Problem trying to drag backups between external drives

you can not copy TM backups using finder. don't try it won't work as you found out. if you want to transfer the backups, clone the old TM drive to the new one using either Superduper or the restore tab in disk utility.

I don't use Backup as i never had mobileme or dot mac but I'm pretty sure you are mistaken and backups.backupdb is created by TM. or are you not using TM at all?

no, cloning is the only way. I think disk utility will let you clone without erasing the destination drive. however, it's MUCH better to have a dedicated TM partition with nothing else on it. if you are planning to use TM with the new drive, add a partition to it and clone to that partition. you can add a partition without disturbing existing data. enter "create new volumes" in disk utility help to see how.

Hello
Just had the same problem. The easiest thing to do is go to your Time Machine preferences and enable Time Machine with the hard drive you are trying to copy the backup to. Once you do that Time Machine starts to calculate sizes and all that to make the first copy. Skip that fist backup and now you will be able to copy the backup to the disk. When you finish the copy disable the Time Machine on that disk and you are done.

metalone* wrote:
Hello
Just had the same problem. The easiest thing to do is go to your Time Machine preferences and enable Time Machine with the hard drive you are trying to copy the backup to. Once you do that Time Machine starts to calculate sizes and all that to make the first copy. Skip that fist backup and now you will be able to copy the backup to the disk. When you finish the copy disable the Time Machine on that disk and you are done.

No, that will not copy the backups properly. TM backups use a rather complex file structure, involving multiple hard links, and the Finder will not copy them correctly.

V.K.'s advice is correct: you can duplicate one TM disk/partition to another one, but you must click the +Erase Destination+ box.

To do what you want, partition the new disk first. TM works best if it has it's own, exclusive partition anyway. Then duplicate the old disk/partition to the TM partition you just made on the new drive.

See items #3 and 6 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum for info on why you need to do the partition, and how to do it. Then use the instructions in item #18 to do the duplication.

I managed to copy the backup.db folder in Terminal using the following commands:

*sudo cp -r /source /destination*

Hopefully it doesn't break any permissions.