If you want to bring your Apple Macintosh computer back to its former glory, you can use Time Machine. But here’s the catch: you can’t run macOS while it’s being restored. So, you’ll need to restore your computer from within Recovery Mode. Let’s break down the process step by step.
- Power down your computer if powered on.
- If your Time Machine backup is stored on an External USB hard drive, plug it into your computer.
- Press the Power button and immediately press and hold down one of the following key combinations:
| Key combinations | Recovery mode |
| Command + R | Starts up macOS Recovery mode. |
| Option + Command + R | Starts up macOS Recovery mode over the internet to reinstall or upgrade macOS to the latest version. |
| Shift + Option + Command + R | Starts up macOS in Recovery mode over the internet but will reinstall the version of macOS that came with the Mac or the closest version. |
- Release the keys you are holding down when you see either a spinning globe or you see the Options screen.
Note: Just a heads up, if your computer is password-protected or not connected to the internet wirelessly, you might need to enter a password before you can access the Options screen. Also, if you use a specific recovery mode. Your computer will show a spinning globe until it downloads a copy of macOS. So, depending on your internet speed, this could take a while.
- At the Option Screen use your mouse point to highlight the Options icon.
- When the Continue button appears, click on it with your mouse pointer.
- You will now see four options. Select Restore from Time Machine.
- A wizard will appear to help guide you through restoring your Mac. Click Continue
- The software will search for a Restore Source. This could be the USB hard drive you plugged in or a snapshot stored on computers hard drive.
Note: If your Time Machine backup is stored on a network server. You can browse for it using the option Other Server.
- When you choose Restore, your computer will use your Time Machine backup to restore itself back to a previous state.
- From the list of backups that are displayed choose the backup you want to use and click Continue.
- Choose from the list the backup you wish to restore from Time Machine.
- After choosing Continue you will need to select the drive you wish to restore to. In most instance this will be Macintosh HD.
- Amazon store link – WD Elements External USB hard drive
- my doodads article – Restore a Silicon Apple Macintosh computer to a previous state using Time Machine
- mydoodads article – A beginners guide to setting up a Synology router | Time Machine backups
- Apple article – Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac
- Apple article – User macOS Recover on a Mac with Apple Silicon
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