Question Installing Time Machine backup ?

[mrclownface]

Hi there,
A friend has asked me to fix issues with her MacBook Air.

About 6 months ago i created a Time Machine backup for her on an external hard drive. The problem is ,my friend has deleted all the photos on it and I believe it was syncronised with the icloud,so they are also gone from the cloud.

i have the drive with the Time Machine backup but i don't have her MacBook because she uses it constantly, so I'm trying to solve this with my own MacBook Air (same model).

I couldn't find all the photos by looking at the hard drive files so i installed the Time Machine backup on my MacBook. Once the process was completed, I logged in with her password and now it will not boot properly to the desktop, I just get the circle(loading) and it never seems to end.

Has anyone encountered this and have any ideas on how to solve it?

 

[Ralston18]

My suggestion:

Do nothing so as to not risk her photographs in any manner.

Just let her know that she needs to find some "free time" for her MacBook Air so the two of you can work together using the Time Machine backup to restore the photos.

 

[stonecarver]

so i installed the Time Machine backup on my MacBook. Once the process was completed, I logged in with her password and now it will not boot properly to the desktop, I just get the circle(loading) and it never seems to end.

So if I understand correctly her OS back up is fully installed on your Mac now right.

And her drive is out of the picture . Yes I agree stop using hers unless you use her Mac. Hand shake kind of thing.

But you might have did yourself a favor as now you have her back up OS on a doner drive.

If you have a external hard drive caddy you can take YOUR drive you put her back up on and use one of the data recovery programs out there.

You don't have to get past it not opening OS on your laptop and the recovery program does not care about that stuff. You just point the recovery program to that drive and it will search the data out.

If your just looking for pictures in the data recovery program you can choose what to look for while it runs the scan.

I use Windows to run my recovery programs on so If you only have a Mac that I can't answer how that side functions. Good/bad.

 

[mrclownface]

My suggestion:

Do nothing so as to not risk her photographs in any manner.

Just let her know that she needs to find some "free time" for her MacBook Air so the two of you can work together using the Time Machine backup to restore the photos.

after all the time i have spent on this,i think your idea is great,but my friend is very busy so finding the time is a difficult one...thanks

 

[mrclownface]

So if I understand correctly her OS back up is fully installed on your Mac now right.

And her drive is out of the picture . Yes I agree stop using hers unless you use her Mac. Hand shake kind of thing.

But you might have did yourself a favor as now you have her back up OS on a doner drive.

If you have a external hard drive caddy you can take YOUR drive you put her back up on and use one of the data recovery programs out there.

You don't have to get past it not opening OS on your laptop and the recovery program does not care about that stuff. You just point the recovery program to that drive and it will search the data out.

If your just looking for pictures in the data recovery program you can choose what to look for while it runs the scan.

I use Windows to run my recovery programs on so If you only have a Mac that I can't answer how that side functions. Good/bad.

yes it was intalled on my mac but it would just never properly boot to the desktop,so i had to reinstall a new macos on my mac...using data recovery software is certainly a good idea.
is there any software you can recomend?

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"yes it was intalled on my mac but it would just never properly boot to the desktop".

What were the error messages when the desktop (meaning macos - correct?) failed to boot?

I am also not (full disclosure) a mac user. However, recovery software is available.

Check with the Apple community.

For example:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255226326?sortBy=best

You can easily find other similar links.

 

[stonecarver]

One thing I do want to point out that if you do decide to put her OS back up back on your Mac and try the recovery programs use a CLEAN drive.

If you don't what lived on the drive before you put her back up on there will be part of the recovery that shows up.

I have had computers come in where like your helping your friend recover pictures find out through recovery operation the computer has had 3 owners and there pictures all lived.

Just a heads up.

 

[ofcasera]

When setting up Time Machine backup, it's essential to consider the underlying infrastructure to ensure reliable and efficient data storage. Exploring the comparison outlined in the article "vm vs container vs serverless" provides valuable insights into different deployment options. Understanding the distinctions between virtual machines, containers, and serverless computing can inform decisions regarding scalability, resource management, and data protection strategies for Time Machine backups.

 

[liton49]

Try booting in Safe Mode by holding down Shift while restarting. If that doesn't work, consider macOS reinstallation or macOS recovery, but be cautious of potential data loss.