I had to get a new hard drive put into my macbook pro because it was failing. So, I moved all my data onto an external hard drive so I would not lose anything. But now I cannot get iphoto or imovie back onto my computer. It says I cannot open it because it is a time machine back up. I don't want to have to purchase iPhoto and iMovie again just because I had to replace my hard drive.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
Just re-download from the App Store. Or restore them using Time Machine since that is what you used to create the backup. You do not restore from a Time Machine backup by simply copying something from the backup drive.
How do I restore them? I tried to re-download them from the App Store but I have to buy them.
Copying the files directly from a Time Machine backup may be possible but I don't recommend it. Your new hard disk is essentially a new computer to Time Machine, and it will have problems understanding where to put the individual files. What you're trying to do is just not the right way to go about it.
To restore from a Time Machine backup, boot Lion Recovery and select "Restore from Time Machine backup".
See Pondini's explanation here: http://pondini.org/TM/14.html
Use Lion Help to search for how to restore from a Time Machine backup.
I cannot transfer data from my external hard drive to my new mac
