How to Fix Mac Won't Boot After Time Machine Restore

If your Mac won't boot after a Time Machine restore, what should you do? We'll provide tested solutions to help you solve this issue and rescue data from an unbootable Mac with the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

The Time Machine Restore can help you accomplish many goals, and it's easy to set up a new Mac, restore personal files after factory reset, restore your Mac to an earlier date with the Time Machine Restore feature.

Sometimes, there are unexpected situations that happen, such as Time Machine Restore getting stuck and took forever or the Mac won't boot after a Time Machine Restore.

When your Mac cannot boot because of this restore, it's essential to restore data from the Mac before trying to fix this issue in the Recovery Mode.

Let's dive into the detailed recovery solution and troubleshoot fixes!

Recover Data from Won't Boot Mac After Time Machine Restore

Can I access data on an unbootable Mac? Yes, Mac users can apply the Target Disk Mode or bootable USB to access data on a Mac that won't boot.

If you don't know how to use the Target Disk Mode and how to create a bootable disk, we highly recommend you download the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac and rescue data from the unbootable Mac.

This software is simple to use and can help you retrieve photos, documents, videos, audio, and emails from your Mac. It can also help you recover data from an unbootable Mac.

This Mac recovery software is easy to use, and you don't have to prepare another well-functional Mac; just make sure the Mac is in a stable internet connection.

Check the following guide, and we'll teach you how to recover data from an unbootable Mac with the EaseUS recovery tool:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Software in Recovery Mode

Select "Utilities > Terminal" from the top menu, and enter the command sh <(curl https://d3.easeus.com/mac/boot.sh). Hit "Return". Wait for the application to open, and it will take several minutes.

Note: If the Terminal displays either "No such file or directory" or "Could not resolve host," you should verify that the command line you entered is correctly spelled, ensure your Mac has a stable internet connection, and confirm that your macOS version is not lower than macOS 10.15.

Step 2. Select the Volume on Your Mac Hard Drive

Select the volume where your lost data is stored, and click "Search for lost files". The EaseUS software will quickly locate all the recoverable data on the selected volume.

Step 3. Choose the Lost Data You Want

EaseUS software categorizes the scanned recoverable data by file type and storage path. Find the data you want by clicking "Type" or "Path" in the left panel. Then, check the boxes in front of the data you want to recover.

Step 4. Recover and Save Data on an External Disk

Click the "Recover" button, and a pop-up window will show up saying, "Please select a target location to save". Choose the external disk as the new storage location of your recovered data.

Share this guide on social media to help more readers solve Mac startup issues without losing data.

Mac Won't Boot After Time Machine Restore, What Should I Do?

After restoring data from the unbootable Mac, you can start to apply some solutions to fix this boot issue. This issue is most likely caused by a corrupted startup disk, you can check following three solutions to fix Mac won't boot after Time Machine restore.

Method 1. Repair Disk in Disk Utility

To Apply this method and the second one, you need to boot your Mac into Recovery Mode. Usually, you can enter Recovery Mode after shutting down the Mac, restarting it, and pressing the Command + R keys while the OS is booting up.

Step 1. In the Recovery Mode, choose "Disk Utility".

Step 2. Select the Mac startup disk and choose the First Aid button. The target button is located at the top right of the window.

Step 3. Then, click "Run" to confirm the startup disk repair.

After repairing the startup disk, you should check whether your Mac can boot successfully. If not, try the next method.

Method 2. Reinstall macOS in Recovery Mode

If your Mac cannot boot after the Time Machine restore, reinstalling macOS should be a useful method to solve this Mac boot issue. To reinstall macOS in the Recovery Mode, make sure you are connecting to the internet stably.

Step 1. Boot your Mac into the Recovery Mode.

Step 2. Choose "Reinstall macOS".

Step 3. Follow the onscreen instructions to reinstall macOS. This will usually not delete data on your Mac unless you choose to erase the disk and reinstall it.

Method 3. Reset NVRAM on Mac

Resetting the NVRAM on the Mac that won't boot can help resolve issues related to system settings stored in this memory, especially the startup disk selection. Here's how to reset the NVRAM on a Mac:

Step 1. Shut down your Mac and reboot it.

Step 2. When your Mac is turning on, press the Command + Option + R + P keys to reset NVRAM.

Step 3. When you see the Mac is starting up, stop pressing the keys and let them go.

If you have resolved the problem with this method, please share it on social media and help more users!

Conclusion

That may be a bad file that is restoring from the Time Machine backup that causes the Mac won't boot. To avoid this issue in the future, you can try to restore the files manually from an external hard disk.

Trust EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac if you have lost data while fixing this boot issue on Mac. This software can even recover data from the Mac that won't boot.

Mac Won't Startup After the Time Machine Restore FAQs

Find more information from the following questions and answers about Mac won't start after the Time Machine restore.

1. Why won't my Mac start after Time Machine Restore?

Many reasons can cause your Mac not to boot after Time Machine Restore. The corrupt file, wrong startup disk settings, disk corruption, and other potential reasons can result in this issue.

2. How do I fix my Mac won't boot after Time Machine Restore?

You can apply three methods to fix this issue:

1. 1. Repair Mac startup disk in Disk Utility
2. 2. Reinstall macOS in the Recovery Mode
3. 3. Reset NVRAM

3. How do I fix the Time Machine Restore that is stuck?

If the backup files are too large, the Time Machine Restore may take longer. If the process is stuck, try to stop the restoration and restart your Mac to fix this issue. Then, do the Time Machine Restore again.