Adding old Time Machine backups to new hard drive

Hi,
I've filled up two external hard drives with Time Machine backups. I just bought a 2 TB drive and was wondering if I can add the backups from other two drives to the new drive, consolidating all my Time Machine backups. If so, what is the best way to do this?
Thanks,
Ron

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
No, you can't.
What you can do is duplicate (not copy) one to the new drive, then use the new one as your TM drive, and the backups will just continue normally.
But you can't combine two that already have backups on them into one.
Use the Restore tab in Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder).
Now, let me ask a question: how old are your oldest backups, and why do you think you may still need them?
I do hope you're not deleting things from your internal HD, and depending on TM to keep it's copies indefinitely. If you are doing that, then your backups aren't really backups any more, they're your only copies. When (not if) your TM drive fails, you may lose them.
In this case, you need to "archive" the items, probably on an external disk, and back them up; with Time Machine, to another external disk, or to DVDs.

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Help with Restoring from Time Machine Backup with new Hard Drive

Hello. Recently, my hard drive died in my 24" Early 2008 Aluminum iMac. Luckily, I had a time machine backup, and I took it upon myself to replace the 320 GB Hard Drive with a 2 TB Seagate Barracuda disk. The hardware replacement (although difficult) went fine. Now, I'm having a bit of trouble restoring the new drive from my time machine backup. The new disk shows up in Disk Utility with the correct capacity. I formatted the new drive with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using my installation disk. My only problem is that the drive isn't showing up when I am choosing which drive I want to restore my time machine backup onto. I can pick out the backup I want perfectly fine, but I can't find the new drive. Any help?

UPDATE: I restarted it (Classic IT Crowd "Have you tried turning it off and on" moment) and the drive shows up on screen. Right now, I'm waiting for it to "Calculate disk size needed for restore" and I'll keep you posted.
UPDATE 2: Currently restoring. Let's see if it's successful.
Message was edited by: funman895

Time Machine Backup to New Hard Drive

So, I bought a new 1TB hard drive. Now, I only need to backup SOME applications and some music and photos. Can I choose which applications I want to backup with Time Machine? And if so, how do I do it, do I just back it up, replace the hard drives and put the Mac OS X disk in and back up, right?

Scofield94941 wrote:
Thank you for your help. I understand. But my OS X started to be very slow after I installed Parallel Desktop and it remains slow even after I uninstalled it, that's why I wanted to restore my new hard drive like Parallel Desktop was never installed.
Then exclude only the Parallels file(s), which most users do anyway, and back them up separately.
See the pink box in #11 of [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum) for the consequences of omitting system folders and/or apps.

Can't copy Time Machine backups to new hard drive

The external HD with the Time Machine files is unusable (it can't be written to). Disk Utilities reports missing/damaged nodes and recommends copying all files to a new volume and erasing the HD. I got a brand new HD and began copying the contents. I was able to transfer all the regular files but when I tried to copy the Time Machine files, I got this message: "The backup can't be copied because the backiup volume doesn't have ownership enabled."
I want to use the new HD as the TM volume and continue with the same sequence of backups. How can I enable the ownership soI can copy the files?
Thanks

Michael Brady wrote:
I want to use the new HD as the TM volume and continue with the same sequence of backups.
You can't.
Time Machine backups use a complex structure; everything is intricately linked together. If that structure is damaged, as yours is, they can't be copied successfully.
If you have a copy of +Disk Warrior+ or another heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app, it's possible it can repair the backups. DW is about $100, and probably a good investment for the future, but there's no guarantee it can fix the backups.
And it's not a good idea to mix other data with your backups. See #3 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Time Machine backups onto new hard drive

My hard drive recently failed and I had it replaced. I am trying without success to restore my data using the Time Machine external drive that backed up my old hard drive. When installing Snow Leopard, it wouldn't recognize my TM drive, so I just did a regular install and updated it to 10.6.6. When I click on the external drive in the sidebar it says there is a file in it called backups.backupdb, however it says there isn't any data in there. Disk utility shows the external drive has 400gb of data on it, which is correct, but I am unable to access it.
This link: http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/5.html describes how to pull data off of Time Machine, but it says both disks must have the same partition scheme - my external TM drive is APM and my comp is GUID. Is it possible to change my computer's partition scheme without causing problems in the future? Any other idea on how to pull data off of TM, even if it is manually doing it piece by piece?

Oh, that doesn't sound good. Have you tried doing this on the drive:
Repair the Hard Drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder. After DU loads select your TM backup volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Check the drive again to see if the Backups.backupd folder is still empty. If so then the next thing is to see if there's anything on the drive that's now invisible. The following instructions will enable the Finder to display invisible files:
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Now if all this fails and you find nothing in the user tips, then that means trying recovery software:
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

HT4413 When migrating from time machine to my new hard drive, only some files and applications and setting are transferred, not all of them. In my latest back up I have them all. How can I fix that?

