Can you pick and restore specific files on time machine after doing a clean install?

[techguy40]

Can you pick and restore specific files on time machine after doing a clean install?

 

[c073186]

Can you pick and restore specific files on time machine after doing a clean install?

Yes, you can. I just did this today. I just skipped the whole migration process when setting the computer up, and then after I got finished doing updates, etc., I connected to my Time Capsule and entered Time Machine, where you can restore specific files.

 

[techguy40]

Yes, you can. I just did this today. I just skipped the whole migration process when setting the computer up, and then after I got finished doing updates, etc., I connected to my Time Capsule and entered Time Machine, where you can restore specific files.

Do you have to name the computer the same wa when doing a clean install before you use the time machine that you had before the clean install?

 

[CLuv]

I'm curious to know that answer also if the computer name needs to be the same, granted I plan to make it the same, since I'm planning on doing a clean install on my parents iMac. I don't want to do an old school backup of everything to reinstall, that defeats the purpose of Time Machine. I know I'll have to import the Bookmarks from Safari, since Time Machine doesn't handle that, but I can pull down Apps, Contacts, Documents, Mail boxes, and iTunes files.

c073186, am I missing anything that Time Machine won't do before I proceed in order to make sure everything gets back cleanly?

Apple Genius wasn't much help today. They said you couldn't back up specific files from Time Machine after a clean install. Bunch of lackeys. They even said you can't use Migration Assistant to pull files from Time Machine, since Migration assist is only for going from one computer to another computer. You can't use it on the same machine. I guess they haven't tested Migration Assist since it shows the following: