Time machine results

[brainwave89]

I had a 250GB internal hard drive on my Mac Pro and thought it was time to replace it with a 750GB hard drive. I have been using Time Machine for a while so I booted of off my Leopard DVD and restored the most current backup to my new hard drive. I just did this last night but my initial findings are:

1. My Mail program did not contain my email nor my user account information
2. Safari did not have any of my bookmarks but has remembered my online email name and password. I haven't been to many web sites yet.
3. None of my startup programs were restored. I had just three or four including Quicksilver.
4. All of my Firefox bookmarks were restored
5. iTunes did not remember my library was stored on another drive on my Mac Pro
6. My Dock settings such as hiding was on was not restored
7. None of my iPhoto pictures were transferred

I am sure I find more but I was very disappointed that my Mail program was not restored. I still have the hard drive and can recover whatever I wish but I was surprised on what TM didn't do.

Should I have been surprised? Or is the way Time Machine should work?

Thank you for looking.

 

[viggen61]

Just off the top of my head...

Do you normally "log in" to your Mac? If not, perhaps the system is logging you in as a different user. On the Apple menu, the last (or nearly last) item should be "Log out XXX", with XXX being your user name. If that's the wrong one, then do the log out, then log back in.

I did exactly this when I swapped HDDs in my MBP, and had no issues, but my Mac is set to require a login when booted.

 

[brainwave89]

Thank you viggen61.

I always needed to log in and enter a password on both the old hard drive and the new one.

The thought that my email would not come back is disturbing for all users of Time Machine.

 

[Jackyl]

Time machine Problems

It's you my friend. Time Machine works like a dream. Get your system back to the way you want it and backup again. It will only backup what's there. If there was something wrong with your mail in the first place, that's what's gonna be there when you re-install.

 

[brainwave89]

Thank you Jackyl.

I am ecstatic that it works like a dream for you. Really. But what would precipitate my problems? I had no problems with Mail (to re-confirm my mail was visible to me), Safari or my startup programs on the old hard drive.

Just for giggles what would be necessary for me to insure I would get my Safari bookmarks and Mail settings if I tried another Time Machine restore?

 

[georgegarrigues]

Brainwave89, this is a very interesting thread! I don't believe I have seen any other correspondence from people who have used Time Machine to move their stuff to a new computer — and that is a capacity that has been widely touted by Apple! My question would be: Did you set TM up to exclude anything — like Mail or the other items you mentioned? If so, why not reset TM to include everything, do another backup, and then try transferring one more time?

Sincerely, your friend, George

 

[brainwave89]

Thank you for your reply Georgegarrigues.

I did not have it exclude anything. It has been scary to me the results I received after the install. Most of it worked but with some glaring omissions.

BTW- My photos from iPhoto were not transferred using Time Machine.

Once I have time I will put back the old hard drive back in and verify that nothing glaring was missed. O fun!