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Situation solved and everything hunky dory! The time was after 6 p.m. and I had started out with them a little past noon.

A guy told me he was going to try and connect me with an iPad person [that is what I started with at noon].

So while I waited I followed Reboot instructions for Time Machine. It worked -- almost -- I just didn't have the right time perod.

Then Melissa, Supervisor, called. I explained the problem and told her what I did. She basically gave me the same instructions as Reboot and then walked me thru bringing the iPad 3 up to snuff! Less than 15 minutes. She is a Mac person who lives in -- Ta Da -- Oregon! I sang some of the Hallelujah Chorus for her and thanked her over and over and told her I hoped this was being recorded. We chatted a while and she sold me some AppleCarePlus for $99 -- they should have given it to me free -- but what the heck, I'm happy.

Thanks Reboot!

From past experiences, I was certain I could get help from you this morning. But I thought, what the heck. I have AppleCare and I'll get it done without bugging anyone here.

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One guy in particular kept telling me it didn't matter that I deleted the backup file. I kept telling him basically what you said up there! To no avail.

No, he said, they're still on your iMac he just didn't know where. Ugh!

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I love it when a plan comes together, glad you got it sorted out. Enjoy the new toy.