Time machine restore to newly setup system

I have a TM backup I took prior to reinstalling system. I now want to restore my iTunes library from this backup after doing a reinstall of Mac OSX. When I startup TM, I get the option to use other TM backup. I select this and can navigate to my iTunes library. When I select it, the restore button is grayed out. Is there any way to restore my library from this backup?

todivefor wrote:
I am thinking I am out of luck. When I startup TM, I have to select "Browse other time machine disks." When I do this the "restore" button is always grayed out. Maybe it is a browse only function. There ought to be a force restore option. Looking like I will have to rebuild the iTunes library.
If you can find the things you want that way, you can restore from those backups. All you have to do is select what you want, then click the "gear" icon in the Finder window's toolbar and select +Restore <item> to ...+ Then you'll get a prompt for a destination.
This has happened because Time Machine has, for some reason, started a new "sequence" of backups, as if you'd gotten a new Mac. Certain hardware repairs can cause this, as can changing your system name, in some circumstances.

Similar Messages

Time Machine Restore - User Profile and System on two drives

Hello,
I need some help and I think here's the best place to get it. I need to do a restore from Time Machine to a new system.
My old (2008) Mac Pro as "died" and after having the nice people at the Mac Store look at it, I realized that it would be cheaper to buy a used system than to repair mine. My CPUs are dead (2000$ to get them replaced) and one of my Raid 0 drive is dead too.
Old system:
2008 Mac Pro 2.8 ghz (with Raid Card)
Drive 1: OCZ (SSD drive) ---> System
Drive 2: Raid 0 (wiht Apple Raid card) ---> User profile
New system:
2008 Mac Pro 3.2 ghz (NO raid card)
Drive 1: OCZ (Same from previous)
Drive 2: 500 Gb (which came with the new system)
Now I have done the Time Machine already but it only brought me back to the same point. I have renamed the Drive 2 in the "new" system to "Raid 0" as it was the name it had in the previous system and it allowed me to logging to the system but I do not have any of my data on it.
How could I restore my User Profile to Drive 2 on the New system ?
Hopefully this isn't too confusing.
Thanks for all the help.
Richard

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.

Can Time Machine Restore the whole operating system ?

Hi there,
I understand Time Machine can be used to locate files which were accidentally deleted.
But can it restore the whole OS system together with all the settings to say a 2 weeks ago ?
If can, I desperately beg someone to be kind enough to guide & teach me how to do it step by step.
Many thanks

RyanManUtd wrote:
Question 1:
I am doing a full restore on the same Mac. For avoidance of doubt, can you kindly confirm that the first paragraph of item#14 does not apply to me ?
Yup. This works fine if it's the same Mac. That's what it's intended for.
Question 2:
I have a Lacie Firewire800 external HDD connected to my Mac, I have already updated & backup data on this Lacie FW800 HDD to yesterday.
As I intend to restore the entire system to 2 weeks ago, I am afraid that my Lacie would also be restored to 2 weeks ago, would it ?
When you say "entire system", it refers only to the Mac internal harddrive or everything connected to it ?
Ah, yes, that's a bit misleading. That procedure will restore your internal HD only. By "entire system," it really means everything on your internal HD (which is all most users have): OSX, apps, configuration, users, settings, preferences, data.
If you want to restore an external HD, you must do that separately, so your LaCie won't be touched. Just to be extra-safe, I'd eject and disconnect it if I were you.

Time Machine restored an older version of my system

Hi!
I had to wipe my drive clean before bringing my macbook pro to applecare technicians, and restored the whole back up from time machine upon reinstalling.
Now I realize there are weird discrepancies between my backups and what is reinstalled. I had the latest version of Leopard installed originally, but Time Machine restored the version from the DVD (10.5.1) - so I have the old version of iTunes, for example. I did pick to move ALL my old files back, including the system prefs and apps.
How weird, right?
Or is that normal? Since I have to bring my machine back to the techs on Monday (I will wipe it clean again), anything I can do to avoid this in the future? I'd love to have just one button to push and my computer would be back up and running Tuesday morning, as it is today, with no difference.
Let me know what you think?
Thanks!

Princess Karlotta wrote:
Oh crap. I didn't do that. I waited until the end of the install and chose the "migrate my info back from a TM backup" or something like that.
That's the +Setup Assistant+ (see #19 in the FAQ Tip).
It gives you 4 yes/no options: Users, Applications, Settings, Other Files and Folders.
Now I wonder whether I should do that. It sounds a bit like a pain (I had like 560 new emails, and I downloaded 1500 pictures from my camera since then) but maybe it won't be as horrible asfinding out all the bugs and discrepancies on the way.
What would you advise?
First, if you haven't already, download and install the "combo" update to get back to the proper version of Leopard. That's a combination (thus the clever name) of all the updates to Leopard since it was first released, so installing it should fix anything that's gone wrong since then, such as with one of the normal "point" updates. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_8_ComboUpdate (If you weren't on 10.5.8, change the last digit of the link accordingly). Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards.
Then you've got three options:
Have you done any backups since the reinstall? If not, you can use +Migration Assistant+ in your Applications/Utilities folder. It's almost the same as +Setup Assistant.+ Choose Applications (and Settings, if you didn't before). If you have done backups since then, this won't work, as +Migration Assistant+ uses the most recent backup -- you don't get a choice like you do with the full restore.
If all you omitted were Applications, you should be able to selectively restore the ones you're missing with the normal "Star Wars" display.
I don't think it's a good idea, but if you have done new backups, you could do the full restore from the last backup before you reinstalled (in that case you don't need the "combo" update). That will, of course, erase all the new data.
Then use the normal "Star Wars" display to selectively restore the new stuff from the last backup. Take a look at #15 in the FAQ Tip -- depending on where the new emails are, you may be able to selectively restore from the various mailboxes, then move the restored items into the proper mailboxes.
Ditto your photos. Again there's special handling for iPhoto, but if you tell it to restore the whole thing, you'll get a prompt about what to do with duplicates, so although it may take a while, you should be able to get them all back.
But if you have a lot of other things, and aren't real sure what and where they are, this could be trouble.
Think about this, and post back if I've missed something or you have more specifics or questions.

HT201250 When getting a replacement Seagate hard drive for my Imac through Apple, will they restore my system to it's current state? Or will I have to do it myself though Time Machine? Will Time machine restore all the programs as well?

Apple has determined that certain Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems may fail. These systems were sold between October 2009 and July 2011.
Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) will replace affected hard drives free of charge.
Will this replacement program restore my system to its current state after the new drive is installed? If not, will I have to have all my original disks to re-install all the programs on my current computer, or will Time Machine restore them as well?

Most of them will tell you to backup your data.
Time Machine is nice, but unless you are interested in archival backup, Carbon Copy Cloner is a lot easier to recover from:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1992

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...

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

Magic Trackpad System Pref disappeared after Time Machine Restore

My Magic Trackpad was working fine until I did a Time Machine restore. Now only the old trackpad Pref is available. Software Update does not show Magic Trackpad as an available update. Yes, my computer is compatible with Magic Trackpad - it worked before the TM Restore. I paired it before trying SW Update. I unpaired it and paired it again. I restarted zapping PRAM.
How do I get the Magic Trackpad to work again?

Hazem -
Thanks. I downloaded the Magic Trackpad 1.0 update and it worked. I did not realize that you could download from Support / Downloads in addition to Software Update.
BTW I just installed the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB internal hard drive. The best speed upgrade I've ever done. Of course, apps don't run faster, but startup of often-used apps is 2-3X faster, including system startup. It gives an overall feeling of improved speed.

Can Time Machine restore to a new internal HDD?

hi all, i've got a 1tb external drive that's exclusively used by Time Machine. the 1tb drive is connected to my 500gb mac mini. i've been running time machine for 6 months now daily, i just wanted to know if it was backing up everything on my 500gb drive or not. how can i check that it's working properly?
also, does anyone know how i'd go about restoring my mac mini in case i had to replace the 500gb hdd? can time machine restore everything if i needed it to? if i bought a new HDD tomorrow for example, how could i get my system running back to where it was running today with all of the current settings and files etc? is there any way for me to check that Time Machine will actually restore OS X, all my videos, music and my work should the HDD actually die?
is there an apple link i can read?
thanks for any help.

