Time Machine hangs at same point during a full system restore!
I recently had a complete crash on Mac Book Pro requiring reinstallation of Latest Leopard with Upgrade Disk. Tried to restore full system from time machine backup on time capsule, but the restore stops and does not proceed at around 37-39% complete. No error messages. On the phone with apple care, was told my back up was corrupt! Any ideas. I'm very disappointed right now, as my back ups were automatic via time machine schedule. Please help me get my system back!
Mac Book Pro 15.4 in 2.16 GHz,
Mac OS X (10.5.5),
Time Capsule
Rather than attempt a full restore from your Time Machine backups, re-install the Mac OS from your original DVD then migrate only your User Account over, NOT Applications or anything else. If this works you can go into the TM backup and restore just selected items that did not come over with your User Account. This way you have a fresh copy of the Mac OS and not a corrupted version that may have been backed up.
I'm having this exact problem at the moment and doing what you describe is precisely what I don't want to do. If I wanted to go down that route I could have spent a lot less money on 3rd party backup systems, but no, I spent a lot of money on a Time Capsule with the expectation that I would be able to restore from it when things went bad. That it simply doesn't do the one and only thing it is supposed to do is unacceptable.
I second that. While I already successfully made a full restore from a Time Machine backup in the past, it now doesn’t work: After 6 hours during which everything seems to run smoothly, TM reports that "... some documents for <user name here> could not be created" and that the account for "<user name here> could not be created".
The Apple Support Hotline seems to be clueless, and it now looks as if I have to restore at least my personal data through a painful, manual process, which just doesn’t feel comfortable.
A 'classic' Retrospect backup would have done a much better job... A seriously hope that the guys behind the Time Machine are fixing the remaining issues, like the missing option to forget about hardware profiles (kernel, drivers etc.) when switching from one hardware generation to another (in my case a MacBook Core Duo from 2006 (ID 1,1) to a MacBook 2008 Unibody (ID 5,1)).
You could, by-pass the Full Restore process and do an Erase & Install and Migrate. Then no 'manual' restore will be necessary. Of course, if the installer is hanging as a certain point with a Full Restore then there is no guarantee that it won't during this process as well. But it's still worth a try.
Also, if you are dealing with many GBs of user data and multiple accounts, you could have it migrate all this over in stages using Migration Assistant, rather than in one big chunk.
*Erase, Install, & Migrate*
A final option, reserved for last resort, is to erase the hard disk, install a fresh copy of the Mac OS, and then use Migration Assistant during the installation to restore your user accounts. This is the Mac equivalent of ‘Slash and Burn’, and really should only be necessary if you require a completely fresh start.
Procedure:
Verify that your Mac has uninterrupted AC power.
For faster migration of user data, Time Capsule/AirDisk users should connect their Macs directly to their Airport device via ethernet.
Insert your original Mac OS 10.5 Leopard DVD and reboot while holding down the “C” key.
At the “Welcome” screen click “Continue”.
Click “Agree” to the user agreement.
Select you Macs internal hard disk and click “Options”.
Select “Erase and Install”.
Select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” for disk format. (Avoid selecting “Case-sensitive” unless you know what you are doing.)
Click “OK”.
Click “Continue”.
At “Install Summary” click “Customize” if you would like to eliminate certain Print Drivers, Fonts, or Language packages from being installed. Otherwise, click “Install”.
If you wish, you can click “Skip” when the DVD integrity check begins.
After the initial installation completes, your Mac will restart and you will see the video introduction.
At “Welcome” select your country and then preferred keyboard.
At “Do You Already Own a Mac?” you are asked “Would you like to transfer your information?”
+from another Mac+
+from another volume on this Mac+
+from a Time Machine backup+
+Do not transfer my information now+
Select “from a Time Machine backup” and click “Continue”.
At “Select a Backup Volume” choose your Time Machine backup disk and click “Continue”. (If you are attempting the migration wirelessly, then click “Join...” and select your network first.)
At “Transfer Your Information” check all the categories you wish to migrate over. If you wish your Mac to be in the same state as your last backup, then check everything. Give the installer time to calculate sizes.
Once that is complete, the “Transfer” button will become active and you can click it.
After the install, verify the registration information, click “Connect” and you are done.
After logging in,
immediately go to System Preferences --> Time Machine, and turn “OFF” backups, even if a backup attempted has begun.
Next, Launch Disk Utility, select your Macs’ internal disk on the left, and click “Repair Disk Permissions”.
Interestingly, no Spotlight indexing appears necessary, so, once the permission repair is complete, turn Time Machine back “ON” in the Preferences. Time Machine should continue to backup to the same set of backups that it did prior to the restore. However, due to event logs being out of sync, the first backup will require a lengthy session of “Preparing...” as Time Machine performs a “deep traversal”. Allow this to proceed uninterrupted. Naturally, the first backup after a significant installation like this will be quite large so don’t be alarmed.
