Time machine back up question

[scharah]

Purchasing a new rMBP today after my 2010 MBP had a hard drive failure and reached the end of its short life!

I have a time machine back up from about 2 years ago - I don't want to restore the new machine to that back up but I'd like to extract some specific files from it (some music and some documents).

Is it possible to explore the back up and pick and choose which files to restore? If so, how?

Thanks

 

[matreya]

When you first boot up your new Mac, the setup assistant allows you to specify what parts of the backup you want to restore, so you should be able to restore documents and iTunes files easily with that...

 

[scharah]

When you first boot up your new Mac, the setup assistant allows you to specify what parts of the backup you want to restore, so you should be able to restore documents and iTunes files easily with that...

Thanks for reply.

Would you advise booting up my new Mac with the time machine plugged in?

I had a view for using it just like an external hard drive if at all possible, just transferring some things over once I have it all set up rather than restoring anything, per se.

The reason for this is that The time machine backup was from a 500gb hard drive, and my new rMBP will only have a 128gb SSD capacity so I'll have to be very selective in what I choose to copy over.

 

[matreya]

Thanks for reply.

Would you advise booting up my new Mac with the time machine plugged in?
.

Yes, or you can plug in the time machine drive when the setup assistant starts up and asks you whether you want to restore from a time machine backup.

Personally, if you can afford it, I would opt for a larger SSD...

Also, you can save quite a bit buying refurbished Macs at the moment. I did, and saved a little more than the cost of getting AppleCare to extend warranty to 3 years. I'm very happy with it.

 

[scharah]

Yes, or you can plug in the time machine drive when the setup assistant starts up and asks you whether you want to restore from a time machine backup.

Personally, if you can afford it, I would opt for a larger SSD...

Also, you can save quite a bit buying refurbished Macs at the moment. I did, and saved a little more than the cost of getting AppleCare to extend warranty to 3 years. I'm very happy with it.

Unfortunately with budget constraints and urgency of purchase (I'm half way through a masters degree and computer-less!) I'm going for the 128gb SSD and will use birthday money in a few months to buy additional storage.. Not ideal I know but needs must.

I had a look for refurbished macs but couldn't see any 13" rMBP's. Can you buy them in store or are they an online purchase?

I'm actually opting for buying it in John Lewis (Uk department store) as it's £50 cheaper and has an additional promotion of 3 years hardware cover for free. 3 year accidentsk damage cover is also only £79, better value than anything the Apple Store can offer as far as I'm aware!

 

[matreya]

I had a look for refurbished macs but couldn't see any 13" rMBP's. Can you buy them in store or are they an online purchase?

Refurbs are sold online. The availability of them changes all the time.

If money is a concern for you, did you consider getting a technician to replace the hard drive in your old MacBook Pro?

 

[scharah]

Refurbs are sold online. The availability of them changes all the time.

If money is a concern for you, did you consider getting a technician to replace the hard drive in your old MacBook Pro?

There was that much wrong with the macbook that repairing it seemed like money down the drain/delaying the inevitable. It's in a bad way in terms of it's exterior as well as performance and I was looking into upgrading anyway.