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What does Time Machine mean by "Do You Want this computer to claim this backup?"

I just replaced my old MBP with a newer one running Ventura. As far as I know, it's been making backups to the same external drive the previous one was. Just now, I wanted to retrieve some stuff from the backup. When I went to Enter Time Machine, it said "Do You Want this computer to claim this backup?" I didn't know what was meant by "claim" but it sounded okay so I said yes. Then it began copying. It now says 28 Gb copied, 3 hours remaining. My questions are: What is it copying? And to where is it copying it? If it is copying the entire backup to my internal HD why would it do that without saying something like "This will copy 720 Gb of data to your HD--continue?" Anyway, I've stopped it. Is it me, or is this downright weird?

Current situation is, when I try to enter time machine or "browse time machine backups" as it now puts it, it just shows me "Desktop - Local." I don't want to search the desktop, I was looking for some old email. How do I get this set up correctly?

Posted on Jul 11, 2023 4:29 PM

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Posted on Jul 11, 2023 5:18 PM

Time Machine backs up computers. when you change something: computer, logic board, other stuff -- Time Machine notices.


It was asking you if you wanted to claim the backup DRIVE as the official backup destination DRIVE for the new computer.


When you said OK, it began an incremental backup as of that moment, copying changed files onto the existing backup drive you said you wished to claim.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 11, 2023 5:18 PM in response to giles176

Time Machine backs up computers. when you change something: computer, logic board, other stuff -- Time Machine notices.


It was asking you if you wanted to claim the backup DRIVE as the official backup destination DRIVE for the new computer.


When you said OK, it began an incremental backup as of that moment, copying changed files onto the existing backup drive you said you wished to claim.

Jul 11, 2023 5:04 PM in response to giles176

How do I get this set up correctly?


When you set up your new Mac, did you elect to transfer its content from the older one's Time Machine backup? Because that's the way to set it up correctly. Doing that would have populated your new Mac with the older one's content so that you could start using it as though nothing had changed, except you'd have a new Mac running Ventura. Everything else would be the same.


Now you are asking some questions that would not have arisen if you had set things up that way to begin with, and the answers become complicated. Not a problem, but if you really want to do things the right way, erase the new Mac and set it up correctly.


It sounds as though the new Mac created a brand new Time Machine backup, which will remain separate and distinct from the older one's TM backup. Again, not a problem, but an inconvenience. For example if you want to restore backed up item, you will need to ask yourself "do I want to restore it from this Mac, or the other one?"


Since the Mac is new, you can avail yourself of Apple's 90 day complimentary phone or chat support, and they'll walk you through it. Start here: Official Apple Support

Jul 11, 2023 6:35 PM in response to John Galt

Thanks for the reply. I migrated everything from the old mac to the new one. I didn't elect to transfer the backup's content. That question/choice/option didn't come up in the process of migrating, or I would have. It just didn't occur to me. I have noticed that Time Machine is making regular back ups as if nothing has changed. I didn't get any queries from it until I went looking for an old file to restore.


I guess I'll get on the phone to Apple. The machine is not new, but it still has a few months of Applecare left.


Thanks for the advice.

Jul 11, 2023 6:40 PM in response to giles176

It seems Time Machine is working properly, but it started creating a brand new set of backups for what it considers a completely different Mac. That's ok as long as that's what you want to do, but it tends to cause confusion for the reasons I explained.


Furthermore, the older Mac's backups will never be deleted, effectively decreasing the available space for newer backups. The only way to make the drive's entire capacity available to TM is to erase it.

Jul 11, 2023 6:42 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks, Grant. Yes, that is what I assumed it was asking. But, because I had noticed it had been making regular backups since the moment I hooked it up, I assumed everything was already backed up. So when it started copying, that seemed peculiar, to say the least. I assumed it was adding each hour's work in the usual way. I don't understand how the migrated files are "changed" when they were just migrated from one machine to another. I don't get what the new mac could have on it that the backup didn't already have. I still don't understand what it's copying--or why it would "copy" stuff that is already on the backup.

What does Time Machine mean by "Do You Want this computer to claim this backup?"

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