Boy! Time Machine restore takes an age ...

[Sirolway]

Morning all
A couple of days ago I swapped the HDD in my mid-2009 13" MBP for an SSD of the same size (512GB). I'm now restoring all my files from TIme Machine backup & it's taking an age - 24 hours so far & another 70 hours to go!

Searching the web, this seems pretty normal, unless someone wants to tell me otherwise ...

I'm restoring almost 500GB across 100M/bit wired & WiFi, from a 2TB Time Capsule

I guess I just have to be patient, but being without the Mac for a few days is not pleasant. I wonder if I need to join Mac-addicts-anonymous ...

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Or if you still have the old HDD with all its contents, you could put that into a USB enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs and boot from that and use CarbonCopyCloner to clone it to your SSD, which is faster than restoring from a slow network connected Time Capsule.

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:

• 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
• 1. Getting a new HDD
• 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
• 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
• 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)

​

How to format a new HDD to install Mac OS X onto (or make a bootable copy onto)​

 

[Sirolway]

Yup, I still have the old disk, but part of the reason for doing this was to have a clean Lion install & see if that solves some of my Lion glitches.

I am rather inclined to put the original disk back in, Time Machine backup to a local FW800 disk, then revert to the SSD & restore from that. I guess the restore would still take a long time (not to mention a full TM backup from scratch) but surely a lot quicker than 70 hours (please!)

I'm not the most patient of people, so don't bet on me waiting 70 hours for the current restore to complete ...

 

[maflynn]

Time Machine is great at resorting a file or folder, but to restore my system I rely on Cabon Copy Cloner.

The benefits include faster restore but also 2x the protection. I also take a backup that goes offsite

 

[Bear]

Yup, I still have the old disk, but part of the reason for doing this was to have a clean Lion install & see if that solves some of my Lion glitches.

I am rather inclined to put the original disk back in, Time Machine backup to a local FW800 disk, then revert to the SSD & restore from that. I guess the restore would still take a long time (not to mention a full TM backup from scratch) but surely a lot quicker than 70 hours (please!)

I'm not the most patient of people, so don't bet on me waiting 70 hours for the current restore to complete ...

Actually a local TM restore of less than 500GB will take several hours, not days. So you might want to make a TM backup on to a FW800 attached disk and then restore from that.

Also when you start the restore, you can't go by the initial estimate, it only becomes somewhat accurate after a time. Like my FW800 restore took a couple of hours less than the original estimate.

 

[negativzero]

Yup, I still have the old disk, but part of the reason for doing this was to have a clean Lion install & see if that solves some of my Lion glitches.

I am rather inclined to put the original disk back in, Time Machine backup to a local FW800 disk, then revert to the SSD & restore from that. I guess the restore would still take a long time (not to mention a full TM backup from scratch) but surely a lot quicker than 70 hours (please!)

I'm not the most patient of people, so don't bet on me waiting 70 hours for the current restore to complete ...

If you want to solve glitches, you shouldn't even be restoring, from an old TM backup but starting afresh.

I suggest pulling out the documents you need from TM while starting from scratch.

 

[dusk007]

Wow that is a long time.

I'm restoring almost 500GB across 100M/bit wired & WiFi, from a 2TB Time Capsule

Still though check the theory. 100mbit is no more than about 10MB/s which means even a direct sequential copy would mean 14h of transfer time.
USB 2.0 is 35MB/s. Gbit LAN is 100 MB/s
FW800 75MB/s.
70+ hours is a long time but it might cut that a great deal if you just attached it by a faster method. Preferable GBit LAN for a NAS.
Also small files are usually very inefficiently transfered by this kind of program. Once it gets to the music and movies it should be a bit speedier and much closer to the maximum theoretical speed.

 

[maflynn]

Mine took 8 hours the last time I use TM for a restore (that was when I embraced CCC), so yeah this does seem excessive. It was done via TimeCapsule.

OP, how are you connected to the backup volume? wifi, ethernet, FW?

 

[heisenberg123]

wow thats slow, i use Carbon Copy Cloner and the other day i had to wipe my hard drive and use my clone on my external to restore (100GB roughly) took about 45 mins

 

[Sirolway]

If you want to solve glitches, you shouldn't even be restoring, from an old TM backup but starting afresh.

I suggest pulling out the documents you need from TM while starting from scratch.

Well, doing it this way should give me clean Lion & I don't want the faff of manually restoring everything else, so I reckon this is the best bet compromise for now.

