Recovering from Time Machine on a MacBook Pro

arcureo · Oct 14, 2014

Hi, sorry if the topic seems old and "basic" for some, but it's my very first recovery from Time Machine, so it's all new to me...
I'll probably need a step-by-step guide (even though some stuff... I've already done it)
I have a Late2008 MacBookPro for which I bought an SSD drive, to replace the old one. I have already formatted it with the GUID partition, as explained in many manuals and forums.
I'm currently doing a Time Machine Backup of the most recent system configuration (OS X 10.6.8, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM).
Then I'll have to get down to business...!
Can I just swap the new SSD in and just recover everything from my external Time Machine disc? I've read that Late2008 MacBookPros can't do a recover from an USB drive, is that right?
Any help/suggestions?

Feel free to ask anything you might need to know... thanks a lot!

A'

keysofanxiety · Oct 14, 2014

arcureo said:
Hi, sorry if the topic seems old and "basic" for some, but it's my very first recovery from Time Machine, so it's all new to me...
I'll probably need a step-by-step guide (even though some stuff... I've already done it)
I have a Late2008 MacBookPro for which I bought an SSD drive, to replace the old one. I have already formatted it with the GUID partition, as explained in many manuals and forums.
I'm currently doing a Time Machine Backup of the most recent system configuration (OS X 10.6.8, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM).
Then I'll have to get down to business...!
Can I just swap the new SSD in and just recover everything from my external Time Machine disc? I've read that Late2008 MacBookPros can't do a recover from an USB drive, is that right?
Any help/suggestions?

Feel free to ask anything you might need to know... thanks a lot!

A'

Yep, it's the easiest way to do it if you already have a Time Machine backup.

Put in your blank SSD, then plug in your Time Machine backup. Turn on your Mac and immediately hold the 'Alt' key on startup. From there you can boot into your Time Machine backup.

Format the SSD through Disk Utility as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), then close Disk Utility and select 'Restore from Time Machine backup' onto your newly-formatted partition.

Hope this helps dude, let me know if you need any assistance.

arcureo · Oct 14, 2014

keysofanxiety said:
Format the SSD through Disk Utility as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), then close Disk Utility and select 'Restore from Time Machine backup' onto your newly-formatted partition.

Thanks! But didn't I already formatted it that way when I created the GUID partition, beforehand? Or do I have to do it again on that particular moment?

Thanks again, mate.

keysofanxiety · Oct 14, 2014

arcureo said:
Thanks! But didn't I already formatted it that way when I created the GUID partition, beforehand? Or do I have to do it again on that particular moment?

Thanks again, mate.

Ah, you needn't worry too much if it's already formatted. I normally reformat the internal drive before restoring a Time Machine backup to a clean SSD but there's no real need to do that -- just simple superstition on my part

It'll work fine buddy, so don't worry too much; you've done the hard part with installing the SSD and already having backed up with Time Machine. The rest will be a breeze, I promise!

Keep me posted dude, best of luck.

arcureo · Oct 14, 2014

Yeah... I hope I can post a reply soon because now I see that the backup I'm preparing is stuck at 32,91 GB (of 215,45) and it's not going anywhere!
WTF?!?!

The little icon is turning, no strange messages pop up... but still it won't go past the 32,91BG mark.

keysofanxiety · Oct 14, 2014

arcureo said:
Yeah... I hope I can post a reply soon because now I see that the backup I'm preparing is stuck at 32,91 GB (of 215,45) and it's not going anywhere!
WTF?!?!
The little icon is turning, no strange messages pop up... but still it won't go past the 32,91BG mark.

A watched kettle never boils.

Time Machine will certainly test your patience at times. Best thing to do is leave it for 30 minutes. If it hasn't done anything, eject (force eject if need be), restart the Mac and try again.

Weaselboy · Oct 14, 2014

arcureo said:
I'm currently doing a Time Machine Backup of the most recent system configuration (OS X 10.6.8, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM).

You won't be able to boot to your Time Machine disk made with Snow Leopard. That functionality came with Lion.

You will need the Snow Leopard DVD that came with your machine. Hold the C key to boot to the DVD then use Disk Util to erase the new drive to Max OS Extended (Journaled), then quit Disk Util and restore from the TM backup.

There is a good step by step at this page.

If you don't have the Snow Leopard DVD, you can clone your current install to an external disk then boot from that and clone the install over to the new SSD after formatting.

arcureo · Oct 17, 2014

Weaselboy said:
There is a good step by step at this page.

If you don't have the Snow Leopard DVD, you can clone your current install to an external disk then boot from that and clone the install over to the new SSD after formatting.

Thanks a lot, I'll read that! But now I'm stuck with a problem during the backup that's really starting to bug me! I'll open a new thread for that specific issue, though...

arcureo · Oct 20, 2014

keysofanxiety said:
A watched kettle never boils. Time Machine will certainly test your patience at times. Best thing to do is leave it for 30 minutes. If it hasn't done anything, eject (force eject if need be), restart the Mac and try again.

Well, I gave a try with Carbon Copy Cloner and it finally managed to do the full backup.
I'll go back to Time Machine, probably, but first I'll upgrade the OS...!

Cheers!

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