Emergency - Need Time Machine restoration help!

[DaveFP56]

Long story short -

I have an external drive that functions as my main storage drive.

I inadvertently had Carbon Copy Cloner overwrite that drive withe the contents of my iMacs drive…….

Ugh.

But -

I have the storage drive data backed up to a dedicated Time Machine drive that includes the contents of the storage drive so I haven't lost anything.

I reformated the storage drive and now want to return all files to it from the Time Machine back-up.

What is the best way?

Can I just copy/paste the folders from the last back-up by utilizing Finder?

Is there an advantage to working through Time Machine?

If there is - how do I do it?

One small wrinkle - I read that if you utilize Time Machine the drive cannot be renamed. Is that true?

Any insights greatly appreciated !

Thank you!

 

[Bruno09]

Can I just copy/paste the folders from the last back-up by utilizing Finder?

Hi,

don't use copy/paste in the Finder, as you might run into permissions issues with the restored folders.

I think the right way is (please wait for others to confirm before you take the plunge) :

1. connect to the Mac both the Time Machine drive and the Storage drive.

2. enter Time Machine interface.
Select the date/hour you want to restore from

3. In Time Machine window, select the "Storage drive", right click, "Restore to :", select the Storage drive as destination, restore.

 

[DaveFP56]

I'm freaking out bit; here's why

If I navigate to the Time Machine back-up with Finder I see that the last back-up was yesterday at 4:44.

If I open Time Machine it shows that Time Machine already has back-up the overwritten drive so the latest so the mess; not the old back-up..

Not sure what to make of it all…

Hope that makes sense.

They don't match….

 

[Bruno09]

Once in Time Machine interface, you need to select a date/hour where the Storage drive content is still here.

It might be 2, 3, etc... days ago, depending on what day the Storage drive got inadvertently overwritten.

 

[DaveFP56]

OK - managed to find the folder and restore to new external - thanks all!