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User profile for user: DadsTechsSupport
DadsTechsSupport Author
User level: Level 1
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Adding old TimeMachine backup to a partially setup machine

Good evening,


My wife purchased a new Macbook Air (2019) today. She got it mostly setup and came home quite proud at all the files and settings she transferred. Unfortunately, her filesystems are always a disaster and I'm not sure she got all her files. I have a time machine backup of her old laptop.


If I add the old (last updated today, El Capitan) backup to her new machine, will it wipe her current settings and files? I am hoping this isn't the case, but worse things have happened I suppose.


Thanks everyone!

MacBook Air

Posted on Aug 21, 2019 4:15 PM

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User profile for user: John Galt
John Galt
User level: Level 10
142,692 points

Posted on Aug 21, 2019 6:57 PM

It's OK to inherit an existing backup, but I'm not sure what you mean by "add" though. You won't be able to restore a complete Time Machine backup of an El Capitan system because her new Mac won't be able to run that macOS version.


When setting up the new MacBook Air, it offered to transfer information from an older Mac or its Time Machine backup. If you did not do that then, you can start over and select that option. It takes a bit of time as it considers what needs to be transferred, what can't be transferred, correlating all documents with the apps that created them and translating them to compatible formats as necessary.


Consider contacting Apple Support: Contact Support. Telephone or chat support is free for 90 days after purchasing a new Mac, and yours is a common concern they enjoy helping resolve.

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User profile for user: John Galt
John Galt
User level: Level 10
142,692 points

Aug 21, 2019 6:57 PM in response to DadsTechsSupport

It's OK to inherit an existing backup, but I'm not sure what you mean by "add" though. You won't be able to restore a complete Time Machine backup of an El Capitan system because her new Mac won't be able to run that macOS version.


When setting up the new MacBook Air, it offered to transfer information from an older Mac or its Time Machine backup. If you did not do that then, you can start over and select that option. It takes a bit of time as it considers what needs to be transferred, what can't be transferred, correlating all documents with the apps that created them and translating them to compatible formats as necessary.


Consider contacting Apple Support: Contact Support. Telephone or chat support is free for 90 days after purchasing a new Mac, and yours is a common concern they enjoy helping resolve.

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Adding old TimeMachine backup to a partially setup machine

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