Copying certain files from Time Machine

[derrickgoh]

My friend recently reformatted his HDD as he was having some problems.

I suggested that he does NOT restore from Time Machine because if its software related problem, by restoring an old restore from Time Machine, the same problem could recur. Is my fear genuine or am I paranoid? LOL!

He has no issues reinstalling his MS Office and other stuff again. His concern is more of his personal files i.e. photos, videos, MP3s and documents. Would it be possible for him to reformat his HDD, reinstall Mavericks but instead of restoring from Time Machine, just access Time Machine and copy out his personal files? Anyone tried that before?

 

[zitseng]

You can certainly access the previous Time Machine to select files the files you want to restore.

Actually another way is to allow the OS X installation to restore from Time Machine, but instead of restoring everything, just choose to restore your user directory. Don't restore the apps. Noted apps also store preferences inside the user's home directory, so this method does restore those things as well.

When I move between Macs, I'll restore my user home directory, but manually reinstall the apps myself. Nowadays, several apps are actually installed from the Mac App Store, so there might not be too many apps to install manually anyway.

 

[derrickgoh]

You can certainly access the previous Time Machine to select files the files you want to restore.

Actually another way is to allow the OS X installation to restore from Time Machine, but instead of restoring everything, just choose to restore your user directory. Don't restore the apps. Noted apps also store preferences inside the user's home directory, so this method does restore those things as well.

When I move between Macs, I'll restore my user home directory, but manually reinstall the apps myself. Nowadays, several apps are actually installed from the Mac App Store, so there might not be too many apps to install manually anyway.

Thanks. Think he'll be happy to know that.

 

[reyreina]

yup you can go into the time machine backups and copy/paste stuff if you go the clean restore route.