Over the past couple weeks, I have had more issues with my MacBook Pro than ever before. This all began when I convinced myself it would be great to upgrade early to Snow Leopard. I wanted to share my experience (and solution) so that maybe I can save someone else a huge headache.

All of my files are backed up twice. I use Backblaze for online backup and Time Machine for local backup. Before going through with the Snow Leopard upgrade I made sure that both backup platforms had the most up-to-date info. Once I confirmed that, I began the format (I wanted to zero out the drive) and then install.

After the install had finished (within 25 minutes), Snow Leopard asked me if I wanted to Migrate from a Time Machine backup. I hadn't read that this would be an option and I was sure it was not an option during the Leopard install process. Restore from Time Machine to save myself a second or two? NO!

I would highly advise all upgrading to not select this restore option. Instead, continue on and boot into Snow Leopard. Once there, you can use the Migration Utility to restore from a Time Machine backup. The difference here is that before opening the Migration Utility be sure to mount the .sparseimage file associated with your backup. This file is found in the root directory of your Time Machine drive. Once you open Migration Utility your Time Machine backup will show up in the list and you're all set!

I hope this helps someone.