I have a TM backup of a Mac mini server. The server itself is currently away for repair (its internal boot hard drive died), but I want to restore the TM backup to an external USB HDD that will be bootable so that I can use it as the server's main drive as soon as I get it back. Is it possible for me to do the restore on another Mac? I really just want to transfer the contents of the TM backup, verbatim, to this new USB HDD, so that it will act as a bootable replica of the old server drive.
All of the guides I've found online mention booting to the OS X Install disc, but it would be a huge inconvenience, not to mention it doesn't seem like it should be necessary, to do so. I need to *use* my desktop (non server) Mac while I'm doing the restore; I cannot have it offline for hours while it's doing nothing more than copying files from one external drive to another. Isn't there any easy way to do this?
All of the guides I've found online mention booting to the OS X Install disc, but it would be a huge inconvenience, not to mention it doesn't seem like it should be necessary, to do so. I need to *use* my desktop (non server) Mac while I'm doing the restore; I cannot have it offline for hours while it's doing nothing more than copying files from one external drive to another. Isn't there any easy way to do this?