How do I transfer a Time Machine backup from Time Capsule to a USB Disk?

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How do I transfer a Time Machine backup from Time Capsule to a USB Disk?

I finally decided to replace my Time Capsule given its age and lack of continued development. I have been using the Time Capsule as a Time Machine target for a MacBook Pro running Big Sur. I have a new USB3 external hard drive that I'd like to use as my new Time Machine backup disk, but I'd like to retain my backup history from the Time Capsule. I spent 5 hours copying my .bundlespare file from the Time Capsule to the drive, only for the Time Machine preferences requiring me to format/erase the drive in order to select it for use. Does anyone know a path forward here?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Sep 17, 2021 10:50 PM

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Answer 1

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Bruce Michel

Level 1

124 points

Sep 18, 2021 2:26 PM in response to dahveed311

This may be helpful: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/types-of-disks-you-can-use-with-time-machine-mh15139/mac

Can you even combine the bundles from the Time Capsule with the future backups using HFS+ or APFS? The requirement for reformatting appears to only be for APFS. Could you partition the new disk to keep your old data in a volume and then add a new volume (HFS+ only??) for the ongoing backups. But APFS is apparently preferred as a format for TM.

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Answer 2

dahveed311 Author

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Sep 21, 2021 6:24 AM in response to dahveed311

For future reference, the wonderful software SuperDuper! (https://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) achieved exactly what I wanted by copying my old Time Machine contents to a new larger drive and Time Machine software identified my existing backups when I selected my new disk as the target disk for backup.

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Answer 3

dahveed311 Author

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35 points

Sep 18, 2021 2:50 AM in response to dahveed311

I meant my .backupbundle file, not .sparsebundle.

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How do I transfer a Time Machine backup from Time Capsule to a USB Disk?

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