Trouble with restoring using Time machine

[Alexmicro325]

I recently had to erase my brother's MacBook Pro hard drive due to an issue with a partition. I backed up his drive to an external drive using boot camp with plans to erase the hard drive and restore it using boot camp. I've restored it twice and each time I attempt to turn on the computer it gives a strange error message and I'm unable to access the main drive. The error message says I have to turn off my computer and turn it back on but nothing changes. I'm wondering how to fix this. Should I reinstall the OS then recover using boot camp from there?

I can post a screenshot of my error if that helps
MacBook Pro:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ql1yksxvgeksfz4/Photo%20Jun%2014%2C%2012%2031%2024%20AM.jpg

 

[Mike Boreham]

I recently had to erase my brother's MacBook Pro hard drive due to an issue with a partition. I backed up his drive to an external drive using boot camp with plans to erase the hard drive and restore it using boot camp. I've restored it twice and each time I attempt to turn on the computer it gives a strange error message and I'm unable to access the main drive. The error message says I have to turn off my computer and turn it back on but nothing changes. I'm wondering how to fix this. Should I reinstall the OS then recover using boot camp from there?

I can post a screenshot of my error if that helps
MacBook Pro:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ql1yksxvgeksfz4/Photo Jun 14, 12 31 24 AM.jpg

I have never heard of making a backup of a Mac volume using Windows. I know there are Windows cloning apps but they won't clone/restore a Mac volume to be bootable. How did you format the external before backing up to it? Macs use HFS+ and Windows NTFS. Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper are the standard Mac apps for what you were trying to do this but they won't handle a Bootcamp partition. Winclone is the best app for cloning and restoring Bootcamp partitions.

I have no idea how you could make the clone/restore you have done bootable again, but you could do a fresh Mac install on the internal and recover his data from the external. Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant might be able to restore the apps and data from the external. If not you should be able to move it manually.

EDIT: The error message is a Kernel panic...hardly surprising!

EDIT again: Why have you mentioned Time Machine in the thread title? TM doesn't seem to have featured in why you have done at all.

 

[Alexmicro325]

Sorry I didn't really explain my issue properly. I backed up my hard drive using time machine and then erased the drive using disk utility with the installation disc. I attempted to restore it using time machine and then got that error after the restoration was complete. Boot camp isn't really involved in my issue, it was on my mind on the time when I first posted. Thanks for your help

 

[Mike Boreham]

Sorry I didn't really explain my issue properly. I backed up my hard drive using time machine and then erased the drive using disk utility with the installation disc. I attempted to restore it using time machine and then got that error after the restoration was complete. Boot camp isn't really involved in my issue, it was on my mind on the time when I first posted. Thanks for your help

That makes a lot more sense!

Sounds like you have 10.6.x or earlier since you mention installation disks.

Did you boot from the DVD and use "the restore from Time machine" option? I can't remember now how you do a restore from 10.6 since it is before the days of Recovery Partitions.

Your best option may still be what I said in first reply, do a fresh install onto the internal, and when to says at the end of the install "do you want to import from...." chose the Time Machine disk.

http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html is superb resource for all things Time Machine.

 

[Weaselboy]

Sorry I didn't really explain my issue properly. I backed up my hard drive using time machine and then erased the drive using disk utility with the installation disc. I attempted to restore it using time machine and then got that error after the restoration was complete. Boot camp isn't really involved in my issue, it was on my mind on the time when I first posted. Thanks for your help

Boot to the DVD again and start Disk Utility then select the drive brand name at the very top on the left side (above any partitions). Now in the erase tab select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then click erase at the lower right. That should wipe the whole drive.

Now click the Utilities menu then select the restore option shown here and point it to your Time Machine backup and follow the prompts. That should restore the entire OS and all your data and apps.

I gotta say though... that KP error message makes me think you have some other hardware issue going on and that is why you did all this to begin with, and that same problem may still be a roadblock.