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wow thats slow, i use Carbon Copy Cloner and the other day i had to wipe my hard drive and use my clone on my external to restore (100GB roughly) took about 45 mins

lalalalalalalalalalalala
That's the sound of me with my fingers in my ears, not listenting ;-)
As I say - I want a clean Lion install, so I reckon this wasn't an option for me.

 

[heisenberg123]

Well, doing it this way should give me clean Lion & I don't want the faff of manually restoring everything else, so I reckon this is the best bet compromise for now.

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lalalalalalalalalalalala
That's the sound of me with my fingers in my ears, not listenting ;-)
As I say - I want a clean Lion install, so I reckon this wasn't an option for me.

im not sure a full TM restore is a "clean" install

 

[Sirolway]

Wow that is a long time.

Still though check the theory. 100mbit is no more than about 10MB/s which means even a direct sequential copy would mean 14h of transfer time.
USB 2.0 is 35MB/s. Gbit LAN is 100 MB/s
FW800 75MB/s.
70+ hours is a long time but it might cut that a great deal if you just attached it by a faster method. Preferable GBit LAN for a NAS.
Also small files are usually very inefficiently transfered by this kind of program. Once it gets to the music and movies it should be a bit speedier and much closer to the maximum theoretical speed.

I'm an idiot - I have the MBP plugged into 100M/bit Homeplug - I should plug it direct into the gigabit Time Capsule.
Hm, might try that & see if the restore time has dropped considerably after 30 mins of settline in. Otherwise, I'm going to cancel, put the old disk back, backup to TM on local firewire, then revert to SSD & restore from that.

Thanks to you that might not be necessary, so thanks for that

 

[iforbes]

A TM backup is not the same as a clean install. It is simply the state of how your machine looked at the time the backup was taken.

You are looking for a clean install, not restoring your machine to what it looked like before. ...maybe I am missing something?

 

[Sirolway]

im not sure a full TM restore is a "clean" install

CleanER
CleanISH
Clean enough ...

You're quite right, but I reckon it's a good compromise; We'll see how it goes....

----------

A TM backup is not the same as a clean install. It is simply the state of how your machine looked at the time the backup was taken.

You are looking for a clean install, not restoring your machine to what it looked like before. ...maybe I am missing something?

The TM backup is there to capture all my settings / home folder etc.
Then clean install Lion on a fresh (SSD) disk.
Then restore from TM backup.

The TM backup won't include the OS (Lion), so I'm still getting a clean Lion install, rather than an upgraded-from-SnowLeopard-upgraded-from-Leopard OS

I get gliitches (2009 13" MBP) like black screen on waking from sleep. I was getting some x-min freeze / high mem utilisation, but that was down to the AddressBookSourceSync issue which I've resolved (figured I may as well fix that before the reinstall)

So we shall see
Hoping that the SSD will be noticeably faster than the HDD, at least - Aperture start / stop could be nippier..

 

[negativzero]

CleanER
CleanISH
Clean enough ...

You're quite right, but I reckon it's a good compromise; We'll see how it goes....

Dude, you can't even call it cleaner. A TM backup is as dirty as it was before you wiped your Mac. Its like throwing in some dirty clothes into a washing machine then taking them out without washing.

 

[Sirolway]

Dude, you can't even call it cleaner. A TM backup is as dirty as it was before you wiped your Mac. Its like throwing in some dirty clothes into a washing machine then taking them out without washing.

No - it IS cleaner, because the base OS is a clean install.
The point is to clean the OS, not the home folder / prefs / plists etc

 

[Krazy Bill]

The point is to clean the OS, not the home folder / prefs / plists etc

Even worse. Those prefs and plists can be the cause of much OS anguish.

I define a clean install as starting everything from scratch - including apps.

 

[Sirolway]

Even worse. Those prefs and plists can be the cause of much OS anguish.

I define a clean install as starting everything from scratch - including apps.

I choose to try fixing the issues the short way, before embarking on the long way.

At least, that's what I thought before I saw how long this TM restore was going to take.
I guess it's a good thing that there are so many "you must reinstall EVERYTHING from scratch!!" purists on MacRumors but, really, I just want a clean OS, rather than a twice-upgraded one. Is that so hard to understand?

 

[iforbes]

I choose to try fixing the issues the short way, before embarking on the long way.

