Time machine restores the whole operating system to correct?

[dictoresno]

Due to a boot crash, I formatted an old drive which is now blank and currently restoring a recent Yosemite back to it. I assumed it will also install the OS along with the rest of the backup is that correct? Or should I install Yosemite fresh then restore?

Only have a mavericks USB installer so I'll have to install it then update to Yosemite through the app store.

 

[iamMacPerson]

No Time Machine is not a full backup. You will need to do a full restore of the OS then use Time Machine to migrate your data back. Since you don't have a Yosemite restore drive, your best bet would be to install Mavericks, update to Yosemite, then use Migration Assistant to put your data back.

 

[dictoresno]

Hmmmm well I asked too late but it did in fact restore the whole Yosemite 10.10.4 OS as well into a freshly formatted drive.

 

[simonsi]

No Time Machine is not a full backup. You will need to do a full restore of the OS then use Time Machine to migrate your data back. Since you don't have a Yosemite restore drive, your best bet would be to install Mavericks, update to Yosemite, then use Migration Assistant to put your data back.

Yes it is. You can boot off a TM backup drive and fully restore a drive backed up on it. If you want to migrate to a new machine then you <can> use it to migrate your user data only but a vanilla TM backup most certainly can restore a full boot drive inc OS.

 

[jbarley]

Yes it is. You can boot off a TM backup drive and fully restore a drive backed up on it.

I was led to believe by Apple no less, back when TM first appeared that TM was in itself not bootable.
You needed to boot your system either by the install DVD or an external drive with a bootable system on it then you could access the TM drive and do your restore.
Has this changed maybe with the new versions of TM?

 

[anzio]

No Time Machine is not a full backup. You will need to do a full restore of the OS then use Time Machine to migrate your data back. Since you don't have a Yosemite restore drive, your best bet would be to install Mavericks, update to Yosemite, then use Migration Assistant to put your data back.

Time Machine backs up almost everything except for cache and other temporary files. It most certainly contains all OS data. This explains why a fresh install creates a fairly large Time Machine backup.

Some more information about what Time Machine backs up: http://pondini.org/TM/2.html

 

[e93to]

I was aware "restoring" from TM copies everything including the OS, but I didn't know it was bootable...

Then what does "restore" button in Disk Utility do? And how is it different from TM backup? And how is CCC different from TM backup since TM seems to backup everything AND is bootable as well (CCC does offer a lot more functionality though)... Now I'm confused

 

[jbarley]

It appears there are many of us who would like "simonsi to explain to us just how to boot from a TM volume.

 

[simonsi]

Easy:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18848?locale=en_US

No other drive or installer required. Your TM backup should contain a copy of the Recovery partition, my understanding is it can boot off that if your boot drive recovery partition is damaged or not present.

 

[jbarley]

That Apple link you posted makes no mention of TM being bootable. First they say,"If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can recover your system if your system or startup disk is damaged."
Note the word "damaged", so we'll assume your system can not boot, hence the need to do a restore.

Now following Apples advice we get to step #2 where it reads "Choose Apple menu > Restart. After your Mac restarts and you hear the startup chime, hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys.

Huh! computer is non-functional so there is no Apple menu to choose.

So it seems to me that the need for some other method to boot your system such as an install DVD or bootable external drive is still the case, indicating the a TM in itself is not directly bootable.

 

[simonsi]

That Apple link you posted makes no mention of TM being bootable. First they say,"If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can recover your system if your system or startup disk is damaged."
Note the word "damaged", so we'll assume your system can not boot, hence the need to do a restore.

Now following Apples advice we get to step #2 where it reads "Choose Apple menu > Restart. After your Mac restarts and you hear the startup chime, hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys.

Huh! computer is non-functional so there is no Apple menu to choose.

So it seems to me that the need for some other method to boot your system such as an install DVD or bootable external drive is still the case, indicating the a TM in itself is not directly bootable.

Well they say startup drive is "damaged", you extrapolate to "non-functional". Perhaps you should try it, or google "recovery partition" and see what you find. At the end of the day the OP DID restore all his OS files, indicating TM DOES make a full backup so recovery IS possible without another installer (see "recovery partition").

Sorry, this is SO simple for you to try that "seems to me" is just lazy.

 

[dictoresno]

Yes I started with a bare, reformatted 250 GB drive and restored time machine backup to it which installed 10.10.4 as well. It's currently installed internally and booting up fine. My corrupted 2 TB drive is reformatted and for some reason isn't allowing me to restore the time machine backup to it as it errors out. I'm going to try to install Yosemite to it first then restore. But the other blank drive took it just fine without installing the operating system first.

Disk utility was run on the corrupted drive after I formatted it and it stated there were zero issues under verify disk or repair disk so I don't know what the issue is yet that isn't letting the restore go through.

 

[jbarley]

Sorry, this is SO simple for you to try that "seems to me" is just lazy.

No not lazy just trying to clear up some of the "not quite accurate statements" floating around.
I'll agree you can make a total bootable recovery from a TM backup, done it many times.
I'm really trying to point out if you have a hosed system such as a total disk failure that you cannot boot from a TM backup and do a restore, period.
Which is exactly why cloning software such as CCC or SD are so popular, they will let you instantly reboot and then TM could come into play to restore any recent files not on your clone.
A lot of the newcomers to the Apple platform could benefit from knowing the difference, judging from the number of cries for help we see on these forums.

 

[iamMacPerson]

Yes it is. You can boot off a TM backup drive and fully restore a drive backed up on it. If you want to migrate to a new machine then you <can> use it to migrate your user data only but a vanilla TM backup most certainly can restore a full boot drive inc OS.

Interesting, my Time Machine drive doesn't show as a bootable source on my Mac Pro. It doesn't show in the boot selector menu (hold Option at boot) or the System Prefs panel. Time Machine has never made a bootable backup for me as long as I have used it, wether just the Recovery Partition or the main System file. I have been using Time Machine since Snow Leopard and it hasn't changed unless my Mac Pro is specifically not backing up the Recovery Drive.

And yes, I do have the Recovery Partition on my Mac Pro. It shows in Terminal when I run diskutil list and is accessible by holding "R" at boot.

 

[dictoresno]

I don't know if you can boot into it but you can select it from the recovery menu to restore from it as well as disk utility or install Mac OS. Maybe that's what people mean by bootable. So long as you have a valid drive you can restore it then boot to it