To answer your question about replacing a hard drive and recovering what was on your old one ...
Yes, Time Machine was designed for that. You may have one of two scenarios:
(1) Your hard drive is replaced by the Apple Store or another Apple repair shop, in which case they usually restore it with the operating system you had before and configure it so it has a new system with no users set up; the first time it starts up it runs Setup Assistant. When Setup Assistant runs, you select the option to restore from a Time Machine backup. It will then automatically restore your entire hard drive to the newly installed one. Everything will be just as it was with the old drive. Exceptions: you MAY have to enter user keys for software like MS-Office and Adobe Photoshop. and you MAY have to reinstall your printers and scanners.
(2) If the hard drive is replaced but no operating system or anything is put on it, you need to boot from your Install-OS-DVD and install a new operating system on the new drive. Then, on the first reboot, Setup Assistant runs and you can follow the instructions from (1) above.
A good informational site about Time Machine is here: http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
How do you know that your Time Machine backup is a good one? You can peruse through all the backups by running Time Machine and manually inspect that the files in those key folders (photos, music etc.) are all there and have the right sizes. You can "test recover" selected folders to a scratch location just to check that it works. I suggest you obtain another external drive and use it to make a "clone" of your internal drive using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. This is like a second backup, a failsafe in case, say, your Time Machine drive were to fail. This is not unheard of, since a power failure could cause both your internal drive and Time Machine drives to crash at the same time. The "clone" should be unplugged and stored separately to avoid this issue. You can update the clone, say once a week or once a month.

Time machine Restore Issue

Hi, I recently started having some major operating system problems after installing the latest security update for OS 10.5.8 on my PowerMac G5. Im fairly certain that the download file was corrupted in some way because my substandard-expensive-archaic system that gives itself the undeserved title of "Internet Service" often loses bits of downloads and is generally very unreliable. Needless to say I decided to do a complete time machine restore. Thinking it was going to be as easy as it has been when Ive done it on other macs, I decided this was better than trying to fix the system issues (Which involved a repeated "There is no point for line" error about 45,000 times a day in the console logs, about which i could find no information). Anyway, I booted from my OS X dic and loaded time machine, selected my backup, and selected my destination drive and away we go! After about 2 and a half hours (which is to be expected with over 1,000,000 files totaling over 900GB of data) the restore finished....or so I thought. The screen said Restore Process Complete and the Progress bar cleared out but the restart button at the bottom of the window never showed up like it should. All I got was the spinning beach ball. So, thinking that the data had copied over and it should all be there anyway, I decided to force restart after waiting for about 2 hours for any progress. Upon restart I found that the newly restored drive was not bootable. Using Disk Utility on my OS X DVD I found that all the files were copied. So I tried it again, erasing the drive completely and then restoring from a backup with a slightly different time, and I got the same results. Any help would be awesome and ill be checking back to answer any questions about what info I may not have covered. Thanks!
PS: I looked around for a similar posting but all the ones I found were involving hangs during the restore process (IE: 64%) and I didn't see anything quite like this, so if this issue has already been discussed then sorry for the double post.

It sounds like something in your installation of OSX was corrupted, and got backed-up. So when you restore, you're restoring the problem.
Your best bet is probably to do an +Erase and Install+ of Leopard, then use +Setup Assistant+ when your Mac restarts to transfer all your users, data, apps, and settings from the backups. See #19 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Then download and install the "combo" update, to get back to 10.5.8. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_8_ComboUpdate Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards.

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 help

I've recently been having issues with my early 2008 black Macbook. I ran the apple HW diagnostics and determined it is a bad hard drive. I went out and bought a new 500GB SATA HD, and attempted to restore my system using a Time Machine backup. I booted into the Leopard Disc that came with my computer, formatted the drive, and ran the Time machine restore. Everything appeared to go fine (took about 2 hours, no error messages). However, after the machine rebooted and attempted to boot into OSX an error similar to this popped up. http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7792/pict0017lo8.jpg
Any thoughts as to why this is happening? I don't really want to start over with a clean install, that's why I have Time Machine!
Other information:
My computer originally had Leopard, and was upgraded to Snow Leopard.
I have boot camp setup on my mac for Win 7. (I know this isn't backed up or restored as part of a time machine backup, which I'm O.K. with.)
Thanks in advance for all your help.

Any number of possibilities. First, did you prep the drive properly:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Any brand new drive should be setup per the above because they usually are configured for use on PCs rather than Macs.
Second, depends on how you went about the process of restoring your system. Select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine." Look for an article specifically about performing a full system restore. Also, see User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
What you saw was a kernel panic screen. Panics at startup may be indicative of a hardware problem. You might give this a try:
How to run hardware diagnostics for an Intel Mac
Boot from your original OS X Installer Disc One that came with your computer. After the chime press and hold down the "D" key until the diagnostic screen appears. Run the extended tests for a minimum of two or three hours. If any error messages appear note them down as you will need to report them to the service tech when you take the computer in for repair.
Some "common" error indicators:
SNS - sensor error
MEM - memory error
HDD - hard disk drive error
MOT - fan error
To assure the problem isn't with your backup you might consider installing OS X by itself. If all is OK, then you can complete the TM restore using Migration Assistant.