At least, that's what I thought before I saw how long this TM restore was going to take.
I guess it's a good thing that there are so many "you must reinstall EVERYTHING from scratch!!" purists on MacRumors but, really, I just want a clean OS, rather than a twice-upgraded one. Is that so hard to understand?

Hey man, do what you want to do...but why bother posting on a message board if you are just going to get pissy with anyone offering advice or helpful suggestions. I guess that is hard to understand.

 

[heisenberg123]

I choose to try fixing the issues the short way, before embarking on the long way.

At least, that's what I thought before I saw how long this TM restore was going to take.
I guess it's a good thing that there are so many "you must reinstall EVERYTHING from scratch!!" purists on MacRumors but, really, I just want a clean OS, rather than a twice-upgraded one. Is that so hard to understand?

the only part thats hard to understand is there is nothing clean about the install once you restore using TM, if you stopped calling it a clean install people would stop trying to correct you

 

[Sirolway]

Hey man, do what you want to do...but why bother posting on a message board if you are just going to get pissy with anyone offering advice or helpful suggestions. I guess that is hard to understand.

Lol - apologies for the slight sense of humour failure - just felt a bit put upon by everyone saying that restoring from TM isn't 'clean.'

They're right of course and, as you say, if you can't take it, don't post it.

I was really just after any suggestions that could speed up the process I was trying. Got some useful suggestions, but have now canned the Time Capsule restore, have put the old disk back in & am backing up to local FW800 drive. SHould mean I can complete the whole thing in a lot less than the 70 hours I had left to go ... hopefully

So no worries & thanks for the input all. I may stop responding now & let this thread fade into obscurity where it belongs.

Peace, all...

 

[iforbes]

Lol - apologies for the slight sense of humour failure - just felt a bit put upon by everyone saying that restoring from TM isn't 'clean.'

They're right of course and, as you say, if you can't take it, don't post it.

I was really just after any suggestions that could speed up the process I was trying. Got some useful suggestions, but have now canned the Time Capsule restore, have put the old disk back in & am backing up to local FW800 drive. SHould mean I can complete the whole thing in a lot less than the 70 hours I had left to go ... hopefully

So no worries & thanks for the input all. I may stop responding now & let this thread fade into obscurity where it belongs.

Peace, all...

It's good to see a sense of humor.

..and it looks like you clarified your question and found a quicker way to get it done. Everybody is happy in the end....aaawwwww

 

[johnmacward]

Hate to come back to this so late but HERE is the trick.

Connect your USB drive AFTER you have entered the Recovery utility and it should blaze away at full USB 2.0 speeds.

If your drive is connected before the system starts up it connects to the EFI firmware at USB 1.1 speeds, pathetically slow in other words and doesn't upgrade itself from that.

I had to restore about 260GB's of data from USB and the first estimate was 60 hours. I started researching this topic and followed the "connect later" advice and the time dropped to 3 HOURS!

 

[TruF@ith]

I had to restore about 260GB's of data from USB and the first estimate was 60 hours. I started researching this topic and followed the "connect later" advice and the time dropped to 3 HOURS!

Crazy as this may seem....my restore from TM says it'll take 718 hours, that's nearly a whole MONTH! INSANE! Only at 2.9% finished after 21.5 hrs. Is that crazy or what? LOL!

 

[Peccath]

Hate to come back to this so late but HERE is the trick.

Connect your USB drive AFTER you have entered the Recovery utility and it should blaze away at full USB 2.0 speeds.

If your drive is connected before the system starts up it connects to the EFI firmware at USB 1.1 speeds, pathetically slow in other words and doesn't upgrade itself from that.

I had to restore about 260GB's of data from USB and the first estimate was 60 hours. I started researching this topic and followed the "connect later" advice and the time dropped to 3 HOURS!

Thank you, THANK YOU!!! <3

My Time Machine restoring showed Time Remaining value of 270 hours and it surely was progressing that slow (i.e., only 0.4 % done after few hours). I luckily happened to see your post here and as I had my external drive attached to my iMac when I rebooted to the Installer DVD, I cancelled the system restoring, shut down the iMac, unplugged the external drive, and started all over again; this time I plugged in the USB drive when the installer told me so and the new estimated time remaining shows only 8 hours! Phew... Couldn't be happier now

I made a profile for these forums to just thank you for all of this! (Sorry about possible mistakes in my post, I'm writing on my ****** phone and I'm also so psyched right now )