Time Machine Restore

86Apex · Nov 9, 2007

I was wondering if Time Machine backs up the system as well as just user preferences and files. So lets say I restore from a Time Machine backup, is it going to be the same exact thing or a clean install?

smartyMAC · Nov 9, 2007

TM takes a backup of the settings/ preferences/ files etc. Hence after a clean install and restore of TM backup, you're machine will be up till the last backup point.

86Apex · Nov 9, 2007

smartyMAC said:
TM takes a backup of the settings/ preferences/ files etc. Hence after a clean install and restore of TM backup, you're machine will be up till the last backup point.

I understand that it will be the same as it was before, the only thing I'm asking is if the system itself is backed up and restored. For instance, lets say something didn't install right when someone upgrades would this be a fresh install and then add whatever files and preferences you had to it?

smartyMAC · Nov 9, 2007

86Apex said:
I understand that it will be the same as it was before, the only thing I'm asking is if the system itself is backed up and restored. For instance, lets say something didn't install right when someone upgrades would this be a fresh install and then add whatever files and preferences you had to it?

If you're saying that if something didnt install right and TM took a backup after that then the newly installed thing would be part of latest backup. So when you restore the TM backup, the messed up install will be back...

But there should be a way to avoid this. I have not tried it but it's worth trying... in case of messed up installs, if TM has taken backup after that install, just navigate to the TM backup folder tree and try to delete the folder dated after the date of install. That way you should have the latest backup upto a point before the faulty installation..... but need to check how safe is it to delete the backup folders abruptly..

86Apex · Nov 9, 2007

smartyMAC said:
If you're saying that if something didnt install right and TM took a backup after that then the newly installed thing would be part of latest backup. So when you restore the TM backup, the messed up install will be back...

But there should be a way to avoid this. I have not tried it but it's worth trying... in case of messed up installs, if TM has taken backup after that install, just navigate to the TM backup folder tree and try to delete the folder dated after the date of install. That way you should have the latest backup upto a point before the faulty installation..... but need to check how safe is it to delete the backup folders abruptly..

I understand what you mean, but what if the problem has been there from the get-go when installing Leopard. There's no way to revert to something that hasn't been, which is why I want to know if it makes a complete copy of your entire hard drive (including the whole OS), or just the user added and changed things such as preferences, applications, files and settings.

86Apex · Nov 12, 2007

I take it no one knows?

theonegod · Nov 12, 2007

It is a complete but unbootable backup. You want to do an install from your Leopard CD and chooce Archive and Install. if all you are trying to do is remove a bug you have had since you installed Leopard. You shouldn't need your Time machine backup for this at all.

smartyMAC · Nov 12, 2007

86Apex said:
I understand what you mean, but what if the problem has been there from the get-go when installing Leopard. There's no way to revert to something that hasn't been, which is why I want to know if it makes a complete copy of your entire hard drive (including the whole OS), or just the user added and changed things such as preferences, applications, files and settings.

The TM makes a backup of all the files on the hard drive. You have a choice to exclude specific folders. So you may choose to exclude OS related folders and cover only your specific folders. Hope this answers your question..

86Apex · Nov 12, 2007

theonegod said:
It is a complete but unbootable backup. You want to do an install from your Leopard CD and chooce Archive and Install. if all you are trying to do is remove a bug you have had since you installed Leopard. You shouldn't need your Time machine backup for this at all.

I did an A&I to begin with and am quite disturbed by the inability to be able to connect to my Airport Disk easily. Do you think another A&I would take care of this problem?

86Apex · Nov 12, 2007

smartyMAC said:
The TM makes a backup of all the files on the hard drive. You have a choice to exclude specific folders. So you may choose to exclude OS related folders and cover only your specific folders. Hope this answers your question..

Kind of. I don't mind making a backup of the system, but my question is if I were to try and restore from Time Machine, would I be able to do a clean install of the system and then add my files. I used to do this using eithe Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, but that involves a lot of drag and drop and lots of re-installation of applications, so I'm trying to avoid that.