching for progress ... I'm still at 67.7% restored and no indication of trackpad activity or mouse on the screen.
I have googled "Time Machine Restore Stalled". No helpful posting under that search.
Any ideas? Feel free to forward this discussion anywhere you think would be helpful.

One last piece.
I connected an external USB mouse. It was immediately recognized. I checked the Installer Log. Nothing looks strange.
Time Machine is still locked at 67.7% even now after another 5 hours of waiting.
Should I stop the RESTORE process and begin the three day process again?

Time machine restore returns only empty folders

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