Time Machine Backup Help

[kawatsu]

Hi,

I have recently backed up my macbook pro via time machine to a server and recently had to reformat the entire macbook as the software corrupted the hard disk.

However the apple care guys are unable to tell me which is the software that causes this failure..

And he said its not advisable to reload the time machine backup into the newly reformatted computer.

So is there any ways that I can take out certain data from the time machine backup?

Such as:
1. Photos
2. Music
3. Emails
4. Applications (Entourage/Microsoft Office)
5. Safari Bookmarks

Thank you!

Update:
Thanks guys for your advices!

I must tell you how ignorant the guys at wheelock eserve are!

I got back my macbook today and was told that my battery is bloated, and the filipino told me that my battery is so bloated that my trackpad is not working due to misalignment!

I was pretty shocked as i am very sure that my trackpad was working fine before i sent it in for "reformat".

And she told me to change the battery which i nearly did for $280.

And was very much confused as:
1. I dont feel that it is bloated
2. Battery is at the back, trackpad is at the front. No connection right?

Glad that i did not get it changed as i went home and realized the issue...

The settings was back to factory reset and the trackpad settings "Tap to click" was not checked.

IT IS SO RIDICULOUS!

She even told me that when i sent it in yesterday, she already felt and noticed that my trackpad was not sensitive. And btw, she WAS NOT the person who served me yesterday!

Be careful guys!!

First was the time machine advice, that i was told i cannot choose what files to download back into my system. And now this...

Thanks again for your advices!

 

[davidktw]

Hi,

I have recently backed up my macbook pro via time machine to a server and recently had to reformat the entire macbook as the software corrupted the hard disk.

However the apple care guys are unable to tell me which is the software that causes this failure..

And he said its not advisable to reload the time machine backup into the newly reformatted computer.

So is there any ways that I can take out certain data from the time machine backup?

Such as:
1. Photos
2. Music
3. Emails
4. Applications (Entourage/Microsoft Office)
5. Safari Bookmarks

Thank you!

Not advisable to restore back from Time Machine into a bare metal mac ? What is Apple Care fellas doing ? That's one of the important feature of Time Machine.

However to answer your question, yes you can selectively copy out certain directories and files from Time Machine. After you have installed a brand new Mac OS X into the MBP, just configure the MBP to connect to the TM, you should be able to open up the Time Machine and find the files inside the mounted TM.

 

[B772ER]

Not advisable to restore back from Time Machine into a bare metal mac ? What is Apple Care fellas doing ? That's one of the important feature of Time Machine.

However to answer your question, yes you can selectively copy out certain directories and files from Time Machine. After you have installed a brand new Mac OS X into the MBP, just configure the MBP to connect to the TM, you should be able to open up the Time Machine and find the files inside the mounted TM.

i believe the idea is that the applecare guys want to find out if the issue replicates on a blank OS, or that there could be some issues in the settings / preferences that cause the computer to crash. thats why they want to do a manual restore of docs and data such that it will not clone back the entire computer the way it was originally, to minimise the potential of it crashing again.

 

[kawatsu]

Thanks guys for your advices!

I must tell you how ignorant the guys at wheelock eserve are!

I got back my macbook today and was told that my battery is bloated, and the filipino told me that my battery is so bloated that my trackpad is not working due to misalignment!

I was pretty shocked as i am very sure that my trackpad was working fine before i sent it in for "reformat".

And she told me to change the battery which i nearly did for $280.

And was very much confused as:
1. I dont feel that it is bloated
2. Battery is at the back, trackpad is at the front. No connection right?

Glad that i did not get it changed as i went home and realized the issue...

The settings was back to factory reset and the trackpad settings "Tap to click" was not checked.

IT IS SO RIDICULOUS!

She even told me that when i sent it in yesterday, she already felt and noticed that my trackpad was not sensitive. And btw, she WAS NOT the person who served me yesterday!

Be careful guys!!

First was the time machine advice, that i was told i cannot choose what files to download back into my system. And now this...

Thanks again for your advices!

 

[B772ER]

Thanks guys for your advices!

I must tell you how ignorant the guys at wheelock eserve are!

I got back my macbook today and was told that my battery is bloated, and the filipino told me that my battery is so bloated that my trackpad is not working due to misalignment!

I was pretty shocked as i am very sure that my trackpad was working fine before i sent it in for "reformat".

