Time Machine -- how to have my applications and associated supporting files revert

[jnyepu]

This is probably a pretty obvious questions but I have looked on macrumors for an answer and not found a clear one.

Had the day off and what was supposed to be a day of housecleaning my Mac HDD has turned into somewhat of a mess. Bottom line, there are apps installed I want off and apps I deleted I want reinstalled (went crazy with Trash too). Ugh, what a mess.

Anyway, I do have a Time Machine backup from a time just before I started this whole mess. When I try to restore the whole "Macintosh HD" it says it cannot delete or modify the Application (or Library) folder because this folder is needed by Mac OS X.

It seems when I try to reinstall from the applications tab under "Places" it doesn't really remove any of the new installs. Either way, this doesn't seem to take care of the supporting files in other folders.

I thought the whole point was to be able to go back to a previous version of stuff so I didn't have to muddle through deleting and reinstalling stuff.

Could someone walk me throught this please?

Thanks in advance.

Add: When I tried a different way to select the Applications or Library folder, after preparing all the files for copying, it says that there isn't enough room to copy the files? Isn't it just supposed to copy over the currently installed files? What does this mean?

 

[jaikob]

just open time machine, and in the finder navigate to Macintosh HD - Applications. Go back to the date you want, select the files you want to be restored (in this case its the applications) and hit Restore. You just recovered those apps. Hold the Shift key down to select multiple files.

 

[jnyepu]

I got that part. Here's the thing. I want my entire Applications folder to revert back to it's state at 1:52pm July 11th. I also want the Library to revert back to its state at that time (I used AppDelete so it went through and deleted associated files).

If I try to Restore the whole Application or Library folder, I get the "cannot modify or delete these folders because they are needed by Mac OSX" or something like that.

If I can't Restore these folders in their entirety to an earlier state, what's the point?

Does someone have another strategy here?

 

[logana]

Does your Time Machine backup include Applications and System Files ?

Mine doesn't but I am not sure what the default is - it sounds like your backup may not include system files - ie all the preferences files that you have deleted.

Do you not have the original disks/downloads for the applications ?

 

[jnyepu]

The only thing I've configured Time Machine not to back up is my VM Fusion setup and XP installation.

Yeah, I've got the disks, but I thought this would be easier --- just point and click and get my apps/assoc files back to their state before my meddling. Also, I there are installed programs that I would like to make sure are completely uninstalled. Bottom line, I should be able to do it this way (using TM), that's the point isnt it?

 

[logana]

Yes that is how Time Machine should work - but I think by using Appdelete you have made the restore impossible......

 

[foshizzle]

kind of drastic, but you could always pop in the leopard disc, reformat, then go to the options menu and restore to a time machine backup point. It does allow you to choose which point to restore to.

About removing apps, check out spring cleaning (by smith micro). It allows you to choose an app, and it will find all files associated with it. You then go to each file and delete them. It also has many other cleaning programs to let you free up space. I've used it and can highly recommend it.

 

[audio_inside]

Anyone ever figured this out?

I'm in the same boat, trying to restore my Applications folder, except that I haven't mucked about in it in any way.

I'm simply trying a "test restoration" of the most recent backup to see if it's working before I have to rely on it for a real restore.

I get the same problem: "Applications" can't be modified or deleted becuase it is required by Mac OS X".

Other folders don't show this issue. I'm on 10.5.8.