Restore and upgrading OS issues after replacing hard drive

[slackerlad]

Hi

I'm new to the forum, not exactly a techie, so forgive me for my ignorance here. I have a late 2015 27" 4 Ghz Intel Corei i7 iMac, with 32Gb Ram with a 2TB Fusion Drive. My hard drive was making very strange noises, so I created a partition on my 8GB external drive (Western Digital 8GB) and created one of the partitions (which size was 5Gb) as a Time Machine backup, and ran the back up successfully. I then replaced the HDD with a Crucial BX500 2TB SDD, with the 2.5 to 3.5" enclosure adapter.

I created a new Fusion Drive in Terminal (after watching several YouTube vids) which worked fine. I then booted in recovery mode (ctrl +R), and installed El Capitan OS, and I needed to do the date hack by booting in single user mode (ctrl +S) in order to install (which I also resolved after watching more YouTube vids)......

I now face 2 problems.......

Firstly, the OS is only detecting the 3Gb portion of the hard drive that wasn't a Time Machine backup......so I can't access the Time Machine to restore. Secondly, I have tried to download newer versions of OS (Catalina wasn't available on the App Store for some reason so I tried Monterey), but after downloading, during the install, it shows an error message "a disk with a mount point is required.: (-69854)".

I've rebooted again (Ctrl +R), reinstalled El Capitan via the internet (again).........but it now appears that I'm stuck with it as I've checked for updates, downloaded the usual updates, but it won't suggest a newer OS (and Monterey didn't work as described above).

Not sure if this is relevant, but after installing the SSD, when I formatted it in recovery mode, it wouldn't give me the option to choose APFS format, so I opted for Mac OS Extended (Journaled).......when I formatted the Time Machine backup partition, I used APFS format.....and I've read that the first operating system to use this format was Catalina......This is why I wanted to firstly upgrade to Catalina, as I understand this was the first OS using APFS and that it would automatically change the format to APFS during installation.

I'm wondering if the fact that I'm using El Capitan (which is pre APFS) is the reason it isn't registering my Time Machine backup?

So in summary:-

1). Can anyone explain why I can't see the Time Machine partition.......and offer any suggestions?
2). Can anyone help me get the operating system to the latest version my Mac can run (I think its Monterey?)

Solving question one would be ideal - but I have all the important files on the 3Gb partition so it's not the end of the world if not.....however, I do want to upgrade to the latest available OS for my machine at least.....

Any help would be very gratefully received!

Thank you in advance!

 

[tensixturtle]

I wonder if making such a big jump from El Capitan to Monterey (that's about a 6 year difference) is the source of the issue. As far as I know, the first operating system to support APFS is High Sierra (10.13). Anything before that will not be able to read drives with that format, which is why the Time Machine drive isn't showing up.
The older versions of macOS can be downloaded from links in this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662
Because you already have El Capitan installed, it might be simpler to try updating the operating system incrementally (update first to something preeding Big Sur, then update to Monterey).
But if that doesn't work, I would try a clean install of Monterey. You have a couple options: you could use internet recovery but start up holding down "Option-Command-R" -- this should allow you to install the latest supported OS (Monterey) via the internet. Alternatively, you could download the macOS 12 installer app and use the createinstallmedia command to make a bootable USB drive and install using that if internet recovery is not working for you.
Good luck and I hope some of this helps!

 

[slackerlad]

I wonder if making such a big jump from El Capitan to Monterey (that's about a 6 year difference) is the source of the issue. As far as I know, the first operating system to support APFS is High Sierra (10.13). Anything before that will not be able to read drives with that format, which is why the Time Machine drive isn't showing up.
The older versions of macOS can be downloaded from links in this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662
Because you already have El Capitan installed, it might be simpler to try updating the operating system incrementally (update first to something preeding Big Sur, then update to Monterey).
But if that doesn't work, I would try a clean install of Monterey. You have a couple options: you could use internet recovery but start up holding down "Option-Command-R" -- this should allow you to install the latest supported OS (Monterey) via the internet. Alternatively, you could download the macOS 12 installer app and use the createinstallmedia command to make a bootable USB drive and install using that if internet recovery is not working for you.
Good luck and I hope some of this helps!

Thanks for the reply - appreciated.....today I'm doing incremental installations - if I try to skip a version, it won't work. So far up to Catalina and now downloading Big Sur.......I'll get there eventually......any thoughts on why Time Machine partition won't show as a Time Machine? It's now showing as a mounted drive.....(assume the APFS format can be recognised due to the more up to date OS)..........but it's still not showing as a Time Machine drive - when I go into disk utility, it shows that there is data on that partition, but no files are showing.

