Cannot consolidate Time Machine backups on one disk on Ventura due to permissions

Can someone help me solve a problem?

I have 3 harddrives with TimeMachine backups on them (together totaling 1.2TB) and one of those disks is large enough (2TB) to hold all of my other backups too. I want to transfer all of my old backups to the 2tb disk so that I don't have all my information spread on 3 different disks and so that I can use the other 2 to make more storage. I am on Ventura 13.7.8, updating to a newer OS is not a possibility to for me as the drivers I use for my music programs will not work anymore.

When I open my old drives they also state my permissions are unknown. So I cannot drag and transfer my files from one timemachine drive to another. Also all 3 drives dont recognize my current macbook as their original TimeMachine drives as I had to downgrade from Sonoma back to Ventura, as the drivers not working anymore would devastate my current work.

I can simply try to buy a new SSD but then I could still not transfer my files because it is not allowing me to transfer the maps.

Please let me know what to do.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.7

Posted on Sep 26, 2026 4:04 PM

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Cannot consolidate Time Machine backups on one disk on Ventura due to permissions

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