How do I reuse a portable drive for Time Machine backups on a new iMac?

I got a new iMac and would like to clean off my time machine backups to reuse the drive with my new Mac. How do I best do this?

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iMac 21.5″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Mar 7, 2025 3:35 PM

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6x6

Level 7

20,031 points

Posted on Mar 7, 2025 4:40 PM

Hello teacherosb,

If you do not want to inherit the backups from the previous Mac, reformat the drive: Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support.

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2 replies

Top-ranking reply

6x6

Level 7

20,031 points

Mar 7, 2025 4:40 PM in response to teacherosb

Hello teacherosb,

If you do not want to inherit the backups from the previous Mac, reformat the drive: Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support.

Tesserax

Level 10

158,616 points

Mar 7, 2025 6:17 PM in response to 6x6

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How do I reuse a portable drive for Time Machine backups on a new iMac?

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