Transfer Time Machine Data to New Hard Drive

I recently purchased a Seagate 250GB FreeAgent External Hard Drive ($75 at Buy.com, with shipping and a five year warranty!) and decided that when it arrives it would be my dedicated Time Machine drive, though I am currently using a 75GB hard drive that I had laying around the apartment.
What I am wondering is that if I can, when the new drive arrives, drag the Time Machine files that are on the old drive to the new one, then designate the new drive for Time Machine backups.
The reason I want to do this is to create a relatively seamless backup from when I first got Leopard, as opposed to starting over again (which I can do, but defeats my purpose to some degree).

Hi,
Yes, you can do this. I have recently done the exact same thing. See this thread for details:-
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1218415
Regards

Similar Messages

  • 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.

  • HT201250 When migrating from time machine to my new hard drive, it migrates the first back-up I made several years ago. How can I migrate the latest back-up ?

    When migrating from time machine to my new hard drive, it migrates the first back-up I made several years ago. How can I migrate the latest back-up ? I need time machine to migrate the latest back-up. Should I delete the older back-ups ?

    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.

  • 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.

  • How do I transfer time capsul data to external hard drive to free up space?

    How do I transfer time capsule data to external hard drive to free up space?

    The fastest method is straight copy and paste..
    Plug a suitable hard disk into your computer.. format it Mac OS extended journaled (if not already).
    Select the folders/files you want to move.. copy and paste them to the external drive..
    Double check that the files are copied because the next step will delete the files forever.. there is no trash on the TC.
    Delete the files on the TC.
    You can also do a full archive of the TC disk to a USB plugged into it by USB.. it must be formatted Mac OS Extended Journaled. It must be big enough to hold all data on the TC disk.. best idea is to buy the same size or bigger.. so if you use 2TB TC buy a 2TB or bigger external drive.
    In airport utility select archive.
    That will copy everything on the TC disk to the USB drive.. you could then Erase the disk of the TC.. this is super fast if you choose quick erase.. just a few minutes. But the archive will take many hours.. say for 2TB about 12-24hours.. and you cannot use the disk in the TC during that time.

  • Using time machine to format new hard drive

    Hi there, hope this is a relatively easy question!
    Long story short, my macbook pro's harddrive recently decided to stop working. I will being installing a new one in the next few days. I've made a bootable USB drive with Mavericks on it, however my time machine save was a couple of months ago (yes I know, I know) completed just before I updated to Mavericks.
    If I install Mavericks onto my new hard drive and then restore the pro using my time machine will it cause any problems? I would think it would just restore back to the previous OS and I'll just have to download Mavericks again? Or would you recommend using Migration Assistant instead - but from what I've read this doesn't actually bring any of your previous programmes/apps into your new hard drive?
    I don't really have anything important on my hard drive so I'm not bothering with trying to recover data from it.
    Thanks in advance for your help! Hopefully this means I can soon be reunited with my pro!

    little_lab_rat wrote:
    If I install Mavericks onto my new hard drive and then restore the pro using my time machine will it cause any problems?
    Of course not. Moreover, Migration Assistant (and Setup Assistant) is designed to transfer Time Machine backups created with an older Mac OS X version, so this is not a problem.
    What you can do is to restore the Time Machine backup first (hold Command and R keys while your Mac is starting up, choose the option to restore a Time Machine backup, and follow the steps), and then, download OS X Mavericks from the Mac App Store and upgrade.
    Another option you have is to download the OS X Mavericks installer from the bootable USB drive and point it to install to the internal hard drive. Then, during its setup, it will ask you to transfer your files from a backup.
    little_lab_rat wrote:
    Or would you recommend using Migration Assistant instead - but from what I've read this doesn't actually bring any of your previous programmes/apps into your new hard drive?
    If I were you, I would choose the second option I gave you. That option allows you to choose what files you want to restore, so you will have a cleaner OS X copy that may improve performance, and it takes less time than the first option. Also, there's no risk, because in the first option, the Mavericks upgrade may fail.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Time Machine restore on new Hard Drive and now my login password not working

    I just had a new hard drive installed and they put in a clean version of 10.6.
    I got home and used my TIme Machine to restore from my other computer. It finished, but now I am locked out, bacause its not accepting my password. I know its my password, the hint is the same as I have always had. It just won't work,
    Since the repair place installed the software, I don't have any other disks to boot from. Does anyone know a way to fix this or reset the computer again? I don't care if the files are lost, I can copy them over later. I just need to get past the login screen. Thanks!!

