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Issues with restoring a Mac from a Time Machine backup made on a different machine

If you are faced with a situation that requires you to restore your Mac (Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard) with a Time Machine backup that was made with a different Mac, you may experience some issues.

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Joe is a seasoned Mac veteran with years of experience on the platform. He reports on Macs, iPods, iPhones and anything else Apple sells. He even has worked in Apple retail stores. He's also a creative professional who knows how to use a Mac to get the job done.
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Joe Aimonetti
If you are faced with a situation that requires you to restore your Mac (Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard) with a Time Machine backup that was made with a different Mac, you may experience some issues. There are, however, some steps to take to avoid those problems.

When restoring from a Time Machine backup made on a different Mac, users may find issues with graphic anomalies appearing during start-up, a lack of AirPort or Bluetooth, the Magic Mouse System Preference pane may be unavailable, graphics distortions when shutting down, or other issues at start-up.

To help resolve this issue, reinstall the latest version of Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) using the latest Combo Update package, your Mac OS X Install DVD that came with your Mac, or a retail copy of the Mac OS X DVD.

Tip: If you are transferring your files to a new Mac, use the Migration Assistant application instead of restoring from a Time Machine backup. Using a Time Machine backup made on a different Mac can cause issues because it may install a version of Mac OS X that does not contain necessary system files that your new Mac requires. This Apple knowledge base article explains further.

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