Move old time machine data

Hi all
I want to move a large amount (about 150GB) of old time machine data from one external hard drive to another so I can use the hard drive for other things. The time machine data is not part of my current time machine backup but an old one (from the same computer) that might come in handy one day
When I try to copy it tells me that I have 13 hours to go. I would like some ways to copy/move the data so that it the copy is interrupted I can resume at the same place.
Any ideas
Thanks
Kevin

soccerdad0071 wrote:
Hi all
I want to move a large amount (about 150GB) of old time machine data from one external hard drive to another so I can use the hard drive for other things. The time machine data is not part of my current time machine backup but an old one (from the same computer) that might come in handy one day
When I try to copy it tells me that I have 13 hours to go.
That sounds terribly long, depending on the speed and connection of the drives involved. If they're daisy-chained, or both on the same USB hub, try connecting them separately (and both directly, if at all possible). If either is USB, be sure it's connected directly to your Mac, not a port on a keyboard.
Also exclude the drive you're copying TO from Spotlight indexing (System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy), and both from any anti-virus scanning.
I would like some ways to copy/move the data so that it the copy is interrupted I can resume at the same place.
No way. A set of Time Machine backups is like a database -- the backups are all intricately linked together, so can't be copied in stages.
Do you really need all the backups, or just the final one? If just the final one, try restoring it (to the new drive instead of your Mac's internal HD), per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Similar Messages

I have bought a time capsule to use as time machine device. Until now I have used a external hard disk. How can I transfer the the old time machine datas to the time capsule?

I have bought a time capsule to use as time machine device. Until now I have used a external hard disk. How can I transfer the the old time machine datas to the time capsule?

This is really difficult to the point of not really worth it.
Keep the old TM backups in archive.. and start afresh on the TC.
Time Machine has a different way of backing up on Network drives cf Local drives.
Pondini does have a method to do it... but I would not recommend it.
http://pondini.org/TM/18.html

Can I move old Time Machine backups that were USB to Network backups?

I recently bought a new Airport Extreme and attached my 1TB WD HD to it for network file sharing and Time Machine backups. I had originally backed up my MacBook Pro with that external HD via USB directly connected to the laptop. I know (thanks to these foruns), that, since I'm now using Time Machine backups via wifi, the location of the backups is different and my wifi Time Machine can't access the backups on the HD that were made when it was directly connected.
My question is: is there a way to move the old TM backups so that they can be recognized via wifi? If not no big deal, but then I would need to delete those backups, since they are taking up a big chunk of the external HD space. I saw a few forum posts about deleting TM backups and it seems that I would have to do it via TM itself...does that mean I have to reconnect the HD via USB to run TM so I can access those backups to delete them?
Finally, once I do get to delete the old backups (or move them, if possible), is it safe to repartition the external HD so there is one partition for TM and one for storing files via my network? I've read about using Disk Utility to do this, but I haven't tried it yet.
Thanks for any input.

No, what you're doing is splitting the TM partition in half, so this will only work if you have more that 50% free space.
See: Disk Utility - Add, Delete, and Resize Existing Volumes With Disk Utility
My only concern about that would be that my other files would be on the same partition as the 'old' TM and thus I wouldn't want to delete it, which brings me back to my original issue of space being taken up on the drive.
You should consider putting those files on their own partition, so think about spliiting the disk into 3 or more partitons, and 1st move all of your other files to the 3rd (last) partition. You just need to decide how much space to allocate.
With some limitations, you can do a lot with Partitoning without losing data, see: Disk Utility - What You Need to Know About Modifying Existing Volumes

How do I move my Time Machine data to another hard drive?

I have a WD Passport 250 external that I want to move my current TM data out of, and put in my new WD My Book 1TB. I tried moving over the Backups.backupdb file directly to a new whatever partition on my 1TB drive (I have two partitions, one for TM and one for whatever). Every time I do a copy and paste, it doesn't do anything. I can't even rename the Backups.backupdb folder. Is it locked? I want to move it over to my 1TB drive so I can format this Passport and use it for something else.