When migrating from time machine to a new hard drive, not all is transferd, only partial documents, applications , settings etc. How can I migrate the latest back-up with all the content.

sohs wrote:
When migrating from time machine to a new hard drive, not all is transferd, only partial documents, applications , settings etc. How can I migrate the latest back-up with all the content.
If you want to use Time Machine to recover the contents of one of its a backups to a new drive, follow the instructions in Mac OS X 10.6: Recovering your entire system. Note that you must select the "Restore System From Backup" option from the Utilities menu of the Installer disc to do this.
Also note that if you are transferring files to a hard drive to be used with a different computer, you should use Migration Assistant instead. This intentionally will not copy everything because some settings, applications, etc. are not compatible computer-to-computer. Migration Assistant will copy everything that is.

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As noondaywitch says, it should use the latest backup.
Where are your backups (external HD, Time Capsule, etc.)?
It sounds like there are two separate sets, and you're not connected to the right set.

Does Time Machine backup other external hard drives?

I am using a Seagate 500 GB to backup my data. Will Time Machine backup another external hard drive on which I store my iMovie projects? If so, how do I access them in the Time Machine mode? Thanks in advance.

nachdenki wrote:
strange, my external HDs were added to the exception list automatically. maybe because they wouldn't fit on the time machine volume.
It seems to depend on when the drives were connected. When you first turn Time Machine on, it only excludes the TM drive itself, and any drives not formatted HFS+.
If you connect a drive later on, that drive will be excluded automatically.

How to reinstall from time machine onto a new hard drive?

how to reinstall the system from time machine to a new hard drive?

If you are connected to the internet you can do this.
Boot your computer and immediately hold down command, option and R (three keys together). This gets you connected with internet recovery.
See this article for more directions: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718.
This process installs an OS on your blank drive. You can then boot from the fresh OS installation and restore from your Time Machine back up.
Note that you cannot boot from a TM back up.

Time Machine Backup of external hard drive connected to IMAC

I have an external hard drive connected to my IMAC. I also have a 2TB Time Capsule connected to my network. I store all of my video (both events and projects from imovie) to the external hard drive to save space on the IMAC. Does the Time Capsule backup this external hard drive? When I open Time Machine I don't see where the external hard drive is backed up? The drive is formatted MAC OS extended (journaled).

nujac,
Time Machine backs up all locally attached drives unless you specifically exclude them in System Prefenences > Time Machine > Options.. icon.
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Regards,
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Time machine doesn't recognize old time machine backups after new drive

After getting my original hard drive replaced on apple care. Time machine refuses to recognize time machine backups dating back to October when I first installed Leopard. The Records are there on an "off-board" Lacie drive. Any fixes for this? I have had so many problems with Time Machine I am afraid to turn it back on. Last time it took over 40 hours to do an initial back-up.

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Respectfully,
Thomas Carlisle

REstoring from old time machine backups on new install

Hi, I've been looking for good documentation on this and haven't seen an answer yet.
I want to blow away and reinstall my OS (10.5.1) I made a full backup to my time machine disk and I had planned on reinstalling the OS and all my apps for a clean start, then when the time came to move my photos and itunes back just connect my time machine disk to the new installation and copy the data back. Once I was satisfied that everything I needed was restored from the time machine dist to the new install I would go ahead and re-enable time machine on the new install and blow away my old backups starting from scratch. Has anyone done this yet? I do not want to plug in the old time machine disk and not be able to access the data that was created by the old installation. I would be bitter to say the least. Before anyone suggests another means of backing up I have thought of that, but, I'd like to see if this works.
I understand the scenario of beginning an install and choosing to restore that way, but, the reason I'm reinstalling is to start with a fresh OS form scratch an be able to restore selectively.
Thanks for reading my wordy post, I look forward to hearing back!
Thanks again

I think I'm facing the same issue as you. I ran Time Machine on my MBP. Now I've bought a new iMac. I started it with the Leopard CD and instead of installing Leopard on the new machine, I selected Restore from Time Machine Backup (or something like that). Everything from my old machine is now on my new machine. Sweet!
Only one problem. I've now enabled Time Machine on the new iMac and it tells me that there's not enough room on my external 320 GB drive for its first backup. It also tells me that its first backup will be 112 GB in size! This large size leads me to conclude that Time Machine will not add to the backups from the old MBP, but instead start a new series for the new iMac. To confirm this, I looked on the backup drive.
On the external backup drive, there are a series of 4 KB files, one for each machine that has previously been backed up. These names are nearly identical to the machine's MAC address (which you can find by open Network Preferences > Airport > Advanced). Time Machine will create a sparsebundle file for each machine backed up over the network; its name will have the format MachineNameMacAddresssparesebundle (Backups made when the backup drive was connected locally are saved in a folder called Backups.backupdb). So, to delete an old backup from a machine you're not using any more, you need to delete the 4 KB file containing the machine's MAC address, AND either the sparsebundle file OR the machine names' folder inside the Backups.backupdb folder.
Hope this helps.

