restore path after failed Beta 9 update

[b0uch3]

What procedure should I follow for restoring?

During the Beta 9 update, my iMac hung. I let it go for a couple of hours and realized it was frozen.

After restarting, it would continue to crash/reboot.

I have a time machine backup taken shortly before the update.

I ran a time machine restore overnight, but when the mac rebooted it ended up on a white screen with the prohibitory icon.

I also tried reinstalling OS from disk utility on startup (which was apparently a 10.13 beta restore) , but that failed as well.

I'm not sure if I need to use disk utility to erase the HD and run install again, or if I need to find a way to get a 10.12 install disk.

Any suggestions?

 

[Fishrrman]

The way to "walk a restore path" is to have one in place BEFORE you attempt an upgrade.

The best restore option would be to have-on-hand a FULLY BOOTABLE CLONED BACKUP created with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

IF you had this, you could do the following:
1. Boot from the cloned backup
2. Use Disk Utility to re-initialize the internal drive
3. RE-clone the backup BACK TO the internal drive.

Then you would be done.
Up and running again.

That's my "suggestion".

 

[b0uch3]

retroactively, that's a fine suggestion.

Since I use time machine, I've never considered using other forms of back-up.

I just tried internet restoring (to Sierra) after wiping the drive, but I couldn't select a disc. I realize that must be because of the APFS format that I chose.

So next, I decided to reformat with mac os extended but it's stuck at unmounting.

I've walked away....hoping that will finish.

I didn't expect a restore to be so difficult. I figure I should be able to get it running on Sierra again, then install High Sierra, and then restore my files. ugh.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I didn't expect a restore to be so difficult. I figure I should be able to get it running on Sierra again, then install High Sierra, and then restore my files. ugh."

See reply #2 once more, for the answer.

Go forth from this point and learn -- a sadder but wiser man.

 

[b0uch3]

"I didn't expect a restore to be so difficult. I figure I should be able to get it running on Sierra again, then install High Sierra, and then restore my files. ugh."

See reply #2 once more, for the answer.

Go forth from this point and learn -- a sadder but wiser man.

yes. Part of learning is to ask questions.

After reformatting the Fusion drive, I've pulled down and installed Sierra through internet recovery.

I went to developer center to install High Sierra so that I can recover my files from the TM backup.

I run into another block when I discovered the site is down.

I assume there is no other way to download High Sierra at this point.

 

[ZapNZs]

Can you restore your files on Sierra? (I assume your TM volume is HFS+?)

This way you could get set back up on a more stable OS, make a bootable of the stable OS, and be able to restore that clone directly if you hit problems down the road.

 

[b0uch3]

Can you restore your files on Sierra? (I assume your TM volume is HFS+?)

This way you could get set back up on a more stable OS, make a bootable of the stable OS, and be able to restore that clone directly if you hit problems down the road.

Yes, correct. TM was never converted to APFS.

I read that a TM backup that was on the previous OS, Sierra, was required to restore files. So I didn't try. It would be worth a shot at this point. I don't know why it would matter if it's just a matter of restoring files.

However, Dev centre opened up again, so now I'm installing high sierra.

 

[adrianlondon]

Summary : booted into recovery mode and ran my first ever time machine recovery (from a NAS). Worked perfectly - impressed.

Since buying this Macbook in 2013, I've been on every public beta going. Love the excitement of trying new things, not really caring if I had to restore everything but never having to.

I held off installing High Sierra though as the new file system sounded like it could cause issues, and from what I read it wasn't going to actually add anything new and exciting to the OS. Anyway, about a week ago my curiosity won out and I jumped on the beta bandwagon.

Things didn't go to plan. Install seemed to go ok until the progress bar said "20 minutes to go" and hung. After half an hour of no movement, and the capslock key not toggling the light, I rebooted. Ended up with a crappy icon of a folder with a question mark in the middle of it. Whoops! Maybe should have just waited it out and moaned about the useless progress bar info. Maybe it really had hung.

Booted into recovery and tried the reinstall O/S option. This attempted to install High Sierra but failed as when the system rebooted it asked me for a disk password which I didn't know. Googling, it seems that things can get in a mess with conversion to APFS when filevault is active. So back in recovery I followed the commands to turn off encryption but couldn't work out if it was doing anything so got bored after a couple of hours and decided to try the "restore from time machine backup" instead.

It worked! As it's a complete recovery it formats the disk partition and puts the OS back in the state it was when I ran the backup, which was Sierra- a few minutes before downloading and attempting the High Sierra upgrade Filevault was off (as expected; the partition had been reformatted as part of the recovery).

