how do i reformat imac hard drive and restore time machine backup?

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sicilianasf Author

Level 1

8 points

how do i reformat imac hard drive and restore time machine backup?

How do I reformat my iMac internal hard drive and restore from a Time Machine backup?

I have an iMac 20" Mid 2007 with a problematic hard drive.

IntelCore 2 Duo, Processor speed 2 Ghz

800 Mhz Bus speed

4 GB RAM

250 GB Western Digital Hard Drive

10.6.3

Was getting a question mark upon booting up, so I booted from a 10.6.3 Snow Leopard CD and ran disk utility. Repair disk was interrupted with an error message. 'Disk utility can't repair disk. Backup files, reformat disk and restore backed up files.'

1. Should I select Erase, Mac OS Extended Journaled, Erase?

2. If I do this, won't I lose my networkability, and therefore lose access to Time Machine backups?

3. If it were you, would you go ahead and replace the hard drive? Not sure I should trust this hard drive!

4. If I need to replace the hard drive, can you send instructions?

Thanks!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jul 19, 2014 4:05 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

726,845 points

Jul 19, 2014 4:07 PM in response to sicilianasf

1. Yes.

2. No, you won't. If it matters, restoring a Time Machine backup from an USB or FireWire drive doesn't require network access.

3. Not yet.

(109693)

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 19, 2014 4:10 PM in response to sicilianasf

Clean Install of Snow Leopard

1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came

with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.

2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue

button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive

size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.

3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.

4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup

Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same

username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup

Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh

install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software

Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.

Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

If you have your Time Machine backup drive connected, then you can use Setup Assistant to migrate your Home folder, application support files, and third-party applications and system preference files. I recommend doing this via the Setup Assistant when the option appears.

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Answer 3

sicilianasf Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 19, 2014 4:20 PM in response to Kappy

Wow. You guys are fast. So helpful!

Is it possible to lookup the admin account username on the Time Machine backup? I don't remember what it was. What happens if I guess wrong?

I suppose I should name the hard drive the same name too. Not sure how to look that up either.

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Answer 4

Niel

Level 10

726,845 points

Jul 19, 2014 4:26 PM in response to sicilianasf

You'll be given the option to transfer your data from it when running the Setup Assistant after the reinstallation; click here for more information. Don't concern yourself with looking up either of those.

(109694)

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Answer 5

sicilianasf Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 20, 2014 1:15 PM in response to Kappy

I did exactly as you said. All worked well! The only hitch was Time Machine took a long time to locate all my backups. When my desired backup didn't appear, I had to reboot the Time Capsule. I ended up restoring my backup outside the install process. I used Migration Assistant after the installation was complete.

I took the opportunity to upgrade to Mavericks. Very slow compared to Lion. I regret upgrading.

Can I go back to Lion? Can a Mavericks-based backup be restored to a Lion-based iMac?

Thanks!

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