Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference to kick off June 10 at 10 a.m. PDT with Keynote address

The Keynote will be available to stream on apple.com, the Apple Developer app, the Apple TV app, and the Apple YouTube channel. On-demand playback will be available after the conclusion of the stream.

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple ID, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: Steve Cooper
Steve Cooper Author
User level: Level 2
176 points

Restoring two partitions from Time Machine

My Time Machine has been backing up two equal-size partitions from my iMac's internal HD, to an external HD. Following a drive replacement, I now I have a new, empty internal HD. If I use the "Restore from a Time Machine Backup" routine (from my Recovery HD on a USB stick), will it automatically recreate and populate the two partitions as they existed before? If not, what process should I follow to make that happen?

iMac (27-inch Late 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), iMac 2.8GHz Core i7, OS X 10.8.2

Posted on Oct 20, 2012 10:35 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Linc Davis
Linc Davis
User level: Level 10
209,565 points

Posted on Oct 21, 2012 3:44 PM

If I use the "Restore from a Time Machine Backup" routine (from my Recovery HD on a USB stick), will it automatically recreate and populate the two partitions as they existed before?


No.


If not, what process should I follow to make that happen?


Partition the drive as you wish, then restore the startup volume to one of the partitions. If you have two bootable volumes, you can restore the other one the same way. If the second partition holds only data, restore it in the time-travel view after booting from the volume you've already restored. Note that you must select the destination by right-clicking or control-clicking the icon of the volume to be restored and selecting Restore to... from the contextual menu. Also note that if you want file permissions to be preserved, you must first open the Info window of the volume in the Finder and uncheck the box labeled Ignore ownership on this volume.

View in context
2 replies
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Linc Davis
Linc Davis
User level: Level 10
209,565 points

Oct 21, 2012 3:44 PM in response to Steve Cooper

If I use the "Restore from a Time Machine Backup" routine (from my Recovery HD on a USB stick), will it automatically recreate and populate the two partitions as they existed before?


No.


If not, what process should I follow to make that happen?


Partition the drive as you wish, then restore the startup volume to one of the partitions. If you have two bootable volumes, you can restore the other one the same way. If the second partition holds only data, restore it in the time-travel view after booting from the volume you've already restored. Note that you must select the destination by right-clicking or control-clicking the icon of the volume to be restored and selecting Restore to... from the contextual menu. Also note that if you want file permissions to be preserved, you must first open the Info window of the volume in the Finder and uncheck the box labeled Ignore ownership on this volume.

Reply

Restoring two partitions from Time Machine

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.
Learn more Sign up