I did a clean istall with Mavericks and now time machine doesn't access any time prior to install. Possibly setup assistant will access this but I can't find it to launch it.
Mid 2011 iMac 27"
8GB Ram
OS X 10.9
external iomega HD 1 terabyte for Time Machine
iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9)
The Setup Assistant appears only after one completes an Erase and Install. Otherwise, use Migration Assistant in the Utilities folder.
If you did a clean install, at some point you would have seen this screen
Selecting "from another disk" is how you get to chose a time machine backup or a clone. If you didn't see this screen, you didn't do a clean install (installing over an installation is not a clean install, you must erase the disk before installation).
I do recall that when i istalled and booted up Mavericks initially I saw a screen offering setup assistant. It told me I could come back to setup assistant later if I choose to continue.
You only get one chance. You can do Allan's trick if you're comfortable using terminal. If you're not, then you must do another clean install. I would do Allan's first since worst case is another clean install.
Alan: I printed out your link and will try it if Kappy's suggestion of using Migration Assistant doesnt pan out.
Thanks guys
look at each command carefully and check that you have it right before hitting return.
well Migration Assistant only accessed Time Machine backups since clean install. So I'm afraid i"d get the same thing with Setup Assistant after anouther clean install. Its late, I'll try Alan's link tomorrow.
Most likely, some folders were inadvertently excluded from your backups, and as a result you can't restore your data in Recovery, Setup Assistant, or Migration Assistant.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
Browse Other Backup Disks...
Show Time Machine in menu bar
where do I find setup assistant in Mavericks?