Fine - if you wish to use Apple's DU feel free to do so. However, you might ask yourself why Apple does not expose the DU's feature in its Time Machine Help docs for restoring a TM volume to another volume.
SuperDuper! version 2.5 was a long time coming because dealing with the Time Machine 'innards' was a non trivial task. It now works perfectly.
Do not assume that DU and the TM innards will always be in sync.
SD! is dedicated to ensure its customer base has a robust, reliable and up-to-date facility for cloning a TM volume which by the way can be on the same Volume as a cloned boot disk/volume.

How do I move old Time Machine backups to new USB disk

Hi,
I purchased a new 1TB USB disk and want to keep my historic backups. I remember trying this a while ago when I moved disks and ended up giving up. Anyone care to tell me the steps I need to step on ?
cheers
Adam

See #18 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

How can I remove all Time Machine data from an external HD, while retaining the other folders/files on the disk?

I recently replaced my old Macbook Pro with a new Macbook Pro Retina.
The original MBP had Time Machine set up on an external HD, and I also had some manually saved/backed up files (stuff that didn't need incremental backups; very old stuff) on the disk as well, in folders. This worked fine and well for the life of the original MBP.
When I set up the MBPr, I did not elect to transfer everything over from a Time Machine disk, as I wanted a Fresh Install; I chose to just re-download/install the apps I needed from the App Store. Much cleaner, more stable. I updated to Yosemite immediately so, it gave me more of a clean install.
The problem is, Time Machine now won't read any Time Machine backups from that disk. Migration assistant can pull data from it, but it's a bit wonky. It was easier to just manually copy over what I needed.
Now, I just want to "reset", and completely remove the old Time Machine data from the external hard drive, since it is completely useless to me now (I can't access it on this computer, and it's taking up space). I want to remove the Time Machine data, as if it were never there, but keep my other folders/files that are on the disk (so, a format is not feasible).
I will then set the disk up as a new, fresh Time Machine disk for the new MBPr.
What is the proper method for removing Time Machine data from an external disk (which doesn't seem to be associated with this machine anyway)? I know a simple rm -rf will cause problems.
Thanks for any help provided.

See the yellow box in #12 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

How to restore my time machine data

well apparently it restored my applications and took up almost 40GBs but my mac still doesnt look like my previous one which i just replace today , so how do i restore my computer back to its old time machine data and get my GB's that were wasted back ?

I would recommend a couple of things to help you. First is complete your profile we have no idea what machine you have or the OS X version you're using. Because we don't know that no one can accurately give you any information. Next I'd recommend going to the Time Machine FAQ that is located in the version of OS X you are using. If you are on Leopard, go to that forum, if your are on Snow Leopard go to that forum. TM is part of OS X so it's logical the forums are part of the OS X section.
My last recommendation is to read the TM FAQ where you will learn more about how it works.
Roger

Want to move an old time machine backup

I'm trying to backup an old drive before it fails.
It has a folder on it with old time machine backups.
My system won't allow me to move that folder.
I get the message "The backup can't be copied because the backup volume doesn't have ownership enabled."
How do I enable ownership or force that file to be backed up?
Thanks.

nowsthetime wrote:
Now I'm stuck with these files taking up space on a drive and no way to get rid of them without wiping the drive. Which is what I'll have to do.
Launch the Terminal app, in the window that pops up, copy & paste in this snippet, follow by adding a space, and then dragging one of those files into the window. Hit the return key and at the Password: prompt, carefully enter your admin password, and hit the return key:
sudo rm
so it looks something like this:
sudo rm /Users/username/Desktop/"name of file"
If that works, then collect the others into a folder and repeat, but use this as the leading part:
sudo rm -R
so it looks something like this:
sudo rm -R /Users/username/Desktop/"name of folder"

Time Machine Data Transfer - From FireWire Drive to Time Capsule - HELP!

