Sonoma Time Machine horrors

[TimWellens]

O dear what a misery.
I have an Intel iMac2020 on Ventura working with Logic 11.0.1 . To upgrade to Logic 11.1 I need Sonoma.
As I backup hourly using time machine I think it would be safe to upgrade Ventura to Sonoma as I can always revert back to Ventura using time machine.
So after I installed Sonoma and Logic 11.1 I get alot of beach balling and other glitches. So I decided to go into recovery and use time machine to revert to Ventura. I was shocked to see that Im only able to revert to old backups going back to 2021!! (I backup HOURLY using time machine) (see pic below.)

Only complete backups of macOS appear in the list?? But I do hourly backups since 2020!!
But when I use finder I see I have backups in Time Machine (Just till just before I updated to Sonoma) see pic below)

So why TM doesnt let me use the latest backup (backed up just before upgrading to Sonoma? (2024-11-18)

Somebody told me to download Ventura and put it on a USB stick and install Ventura that way and use Migration Assistant to get all files back.
But this process wipes the HD and what if Migration Assistant also refuses the last backup as it also uses TM?
Then I would really be f…..

What to do Im stuck! Never had problems upgrading OS’s before,my iMac2020 came with Catalina…

Thnx

 

[lfaa]

The picture says ‘restore from mac HD etc’ Did you select the correct disk where your latest backup is? Likely not on your mac HD I guess?

 

[lfaa]

It should say ‘restore from WD etc’

 

[TimWellens]

The picture says ‘restore from mac HD etc’ Did you select the correct disk where your latest backup is? Likely not on your mac HD I guess?

Damn I feel like a noob. This happens when you try to update macOS when tired after work 😂 Away from computer now will try later. I never restored
from a time machine backup before so its simple a matter of going to Recovery mode and selecting the latest backup when I was still on Ventura? So no need to put Ventura on a bootable USB stick and migrate all data using Migration Assistant?

Thx

 

[Nermal]

As I understand it, recent versions of Time Machine will only back up/restore the data, not the OS. I think you'll need to manually install your old OS, then restore your data.

 

[gilby101]

The picture says ‘restore from mac HD etc’ Did you select the correct disk where your latest backup is? Likely not on your mac HD I guess?

In the picture, I think TM is referring to the source disk inside the TM backup. Not the disk on which TM backups are stored.

 

[Nermal]

As I understand it, recent versions of Time Machine will only back up/restore the data, not the OS. I think you'll need to manually install your old OS, then restore your data.

Replying to myself here, but after reading some more, I suspect this is the crux of the problem. I suspect that it's only showing the option to restore from 10.15 because that's (presumably) the last version to actually back up the OS itself. I think the solution is to install 13 the old-fashioned way, then restore your data files from the Time Machine backup.

 

[TimWellens]

As I understand it, recent versions of Time Machine will only back up/restore the data, not the OS. I think you'll need to manually install your old OS, then restore your

Replying to myself here, but after reading some more, I suspect this is the crux of the problem. I suspect that it's only showing the option to restore from 10.15 because that's (presumably) the last version to actually back up the OS itself. I think the solution is to install 13 the old-fashioned way, then restore your data files from the Time Machine backup.

The old fashion way meaning put the Ventura installer on a USB stick?
(And then migration assistant? using time machine).
Very afraid as it erases the HD and if something is wrong with the time machine backup…🥶

 

[lfaa]

Damn I feel like a noob. This happens when you try to update macOS when tired after work 😂 Away from computer now will try later. I never restored
from a time machine backup before so its simple a matter of going to Recovery mode and selecting the latest backup when I was still on Ventura? So no need to put Ventura on a bootable USB stick and migrate all data using Migration Assistant?

Thx

I’m not a TM expert but something like 10 yrs ago I reinstalled a tm backup on a new ssd in my mac and I think indeed I did that Recovery procedure. Google it to check what to do.

 

[lfaa]

As I understand it, recent versions of Time Machine will only back up/restore the data, not the OS. I think you'll need to manually install your old OS, then restore your data.

Oh this would be a serious step backwards compared to the time machine I had in mind!

 

[gilby101]

Oh this would be a serious step backwards compared to the time machine I had in mind!

