macmikey

Q: How to reclaim or re-use a disconnected Time Machine backup?

I had a hard drive go... "brown" (SSD overcooked, not sure how that happened; I think it's just a faulty drive). Unfortunately, my Time Capsule (backup drive--it's not really an Apple TC, if that matters) is also very finicky. Well, I got a new SSD and cloned the old SSD onto it, so I'm back in business on that end, but in the process, I disconnected my finicky backup drive in Time Machine (as in, I accidentally told it the finicky drive is NOT the source of the TM archive). Is there a way to "bless" the backup on that finicky drive to reclaim the archive there? I have access to all the files, and I acknowledge I really need to get a new, reliable, drive; but in the meantime, is there a way to make TM accept the current Backups.backupdb folder as the "current" backup scheme, rather than just start with a new one in the available space?

 

BTW, I'm using OS X 10.11.5. I followed the directions at Time Machine: How to transfer backups from a current backup drive to a new backup drive - Apple Support, but am concerned that it's wanting to try to create an entirely new backup rather than build upon the archives I've already got. I've probably screwed things up; in any care, is there a way to fix it?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), 2.4 GHz i5, 4 GB SDRAM, 500 GB SSD

Posted on Jun 2, 2016 4:18 PM

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Q: How to reclaim or re-use a disconnected Time Machine backup?

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  • by LaPastenague,Helpful

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Jun 2, 2016 7:28 PM in response to macmikey
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    Jun 2, 2016 7:28 PM in response to macmikey

    The answer might involve several steps.

     

    but am concerned that it's wanting to try to create an entirely new backup rather than build upon the archives

    That is still the right way forward.. Once you change the configuration of Time Machine.. it will say it is going to start a new backup, unless it finds an existing valid backup when it starts. So you have no choice but to allow it to proceed.. if you find it has created a new sparsebundle and started over.. then cancel the backup and attempt to inherit the old backup.

     

    See Pondini.. a bit out of date but he has info not available anywhere else.

     

    B5 and B6 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html