MacOS – Does restoring from Time Machine also restore installed applications

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I am planning to upgrade my late 2009 MacBook Pro (running Snow Leopard) by replacing the 250GB hard drive with a new 1TB drive. I have been maintaining Time Machine backups.

I plan to install the new drive and do a fresh install of Snow Leopard and then restore using the Migration Assistant. This is my first time with Time Machine 'Restore' so two simple questions:

  1. Will restore, restore my OSX patches and installed applications?
  2. Does Time Machine care if the new Drive is bigger than the original drive?

Best Answer

  1. Yes - if you haven't excluded the /Applications folder from the Time Machine backups.

    As for system patches - you're installing a new OS. Once you finish, load up the Software Update and it'll pull down the most recent Combo Update for you. Actually, it's better to use the combo update than a collection of patches you would have otherwise.

    For more on this go to System Preferences → Time Machine → Options. It'll tell you what, if anything, you've excluded.

  2. No. As long as you have sufficient space, you'll be fine. It doesn't need to be an identical drive.

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