Booting from a TMbackup

[zoran]

I have an ElCapitan TMbackup. Can i boot my iMac using this backup and work with the files as if im actually inside that Mac of which the backup was created? Do i make sense?

 

[maflynn]

Can i boot my iMac using this backup

No, Time Machine backups are not cloned images, and as such they're not bootable. If you want a bootable backup then use Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[treekram]

It's hit or miss as to whether a TimeMachine disk will boot. I have one disk that does, another that doesn't and the rest I haven't tested. But if it boots, it cannot be used as a working file system - you would use it to restore the backup.

 

[zoran]

Ok thanks guys, i think im covered on the matter!