Restoring from Time Machine backup in Big Sur

[Ayrehead]

I used Time Machine to make a backup of my Big Sur Mac on an external drive. Now I want to restore from it. The macOS is okay, I don't need to reinstall that. I followed Apple's instructions but had much trouble. I first tried the Big Sur instructions that say to begin with booting with command-R. But that doesn't work and tells me to use Migration Assistant. So I used the instructions for that at:

Transfer your information to Mac from another computer or device

Use Migration Assistant to transfer your information from a Mac, PC, or disk.

support.apple.com

The problem is when I choose to include any user in the restore (which is normal), I get the message "Conflicts Detected."

Then it says "This Mac already has a user account with the same name ..."

Then it gives me choices on 2 ways to respond to that by doing something to the user account. But I simply want to restore things the way TM has always worked. I guess the right thing to do is select "Delete existing user" and deselect "Keep the data" as in the image. Comments please?

But I don't want to use guesswork when restoring, there ought to be documentation. What I'm doing is an ordinary use-case, anyone restoring from a TM backup will encounter this. I've searched, but don't see any on documentation on this. Do you know of any?

Anyway, it's wacky to use Migration Assistant for a restore. it wasn't designed for it.

 

[chscag]

Your post is confusing. What is it that you're trying to restore from Time Machine? You say that macOS is okay, so tell us why you're trying to restore from it and what exactly is it that you need to restore.

You can not use the Migration Assistant in that manner because it will try to setup your user account with the same user name that already exists. That will create a mess and more confusion.

 

[Ayrehead]

I am doing a trial run of restoring. I don't want to wait until I really need to restore, and then have to figure out how to deal with problems. I want to identify problems in advance.

I wanted to do a restore the usual way, booting with command-R. But as I said, that does not do a restore anymore with Big Sur and gives me the error message that tells me to use Migration Assistant. Repeat: the Apple SW tells me to use Migration Assistant.

I agree with you that Migration Assistant is not a good thing to use for a restore. As I said it's wacky. But Apple forces it. If you want to restore from a TM backup in Big Sur, you must use Migration Assistant. To make matters worse, Apple does not fully document this new way to restore.

That link I gave above has a section:
"Transfer information from a Time Machine backup"
and says
"On your Mac, open the Migration Assistant app"
but it does not give details relating to the problem I'm talking about.

So I launched Migration Assistant. I got the "Conflicts Detected" screen, the first image above. I was clueless. I tried deselecting the items listed for transfer, and found that I get the "Conflicts Detected" only when one of the users is selected (bigd or jupiter). So I focus on the problem by selecting only jupiter to transfer. Apparently the configuration in the second image above (Delete the existing user) is the way to go.

So I'm looking for anyone to provide a better procedure, or better documentation.

 

[chscag]

I haven't tested whether Time Machine will work to do a limited restore from Command R when running Big Sur. My usual way of restoring is from a cloned version - Carbon Copy Cloner.

I also have Time Machine backups. I'm going to do a test restore and will get back to you. I'll boot with Command R like you did to see what happens.

I guess you know that limited restoring is best done from within the Time Machine program. The only time you would use Time Machine from Command R is when you want to restore an entire installation. So I am still a bit confused over why you chose that method.

 

[chscag]

Okay.... I just ran a test of what you were attempting to do with Time Machine. No problem here. I made a fresh total Time Machine backup prior to the test. I then booted using Command + R and entered restore. Note that I'm running Big Sur 11.5.1 on my iMac.

Recovery offered to restore from my latest Time Machine backup or snapshot. This of course would be a complete restore, not limited like you were attempting. The end result of the test is that I could have done a total restore with my Time Machine backup.

If I wanted to restore only certain files and folders, I then would have to use the Time Machine program and select the latest backup to restore from.

 

[Ayrehead]

I started out using command+R because I intended to do a full restore. I would have done that but the SW prevented it as described above.

I have 11.4. I will update to 11.5.1 and see if it makes a difference.

 

[Ayrehead]

I updated my Mac to 11.5.1 but I still get the same problem, cannot use command+R and TM to do a full restore.

How far did you go thru the prompts? The sequence is:
click Restore from TM
Select a Restore Source
When you see the Select a Backup screen, select (highlight) a backup date
Click continue
That is when you will see the error message telling you to use Migration Assistant.

 

[chscag]

I went through the entire sequence including selecting a backup date or snapshot. The next choice was to "continue". I never received an error message or dialog stating to use the Migration Assistant.

You might want to try running First Aid from Disk Utility to check your Time Machine backup drive. I really have no idea why Recovery is telling you to use the Migration Assistant unless there's a problem with the Time Machine backup.

To be honest, I do not entirely trust Time Machine backups which is why I also use Carbon Copy Cloner to make backups and snapshots.

 

[Ayrehead]

More info on using Migration Assistant when restoring a TM backup:

New mac user having trouble with Time Machine

Hi folks, I'v ejust got a iMac 27'' 2020 running Big Sur 11.4. I've got an ext hdd to use as a Time Machine drive and I believe I've set this up correctly and it's done a restore point. I thought the idea was that I could take a snap shot at a certain time and save that in case I wnat to go...

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