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Is this possible: Reinstall OSX, no TM restore, but use the same TM volume.

A

Andra

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 7, 2006
10
0
Hi everyone!

I was wondering: I want to upgrade from 10.5 to 10.6 by doing a complete wipe and install. I have Time Machine running, but I don't want to restore from that. I will have a SuperDuper clone as archive of the 10.5 installation, from which I can copy all the files that I still need. I would like to use the same volume for Time Machine in 10.6 as I did in 10.5.

Can I do this without wiping all the TM-data from the 10.5 install?

I don't mind losing the oldest data from 10.5 to accomodate for the new data from the 10.6 install. But it would be nice to have the backups from the old install for as long as possible, just in case I've done something stupid but haven't realised it yet. (That's the whole point of Time Machine, right?)

I've been searching around, but I can't find anything that describes this particular use of the system. Most posts and articles are about restoring an installation using the Time Machine backup data, or accessing back-up data on a different volume.

Thanks for any input. :)

Cheers,
Andra
 
I don't see why not as TM does not back up the Operating System. What would happen if it didn't work apart from loosing your backup. You can just run Time Machine again on the new install and have a backup of all your data again.
 
stridemat said:
You can just run Time Machine again on the new install and have a backup of all your data again.
Click to expand...

I know. But, like I said, I'd like to hang on to the old back-up data for a while, just in case.

I didn't realise the Operating System wasn't backed up as well, by the way. I always thought (probably assumed) that TM was a back up of the full volume, including versions.
 
When you reinstall from a TM backup you have to reinstall the OS from the disk, and then it restores the rest of the files from the TM backup.
 
stridemat said:
I don't see why not as TM does not back up the Operating System. What would happen if it didn't work apart from loosing your backup. You can just run Time Machine again on the new install and have a backup of all your data again.
Click to expand...
Yes it does backup the OS, unless you specifically exclude it. How else would you do a full bootable restore (which I have done following the repair of hardware failure).

To the OP: Yes, you can upgrade to 10.6 and pickup where you left off with your prior TM backup. The only time you have to switch TM backups is when you machine changes (actually when your ethernet ID changes, such as with a logic board change). That is what I have for my current machine. I started with 10.5 when I bought it in August, and I just continued doing backups to the same TM backup image after doing a clean install of 10.6 and restoring my user data from a SuperDuper clone.
 
stridemat said:
When you reinstall from a TM backup you have to reinstall the OS from the disk, and then it restores the rest of the files from the TM backup.
Click to expand...
No, you have to boot from the installer disk, but you can do a TM restore without installing the OS.
 
So when my macbook went nuts (i got it back to normal) and i did a TM restore to freshen it up it reinstalled the same OS? Not fresh from the SL disc?
 
RaceTripper said:
Yes it does backup the OS, unless you specifically exclude it. How else would you do a full bootable restore (which I have done following the repair of hardware failure).

To the OP: Yes, you can upgrade to 10.6 and pickup where you left off with your prior TM backup. The only time you have to switch TM backups is when you machine changes (actually when your ethernet ID changes, such as with a logic board change). That is what I have for my current machine. I started with 10.5 when I bought it in August, and I just continued doing backups to the same TM backup image after doing a clean install of 10.6 and restoring my user data from a SuperDuper clone.
Click to expand...
Ahh that would be why it didn't work. I went from a failed hard drive in my PB to my wife's MB temporarily then back to the PB. Each time I had to do a new backup. Makes sense now. Thanks!
 
RaceTripper said:
No, you have to boot from the installer disk, but you can do a TM restore without installing the OS.
Click to expand...

I am sure that I had to download updates which I had previously downloaded when I restored from a TM backup!

Sorry OP if I gave you the wrong information. Im sure I had too!:confused:
 
stridemat said:
I am sure that I had to download updates which I had previously downloaded when I restored from a TM backup!

Sorry OP if I gave you the wrong information. Im sure I had too!:confused:
Click to expand...
When you boot from the installer disk, after the menu bar appears, you can select "Restore System From Backup..." to restore a drive from a TM backup. You do not have to run the installer otherwise (although you may or may not want to run Disk Utility to reformat/repartition the drive). That will let you select any snapshot from your TM backup to restore (typically you select the most recent). Whatever you had as of the selected backup is what you will get after the restore is done (notwithstanding certain things that don't get backed up like caches and VM backing store, etc).

