My old iMac, 2012, is on and I can log in but that's as far as it will
go, i.e., spinning ball. So I can't get into it. It has Time Machine
backups on Passport. Can I unplug the Passport and plug it into my
Macbook Air, Intel 2019, to get the files I need? Thanks.
iMac 21.5″, 10.13
Yes, you should be able to do that.
You might want to start by creating an additional partition or APFS volume on the destination system to have somewhere to write into without any risk of conflicting with the existing files.
Now you can use Migration Assistant to choose broad categories of items to restore; see Apple Support Article
Before doing that you might want to browse the backups to see what are there. To do that, connect that Passport to your system. Then click on the time machine icon in the main menu bar (upper right side of screen) to get the menu. Hold down the option key and the "Browse Time Machine Backups" menu entry will switch to "Browse Other Backup Disks". Select that and a window will be brought up that will allow you to select the Passport. Once selected, the Time Machine browse / recovery UI will open allowing you to select files (and particular versions of files) and request to restore them.
You can also consider using tmutil "inheritbackup" verb; see tmutil man page which will tell Time Machine to switch the identifier associated with the backup to be from the old machine to the new machine.
You might also want to consider using Soma-Zone's Backuploupe program, which can give you more detailed information about what is in each individual save dataset, and is able to handle working with external drives that contain backups for other systems.
Yes, you should be able to do that.
You might want to start by creating an additional partition or APFS volume on the destination system to have somewhere to write into without any risk of conflicting with the existing files.
Now you can use Migration Assistant to choose broad categories of items to restore; see Apple Support Article
Before doing that you might want to browse the backups to see what are there. To do that, connect that Passport to your system. Then click on the time machine icon in the main menu bar (upper right side of screen) to get the menu. Hold down the option key and the "Browse Time Machine Backups" menu entry will switch to "Browse Other Backup Disks". Select that and a window will be brought up that will allow you to select the Passport. Once selected, the Time Machine browse / recovery UI will open allowing you to select files (and particular versions of files) and request to restore them.
You can also consider using tmutil "inheritbackup" verb; see tmutil man page which will tell Time Machine to switch the identifier associated with the backup to be from the old machine to the new machine.
You might also want to consider using Soma-Zone's Backuploupe program, which can give you more detailed information about what is in each individual save dataset, and is able to handle working with external drives that contain backups for other systems.
Yes, but you shouldn't just "go get the files" using Finder. That will very likely damaged the dataset.
You need to restore files from TM as Apple advices: Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support
Yes. You will need to hold an option key in the TM icon and select "Browse Other Backup Disks..."
Transfer Time Machine backup on Passport on a "dead" iMac to new Mac
