Time Machine and HD recall

Question

Level 1

58 points

Time Machine and HD recall

I have 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, with a 27” i5 mac. Apple has recommended Time Machine as back up for the Seagate recall. I mostly have MP3s and e-books, plus iTunes too, no large files. Most of this is also backed up already on DVDs and a few flash drives. I have not been using an external back up lately, but now I have a Lacie ext drive ready to use. An Apple rep told me Snow Leopard would be reinstalled on the new hard drive.

What I don’t know is what I will need to do to restore the applications etc., with Time Machine when my mac returns. I can’t seem to find any steps. Is it as easy to use as a USB flash drive, or is there more to it?

Just planning ahead. I have not plugged the ext drive in yet. I had asked a similar question, and one answer seemed to not trust Time Machine, but recommended procedures that I have no understanding of what they are, or how to do them.

Any help is appreciated.

iMac G5 , 2.1GHz; intel core iMac i5, 2.8 Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.8), ISP is Earthlink

Posted on Nov 26, 2012 3:39 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

shldr2thewheel

Level 7

26,003 points

Nov 26, 2012 4:46 PM in response to Tom Cray

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

Reply

Answer 2

Tom Cray Author

Level 1

58 points

Nov 26, 2012 7:30 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

Thanks. This is my 3rd iMac. Very few problems ever, so I have missed out on the insider jargon and now I find myself really lost. I had already read the page you sent me lots of times. I even circled the middle of the page in red. I thought the steps to this are missing. HA.

1) start up your Mac from the "Recovery system" (command - R at startup).

2) Then use the "Restore From TIme Machine Backup" utility.

That's it! That is all I get for steps.

I don't want to end up here after making the decision to use TM, and then wishing I had not done that. Rather, I want to understand what I will be doing. I am not familiar with keyboard commands. I have one of the missing manual books for snow leopard, and don't find any references to a recovery system. I don't know what it means. If it is important or just a word meaning ''start'. Likewise, don't know about locating the backup utility.

Have any Seagate HDs actually failed yet? Maybe I have time.to figure out what to do. If using TM is a bad idea, [other discussions with problems] why would Apple continue to recommend it? My notice came in October, yet many of these discussions are from last summer. Or, maybe Time Machine is better with Mtn Lion? Much of the Time Machine pages are written for the newer OS.

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 30, 2012 12:31 PM in response to Tom Cray

Just now looking at these... Last recall 2009 MacbookPro Video issues, I waited 4 years and it took 4 trips to apple store with video of the machine problems... Days and months past, finally with stern discussion with manager, got resolved. Now Drive recall on work machine... better take advantage now. IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT!

Should have thought of it... Have TM full back up... (will look into clone next time, now that I see this). Take in 27iMac running 10.6.8, 5-7 days, what a joke, my boss will be happy to pay for a week without working. Finally get, "if you have TM back up, 3 days." Get machine back with 10.6.3, hit the R recovery, click TM back up, runs for 2 hours, reboots, looks great. Box up take back to office... update to install - OH CRAP, still running 10.6.3. Updates crash with error on install, BUG PROBELM, nothing runs.

Call Apple... after hours, tells me to boot using 10.6.2 disk, wipe, reinstall OS, udate to 10.6.8, THEN do the restore. GREAT! Only thing 10.6.2 DVD won't read... now back on phone... take back to the store, Genius says, "Oh, can't boot a newer system w/ old disk, that's why it won't read." PROMISES it'll be fixed, if you leave it over night... GREAT!

Pick up next day, supposedly, booted to disk, wiped drive, reinstalled, updated to 10.6.8 and did the RIGHT restore... Looks GREAT... apps run and 10.6.8 OS. Back to the office... CRAP!! not running right... fonts messed up, drop box app needs new install, cocktail needs upgrade, Fetch not working, memorized paths gone... back ups locked out of permissions... ***!!

4 hours on phone with apple and still not solved. Evidently... either different account names caused problems... and/or they never restored personal "settings". Seems there are 3 ways to restor... Running Migration Assistant, Restoring after they load a new OS... or NOW WAITING for them to send me a bootable 10.6.3 disk and then boot from disk, w/o installing OS and doing a restore from TM.

Can begin to make enough stink!! So now can't back up without doing a full 400 GB back up and possibly destroying any good back ups... can't work, liek having hands tied behind back. WAITING for solution! TICKED OFF!!!

Reply

Answer 4

Nov 30, 2012 12:33 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

That link is worthless!!! Evidently 3 ways to restore... see my othe post... even after following directions, it never brought over OS10.6.8 and then crashed on updates. good luck, let me kow how it turns out.

Reply