Restore without time machine
Is there a way to restore my MacBook Air without using Time Machine?
If you did a backup using a 3rd party app such as Carbon Copy Cloner, you could restore from there.
If you have a 3rd party cloud backup service such as Carbonite, you could restore from there.
If you have data synced to iCloud (e.g., iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, iCloud Contacts, etc) that data will automatically sync back to a new device or to a devise that was erased when you turn those syncing options on in the new or reset device.