Time Machine restore of multiple accounts

Hi folks,
My mac mini hasn't been reformatted for a couple of years now and is starting to creak a bit. I'm going to do a clean install of Snow Leopard from my OS disks and then use time machine to restore iTunes, accounts, documents etc.
My questions/queries/worries (delete as appropriate) are..
1. Will the time machine restore and 'put back' all 4 accounts on the machine automatically or do i select them from a list?
2. Will I be given an option of which backup date/time to select from (i.e a backup done 20mins ago, one an hour ago, last week,last month) or will it just do the most recent backup?
Thanks in advance

iBook fan wrote:
Hi folks,
My mac mini hasn't been reformatted for a couple of years now and is starting to creak a bit. I'm going to do a clean install of Snow Leopard from my OS disks and then use time machine to restore iTunes, accounts, documents etc.
That's unlikely to help much, if at all. Your best bet is to find out why it's "creaking" and fix that.
My questions/queries/worries (delete as appropriate) are..
1. Will the time machine restore and 'put back' all 4 accounts on the machine automatically or do i select them from a list?
If all you want is to restore everything, don't bother with erasing your HD and installing OSX. Just do a full system restore, per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). The first thing it does is erase your internal HD. And it restores everything from the backup you select.
If you want a fresh version of OSX, then erase your HD and install OSX. When your Mac boots up, +Setup Assistant+ will ask if you want to transfer your data, from the last (successful) backup. If you accept the defaults, it will copy everything but OSX. Or, you can omit some things, like a particular user, if you want. See #19 in the FAQ.
When your Mac boots up again, download and install the 10.6.4 "combo" update. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1048 Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards.
2. Will I be given an option of which backup date/time to select from (i.e a backup done 20mins ago, one an hour ago, last week,last month) or will it just do the most recent backup?
Depends on which procedure you use.

Time Machine restore crash?

Is there a known issue with SL and the Time Machine restore (or FW 800) by chance?
Symptoms:
While attempting a restore using the SL install disc, the progress bar read-out goes beyond 100% (to 100.6% for example) and the time remaining goes to some rediculous number (17 days, 12 hours...., for example) and does not complete after about 1 hour (normal completion time under Leopard 10.5.8 was about 30 minutes without a single crash or strange read-out).
This has occurred twice since upgrading to SL 10.6 (now at 10.6.2).
I am restoring about 60 GB of data for the system restore.
I am using the same software and hardware as I did with Leopard (Mac Pro - early 2008 and a LaCie 500 GB external drive for TM via FW 800 interface) other than running SL.
I have initiated a clean install in the mean time, so no real rush for a solution, but I am wondering if anyone knows of either a FW 800 issue or a SL TM issue that I should be aware of.
At this time I plan to use Disk Utility to make a clone of the clean install and then just do manual file backups until I can actually trust TM to not crash on restore (I trusted it under Leopard 10.5.8 as much as I trust any backup tool - +insert major grain of salt here+).
Thanks for any insight.
Message was edited by: CorkyO

CorkyO wrote:
Is there a known issue with SL and the Time Machine restore (or FW 800) by chance?
no, there are no known issues of that sort. most likely your backups are corrupted somehow. try repairing the TM disk with disk utility on the install DVD. any errors?
Symptoms:
While attempting a restore using the SL install disc, the progress bar read-out goes beyond 100% (to 100.6% for example) and the time remaining goes to some rediculous number (17 days, 12 hours...., for example) and does not complete after about 1 hour (normal completion time under Leopard 10.5.8 was about 30 minutes without a single crash or strange read-out).
This has occurred twice since upgrading to SL 10.6 (now at 10.6.2).
I am restoring about 60 GB of data for the system restore.
I am using the same software and hardware as I did with Leopard (Mac Pro - early 2008 and a LaCie 500 GB external drive for TM via FW 800 interface) other than running SL.
I have initiated a clean install in the mean time, so no real rush for a solution, but I am wondering if anyone knows of either a FW 800 issue or a SL TM issue that I should be aware of.
At this time I plan to use Disk Utility of clone the clean install and then just do manual file backups until I can actually trust TM to not crash on restore (I trusted it under Leopard 10.5.8 as much as I trust any backup tool - +insert major grain of salt here+).
you don't need to do manual restore. if the full system restore refuses to work you should try using Migration Assistant. after you do an erase and install of SL, on the first reboot you'll get setup assistant which will offer to import your user data and applications from a TM backup. try that. you can also do it later using Migration Assistant located in /Applications/Utilities. only if this doesn't work then you can try manual restore.
Thanks for any insight.

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 newly setup system

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