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Can't reinstall from time machine backup! Help?!

Hi,

I recently had an issue running a video game on my macbook pro; and after contacting their tech support they explained it was not yet supported on macOS Catalina. (I had been playing for years prior to updating to Catalina).


So, I decided I would fully reinstall to a backup I had made on an external hardrive using the Time Machine feature. The backup I had selected was prior to updating to Catalina. I got to about 3/4 of the way through the process and it said "An error occurred while restoring from the backup".


I read a few articles that mentioned looking at the log window to find any "critical errors", and I noticed "error -34" and then text relating to something in a folder (Note: I'm not good with these kinds of tech issues). These articles then recommend to plug the external hardrive into a working macbook, "mount" it to the termal, and then remove the problem file/folder that way - and it should work after...but I dont know how to do that.


If anyone has experienced this kind of issue or knows anything that could help I would greatly appreciate it! I would love a very simple step by step of how I can fix this problem. All I would like to do is access the time machine backup prior to Catalina and reinstall.


Thanks!

Posted on Oct 7, 2020 10:50 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 12, 2020 5:26 PM

Hello CharlesR94,


Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We understand that you are unable to restore from a time Machine backup, and we'd be happy to look into this with you.


Have you tried to restore your Mac from another Time Machine backup? If so, do you get the same error?


Please check out these links:


Restore your Mac from a backup

If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine


We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 12, 2020 5:26 PM in response to CharlesR94

Hello CharlesR94,


Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We understand that you are unable to restore from a time Machine backup, and we'd be happy to look into this with you.


Have you tried to restore your Mac from another Time Machine backup? If so, do you get the same error?


Please check out these links:


Restore your Mac from a backup

If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine


We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.

Can't reinstall from time machine backup! Help?!

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