Old time machine backups on new computer?

I migrated to a new mac. I have a time capsule. Can I set up time machine on the new mac to use all the backups from my old mac? Or do I start over?

Technically, you can. But practically, in this case, you probably don't want to.
TM backs-up whole systems, not just drives and data. If you back up two or more Macs to the same drive or TC, TM will keep them separate. You can view and restore from backups from other machines by holding down the Option key while selecting the TM menubar icon, changing +Enter Time Machine+ to +Browse Other Time Machine Disks.+ Since your old and new Macs are different machines, this would work.
But there's a problem: since the backups are for a different Mac, TM on you new Mac won't automatically delete the old series in the normal fashion. Unless you delete them, they'll be there forever, taking up space you need for new backups.
Worse, it's very tedious to delete them manually. Do not use the Finder, but you can delete the old backups, one at a time, via the TM interface. It's a long, tedious process ... and much longer on a TC.

All applications were "?" On the dashboard after time machine restore to new hard drive...what went wrong?

Hi folks
I used the cmd R option on booting the MBP and did a disk scan and it reported errors that could not be fixed/repaired.
So I opted to install a brand new 1Tbyte Seagate hybrid hard drive and restore from my time machine backup.
So I installed the new drive in the MBP...it stated that it needed to restore from the internet and I was treated with a rotating globe for about 10 minutes.
It then gave the normal restore options and I opened to format the new drive as a mac drive etc...
Selected the most recent TM backup from USB drive and pointed it to the new formatted HD in the MBP.
So far so good I thought....it said it was restoring....
waited about 4.5 hours and apparently it completed when I was out so I did not see any messages just a normal looking mavericks desktop BUT with "?" In the dashboard where all the applications icons should be?????
I assume something went wrong somewhere so I reinstalled the old HD and restarted TM and it's not starting to backup all 493Gbyte of disk whichI. Understand is normal after a full restore.
So...what to do now??? I'll wait for the 7 odd hours of TM to complete but how best should I proceed with the new HD etc...should I reinstall and copy mavericks to it from a memory stick and then attempt a new restore from the recent TMS backup? Or will this cause issues....
I also have an Inateck hard drive cloning device (brand new never used) so I had wondered if I should simply install the old drive and new drives into this and start the cloning mechanism? OR will this simply clone the errors that were reported on the old drive when it was in the MBP?
In short I'm not sure what to do for the best now and would welcome helpful suggestions as to how to proceed.
thanks
Nick

<<<<UPDATE>>>>
If at first you don't succeed...
Last night after the new 493 Gbyte time machine completed. I once again installed the new drive and restarted the MBP ...waited 10 min for the internet to download the basic disk utilities...restarted the restore from TM and waited 6 hours...Happy days it worked perfectly and like a rocket...the old disk had a read write speed of approx 50-60 Mb/s the new one (hybrid drive) measures at 100-110 Mb/s...programmes open and close noticeably faster and it's better than when the MBP was new...
Apparently this new hybrid drive "learns" frequently used programmes and caches parts that improves start up time etc as time progresses etc...the MBP now starts from cold boot in less than 1 minute compared to 2 plus before...I know minutes should not really matter but it does improve the user experience. I should add I have 16G of RAM installed which does make a difference with Photoshop and Aperture etc.
Hope this helps others or at least encourages people to try hybrid drives over the much more expensive SSD option.

Can I transfer Time Machine Backup from WD Hard Drive to Time Capsule?

I have a Western Digital 500 Gb. Hard drive and recently purchased a 500 Gb.Time Capsule which, at the moment, am using only for the AirPort feature. I would like to use Time Capsule for my Time Machine backups and use the Western Digital drive as my Aperture Vault. Is there a way to move the Time Machine file from the WD drive to the Time Capsule drive so that I don't lose the old files? My Time Capsule is connected to my iMac via an Ethernet cable.

Unfortunately, no. Time Machine will backup to a local drive (e.g. via USB or FW HDD) using a folder structure. When backing up to a NAS (e.g. Time Capsule or USB HDD connected to a TC or Extreme), TM utilizes a sparsebundle. You cannot easily convert a folder structure to a sparsebundle. The best plan is to start a NEW backup to TC. Connecting via ethernet is highly recommended for the initial backup.
P.S. You can still access the old TM backups until such time that you want to reclaim the use of the HDD.

Adding old Time Machine backups to new hard drive

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