How to Recover An Apple Computer

So, I initiate the Yosemite install process on my Mac Mini.  After about 15 minutes I received the following message.

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With a big sigh I restarted the computer.

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After entering my password to login I received the following rather ugly crash.  I repeated the login process several times and each time I received the following crash event.

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OK, so I’m a big proponent of backing up everything.  Since I have an Apple Time Machine I have an ongoing backup for my Mac Mini and Macbook Pro.

After powering the computer off I used the Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs article to Start from the OS X Recovery System.

 

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After a few nervous minutes wondering if my backup would be available I get the following.

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Time to select the backup source to restore the Mac Mini.

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Lots of healthy looking rollback options.

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Time to wipe the drive and restore.

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Here we go…

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No turning back now…

 

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Time to watch some TV.

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Yep.  15 minutes to brick and an estimated 8 hours to restore.

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Lesson learned here is to ensure backups are always running on correct schedules.