Time Machine "Restore to..." doesn't work

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Level 1

4 points

Time Machine "Restore to..." doesn't work

Restoring just a single item (file or folder) from a time machine backup to a different destination doesn't work anymore. If you select "Restore to..." in the action dropdown it just starts restoring to the original destination (with a "Keep Original/Replace/Keep both" dialogue).

I need to restore a big folder and do some advanced comparison between the original and backup but don't have enough space left on that drive (but more than enough on another one). This was really easy before. In previous macOS versions you got a selection dialogue to choose a new destination when you selected "Restore to...".

Posted on Oct 27, 2024 8:40 PM

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Answer 1

PRP_53

Level 10

91,843 points

Oct 28, 2024 2:12 AM in response to markuswi

From the Apple Documentation related to macOS 14 Sonoma and TM Backup

Restoring files / folder will be done to the file / folder Original Location

Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac

Select one or more items you want to restore (these can include folders or your entire disk), then click Restore.
Restored items return to their original location. For example, if an item was in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,327 points

Oct 28, 2024 3:52 AM in response to markuswi

It is pity, that "Restore to ..." is no longer working as before. It will not help to upgrade to Sequoia, there is still the same problem and we cannot restore directly to a different folder.

When I need to restore a large item, like my Photos Library, without overwriting the original, I am now moving the original to an external drive, before I use "Restore to ..", so there will be enough free storage on the volume, where the restored item will be saved to.

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