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Can I use Apple Time Machine to restore to a new MacBook?

Every time I buy a new computer, I go through extraordinary levels of hassle copying files from the old computer to the new one, and this time I am determined to do something smarter. I heard from a friend that since I use Time Machine (actually, I have a Time Capsule for network backups) that when I get my new MacBook I can just tap the Time Machine backup of my existing system and have it restore every single file and config onto the new system and have it a perfect clone. Rockin'. How do I do that??

Dave's Answer:

I've been holding on to this question for a while now, waiting for a new computer of my own because I too have a Time Capsule and have been using Time Machine for quite a while now to have reliable and invisible backups of my different Mac systems. It's a winner in my book and I have had to restore files from it more than once.

Having said that, I don't really like the fancy "time tunnel" interface to get to Time Machine backups, especially from a computer other than the one you've backed up, but fortunately there are now third-party alternative apps that make this quite a bit easier to do: go to versiontracker.com and search for "time machine" to see what I mean.

So when I got my new MacBook Pro, I got the first chance to test out restoring from Time Machine...

Here's what I saw on initial startup:

I chose "from a Time Machine backup" and then made the mistake of connecting to the unit via my wireless network. Bad mistake since I was going to be restoring hundreds of gigabytes of data (iTunes libraries, Document archives, etc). Why? Sssslllooowwwww city.

I restarted and this time when I got to the same prompt, I made the same choice, but had already hooked my Mac up to the Time Capsule via a direct Ethernet wire.

Once selected, the option changes color:

And it'll be time to click on "Continue" to proceed:

It's a little weird, but since it's connected directly, you don't need to enter a "name", just the password. Enter that correctly and you can proceed by again clicking on the "Connect" button.

Which leads you to...

This is where the wireless connect stunk: two hours after seeing the previous progress bar, it was still spinning, which is why I restarted and tried again with a direct wire connection between the computer and Time Capsule device!

Connected directly it should only be a few minutes before you see:

Now we're getting somewhere! Select what you want to have restored onto the new Mac and once everything has been calculated size-wise, it'll enable the "Transfer" button.

Now you'll see the following cheery, smiling Mac transfer window:

I hope you like it. You'll be looking at it for rather a while...

Those time estimates? Yeah, well, they're estimates...

Suddenly it moved to the next stage and the time estimate, uh, changed a bit:

Oh good, we're moving backwards in time. Well, I guess we are using Time Machine, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised when we roll backwards in time after all? :-)

A bit more time passes and:

then...

Almost done!

Finally, by George, I think we've finished the restore!

Next up is Apple inviting you to register your computer with their central customer database. I always do:

Wait, please, how are you going to use this?

Hey, looks like we're done!

Click "Go" and your computer will restart and hopefully look exactly like your original desktop on your old computer. It worked for me:

So the long and short of it? It's a great way to configure a new computer if you have a Time Machine system set up. Just be patient and do not try to do this via wifi: use a direct Ethernet connection. You'll thank me when it finishes in less than a week. :-)

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Categorized: Mac OS X Help (Article 8949)
Tagged: apple time capsule, apple time machine, mac os x, macbook pro
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Comments

Still another really useful tip. Thanks a lot, Dave!

Posted by: R. Nelson Byrne at June 23, 2009 11:27 AM

My experience was not nearly as smooth as yours Dave. Usually when migrating systems I do a time-consuming manually rebuild. I read your post and decided to give Time Machine a whirl. After the first 2 hours of 'checking time machine backup' (over gigabit ethernet, with wifi disabled) I forced a reboot. I tried twice more for short periods, then bypassed migration until after setting up the new computer. I then used the migration tool and experienced all kinds of ludicrous estimates as you did.

Warning: don't create your new account if you do it this way with the same details (long and short username) as the account you want to migrate; no can do).

All told moving my data took from 1200 to 1830 hours. Not a very Mac-like experience at all.

Posted by: Bruce at June 26, 2009 6:05 AM

So, I really liked the way that Dave did that. So smooth. Now, I just bought a new MacBook and have my backup from my older one on my external. I have used the laptop for 2 weekd before I got home were my backup external was. The man at the apple store told me that when I plug in my external it would ask me if I wanted to "merge" the hardrives... Didn't happen. Now I don't know what to do to get my old file on my new macbook... Please help!
Sylvia

Posted by: Sylvia Barnard at September 22, 2009 9:02 PM

Bruce, I agree that the backup data streaming is bizarrely slow, even when you're hooked up via Ethernet. Seems odd, seems like it should be pretty darn fast since there's no real processing going on, just identification of changed files (easy) and streaming to the device or, in this case, identifying which to restore and streaming onto the computer itself.

Sylvia, if you go to versiontracker.com and search for "time machine" you'll find that there are a ton of utilities to help you pick through a Time Machine backup archive. Hopefully one of those will take care of your file transfer needs!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at September 23, 2009 9:32 AM

I recently upgraded from a Mackbook to the new Mackbook pro. I used time machine to restore my old macbook, but I am now getting the message to restart the computer over and over again. Any help?

Posted by: Greg at October 22, 2009 10:18 PM

Greg, not sure what's going on, but if you have an Apple Store near you, I'd suggest that you make an appointment with one of their Geniuses (do it online, save yourself tons of waiting time) and have them help you figure out what's going on.

My guess is that somehow you have an imported config file that is a mismatch with your new hardware, so on the boot process the OS sees the problem and forces a restart. Make sense?

Posted by: Dave Taylor at October 26, 2009 10:35 AM

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the detailed procedure! I had a question regarding the files you can select to restore. I saw on your screenshots that you had 4 options to chose from (Dave Taylor/Network and other settings/Applications folder/Files and folders on "Macintosh HD". My question is: what exactly is restored when you check "Dave Taylor"? I ask this because I have a new MBP, and I would like to restore things such as my iTunes library and network settings, without restoring my entire "old" backup. (For example I will be leaving out "Applications folder".) Does this restore my iTunes? (and what else does it restore?) Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Posted by: Sergio ochoa at October 28, 2009 5:04 AM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!