Can't see TimeMachine restore interface

edthwes wrote:

OK, I managed to hook up with a long cable instead. But no difference... At first I thought it was slow backing up, but then I realized 3 GB in 10 minutes equals 50 MB/sec which is pretty good I guess...

That's a bit slow for Ethernet (about 18 GB/hour), but depends on what's being backed-up. Lots of small files will take considerably longer than a few large ones of the same total size, since there's so much to be done for each file -- all the various directory and catalog entries in the file system.

I've not used Powerline adapters myself, but several threads here say while they do connect, they're much slower than a direct Ethernet connection.

I guess I should try to install the combo update... So neither the Combo nor a fresh install affect my applications, like Mail and iPhoto?

Yes, if you've tried everything in #E4 ofTime Machine - Troubleshooting, that's worth a try, and no, it won't disturb anything else.

edthwes wrote:

. . .

1) Tried restore from Time machine, just to see what happened. I got a couple of dozen backups to chose from, all since 15 may, when I guess I managed to make a complete full backup... So I don't want to recover ny of these, as they are probably not any better than now. But surprisiongly I could see them here but not in the normal recover GUI

That may be at least partly the result of the slow connection. The Restore window just lists each backup; the "Star Wars" display is far more complex, depending on what you start with. If you have, say, a Finder window with your home folder on it, then TM must re-create that entire display, including all the file icons, for each backup in the "cascade." It's fairly slow even on a FireWire 800 connection, and can take quite a while on a good wireless connection. But you should, eventually, see at least the Today (Now) window, so something else may be going wrong.

2) Tried to start a full reinstall. But no such luck... When i get to select destination volume I only see Recovery HD and Bootcamp, and they are both locked (grayed out). No option Macintosh HD... So no go...

That's quite strange. 😟 Ordinarily, that would mean it's damaged or not mounted (you can back out of the restore, select Disk Utility on the main Recovery HD window, and try to repair it). But in this case, with so much else going wrong, there's no telling.

Well, given the difficulties to even get the backups going to my Stora NAS, and the slow speed, I've just ordered a new external USB HD. Always good to have, and then we'll see what happens when I start using TM to that HD instead... Will the Restore GUI reappear?

Good plan. 🙂 I suspect that will work fine; it's always prudent to have (at least) two sets of backups. Then you can decide what to do about your NAS.

Keep us posted.

edthwes wrote:

Well, complete success ;-)

A brand new Western Digital 1 TB disk - a full backup 180 GB took about two hours, a later incremental of 26 GB took 17 minutes, so this looks great!

Great! 🙂

Makes me quite suspicious that the Stora NAS just isn't fully compatible with Lion. Many (seemed like all!) that woked fine on Snow Leopard weren't updated for weeks for the changes in Lion (and some never were).

Anyhow, congrats and thanks for the update.