Resolved Time machine restore problems

[geekonthepc]

Hi all

I'm having a really difficult time getting my time machine backups to work. Unfortunately something went wrong with my Mac installation - I tried to remove Windows from Bootcamp and it all went wrong.

Essentially I ended up restoring my Mac because the recovery partition was badly damaged.

So, I did an internet recovery which reinstalled Mavericks and then did a Time Machine restore. All was looking good - I left it overnight and it seemed to be OK. However, when it finally completed and rebooted, it got stuck on the Apple logo with a full progress bar - and I can't get it to go any further.

My question is, when I do a Time Machine restore, do I need to be running the equivelent version of Mac OS when I do the restore. So, do I need to reinstall Mavericks, upgrade to El Capitan beta 6 and THEN do a Time Machine restore from the built in recovery partition?

I'm at a bit of a stumbling block here. Any help much appreciated.

Many thanks

Alex

Macbook Pro 13" Retina late 2013

Solution: Thanks to Shirasaki. If you find yourself, having done an internet recovery Time Machine restore, with a non bootable Mac (stuck at Apple logo), restore to the factory operating system, create an installer USB for the version of Mac you're trying to restore, boot onto it, and use the Time Machine recovery options there.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Hi all

I'm having a really difficult time getting my time machine backups to work. Unfortunately something went wrong with my Mac installation - I tried to remove Windows from Bootcamp and it all went wrong.

Essentially I ended up restoring my Mac because the recovery partition was badly damaged.

So, I did an internet recovery which reinstalled Mavericks and then did a Time Machine restore. All was looking good - I left it overnight and it seemed to be OK. However, when it finally completed and rebooted, it got stuck on the Apple logo with a full progress bar - and I can't get it to go any further.

My question is, when I do a Time Machine restore, do I need to be running the equivelent version of Mac OS when I do the restore. So, do I need to reinstall Mavericks, upgrade to El Capitan beta 6 and THEN do a Time Machine restore from the built in recovery partition?

I'm at a bit of a stumbling block here. Any help much appreciated.

Many thanks

Alex

Macbook Pro 13" Retina late 2013

Have you tried holding Alt on startup and booting directly into the Time Machine partition? Then format entire Macintosh HD (the whole thing, not just the OS partition) through Disk Utility and then restoring TM backup to freshly formatted volume?

I'm hoping this might do the trick.

 

[geekonthepc]

Have you tried holding Alt on startup and booting directly into the Time Machine partition? Then format entire Macintosh HD (the whole thing, not just the OS partition) through Disk Utility and then restoring TM backup to freshly formatted volume?

I'm hoping this might do the trick.

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately my Time Machine backup is on my network - it isn't USB - so I'm not sure how I'd get that to work.

 

[Shirasaki]

Have you tried holding Alt on startup and booting directly into the Time Machine partition? Then format entire Macintosh HD (the whole thing, not just the OS partition) through Disk Utility and then restoring TM backup to freshly formatted volume?

I'm hoping this might do the trick.

In the meantime, which password should I enter for login to time machine backup? My admin password and time machine backup password is not accepted.

 

[Shirasaki]

Although I still don't know how to fix El Capitan boot camp uninstall issue, which is exactly the one you encounter, I do make an El Capitan install disk to recover from previous El Capitan time machine backup.

So I think you should do the same. Luckily making an El Capitan install disk is not so difficult and you may be able to do it under mavericks.

 

[geekonthepc]

So you think install Mavericks, make an El Capitan install disk on USB and then use that to restore Time Machine backup?

 

[geekonthepc]

My other alternative would be to go to Mavericks, install El Capitan and then use Migration Assistant to restore from Time Machine but I'm keen to avoid that if I can.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately my Time Machine backup is on my network - it isn't USB - so I'm not sure how I'd get that to work.

Sorry for my belated reply. Is it on Ethernet? Plug in and hold Alt and it should still come up. Or you can try holding 'N' on startup.

 

[Shirasaki]

So you think install Mavericks, make an El Capitan install disk on USB and then use that to restore Time Machine backup?

Yes. I have done this when I need to wipe up everything on hard drive and restore from backup.

 

[geekonthepc]

Yes. I have done this when I need to wipe up everything on hard drive and restore from backup.

Ok will give that a try.

 

[h9826790]

Have you tried holding Alt on startup and booting directly into the Time Machine partition?

Do you mean recovery partition? AFAIK, the time machine partition is not bootable by default.

 

[geekonthepc]

Do you mean recovery partition? AFAIK, the time machine partition is not bootable by default.

Yeah I thought that...

 

[geekonthepc]

Yosemite is reinstalled, currently downloading the El Capitan beta to try and get that on a USB stick

 

[keysofanxiety]

Do you mean recovery partition? AFAIK, the time machine partition is not bootable by default.

I'm 100% sure Time Machine partition is bootable.

 

[h9826790]

I'm 100% sure Time Machine partition is bootable.

In an Apple Time Capsule via network? Or a local Time Machine backup?

 

[keysofanxiety]

In an Apple Time Capsule via network? Or a local Time Machine backup?

I've only done it from USB Time Machine, though over Ethernet/Firewire it should also be bootable.

No idea about Wi-Fi.

 

[h9826790]

I've only done it from USB Time Machine, though over Ethernet/Firewire it should also be bootable.

No idea about Wi-Fi.

This is the difference. USB backup is bootable (if the recovery partition is there), but network disk is not. Since OP said the backup drive is on a network volume. That's not bootable.

 

[keysofanxiety]

This is the difference. USB backup is bootable (if the recovery partition is there), but network disk is not. Since OP said the backup drive is on a network volume. That's not bootable.

My bad. You can boot into network drives by holding N on startup, but not sure if network TM backup is bootable.

Sorry for causing confusion.

 

[h9826790]

My bad. You can boot into network drives by holding N on startup, but not sure if network TM backup is bootable.

Sorry for causing confusion.

Everyone make mistake, I make mistake everyday .

Anyway, the Time Machine network volume is not bootable. It's design to use with Time Machine software, or recovery disk / partition (especially for the old machine like mine).

 

[keysofanxiety]

Everyone make mistake, I make mistake everyday .

Anyway, the Time Machine network volume is not bootable. It's design to use with Time Machine software, or recovery disk / partition (especially for the old machine like mine).

Ah righty-ho. Sorry again to you and the OP

 

[geekonthepc]

Making the USB El Capitan installer is taking forever and there seems to be no way to track its progress, guess I'll just have to be patient.

 

[h9826790]

May I know why you need to make the USB? Can't you just run download the installer and run it?

 

[geekonthepc]

I could, but I want to restore the time machine backup - I suppose I could install El Capitan first and the restore through migration but that's not first solution I don't think.

 

[geekonthepc]

Although I still don't know how to fix El Capitan boot camp uninstall issue, which is exactly the one you encounter, I do make an El Capitan install disk to recover from previous El Capitan time machine backup.

So I think you should do the same. Luckily making an El Capitan install disk is not so difficult and you may be able to do it under mavericks.

Thank you Shirasaki you were SPOT ON. Using the USB recovery stick with El Capitan Public Beta installer on it worked perfectly - 15 hours later my Mac is back up and running again. Evidently you do need to use a recovery tool for the same version of Mac.

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Shirasaki]

Thank you Shirasaki you were SPOT ON. Using the USB recovery stick with El Capitan Public Beta installer on it worked perfectly - 15 hours later my Mac is back up and running again. Evidently you do need to use a recovery tool for the same version of Mac.

Thanks so much for your help.

Glad to see problems are gone.

No worries.