I wonder if making such a big jump from El Capitan to Monterey (that's about a 6 year difference) is the source of the issue. As far as I know, the first operating system to support APFS is High Sierra (10.13). Anything before that will not be able to read drives with that format, which is why the Time Machine drive isn't showing up.
The older versions of macOS can be downloaded from links in this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662
Because you already have El Capitan installed, it might be simpler to try updating the operating system incrementally (update first to something preeding Big Sur, then update to Monterey).
But if that doesn't work, I would try a clean install of Monterey. You have a couple options: you could use internet recovery but start up holding down "Option-Command-R" -- this should allow you to install the latest supported OS (Monterey) via the internet. Alternatively, you could download the macOS 12 installer app and use the createinstallmedia command to make a bootable USB drive and install using that if internet recovery is not working for you.
Good luck and I hope some of this helps!

Thanks for your reply - appreciated!......Thats exactly what I'm doing - consecutive installs in order....so far done catalina and now downloading Big Sur......I'll get there eventually......Any thoughts on why Time Machine partition won't show as a time machine drive? Its now showing as a mounted drive at least, but not a Time Machine.....in disk utility I can see there is plenty of data on it, but its not showing any files. hen I run first aid it says successful, with this in the report (but it still won't show a time machine drive):-

Running First Aid on “Backup” (disk6s2)

Repairing file system.
Volume was successfully unmounted.
Performing fsck_apfs -y -x /dev/rdisk6s2
Checking the container superblock.
warning: container has been mounted by APFS version 1934.141.2.700.2, which is newer than 1412.141.1
warning: disabling overallocation repairs by default; use -o to override
Checking the space manager.
Checking the space manager free queue trees.
Checking the object map.
Checking volume.
Checking the APFS volume superblock.
The volume Backup was formatted by diskmanagementd (1934.141.2) and last modified by apfs_kext (1412.141.1).
Checking the object map.
Checking the snapshot metadata tree.
Checking the snapshot metadata.
Checking snapshot 1 of 2 (com.apple.TimeMachine.2023-12-10-182402.backup)
warning: xattr_val: object (oid 0x2): invalid flags (0x6), given name (com.apple.fs.cow-exempt-file-count)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x16): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x17): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x18): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x19): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x1a): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x1b): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x1d): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x1e): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x1f): invalid internal_flags (0x428200 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x28): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x29): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x2a): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x2b): invalid internal_flags (0x428200 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x2c): invalid internal_flags (0x428200 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x2d): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x2e): invalid internal_flags (0x428200 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x2f): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x30): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x31): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x32): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x34): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x35): invalid internal_flags (0x428000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x36): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x37): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x38): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x39): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x3a): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x3b): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x3c): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x3d): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x3e): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x3f): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x40): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x41): invalid internal_flags (0x408200 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x42): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x43): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x44): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x45): invalid internal_flags (0x408200 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x46): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x47): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x48): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x49): invalid internal_flags (0x408200 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x4a): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x4b): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x56): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x5b): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x5d): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x5e): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x5f): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
warning: inode_val: object (oid 0x60): invalid internal_flags (0x408000 / valid-flags are: 0x3fffdf)
Too many warnings of this type generated; suppressing subsequent ones.
Checking snapshot 2 of 2 (com.apple.TimeMachine.2023-12-11-083400.backup)
warning: xattr_val: object (oid 0x2): invalid flags (0x6), given name (com.apple.fs.cow-exempt-file-count)
Checking the extent ref tree.
Checking the fsroot tree.
warning: xattr_val: object (oid 0x2): invalid flags (0x6), given name (com.apple.fs.cow-exempt-file-count)
Verifying allocated space.
The volume /dev/rdisk6s2 appears to be OK.
File system check exit code is 0.
Restoring the original state found as mounted.

Operation successful.





So it appears it has something to do with 'invalid internal flags'

Any suggestions? Cheers!

 

[tensixturtle]

Hmmm what operating system were you on when you made the Time Machine backup initially? I've read that Time Machine backups made on Big Sur or later don't seem to show up on pre-Big Sur operating systems. So perhaps I would try again once you have updated further.

 

[Fishrrman]

OK, here's a tip for you:
STOP USING time machine.

START USING either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
Both are free to download and try for 30 days.
I suggest that you try both of them.

SuperDuper is easier to use, but CCC has more features and control.

Finally, it's time to realize that there's only "so far" you can take a now 9-year-old Mac.
Have you looked at the m2pro Minis...?

 

[tensixturtle]

@Fishrrman I agree with you that there are other alternatives to Time Machine such as Carbon Copy Cloner that are a lot more robust. However, I think before switching backup methods OP needs to restore the data to the Mac through Time Machine. Am I wrong?

 

[Fishrrman]

turtler wrote:
"However, I think before switching backup methods OP needs to restore the data to the Mac through Time Machine. Am I wrong?"

You aren't wrong.
But it looks to me like -something- he's done has made the tm backup un-accessible.

A cloned backup created by either SD or CCC is "in plain old finder format", mountable "in the finder". The data is "right there, in front of you". NO special app (i.e., the time machine app) is required to access them.

Granted, I'm straining to understand what he's done to this point.
But my "advice" was what he ought to do... in the future.