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liquidmice Author

Level 4

1,094 points

Big Sur: Restore From Time Machine Failing Repeatedly. HELP!

Initiated a Time Machine backup of my MacBook Air (Intel) running 11.5.2.

Wiped entire Disk using Recovery, formatted APFS.

Reinstalled 11.5.2 from both an install USB and using Recovery, multiple times.

During the Setup process I attempted restore to my recent Time Machine backup, which fails. I get the "You must use Migration Assistant to transfer data from this backup" message, which I DON"T WANT TO DO. That said, I buckled after multiple failures and used the Migration assistant. It completes, but fails to migrate all of my data. All 3rd party installs are gone and I am left with "?" icons all over my taskbar (the app installs obviously did not complete).

I'm pretty knowledgeable with OS X but I'm at a complete loss and my ability to work has come to a complete halt.

What am I missing?!? I'm terribly stressed and I'm hoping that I'm missing some minor detail here.

**I'm definitely formatting APFS

**I'm certain I'm selecting the most recent backup in Time Machine

HEEEEEELLLLLPPP

~( ):>

MacBook Air

Posted on Aug 26, 2021 6:20 AM

Top-ranking reply

liquidmice Author

Level 4

1,094 points

Posted on Aug 26, 2021 7:33 AM

So I have been trying to restore my system for two days now. At my wit's end I posted here for assistance. In the meantime, while rebooting, I got an odd message related to the Windows 10 bootcamp install I had completely wiped. How odd this remnant remained. Zapped the nvram, booted from the USB install drive I had created, went back into Disk Utility, deleted the last remaining volume group, wiped it down to the Apple SSD level, formatted APFS again, and re installed Big Sur. After the re-install, the restore process from my Time Machine backup finally worked! Thank the data gods.

Not sure what happened here at all. I'm tired and I think I need a martini.

~( ):>

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Big Sur: Restore From Time Machine Failing Repeatedly. HELP!

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