Carbon Copy Cloner and App Restoration

[Oldmanmac]

I would like some quick help, if possible.

I had my iMac setup the way I wanted for the most part and was backing up frequently with Carbon Copy.
I started having problems and tried fixing them with Disk Utility. No go. So then I reinstalled Lion via Disk U. No go.
I decided to go back back to my last backup. It was corrupted as well.
Not knowing anything else to do I erased my HD and put a fresh Lion back on. Can CCC restore everything BUT the system? I really don't want to reinstall everything.

I THINK the problem started after I ran a program under Parallel from an outside disk......

 

[glutenenvy]

I would like some quick help, if possible.

I had my iMac setup the way I wanted for the most part and was backing up frequently with Carbon Copy.
I started having problems and tried fixing them with Disk Utility.

GIGO. Simply having a backup doesn't do any good if you're feeding it bad data or using bad hardware. I haven't used CCC for a bare metal recovery but I have used Time Machine and it worked very well. CCC has a lot of options and for most people it has enough options to to really get one in trouble. Both CCC and Time Machine work equally well for file level backups.

It sounds like one of the mediums you are using (Main HD, Backup HD, other backup media) is in the process of failing or memory may be failing. It would be worthwhile to check smart status on your disks and to put original apple memory back in the machine if you've upgraded that, for diagnostics.

I can see the answer to the question you asked is listed first on the CCC help page, "Restoring data from your backup"

 

[robgendreau]

First, are you sure it's not a hard drive going kaput? If so all this moving back and forth is pointless. And, as noted, backing up garbage will cause more problems. You need to sort that first.

Assuming it was something else, the problem is that you were using a clone, not a TM backup. A frequently backed up clone is a snapshot of your current system. The problem is that most people go until their current system is having problems, then turn to the backup. But then find that since the current backup is a clone of the current (pooched) system, they've only got more garbage. The point of a cloned system is to have one you KNOW works, and to avoid changing it unless you know the system you're cloning is safe. TM works differently; allowing you to go further back to a time when you were sure the system was working.

At this point you don't really know what software is causing the problem. So to bring it back is risky; you don't want stuff overwriting your new system software either. I'd try Migration Ass't; it should work with a clone. It gives you some options; I'd try Users and Applications, and avoid Settings since these might be a source of problems. You might have to enter info, passwords, serials, etc though. See if it works.

Good luck,
Rob