Is it possible for Time Machine to restore a volume that isn't the system volume? I had an external HD fail that should have been getting regular backups using Time Machine. Can this volume be rebuilt on a new external drive? If so, how do I go about doing that?
I'm using 10.6 primarily but can boot into any (more current) version of the OS to perform this task if I need to.
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
Hello CraigMFA,
Thanks for posting your question on the Apple Support Communities. I'm not sure how to proceed answering this question because it's slightly confusing.
Time Machine can restore Time Machine backups from an External Hard Drive. If your External Hard Drive has failed, you'll need to get a new External Hard Drive and begin the backup process again from Time Machine.
I didn't even know I could do that (drag and drop individual files from the Time Machine drive). I'll give that a try. Will report.
Thanks for your reply.
The Time Machine drive is not the one that failed. Another external drive has. It no longer mounts nor is it even visible on the bus when it's plugged in and powered on. I've tried numerous drive utilities on it and it does not even show up to be diagnosed.
I have received a new external drive today. My question is about how I go about restoring the failed drive onto the new one from its Time Machine backup.
Turns out the drive that failed was not being archived via Time Machine, so there were no files to transfer. So I'll have to try to recover the files from the drive itself.
I did learn a new thing about Time Machine though, so thank you for your help with this.
Other than the built in Migration Assistant in macOS there isn't an easy way to restore the data, other than dragging and dropping it out of the Time Machine backup and onto your new External Hard Drive. If you can access the Time Machine backup in Finder, you should be able to open two Finder windows and drag from one (Time Machine Backup) and drop into the other (New External Hard Drive).
You cannot use the automated tools on your Mac because there was no Operating System installed to your external hard drive.
Can Time Machine restore a non-system external HD?
