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User profile for user: fryderykkogl
fryderykkogl Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Move Time Machine backups to new external disk

I'm trying to move my TM backups to a new disk.


I'm on an m1pro with macOS Monterey (Version 12.2.1)


(I'm not sure if that's relevant, but the old disk is encrypted with TimeMachine)


I formatted the new disk to 'APFS (Case-sensitive)'.


I cannot move my backups by drag+drop in finder, because when I drag the backups a red number and a crossed circle appear. (I'm not sure if that's relevant, but I also do not have the "backups.backupdb" on my old TM disk - the backups are directly stored on the disk).


I tried going to disk utility and restore the new drive from the old drive, but this doesn't help and I get the following error:

Error finding volume with appropriate role in container /dev/disk7
Could not validate source - error 49245
The operation couldn't be completed. (OSStatus error 49245.)

Posted on Feb 18, 2022 1:03 PM

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
117,257 points

Posted on Feb 18, 2022 2:05 PM

I had the same issue and finally just started a new Time Machine APFS drive. I never found a solution to moving APFS Time Machine drive content between similarly-formatted external drives with or without ignoring ownership. What I tried to no avail at no small expense of time:


  1. Finder drag and drop. (Just rubber banded back to the source drive).
  2. Time Machine Restore old to new. Failed.
  3. I used SuperDuper! and it ran to completion without actually transferring anything.
  4. In the Terminal, attempted to use ditto, and that failed too.

I unmounted the old Time Machine drive, labeled it with the last version of macOS backup and the last date/time used, and then stored it. Started a fresh TM backup on the new drive. Life is too short…

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
117,257 points

Feb 18, 2022 2:05 PM in response to fryderykkogl

I had the same issue and finally just started a new Time Machine APFS drive. I never found a solution to moving APFS Time Machine drive content between similarly-formatted external drives with or without ignoring ownership. What I tried to no avail at no small expense of time:


  1. Finder drag and drop. (Just rubber banded back to the source drive).
  2. Time Machine Restore old to new. Failed.
  3. I used SuperDuper! and it ran to completion without actually transferring anything.
  4. In the Terminal, attempted to use ditto, and that failed too.

I unmounted the old Time Machine drive, labeled it with the last version of macOS backup and the last date/time used, and then stored it. Started a fresh TM backup on the new drive. Life is too short…

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User profile for user: BlueberryLover
BlueberryLover
User level: Level 4
1,130 points

Feb 18, 2022 1:57 PM in response to fryderykkogl

Finder indicates that the Time Machine volume is read only. You may still be able to copy a volume using sudo from terminal as the device itself is writable.


As others have suggested, it may be best to archive your existing Time Machine device and start a new backup set on the new external disk. The Migration Assistant can be used to copy files from Time Machine but apparently only to your system device (you could (temporarily) install macOS on you external device and then delete the OS after you have recovered your files). You can also use Finder to copy folders/files directly from the Time Machine volume.

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User profile for user: BlueberryLover
BlueberryLover
User level: Level 4
1,130 points

Feb 18, 2022 1:20 PM in response to fryderykkogl

Try first creating a new Time Machine volume using terminal (role T specifies Time Machine):


diskutil apfs addvolume diskn APFSX "Time Machine-1" -quota nnng -role T -passphrase phrase -passphrasehint hint


diskn is the APFS Container device

nnn is the size of the quota in GB (omit -quota nnng if quota is not needed)

phrase and hint are required for encryption (omit -passphrase phrase -passphrasehint hint if encryption is not needed)


You should also give the Disk Utility "Full Disk Access". Once all that is done, try restoring the Time Machine volume using the Disk Utility.



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Move Time Machine backups to new external disk

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