How to Restore from a Time Machine Backup

Time Machine is the native macOS backup and recovery tool. Using it regularly helps protect your information from accidental deletion. Time Machine is designed to create local backups to an external storage device. It offers a simple method by which you can protect the valuable information on your Mac. Apple also offers the ability to create backups through its iCloud cloud service.

In this article, we are going to discuss how to restore your Mac from Time Machine backups. We will also investigate how to use data recovery software to restore lost data when no backup is available.

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Restore Files Backed Up With Time Machine on Mac

Let’s look at how to selectively restore files from Time Machine in the event of lost or deleted data. This is probably the most common way Time Machine is used. It requires that backups have been created with the tool to use for data recovery. The files you want to recover must have been included in one of your Time Machine backups for this recovery method to be successful.

The following procedure should be used to restore files from a Time Machine backup:

1. Before you can perform the restore, you need to connect the device that contains the Time Machine backups to your Mac. This makes the data in the backups available to the recovery application.
2. Open a Finder window that displays the storage location where the lost data was last stored. For example, if the missing files were last in the Downloads folder, open a Finder window that displays that folder. There is no need to open a Finder window if the missing item was from the Desktop.
3. Open Time Machine by clicking the Time Machine icon on the menu bar. You can also start Time Machine from Launchpad. If the icon is not on your menu bar, you can have it displayed by choosing Time Machine in System Preferences and selecting “Show Time Machine in menu bar.”
4. Use Time Machine’s arrows and timeline to browse the local snapshots and backups. Scroll through to find the items you wish to recover. You can restore individual files or a complete disk at this point.
5. Select the items you wish to recover and click the Restore button. The restored items will be recovered to their original storage locations. Those files lost from your Downloads folder will be put back there after the recovery is complete. It may take some time for the process to finish based on the number of files and their sizes. Be patient and your files will soon be back where they belong.

Restore your Mac from a Time Machine Backup

Time Machine is not only useful for recovering groups of lost or deleted files. You can also use it to perform a complete restore of your Mac’s user accounts and data. Time Machine will not recover your operating system.

Once you have the OS installed, you will be using the Migration Assistant application which will extract data from your Time Machine backups.

Use the following steps to restore your Mac from Time Machine:

1. Connect the disk that contains the Time Machine backup to your computer.
2. Open Migration Assistant which can be found in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.
3. You will be prompted to select the data transfer method to be used for the migration. Choose the option to transfer From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk. Click the Continue button.
4. Select the Time Machine backup you will use for recovery and click Continue.
5. Choose which backup you wish to use for data recovery and click Continue.
6. Select the information you want to transfer. You can transfer user accounts, applications, files, folders, and system settings.
7. Click Continue to begin the transfer. It may take multiple hours for large restores to complete.

Recover Data Without Time Machine

Time Machine is a great tool for recovering deleted files and folders. The catch is that you need to have backed up your data using Time Machine for it to be useful.

Unfortunately, you might not always have made a backup of the files that need to be recovered. They may have only been on your computer for a short time before being deleted.

When deleted files are not available in a backup or your Trash bin, data recovery software may be able to get them back for you. The macOS does not immediately physically remove data from a storage device when it is deleted. The operating system removes the logical links that make the data accessible and marks the storage space as being available for use.

Until the deleted items are overwritten by new information, data recovery software can repair the logical links and restore access. It essentially undeletes the deleted data, making it accessible to the OS and other applications.

Here are the steps to use for recovering deleted files with Disk Drill when you can’t restore from Time Machine backups:

1. Download, install and launch Disk Drill. If the lost files are on your main disk, use an external USB drive for the download and installation to prevent overwriting existing data.
2. Select the affected disk from the application’s disk list.
3. Click the Search for lost data button to begin scanning for recoverable items.
4. Preview the files that can be recovered and select a safe restore location. Don’t use the original disk to avoid corrupting the data.
5. Click the Recover button to complete the process.

Disk Drill offers a streamlined method of recovering deleted files on your Mac without a Time Machine backup. Windows users can also run this intuitive recovery software on their machines. Check out our review to learn more about recovering data on Windows computers with Disk Drill.

How to view Time Machine backups from another Mac

You may find it necessary to view some files from a Time Machine backup that was not made on your Mac.

You can do that by following these steps:

1. Connect the drive that contains the Time Machine backup you want to review to your Mac.
2. Open Finder and select the external storage device.
3. Select the folder named Backups.backupdb on the external drive.
4. Double-click on the folder with the name of the Mac.
5. Folders will be available and can be identified by the backup dates. Drill down into the folders to locate specific documents.

How to selectively recover files from your old Mac

You might want to recover some files from a Time Machine backup made on another computer.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Connect the drive that contains the Time Machine backup you want to recover to your computer.
2. Open Finder and select the external storage device.
3. Select the folder named Backups.backupdb on the external drive.
4. Double-click on the folder with the name of the Mac.
5. Double-click on Latest and then on Macintosh HD.
6. Choose the folder that contains the files you want to recover.
7. Drag files to your desktop to copy them. You may be prompted for your account credentials which you should supply.

FAQ

Conclusion

Losing data on your Mac is never pleasant, but the problem can often be minimized if you have Time Machine backups available. You should use the tool regularly to backup your valuable information. Your backups might be the only way to recover from a serious data loss scenario. The procedures outlined above will help you restore files from Time Machine backups.

When you can’t restore files from Time Machine, data recovery software may be able to get your data back. For the best results, stop using the device with the lost files until recovery is complete. Good luck restoring your data!