Time Capsule Backup seems to hang when trying to restore drive

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Time Capsule Backup seems to hang when trying to restore drive

Trying to restore to a newly setup iMac from Time Capsule but the operation seems hung saying

"Loading Backup" for hours. I am directly connected ethernet port to ethernet port from the Time Capsule to the Mac and it is seeing the correct Backup, but failing to finish loading the backup. The backup is just shy of 500GB. I tried with my usual setup which is that the Time Capsule was connected to the home net on ethernet and the iMac by WiFi but that was taking an age which is why I tried the Ethernet to Ethernet port option. Any advice would be welcome

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 17, 2019 8:07 PM

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Answer 1

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stentor007 Author

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66 points

Dec 18, 2019 4:17 AM in response to LaPastenague

You touched on the right answer. The replaced hard drive in my iMac was on Sierra, but the Time Capsule backup was in Mojave, so it hung on “loading backup.” Once I aborted by hitting the back button I saw that it has downloaded the backup, but with an amber caution sign. When I clicked on it as the restore source it finally gave the explanation that it could not go forward because the OS on the target was older than the OS in which the backup was made. That should, in my opinion, be stated immediately by the system and I consider it a glitch. Installed Mojave on the target iMac and away we go!!

Moral of the story: check the OS on the target before proceeding and assure that it is at least as current as that on the source backup.

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Answer 2

Dec 18, 2019 1:20 AM in response to stentor007

You do need to spell out how you are trying to restore.

What OS is the last used on the Time Machine backup?

What OS is currently on the iMac?

Did you boot to recovery partition and wipe the drive in the Mac and use setup assistant?

Or are you using migration assistant to move your files and apps to iMac?

Is the Time Capsule part of the network or isolated and setup just to connect to the iMac?

Are you achieving full speed on the ethernet connection.. and have wireless turned OFF?

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Answer 3

Dec 18, 2019 10:46 AM in response to stentor007

Always with Apple ever onwards and upwards.. whatever!!

Never can you downgrade.. not without a full wipe. The powers that be probably assume you just know that!!

Using Setup Assistant from Recovery is the best way to return your iMac to previous configuration when you do a disk replacement. Anyway.. good work figuring it out.

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Time Capsule Backup seems to hang when trying to restore drive

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