Time Machine restore from ReadyNAS

We had such a great response to our Easy Time Machine Setup with the ReadyNAS article that we’re following up with this how-to on restoring your Mac from a Time Machine backup on the ReadyNAS.

My MacBook Pro of 11 months was running out of space — yes, the original 250 GB disk just wasn’t cutting it anymore.  I was down to my last 5 GB.  I really didn’t want to waste time trying to see what I should delete as I knew I could use the new space for some additional VMs, so I went and ordered the largest available drive, a 500 GB.

Step 1 – Backup Now before replacing drive

A couple days later, my drive was delivered.  Before opening up the Mac, I selected the Backup Now option in Time Machine before shutting it down, just to make sure the last changes got backed up.

Step 2 – Replace your drive

The process to replace your drive is going to depend on your Mac, some quite easy, some not quite easy.  As luck would have it, my MacBook Pro had something like 26 screws to remove the drive.  I won’t bore you with the details as you can find step by step instructions to do this online.  I did have to purchase as Torx T-6 screwdriver to take out a few of the screws.

Step 3 – Boot up from the OS X Installation DVD

Make sure you have the installation DVDs included with the Mac.  Without it, you’re pretty much dead in the water.

Boot up using disk #1.

One thing to note is that your new drive won’t show up automatically in the list of options for installation.  It won’t be detected until you first erase and partition it with the Disk Utility — this is a menu option during installation.  Don’t make the mistake that I did in taking apart the notebook (did I mention 26 screws?) to make sure I didn’t forget to connect all the cables correctly.

Step 4 – Select the Time Machine backup volume

In the Installer, choose Utilities→Restore System from Backup to restore directly from Time Machine.  (You can skip the installation — thanks btaroli for pointing that out.)

Once you select the Time Machine backup option, you’ll be prompted to enter the backup volume.

Make sure the ReadyNAS option is selected and click Continue and you’ll be prompted to enter the password.

Select the desired restore options.

And your restoration process begins.

I let it do its thing overnight, and by morning, the restoration process was complete, and I had all the space I needed, for about the next 11 months I think…

Good luck!

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