Time Machine Data Transfer - From FireWire Drive to Time Capsule - HELP!
I've been searching for weeks for a solution to my problem. Here's the story I've come across since I installed Leopard on Oct. 26, 2007.
I first installed Leopard on my Early 2006 MacBook and set up Time Machine with a 200GB external FireWire drive. Since then, things have been fine, until Time Machine started deleting the oldest backups. I'm a pack-rat and hated this feeling of losing data. So, I now have a few months worth of backups on my 200GB FireWire drive.
The Time Capsule is released, I finally talk myself into getting one and transferring my old data from the 200GB drive to my 1TB TC.
I did some researching through forums about how to move data from one Time Machine drive to another, so I took the concept and wanted to apply it to my Time Capsule. I made a DMG image of my 200GB drive, in order to move the data. I figured if I can make an image, copy it, and open it on the Time Capsule - all will go smoothly - just as some had mentioned they've done with external drives.
Now, I have a 164GB DMG image of my Time Machine, with no hope in sight of gaining it back. I've tried taking the image, using Disk Utility, and restoring my original 200GB external with the imaged Time Machine data, but whenever I do, I come across error messages.
In Disk Utility, I've done the following steps:
* Disk Image is found on Time Capsule
* I select the 200GB drive and select 'Restore'
* I drag and drop the Disk Image to the 'Image' field
* I drag and drop the 200GB drive into the the 'Restore' field
* Select 'Erase Destination'
* Select 'Restore'
* I get the warning message that I'll erase the drive - I proceed
* I enter my password
Error message pops up:
"Restore Failure: Could not find any scan information. The source image needs to be imagescanned/scanned for restore."
I select the image in Disk Utility, then proceed with the following steps:
* Click on "Image" then down to "Scan Image for Restore"
* I enter my password
After hours of waiting, I get another error message:
"Unable to scan. (Broken pipe)."
I'm going to see, after transferring the DMG to the Time Capsule, if I can drag-and-drop the files from the Time Capsule drive onto the 200GB hard drive.
IF anyone has any more suggestions, please let me know!

32 updates on this Mac since December 2007 - Hardware, software, OS...
They keep coming at about 6 or 7 a month. Some of them I don't care about, but several are essential. 10.5.3 has been seeded to the testers a couple of times and will probably show up in the next few weeks. Jaguar wasn't worth a d*mn until 10.2.6, Panther about 10.3.4, Tiger about 10.4.4 - I'd say we are ahead or on schedule Too bad I can't get Apple to fix Spaces. I wish they'd focus on what I want but I guess some take more time than others.
2007-12-18 00:32:39 -0800: Installed "GarageBand Update" (4.1.1)
2007-12-18 00:32:43 -0800: Installed "QuickTime Broadcaster" (1.5.2)
2007-12-18 00:33:07 -0800: Installed "Security Update 2007-009" (1.0)
2007-12-18 00:33:29 -0800: Installed "QuickTime" (7.3.1)
2007-12-19 09:32:03 -0800: Installed "MacBook MacBook Pro Software Update" (1.1)
2007-12-23 23:57:32 -0800: Installed "Security Update 2007-009" (1.1)
2008-01-16 09:18:07 -0800: Installed "iMovie Update" (7.1.1)
2008-01-16 09:18:14 -0800: Installed "Front Row Update" (2.1.2)
2008-01-16 09:18:45 -0800: Installed "iTunes" (7.6)
2008-01-16 09:19:31 -0800: Installed "QuickTime" (7.4)
2008-01-29 21:33:14 -0800: Installed "Keynote Update" (4.0.2)
2008-01-29 21:33:23 -0800: Installed "Pages Update" (3.0.2)
2008-01-29 21:33:31 -0800: Installed "Numbers Update" (1.0.2)
2008-02-02 01:18:43 -0800: Installed "iWeb Update" (2.0.3)
2008-02-05 20:12:17 -0800: Installed "iPhoto Update" (7.1.2)
2008-02-15 09:03:49 -0800: Installed "iLife Support" (8.2)
2008-02-15 09:04:17 -0800: Installed "QuickTime" (7.4.1)
2008-02-15 09:04:51 -0800: Installed "Leopard Graphics Update" (1.0)
2008-02-19 23:44:37 -0800: Installed "Keyboard Firmware Update" (1.0)
2008-02-25 19:24:33 -0800: Installed "iTunes" (7.6.1)
2008-03-03 17:14:18 -0800: Installed "GarageBand Update" (4.1.2)
2008-03-03 17:14:31 -0800: Installed "iPhoto Update" (7.1.3)
2008-03-12 18:11:36 -0700: Installed "AirPort Utility" (5.3.1)
2008-03-18 10:03:57 -0700: Installed "Safari" (3.1)
2008-03-20 13:00:58 -0700: Installed "Security Update 2008-002" (1.0)
2008-03-20 13:01:04 -0700: Installed "Time Machine and AirPort Updates" (1.0)
2008-03-21 22:49:16 -0700: Installed "Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update" (2.0)
2008-04-03 00:50:22 -0700: Installed "Front Row Update" (2.1.3)
2008-04-03 00:50:50 -0700: Installed "QuickTime" (7.4.5)
2008-04-03 00:51:58 -0700: Installed "iTunes" (7.6.2)
2008-04-08 17:16:02 -0700: Installed "Keynote Update" (4.0.3)
2008-04-08 17:16:08 -0700: Installed "MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update" (1.5)

