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Restoring iMac from Time Capsule

G

grl4chargers

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
4
0
So before anyone complains about not searching before posting, I did. Only went back a few pages though so sorry if this has already been mentioned.

So I took my iMac in to get the hard drive replaced due to a recall. Had my entire mac on my time capsule. Now I am still pretty new to Macs even though I have had mine close to three years now. I have never had to do anything other than use it, so this is all new to me.

I went in to Time Machine to restore my Mac, and there is no option. I don't see any of my backups like I did before all this went down. I am on a Mid-2010 27' iMac running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

I just want to restore my computer and have it like before. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
I am not an expert on this mate - far from it.

But when you start up OS X for the first time, doesn't it ask you if you want to start afresh or restore from a backup? I thought it did.

If you missed that and ended up with a clean install, I think all you need to do is launch Migration Assistant and follow the instructions.

spaik7.jpg
 
Its possible that it said that but I must have looked right by it. Thanks for the advice though. I will try that now. Thanks so much for your response!
 
No worries mate.

Just one tip: If you have created an account (or accounts) on the new Mac with the same name that you used before, I would recommend deleting that account(s) before you start. Create a new account with a different name (with Admin privileges), log into that new account and delete the old account(s).

Then do the restore using Migration Assistant. It all gets a bit confusing if Migration Assistant is asked to restore accounts from Time Machine and they already exist on the new machine.

Don't know if I have explained that clearly but hopefully you get the idea.
 
Im not sure which generations of macs has it; but restart the mac, as it makes the intial sound, hold the "option" key. This will bring up a boot menu. See if there is a "recovery" option. In there is how I restored from my time capsule (13" cMBP, OSX mountain lion).

Edit: Here is a screenshot of what you get after clicking on "recovery", just select the restore from TC option.

lionrestoremodeutilities-386-245885.png
 
You can do that too, but there's no need. That's there in case your Mac won't boot and you have to recover it. If it will boot, just run the Migration Assistant wizard, there's no need to start in recovery mode.
 
So took me a couple days to respond because I was trying to get this completed before responding and giving thanks. Migration Assistant seemed to be working but for some reason it won't finish the job. It gets about 90% of the way there and just stalls. I thought maybe it needed more time but after a 24hr period and it remaining in the same spot, I know there must be a problem. I restarted the migration hoping that would do the trick but alas, nothing. Today I am trying again after taking a couple days off. Turned off the mac and time capsule for an hour and restarted process. Hopefully this does the trick.

Also I should add, I read that if the mac goes to sleep during the process, that could be the problem. So this time around, turned off that feature. Wish me luck!
 
I'll chime in that I don't particularly like restoring Macs completely with Migration Assistant. I use it for documents but normally reinstall all of the apps. I've been burnt too many times by Time Machine backups making a mess of a restored account.
 
BrianBaughn said:
I'll chime in that I don't particularly like restoring Macs completely with Migration Assistant. I use it for documents but normally reinstall all of the apps. I've been burnt too many times by Time Machine backups making a mess of a restored account.
Click to expand...


Hey man,

I am going to be purchasing a new iMac in about 2 weeks (waiting for tax free weekend). It is an upgrade from my 2008 MacBook 4,1. I was planning on hooking up the iMac and MacBook and just migrating all my stuff over (or use time capsule, I have that too). Your post made me curious as to how you have been burned and if you could elaborate? How difficult is it to do it the way you currently do your restores?

Thanks!
 
Migration manager always worked for me when I upgraded to new hardware. Just follow the instructions and connect your old machine to your new one when the software asks for it, no need for time machine.
Recovery of all data after a hard disk problem from time machine gave me problems so I always keep a bootable clone at hand.
 
For whatever reason, Migration Assistant is a big pain in my ass. I would like to manually put back the files from my old drive but when I go into Time Machine, nothing pops up to restore like it did before the crash. What am I doing wrong? If I go to set up Time Capsule like its brand new, will that work or will it delete all the data that I already have on it? I wish this wasn't so complex!
 
historyteacher said:
Hey man,

I am going to be purchasing a new iMac in about 2 weeks (waiting for tax free weekend). It is an upgrade from my 2008 MacBook 4,1. I was planning on hooking up the iMac and MacBook and just migrating all my stuff over (or use time capsule, I have that too). Your post made me curious as to how you have been burned and if you could elaborate? How difficult is it to do it the way you currently do your restores?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Takes a bit longer to reinstall apps from scratch, of course. Not more difficult, really.

I've had fouled up user accounts, applications with licensing issues, or just a general malaise that is not there when checking the machine with a new user account. Of course, for customers I'm trying to get things running properly for when I walk out the door.

You can give the full migration a try. Could be seamless, but if not at least you're there to fix it.

Is your Macbook on Snow Leopard? If so, Migration Assistant will transfer any PowerPC applications you have installed over to your new iMac but they won't run.
 
BrianBaughn said:
Takes a bit longer to reinstall apps from scratch, of course. Not more difficult, really.

I've had fouled up user accounts, applications with licensing issues, or just a general malaise that is not there when checking the machine with a new user account. Of course, for customers I'm trying to get things running properly for when I walk out the door.

You can give the full migration a try. Could be seamless, but if not at least you're there to fix it.

Is your Macbook on Snow Leopard? If so, Migration Assistant will transfer any PowerPC applications you have installed over to your new iMac but they won't run.
Click to expand...

I am running Snow Leopard. Forgive my ignorance, but I am not sure what PowerPC applications may be...the machine is a C2D, but still not sure if that means anything. Thanks.
 
historyteacher said:
I am running Snow Leopard. Forgive my ignorance, but I am not sure what PowerPC applications may be...the machine is a C2D, but still not sure if that means anything. Thanks.
Click to expand...

PowerPC-only apps are written for the old CPUs that Macs used to contain. Snow Leopard was the last OS that could run these type apps. You can open "System Profiler" and click "Applications" in the left column and see what PowerPC apps you have installed.
 
BrianBaughn said:
PowerPC-only apps are written for the old CPUs that Macs used to contain. Snow Leopard was the last OS that could run these type apps. You can open "System Profiler" and click "Applications" in the left column and see what PowerPC apps you have installed.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Checked it out today. I have a few java and printer files that say PowerPC, but that's about it.
 
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