Copy individual time machine backup folders to new backup location

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Level 1

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Copy individual time machine backup folders to new backup location

I am setting up a new time machine backup disk and was wondering if individual backup folders from a previous backup location can be copied over to the new one, e.g.

copy

/Volumes/TimeMachine_Old/UserName/2022-03-08-152725/

to

/Volumes/TimeMachine_New/UserName/

For the record, I intended to copy the entire old time machine backup to the new disk and continue using it there. Given the size of the backups and the fact that copying took an estimated 4 days and failed 3 times in a row one day in, I've lost patience and decided to just create a new backup and then try to copy old backups over individually. If that isn't possible, I'll just pray that I'll never need the old backups.

Cheers!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.3

Posted on May 1, 2022 4:28 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

etresoft

Level 9

50,638 points

May 1, 2022 4:57 PM in response to Pajogeri

Pajogeri wrote:

I've lost patience and decided to just create a new backup

That is the best approach for setting up a new backup drive.

then try to copy old backups over individually.

Don't bother.

If that isn't possible, I'll just pray that I'll never need the old backups.

You can still restore files from the old backup drive if you need to. In fact, you can continue to backup to both drives at the same time if you want.

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Answer 2

Pajogeri Author

Level 1

4 points

May 1, 2022 5:05 PM in response to etresoft

Good point, I'll probably keep the backups on there for potential future restoration needs but won't continue backing up on it. It's going to run out of space soon and I don't want time machine to delete the old backups once it does.

Thanks for the help!

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Copy individual time machine backup folders to new backup location

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