Will Time Machine help with HDD failure?

AlanD

So I've been wondering, if I have a hard drive failure on my MacBook that has Time Machine backups, how can my time machine backup be used to restore files, like photos and movies if I replace my HDD or repair the HDD that failed.

I'm thinking Time Machine will be of no help at all really, since the newly setup HDD will not recognise it. Or will it?

So, what should I do.....take regular full disk image copies and put them on another external HDD?

Or can Time Machine do what I ask of it?

J-blk

I don't think Time Machine does complete hard drive images but it can be used for disaster recovery through Migration Assistant, with a new drive. Case in point: I recently got one of the new MBs and wanted to transfer most stuff from my older MBP. I fired up Migration Assistant and used the "From Time Machine or other backup disc" option on the MB, to pull all applications, my user account settings and home folder contents, all without having set up Time Machine on the MB. So there was no need for the MBP to even be functional at that point.

I'm assuming then that if your system was to completely fail, you could swap the HDD, do a clean Leopard installation and then use Migration Assistant to pull everything from your Time Machine backup.

TBH though, I think using third party software to clone your entire drive would allow you to restore faster and I'm thinking of doing something similar (especially because Time Machine is starting to annoy me at this stage).

Flashraziel

I have a time Capsule and recently upgraded my macbook's HDD to a 320gb.
I just booted from the install cd and instead of going trough with the fresh install, went into disk utilities and formatted the drive. Then It was a simple matter or selecting "Restore from Time Machine Backup" And I had the drive set up just as it had been before. It's easy.

AlanD

This is great to hear!

I hope I never have to recover from a failed hdd but you never know.

As a matter of interest, what make/spec hdd did you get?

Flashraziel

This is the Drive I bought https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=343402

Used the instructions from here http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Core-2-Duo/Hard-Drive-Replacement/116/5/Page-1

Not a hard job in any way, just make sure you have the right screwdrivers before you start!

Simon201

AlanD wrote: »

So, what should I do.....take regular full disk image copies and put them on another external HDD?

Or can Time Machine do what I ask of it?

Time Machine is designed to be used with an external drive of some kind and as you seemed to have worked out, there could probably be a problem with restoring from your backup that's on the broken HD.
It works well, cos I had to do a complete restore from my TM backup to my desktop Mac last week as it wouldn't start up (some kind of 'Invalid sibling link' corruption) and after an hour or two of googling, safe booting, permission repairing, Techtooling and Terminal (bashing!), I had to do a full restore. Plus my Leopard upgrade disk wouldn't even see a system folder on the HD so an 'archive and install' wasn't an option.

And on a side note I've just bought this replacement HD for my Macbook from Peats - €79
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=72&type=62&subtype=67&model_cd=373&ppmi=1159#

AlanD

Oh don't get me wrong I don't have a problem. I'm just thinking of consequences because I didn't bother buying applecare for my macbook.

Think I'll be fine. Losing data is my biggest worry.

cbr954

I use Superduper! to clone my hard drive. It is a bootable backup. If I have a hard drive failure I can boot from the external drive. It does't do the incremental backups like time machine but it is a good companion to TM.

I use Smartreporter to monitor my hard drives. It should warn me if a hard drive is going to fail.

aidan_walsh

Think I'll be fine. Losing data is my biggest worry.

AppleCare wouldn't help diddley with that even if you did have it.

AlanD

Simon201 wrote: »

And on a side note I've just bought this replacement HD for my Macbook from Peats - €79
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=72&type=62&subtype=67&model_cd=373&ppmi=1159#

Any idea if this deal is still going with peats or how did you get on with this drive?

I currently use an external drive connected to AEBS to stream my music, but it wrecks my head at times and never gets backed up to time machine unless I connect it directly to the computer, so I'm thinking of installing a 500GB internal to hold all my stuff. Should have done it in the first place really.

Simon201

AlanD wrote: »

Any idea if this deal is still going with peats or how did you get on with this drive?

I'm not sure really. It wasn't any kind of special deal. I just went in initially to upgrade my 120gb to 250 or something and the guy just said there was only a small difference in price between the 250's, 320's and the 500's. In fact at the time I didn't even realise there was 500gb laptops drives available. Give 'em a buzz. It was in Blanch, but I guess they'd all have the drives in stock. All good anyhow, I superduper'd the original onto the new drive, set up a nice 50gb bootcamp partition and 'Wincloned' my Vista back on to it. And I think they are guaranteed for 3 years.