How to move existent Time Machine backups to a NAS?

Hello everybody
I am not sure if I am posting this discussion in the correct community, so please move it to the right one in case you need.
Currently I am using a 1TB external hard drive to store all my time machine backups. This drive also contains other information (movies, photos etc). I bought a Western Digital MyBook World Edition II which is a NAS. I want it to move my Time Machine backups to my NAS. How can I do it? Just copy over the backups folder from the external hard drive to the NAS?
Thank you!
Gilson

That's just crazy slow.
It won't be fast, as the data can't go directly from the old disk to the new one. It must pass through your Mac, so is on the network twice, slowing the effective speed by roughly half. But that's awful.
There could be any number of causes, from bad ports or cables to problems with either drive or controller. I don't have any experience with modern RAID systems, but some of the older ones were extremely slow when there was a problem with one of the drives.
And it may get worse -- if the backups are damaged, the copy will fail and the result won't be useable.
About all I can recommend is the usual: it's always prudent to keep secondary backups. If you don't have any, I'd strongly recommend getting a (plain) external HD and making a "bootable clone" on it ASAP (that will probably slow the copy down somewhat). See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for details and some suggestions.
It wouldn't have to be a 2 TB drive, just the same size as your internal HD (or at least 10% larger than the data on it). You might consider getting a portable drive, so you can take it to a secure off-site location once you get your TM backups working to the new WD box. Then update it periodically.

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.

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down eliminate

I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down menu with the gear box symbol to eliminate

I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots. Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
See Pondini's page for more explanation: What are Local Snapshots? http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.
The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library. Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots.

Issue accessing Time Machine Data

I recently formatted and reinstalled my macbook pro.
I didn't restore from the backup. I figured I could get some files off of it.
Unfortunately it won't allow me to.
When I try to access them it says the alias can't find the original.
Then when I took the advice of another post to set the alias bit to off it gave me a "you don't have permissions to view this folder"
How do I get at my data preferably without reinstalling and restoring from scratch?
Thanks!

MisterWanderer wrote:
I recently formatted and reinstalled my macbook pro.
I didn't restore from the backup. I figured I could get some files off of it.
Unfortunately it won't allow me to.
Try doing a click-and-hold (or right-click) on the Time Machine icon in the Dock and choosing "Browse Other Time Machine disks". See if that gives you access to the old Time Machine files.

Accessing Old Time Machine Backup From a New Account

I have had problems with my old Account and decided to create a new Account. I can "see" the old Time Machine backup lists from the new Account, but can't open or restore them to the new Account. I get the message that I do not have sufficient privileges although I set the new Account up with Administrator privleges.

You should have used Setup Assistant, not Migration Assistant, to transfer your data. I suggest you start over by booting into Recovery, erasing the startup volume, and installing OS X. When you reboot, Setup Assistant will start automatically. Follow the prompt to import data from a Time Machine snapshot. The backup history will then be inherited. The first backup will still be a full one; that can't be avoided.

Is it possible to move a Time Machine backup folder?

I have been using Time Machine with an external drive connected to my iMac via FireWire. Today I connected the external drive to my network using my AirPort Extreme via the USB port. The drive is no longer directly connected to my iMac
When I setup my Time Machine to back to the new drive location, it created a new backup set.
Question: would it have been possible for me to move my old time machine backup folder someplace so that I could continue backing up rather than having to create a new backup folder?

no, you can't do it. remote backups use sparse bundles and directly attached ones don't. you'll have to start a new backup sequence to back up remotely.

Move old time machine data

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