    Do you have any OS disks you can boot from? If so, boot from the disk, look in Utilities, and see if there is a reset password option.

  • Time Machine restore to new hard drive fails

    This is on a Mac Mini (Early 2009), 8GB RAM,  that was running the latest version of Mavericks. This all started when the 120GB hard drive began failing.  The computer was running slow so I tried to repair permissions to no avail and also to repair the disk, but Disk Utility said there was a serious error and it was not able to repair it.  As it was at nearly full capacity anyway I replaced it with a new 1TB drive.
    I am using an install DVD from Leopard (my Snow Leopard disc is damaged) to initiate the restore.  I've erased the new hard drive and formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).   I'm able to select my from backups on my external drive and it will go through the entire process of copying everything back (1.5 - 2 hours long) only to give me a message at the end saying there was an error and it could not restore the files.  Restart and try again. (which I have, twice).  My TM backups include 6 user profiles and go back several years (and OS versions).
    I suspect there is a compatibility issue between the Leopard install DVD and the TM backup which is Mavericks.   I've searched through the pondini.org site for assistance but nothing addresses this issue.   I also have an iMac (late 2009) running Mavericks.  Not sure if I can do something through Target mode? 
    I've tried restoring the latest Mavericks backup as well as the last one I had on Mountain Lion but no luck. 
    Any help is appreciated.  Thanks.

    Well my day just went from bad to worse.  Somehow I managed to erase the drive with the only copy of my backups. 
    I guess the good news is I get 10 points for solving the problem.  

  • Can't get Time Machine to see new hard drive

    since I now have three computers using time machine to back up to one hard drive via airport base station USB connection, I decided to upgrade to a 1 TB hard drive from a 300 gb. The new HD is showing up as a shared drive in Finder attached to my wireless base station. However it's not showing up as a drive in Time Machine's setup. What I am missing here. The 300 gb drive worked fine.
    Roger

    Is the drive properly prepared?
    Extended Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    This may be necessary for use with TM. Is the larger drive installed in an enclosure that supports drives larger than 500 GBs up to at least 1 TB?

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • I am transferring my Time Machine to a new hard drive, and it keeps crashing. Why?

    I purchased a 3 TB Western Digital Firewire Drive (it also has USB) to set up as a new Time Machine. I want to use my present backup file. I am not experiencing any problems with my present Time Machine, but the drive is very full.
    I am following the instructions posted here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5096
    The drive has been reformatted as per the instructions.
    The transfer process works well until I get the following message:
    "Backup of Untitled" cannot be converted. Please install a newer version of iWork.
    I am using iWork '09 Version 4.3 (1048). I purchased it on CD
    I click OK.
    Then I get the message:
    The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.
    I click OK.
    Then I get the message:
    The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8062).
    I click OK again.
    Then I get the last two messages over and over again (the order seems random), until I finally stop getting messages. A short while later, the process stops, and the copy window disappears.
    I have done this twice. I have also run disk utilities on the original Time Machine, and the disk appears OK.
    The process, when it completes, will take about 20 hours. I would hope to do it once more, and have it actually work.
    Looking forward to some help in solving this situation.
    Thank you

    There are apparently some damaged files on the old backups.  You might be able to copy them via the Finder, but if it works, it will copy the damage -- not a good idea.
    Your best bet is probably to just start fresh on the new drive.
    You can always see and restore from the old set via the Browse Other Backup Disks option, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17.

Maybe you are looking for