If you had to apply system updates you had previously, you probably did something else to restore your system.

10.5: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html
10.6: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15638.html
 
RaceTripper said:
To the OP: Yes, you can upgrade to 10.6 and pickup where you left off with your prior TM backup. The only time you have to switch TM backups is when you machine changes (actually when your ethernet ID changes, such as with a logic board change). That is what I have for my current machine. I started with 10.5 when I bought it in August, and I just continued doing backups to the same TM backup image after doing a clean install of 10.6 and restoring my user data from a SuperDuper clone.
Click to expand...

Just to make sure: you mention "user data". Did you mean the full user account, or just seperate files. I intend to only copy files that I really need, and leave the rest more as an archive than as a backup (mind the difference between those two, people ;)). So I will not be copying the complete user folder; will that still work?

And: are you still able to retrieve files from the 10.5 installation via the TM interface, or do you need to browse the volume itself?

Thanks for all the info so far!

Cheers,
Andra
 
Andra said:
Just to make sure: you mention "user data". Did you mean the full user account, or just seperate files. I intend to only copy files that I really need, and leave the rest more as an archive than as a backup (mind the difference between those two, people ;)). So I will not be copying the complete user folder; will that still work?

And: are you still able to retrieve files from the 10.5 installation via the TM interface, or do you need to browse the volume itself?

Thanks for all the info so far!

Cheers,
Andra
Click to expand...
By user data I mean whatever Migration Assistant does, since that is what I used. That copied the full contents of my user accounts, among other things.

You will be able to use your existing TM backup (and the interface to it for restoring files) as usual, no matter what and how you restore, as long as the machine is the same.

But anything you want archived should be moved elsewhere. TM is not an archival tool. I wouldn't count on using it that way. It will remove older files if it needs the space.
 
Jelite said:
I did it from the install disc.
Click to expand...
Did what? There are two ways to do things from the install disk. You can (1) install Mac OS X and then use Migration Assistant to restore user data, etc. from TM, or you can (2) just do a "Restore System From Backup..." The former will result in a clean OS that needs all the updates, etc. The latter will result in exactly what you had when you did a backup to TM.
 
Aah right, i understand now, i did (2), i'll keep that in mind for next time, thanks for the info.
 
RaceTripper said:
TM is not an archival tool. I wouldn't count on using it that way. It will remove older files if it needs the space.
Click to expand...

I'll be using the SuperDuper clone as an archive, not the TM data.

Thanks everyone for your input!
:D
 
I just wanted to let everyone know that it works like a charm, just like RaceTripper said! :cool:

Of course, a lot of disk space is used for the new install. And all the files you move back from a SuperDuper copy are considered new.
I just realized I might have prevented that if I had "restored" the files through the Time Machine interface.

But still, I can go back a little over 4 months. If I've thrown something out that long ago and still haven't missed it, it's probably not worth saving. :D

Thanks everyone for chiming in!

Yours,
Andra
 
Andra said:
I just wanted to let everyone know that it works like a charm, just like RaceTripper said! :cool:

Of course, a lot of disk space is used for the new install. And all the files you move back from a SuperDuper copy are considered new.
I just realized I might have prevented that if I had "restored" the files through the Time Machine interface.

But still, I can go back a little over 4 months. If I've thrown something out that long ago and still haven't missed it, it's probably not worth saving. :D

Thanks everyone for chiming in!

Yours,
Andra
Click to expand...
No, all the restored files from TM would also be considered new by TM and backed up. So it doesn't matter whether you restore with SuperDuper or TM.
 
instead of wiping the hard drive, why not just use bootcamp to install snow leopard. you will have leopard and snow leopard.
 
pcs are junk said:
instead of wiping the hard drive, why not just use bootcamp to install snow leopard. you will have leopard and snow leopard.
Click to expand...

First of all, is that even possible? I haven't found anything that says it is, but I'd love to check it out if so.

Secondly, you have yet again completely failed to understand the issue at hand. The question is whether the fresh SL install will recognize the old TM backup and pick up from where it left off. Andra would prefer to retain the existing TM data just in case something goes wrong somewhere along the line.

Thirdly, your post offering incoherent and quite possibly technically impossible advice to a problem nobody has ever had showed up two and a half hours after the thread starter said that the problem was solved.

Please, please, please start reading more carefully before spouting off!
 
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