How do I make Time Machine Bootable?

Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper are great for making bootable clones. The good thing with those is once the backup is made, you can do updates which updates the files instead of creating a whole new backup. CCC is donation software and SD you have to buy, but it isn't expensive. SD also has a free trial version which doesn't do incremental backups. You can also schedule backup times so it updates automatically as long as your computer is on and the backup drive is connected. Or, you can do it manually.

You can't boot from TM, but you can fully restore a system or go back in time to restore individual files. If you need to, you can boot into the Recovery Drive and restore the whole system from the last backup or a point in time earlier as you wish. All files from the time frame you choose to restore from will be replaced. So, no, you won't lose your files unless your TM backup is corrupt.

When you boot into the recovery drive, have the TM backup connected. Then choose restore from the TM disk. You can also choose Disk Utility from the menu before doing the Restore. Check the drive to make sure it's ok and you can erase it or partition it first. Either way, the Restore feature will first erase the drive, then restore everything from TM from the date and time you choose.

Except for the recovery partition, Time Machine backups aren't bootable until restored. Use a program such as the Disk Utility, Carbon Copy Cloner, or SuperDuper to create a bootable clone.

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You should be aware that a Time Machine backup is not bootable. It does have a bootable, hidden copy of the Recovery HD installed on your computer. If you wish to boot from it in order to fully restore a Time Machine backup, then:

1. Boot from the hidden Recover HD by restarting the computer and at the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the icon for the Time Machine backup drive.
2. When the Utility Menu appears select Disk Utility.
3. Partition and format the new hard drive using Disk Utility from the Recovery HD's menu.
4. Once the drive is formatted select the option to Restore a Time Machine backup.

If you don't have a Recovery HD on the Time Machine backup from which to boot, then what you do next depends on whether your computer came with Lion or later pre-installed or not. Assuming the former:

Install OS X Using Internet Recovery

Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.

Partition and Format the hard drive:

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

This should restore the version of OS X originally pre-installed on the computer.

The best tool for cloning is Disk Utility which clones both the system volume as well as the Recovery HD automatically in a single operation.

In addition to its cloning abilities are its excellent backup capabilities: Carbon Copy Cloner 4.0.6.

Yes, they are. To check if a drive is the Mac OS X boot volume, double-click it and see if the Applications, Library, System, and Users folders have different icons, or choose About this Mac from the Apple menu and check the startup disk's name.

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Select About This Mac from the menu under the apple. Look at the startup disk in the overview window.

If you have a bootable clone, it will show up in StartUp Disk in System Preferences. Look there. I don't use CCC, but I believe you have to choose an option to make it bootable.