Time Machine restore not working

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Time Machine restore not working

Hi,

I have two Time Machine problems, I hope someone can help me.

Question #1

There was an operating problem with my Mac and an Apple Genius Bar employee wiped and reinstalled everything on my mac, which was great as it solved the operating problem. I had regularly backed everything up on Time Machine so I didn't imagine there could be a problem restoring everything when I brought my Mac home.

But....when I got home and tried to restore everything by going to Applications/Time Machine/ Restore, it didn't work and I got the following two notifications:

“Applications” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X.

and:

“Time Machine” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X.

Also, when I enter Time Machine, the Documents sub folder is shaded and I can't click on it to access/restore these files. The Applications heading is the only one I can click on.

Question #2

I entered Time Machine and then Applications/Zotero, and I restored this individually, but when I go to access this application on my Mac, my library and all of my references are not there. My assumption was that Time Machine would back up the library entries as well as the Zotero application itself. Was I wrong? I am quite stressed about this because I am in the middle of writing a thesis, and it looks like my whole collection of citations is gone.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 25, 2015 3:43 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 25, 2015 7:22 AM in response to Janetto123

an Apple Genius Bar employee wiped and reinstalled everything on my mac, which was great as it solved the operating problem.

Probably not, because when you restore your data, the problem will usually also be restored. To make that less likely to happen, see below.

Erase and install OS X. This operation will destroy all data on the startup volume, so you had be better be sure of the backups. If you upgraded from an older version of OS X, you'll need the Apple ID and password that you used, so make a note of those before you begin.

When you restart, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process in Setup Assistant. That’s when you transfer the data from a backup.

Select only users in the Setup Assistant dialog—not Applications, Computer & Network Settings, or Other files and folders. Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled.

After that, check the App Store for software updates.

If the problem is resolved after the clean installation, reinstall third-party software selectively. I can only suggest general guidelines. Self-contained applications that install into the Applications folder by drag-and-drop or download from the App Store are usually safe. Anything that comes packaged as an installer or that prompts for an administrator password is suspect, and you must test thoroughly after reinstalling each such item to make sure you haven't restored the problem.

I strongly recommend that you never reinstall commercial "security" products or "utilities," nor any software that changes the user interface or the behavior of built-in applications such as Safari. If you do that, the problem is likely to recur.

Any system modifications that you do choose to install must be kept up to date. None is required for normal operation.

Before installing any software, ask yourself the question: "Am I sure I know how to uninstall this without having to wipe the volume again?" If the answer is "no," stop.

Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.

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Answer 2

Janetto123 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 25, 2015 11:41 AM in response to Linc Davis

Linc Davis wrote:

an Apple Genius Bar employee wiped and reinstalled everything on my mac, which was great as it solved the operating problem.

Probably not, because when you restore your data, the problem will usually also be restored. To make that less likely to happen, see below.

Erase and install OS X. This operation will destroy all data on the startup volume, so you had be better be sure of the backups. If you upgraded from an older version of OS X, you'll need the Apple ID and password that you used, so make a note of those before you begin.

When you restart, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process in Setup Assistant. That’s when you transfer the data from a backup.

Select only users in the Setup Assistant dialog—not Applications, Computer & Network Settings, or Other files and folders. Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled.

Thanks Linc Davis. Apologies, the Apple guy didn't reinstall anything, he just did an erase and install, so now I have Yosemite. As you can tell, I am an IT dinosaur.

So I went through setup assistant as suggested but, there wasn't a Users choice. Just Documents, Computers & Network Settings and Applications. I have most of my documents, photos etc backed up on another ex hard rive but not my music and films.

Problem no.2 - the Zotero library - is the #1 reason that I'm stressing out right now.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

May 25, 2015 11:55 AM in response to Janetto123

Choose Documents. Nothing else.

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Answer 4

Janetto123 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 29, 2015 10:28 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you.

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