And she told me to change the battery which i nearly did for $280.

And was very much confused as:
1. I dont feel that it is bloated
2. Battery is at the back, trackpad is at the front. No connection right?

Glad that i did not get it changed as i went home and realized the issue...

The settings was back to factory reset and the trackpad settings "Tap to click" was not checked.

IT IS SO RIDICULOUS!

She even told me that when i sent it in yesterday, she already felt and noticed that my trackpad was not sensitive. And btw, she WAS NOT the person who served me yesterday!

Be careful guys!!

First was the time machine advice, that i was told i cannot choose what files to download back into my system. And now this...

Thanks again for your advices!

actually, the battery is at the front and sits below where the trackpad is. so if the battery bloats, the click mechanism on the trackpad can be very hard. i encountered this issue before.

 

[GGGGGG]

For Time Machine backup, I clicked on "On" and it prompted for the Airport utility thing. I'm new to Macbooks, so I can only backup my data to an external hard disk?

 

[B772ER]

For Time Machine backup, I clicked on "On" and it prompted for the Airport utility thing. I'm new to Macbooks, so I can only backup my data to an external hard disk?

for the initial setup, if the computer does not detect an external HDD plugged in, it will prompt u to search for nearest time capsule to back up to.. so once u plug in an ext HDD (formatted to HFS journaled) you will be able to select that as your back up drive

 

[zitseng]

Update:
Thanks guys for your advices!

I must tell you how ignorant the guys at wheelock eserve are!

I got back my macbook today and was told that my battery is bloated, and the filipino told me that my battery is so bloated that my trackpad is not working due to misalignment!

I was pretty shocked as i am very sure that my trackpad was working fine before i sent it in for "reformat".

And she told me to change the battery which i nearly did for $280.

And was very much confused as:
1. I dont feel that it is bloated
2. Battery is at the back, trackpad is at the front. No connection right?

Glad that i did not get it changed as i went home and realized the issue...

The settings was back to factory reset and the trackpad settings "Tap to click" was not checked.

IT IS SO RIDICULOUS!

She even told me that when i sent it in yesterday, she already felt and noticed that my trackpad was not sensitive. And btw, she WAS NOT the person who served me yesterday!

Be careful guys!!

First was the time machine advice, that i was told i cannot choose what files to download back into my system. And now this...

Thanks again for your advices!

You should write in to Apple directly to complain. It is one thing to be simply ignorant/lacking knowledge, but another to be giving wrong information, and far worse to be lying about it. *sigh*

 

[mac_mac]

Hi,

I have recently backed up my macbook pro via time machine to a server and recently had to reformat the entire macbook as the software corrupted the hard disk.

However the apple care guys are unable to tell me which is the software that causes this failure..

And he said its not advisable to reload the time machine backup into the newly reformatted computer.

So is there any ways that I can take out certain data from the time machine backup?

Such as:
1. Photos
2. Music
3. Emails
4. Applications (Entourage/Microsoft Office)
5. Safari Bookmarks

Thank you!

Update:
Thanks guys for your advices!

I must tell you how ignorant the guys at wheelock eserve are!

I got back my macbook today and was told that my battery is bloated, and the filipino told me that my battery is so bloated that my trackpad is not working due to misalignment!

I was pretty shocked as i am very sure that my trackpad was working fine before i sent it in for "reformat".

And she told me to change the battery which i nearly did for $280.

And was very much confused as:
1. I dont feel that it is bloated
2. Battery is at the back, trackpad is at the front. No connection right?

Glad that i did not get it changed as i went home and realized the issue...

The settings was back to factory reset and the trackpad settings "Tap to click" was not checked.

IT IS SO RIDICULOUS!

She even told me that when i sent it in yesterday, she already felt and noticed that my trackpad was not sensitive. And btw, she WAS NOT the person who served me yesterday!

Be careful guys!!

First was the time machine advice, that i was told i cannot choose what files to download back into my system. And now this...

Thanks again for your advices!

Hi there... certain things that the lady said is true:

1) bloated battery does cause the trackpad to be unresponsive (btw tap to click is by default not checked from new install of OS) the battery bloated side is directly below trackpad, the side that you will see with the bottom case opened is hard plastic (won't show bloat).

2) manual copy of the backup advise as if the OS is corrupted and you did a backup, a full restore from TM will cause the macbook to be corrupted too.