Time Machine Restore - Data not visible, but HDD full

[lilith]

Dear all,

Hope I can get some advice from you guys, here some basic data before I describe my problem.

Myself - quite a basic apple user, couldn't even find the right guide to use

Hardware: macbook air after a fan and hdd exchange

Back at home with my clean macbook air I connected to my external HDD, entered time machine, chose my last back up and clicked 'restore'. That was at night time, now in the morning my HDD shows that it is nearly full like before, but I can't see any changes. Example: applications are not there, itunes is 'empty' and iphoto as well.
I would just re-install everything by myself and re-fill my itunes but my HDD is full.
So what do i do now?

I hope this question is not too simple for you to answer. I fly out on a business trip in a day and hope to have my laptop up and running until then.... What did I do wrong? Where are the files? (I tried a command in terminal to find large files as I was hoping that this would lead me to my libraries at least but I can't interpret the data, e.g. it shows (i think) data on my desktop where there is none.....

Any questions - pls ask -> i'm not even sure any more if i explain my problem properly as i try already since hours and come to now positiv result here.
Any advice is appreciated, any link to any useful guide also....

THANK YOU.
Cheers Lilith

 

[lilith]

Solved (sort of)

Hi, I chose in the end to delete all data using disk utility - and adding everything new into my libraries, installing my sw. If I would have more time before my flight, I would have investigated further.
Anyhow, if someone still has links to share, I would be happy to receive them.
Cheers Lilith

 

[JediMeister]

If you were hoping to restore your system from backup, you used the wrong interface to do so. If you want to do that you have to either boot to your install disc through the Remote Disc feature, or an external SuperDrive, select Utilities from the menu bar and then pick Restore System from Backup. The way you restored is for restoring individual files and folders.