Whenever you go back one or more versions of macOS, you have always needed to erase the disk. This is whether the version of macOS exists on the TM disk or is downloaded from Apple.

The old fashion way meaning put the Ventura installer on a USB stick?

Or over the Internet from Apple (Internet Recovery).

(And then migration assistant? using time machine).
Very afraid as it erases the HD and if something is wrong with the time machine backup…🥶

Yes, Migration Assistant. You do need to have confidence in your backups.

I can suggest:

1. As a fallback, you could get a new external disk and copy all your important data files to it before attempting the recovery back to Ventura. I say new external disk because you should avoid messing with your TM disk!

2. You might prefer to tackle your problem differently - that would be to stick with your upgrade to Sonoma and sort out why you are getting beach balling.

 

[TimWellens]

Oh this would be a serious step backwards compared to the time machine I had in mind!

Whenever you go back one or more versions of macOS, you have always needed to erase the disk. This is whether the version of macOS exists on the TM disk or is downloaded from Apple.

Or over the Internet from Apple (Internet Recovery).

Yes, Migration Assistant. You do need to have confidence in your backups.

I can suggest:

1. As a fallback, you could get a new external disk and copy all your important data files to it before attempting the recovery back to Ventura. I say new external disk because you should avoid messing with your TM disk!

2. You might prefer to tackle your problem differently - that would be to stick with your upgrade to Sonoma and sort out why you are getting beach balling.

Thanks! At the moment I indeed opt for option 2 . Sonoma already appears a bit less bugged now (I guess it needs time to ‘settle’). I see the Photos app crashes sometimes so maybe I need to rebuild the library. Logic Pro is a bit buggy too but I reverted to the previous version and this looks more stable already. I don't use Time Machine atm so it stays ‘fresh’ with only the latest Ventura backup on it in case I still want to go back. Good news is I found the TM backups that were missing,I just had to change the source of the backup from Time Machine Tim’s iMac to MacintoshHD+DATA (or something) in recovery mode. So in case I still want to go back it would be possibe.(using Ventura USB bootstick and Migration Assistant).
I just have to see if future updates will ease Sonoma a bit more,altho I’m not sure this will happen as I have an Intel Imac2020 and I guess Apple will prioritise optimising the OS for its M processors.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[TimWellens]

Thanks! At the moment I indeed opt for option 2 . Sonoma already appears a bit less bugged now (I guess it needs time to ‘settle’). I see the Photos app crashes sometimes so maybe I need to rebuild the library. Logic Pro is a bit buggy too but I reverted to the previous version and this looks more stable already. I don't use Time Machine atm so it stays ‘fresh’ with only the latest Ventura backup on it in case I still want to go back. Good news is I found the TM backups that were missing,I just had to change the source of the backup from Time Machine Tim’s iMac to MacintoshHD+DATA (or something) in recovery mode. So in case I still want to go back it would be possibe.(using Ventura USB bootstick and Migration Assistant).
I just have to see if future updates will ease Sonoma a bit more,altho I’m not sure this will happen as I have an Intel Imac2020 and I guess Apple will prioritise optimising the OS for its M processors.

Thanks again for all your help!

To conclude : I have the feeling that Sonoma is a bridge too far for my Intel iMac2020. I think that Ventura is the final OS for Intel Macs. (Correct me if Im wrong)

Thnx again!

 

[lfaa]

( my mbp 2019 has an i9 and is ok with sonoma although there is bunch of annoying bugs in Safari and Music mostly. But that’s a different story - good luck with your backups and restoration)

 

[gilby101]

To conclude : I have the feeling that Sonoma is a bridge too far for my Intel iMac2020. I think that Ventura is the final OS for Intel Macs. (Correct me if Im wrong)

Your iMac is supported by latest macOS 15.1.1.

Unless you have a strong reason (e.g. your are using essential software that will only run on an older macOS), you should use the latest supported macOS. Reasons are functionality and security.

I would install 15.1.1 on your iMac and keep it up to date until Apple drops support.

 

[ifxf]

I install the new OS in a different partition. I have two partitions, new and old. This gives me the ability to check out all my third party software become committing to the new OS. Apple is notorious for breaking programs in the name of security and obsoleting APIs. I take the additional step of changing my uid and guid to be the same as the old OS. Makes it easy to access the old account.