How To Transfer Backup Data To New Hd

[cheeryble]

Hi there

yes I've been stupid....but not ridiculously stupid.

Despite my Time Machine on my Macbook telling me I hadn't backed up for 700 days or something I in fact did back up all or most of my data on Jan 1st this year when I got the firewire cable properly connected and let it do it's thing.

So, a few days ago I got a screen freeze and on reboot got the dreaded ?FOLDER? flashing.

HD? I thought.....

Took it to the shop it was indeed the HD and the data from the old HD could not be accessed with Data Rescue.

I've decided that instead of sending for a big deal data recovery I'll suck up three months of lost data and get on with it, so I've replaced the HD and got 10.6.8 installed.

HEre's the thing.

Lots of settings are lost.

Example my email is now in a tiny Helvetica. I know I can change it new but is it possible to just access my old settings from the backup disc?

Much more noticeable and annoying is when i write an email it doesn't suggest the name when I write the first letter or two. I believe it does this from the address book whcih now is of course empty.

So, what would be the best way to access and transfer data like this, and maybe keychains, bookmarks and anything else you can think I might need.

thanks in advance

Cheeryble

[cheeryble]

Hi I learned about Migration assistant and did the transfer from the Backup disc.

Just went to email expecting it to predict my typing of recipients.......but no.

The font hasn't reverted to my original one either.

And I was kind of expecting the same desktop as I had before.....but no.

And no bookmarks automatically inserted.....

Are these things not possible automatically?

Edited April 2, 2012 by cheeryble

[Jimi007]

I use Carbon Cloner to do a backup as well as Time Machine. Carbon Cloner keeps everything the same as your hard drive you clone. All your preferences, addresses and playlists are in your user folder. You can try replacing your user folder in your new OS install with your old one. Good luck.

[cheeryble]

I use Carbon Cloner to do a backup as well as Time Machine. Carbon Cloner keeps everything the same as your hard drive you clone. All your preferences, addresses and playlists are in your user folder. You can try replacing your user folder in your new OS install with your old one. Good luck.

Thanks Jimi

I had heard this about CCC and actually I have it in my transferred apps.

Heard that the good thing is you can boot off the external HD if nec.

Trouble is, as the external which I got (most) of my stuff back from was backed up using Time Machine, will those user choices I want back be tucked away anywhere or will it only be good for if I use CCC in future?

Cheeryble

[ianwuk]

Cherryble:

Migration assistant only migrates your settings and is recommended to be performed after a clean OS installation.

To get your desktop, email font settings etc. you need to boot off the OSX disc and connect your backup drive and choose to restore from Time Machine backup and hope it finds one and then choose that, let it do its thing (can take time) and then, upon reboot, you should have absolutely everything back as normal.

[JusMe]

I use Carbon Cloner to do a backup as well as Time Machine. Carbon Cloner keeps everything the same as your hard drive you clone. All your preferences, addresses and playlists are in your user folder. You can try replacing your user folder in your new OS install with your old one. Good luck.

Thanks Jimi

I had heard this about CCC and actually I have it in my transferred apps.

Heard that the good thing is you can boot off the external HD if nec.

Trouble is, as the external which I got (most) of my stuff back from was backed up using Time Machine, will those user choices I want back be tucked away anywhere or will it only be good for if I use CCC in future?

Cheeryble

I very much like Carbon Copy Cloner, myself. I also have TM running, but very rarely ever make use of it, and have had problems with it in the past. Another advantage of CCC is that it's free.

I have two iMacs, one here and the other in Canada. I use an external hard drive for regularly scheduled backups. When I travel from one place to the other, I carry that external with me. Upon arrival, I just connect it by USB and use it as my startup disc for whichever iMac I haven't used for months. Once it's using the external as my startup drive, I run CCC from that, copying everything from the external to my iMac. Then restart, and I'm good for a few months, until I do the same thing in reverse.

Don't know if this helps with your current problem, but can definitely assist in future.