If a drive is acting oddly, run Disk
Utility, from the Utilities folder in
Applications. Select a drive and click
First Aid. It’ll report any problems
and usually repair them. Most repairs
can’t be done on the drive you
started up from, so in this caserestart from Recovery and run Disk
Utility from there. If First Aid reports
problems that can’t be fixed, ensure
you’ve an up–to–date backup, erase
the drive and restore (see above).
This often works, but in the worst
case the drive might need replacing.1
Download the app
You’ll find that all the major cloud
services have free apps available for
iPadOS. Open the App Store and search
for the name of the service you want. Get
the app and wait for it to complete
downloading and installing.
1
Reinstall macOS
Alternatively, you can start from
Recovery (see above) and use Disk Utility
to erase your startup drive: see bit.ly/
apple-erasedisk. Back at macOS Utilities,
use Reinstall macOS: see bit.ly/apple-
reinsmacosrec.
2
Choose your backup
Select Restore From Time Machine
Backup. When prompted, select the Time
Machine backup drive as the Restore
Source, then confirm the backup you want
to use. Next, confirm the destination to
restore to, usually Macintosh HD.2
Use Migration
Assistant
Your Macintosh HD now contains nothing
but a clean copy of macOS. On restart,
Migration Assistant will offer to restore
files. Choose “From a Mac, Time Machine
backup, or startup disk” and click Continue.3
Restore your data
The destination drive is erased and
replaced with your backup, which may take
up to several hours. Since this restores
everything, it’s not a way to save space,
but may fix problems that have arisen on
the drive.3
Restore files
Having confirmed the location of
your backup, choose what to restore from
it. Be sure to include your main user
account. If you miss anything, re–run
Migration Assistant from the Utilities
folder in Applications.HOW TO Reinstall Macintosh HD from Time Machine
HOW TO Restore files after reinstalling macOS
It can be an easy fix for storage glitches
Check your drive with Disk Utility
Tag files and folders with names and colors
to make them easier to find in the sidebar.
Image rights: Apple.
Detox your Mac
maclife.com APR 2020 27