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kraut55 Author

Level 1

15 points

Restore on iMac seems to have screwed up everything

iMac late 2015, Catalina

Lately my iMac acted up a bit. When it had been on for a few hours, most of the time idling, it did not shut down. I always had to use the power button.

I decided to restore it according to https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203981#macos . (restore both MacOS and files). The restore began but informed me that a restore was not possible and I should pick another TimeMachine Backup. I tried a couple of different backups but after a few GB I received the same error message.

Now I am unable to start the iMac. I get a blue screen reminiscent to the Window screen-of-death which basically tells me I am screwed.

Shouldn't there be some safety measure installed that ensures the backup is flawless before the procedure erases the startup disk?

Is there still a way to maybe get the system working again?

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 13, 2020 7:18 AM

Top-ranking reply

John Galt

Level 10

146,492 points

Posted on Feb 13, 2020 7:42 AM

Try reinstalling macOS according to Reinstall macOS - Apple Support. After it finishes, you will be given the opportunity to migrate your User Account contents from the Time Machine backup.

Shouldn't there be some safety measure installed that ensures the backup is flawless before the procedure erases the startup disk?

There is. Time Machine performs a periodic verification of backup integrity. The possibility of an unrelated problem exists, given the symptom of being unable to shut down, so it's not at all conclusive the TM backup is corrupted.

Try reinstalling macOS.

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Restore on iMac seems to have screwed up everything

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