I bought a new hard drive and I want to clone my current drive to the new one. I have been backing up the drive with time machine, so can I use time machine to make an exact copy of my current drive? Not just the files/documents; I want everything such as system preference to be the same. Otherwise I'll buy an enclosure but if time machine can do it I am set to go now.
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Restoring Hard Drive (clone/exact copy) using Time Machine
- Thread starter GUILTIE
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Use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to make a 1:1 copy of your system to the new HDD, as Time Machine does not make a bootable copy, and restoring from a TM backup takes longer than just cloning the HDD.
In changed the hdd in my wife's MacBook. Here is the steps I took...
Did a "back up now" in TM to make sure everything was backed up.
Shut down and replaced hdd.
Booted with SL DVD.
Went to utilities and ran disk utility.
Formatted hdd.
Ran /utilities/restore from backup and picked the latest one.
It worked great and was bootable, reinstalling the OS was not necessary. It is faster to clone, but it can be done without a cloner.
It does have to re index the drive and re download emails. Things that have a database seem to have to rebuild.
TimeMachine does give you an exact copy of your Mac. As Jagardn posted the steps above they work. I've used TM for a full system restore and it worked as you would hope any backup application would work.
Imagine the outcry if TimeMachine failed to restore your system back to the way it was prior to the backup. No it works fine.
As for Carbon Copy Cloner, that does work faster but TM works.
Imagine the outcry if TimeMachine failed to restore your system back to the way it was prior to the backup. No it works fine.
As for Carbon Copy Cloner, that does work faster but TM works.
How to recover my OS, preferences and apps from Time Machine backup?
Dear Mr. maflynn
Let's see if you can help me.
A support people installed OS X Lion to test my battery (cause after installed OS X Mountain Lion began to work unproperly - discharge quickly).
I've made a TM backup right before he did it.
Now I'm trying to recover my OS as it was before.
I didn't change any hardware piece.
I want my life back!
Wich steps do I have to take to recover my OS X Mountain Lion, with all my preferences, applications already installed, etc?
Please, help me!
Best regards
EKRAUSE
Dear Mr. maflynn
Let's see if you can help me.
A support people installed OS X Lion to test my battery (cause after installed OS X Mountain Lion began to work unproperly - discharge quickly).
I've made a TM backup right before he did it.
Now I'm trying to recover my OS as it was before.
I didn't change any hardware piece.
I want my life back!
Wich steps do I have to take to recover my OS X Mountain Lion, with all my preferences, applications already installed, etc?
Please, help me!
Best regards
EKRAUSE
Dear Mr.
Let's see if you can help me.
A support people installed OS X Lion to test my battery (cause after installed OS X Mountain Lion began to work unproperly - discharge quickly).
I've made a TM backup right before he did it.
Now I'm trying to recover my OS as it was before.
I didn't change any hardware piece.
I want my life back!
Wich steps do I have to take to recover my OS X Mountain Lion, with all my preferences, applications already installed, etc?
Please, help me!
Best regards
======================
Let's see if you can help me.
A support people installed OS X Lion to test my battery (cause after installed OS X Mountain Lion began to work unproperly - discharge quickly).
I've made a TM backup right before he did it.
Now I'm trying to recover my OS as it was before.
I didn't change any hardware piece.
I want my life back!
Wich steps do I have to take to recover my OS X Mountain Lion, with all my preferences, applications already installed, etc?
Please, help me!
Best regards
======================
Dear Mr.
Let's see if you can help me.
A support people installed OS X Lion to test my battery (cause after installed OS X Mountain Lion began to work unproperly - discharge quickly).
I've made a TM backup right before he did it.
Now I'm trying to recover my OS as it was before.
I didn't change any hardware piece.
I want my life back!
Wich steps do I have to take to recover my OS X Mountain Lion, with all my preferences, applications already installed, etc?
Please, help me!
Best regards
======================
If you backed up again with Lion after the repair, you may not be able to get all of your settings back. You can try to use the Migration assistant to import all of your Apps, Files, and Settings. It may not work for the settings(because of the different OS), in that case, just do Apps, and Files. Its usually better to have factory defaults from a fresh install anyway.
Dear Mr. Jagardn
Nowadays, in OS X Snow Leopard and after, it's not necessary to format the hdd.
Connect TM disk before boot up your Mac.
After boot with system DVD, a menu appears. Just click "restore" button and choose TM disk. It will take a few hours but will be like your old Mac.
Changing mac hardwares (entire whole Mac machine), almost sure some updates will be necessary.
Your answer save my work in just a few hours. Thanks a lot.
==========================================
Nowadays, in OS X Snow Leopard and after, it's not necessary to format the hdd.
Connect TM disk before boot up your Mac.
After boot with system DVD, a menu appears. Just click "restore" button and choose TM disk. It will take a few hours but will be like your old Mac.
Changing mac hardwares (entire whole Mac machine), almost sure some updates will be necessary.
Your answer save my work in just a few hours. Thanks a lot.
==========================================
The only reason I had to format was because I put a brand new hard drive in the MacBook. Glad to help.