So I downloaded and ran the High Sierra beta installer again and it worked with no issues. Then I enabled filevault. It worked but told me I had a corporate/school/industry recovery key set. A known issue it seems. Removed it and added a personal one with the "fdesetup" terminal command.

 

[ZapNZs]

Yes, correct. TM was never converted to APFS.

I read that a TM backup that was on the previous OS, Sierra, was required to restore files. So I didn't try. It would be worth a shot at this point. I don't know why it would matter if it's just a matter of restoring files.

However, Dev centre opened up again, so now I'm installing high sierra.

If it is HFS+ you can restore your files on Sierra.

The advantage of doing so would allow you to get setup, make all your customizations, and then make a bootable image with CCC so that restoration (should the beta fail) is an easy process (you boot into the image, and then restore to the internal drive.) It copies all Apps, and license keys, so you do not have to reinstall individual Apps.

IMO, the backups that CCC makes are more robust than Time Machine and can simplify getting set back up. Having used them to do straight clone restores from a backup drive the internal SSD, I have a lot of faith in them.

 

[Fishrrman]

Full agreement:
"IMO, the backups that CCC makes are more robust than Time Machine and can simplify getting set back up. Having used them to do straight clone restores from a backup drive the internal SSD, I have a lot of faith in them."

Nothing beats a cloned backup for getting a primary drive back-up-and-running quickly and easily.

 

[b0uch3]

If it is HFS+ you can restore your files on Sierra.

The advantage of doing so would allow you to get setup, make all your customizations, and then make a bootable image with CCC so that restoration (should the beta fail) is an easy process (you boot into the image, and then restore to the internal drive.) It copies all Apps, and license keys, so you do not have to reinstall individual Apps.

IMO, the backups that CCC makes are more robust than Time Machine and can simplify getting set back up. Having used them to do straight clone restores from a backup drive the internal SSD, I have a lot of faith in them.

thx. Are you running both time machine and creating clones with CCC?

I was able to restore things back after the wipe, install of Sierra, install High Sierra, finally migration from time machine. It was time consuming but it did the trick.

I have to say that I do feel a little risk having only one backup on the go, mainly because of my vast photo library.

 

[ZapNZs]

thx. Are you running both time machine and creating clones with CCC?

I was able to restore things back after the wipe, install of Sierra, install High Sierra, finally migration from time machine. It was time consuming but it did the trick.

I have to say that I do feel a little risk having only one backup on the go, mainly because of my vast photo library.

Absolutely! (With my 2014 MBPr 15, which is my workstation.) I currently try for 3-4 copies of my most important files to account for drive failure, file/directory corruption, theft, accidental file deletion/modification, environmental disaster, electrical disturbance, malware/ransomware and events of unknown causes. In my backup plan, CCC plays a role in almost all of these through both preventing data loss and greatly reducing the downtime caused by a significant event. (The reason I use Time Machine is because it accounts for certain issues that a clone cannot - such as accidental file deletion/modification, and file corruption that goes undetected for a long period of time. Further, off-site NAS or cloud storage can account for things neither of the two other methods can, such as flooding, fire, or acts of God.)

Right now I keep a Time Machine backup of the local SSD and of the main data external volume, two bootable clones (one of which is always disconnected from the computer), two SSDs with VMs, one HDD that keeps a clone of the main data volume and those two SSD VM drives, plus the contents of various other drives for random purposes. With CCC (and a cool App called Time Machine Editor), I can automate most of this (otherwise it would take a long time!) My backup situation is definitely fluid tho - I'm always making tweaks to make it more efficient and increasingly solid!

Truthfully, I don't even update my system without first making a fresh bootable clone with CCC. Literally, if something goes terribly wrong, restoring is as simple as holding the alt key, logging in on the booted clone, and then clicking the mouse four times. It's as close as it comes to a COMMAND + Z for the OS, and the recent CCC5 makes this process even easier (plus it does have full APFS support.) The OS, all Apps, all App licenses, and all User files are restored exactly as you started out with.

CCC is golden. It has saved me days of frustration and thousands in lost productivity. IMO CCC is one of those Apps that add value to owning a Mac.

With my 2017 rMB, I don't even do Time Machine and I just do CCC because I am mainly worried about protecting system files (User files are saved remotely to the workstation.)

 

[b0uch3]

thanks. that's quite a detailed and bulletproof setup. I simply hesitate buying another external HD. I'll put one on the list along with CCC.

One disappointing thing I noticed after reinstalling and restoring was that HS didn't setup APFS, and there's no way to convert the drive. I've read that it was disabled after the initial beta. I was simply shocked at how copying a large file (like a 25GB movie) was an instantaneous process. Hopefully that is available on release.