time machine

Since installing Mountain Lion (10.8.2) on my 27" iMac 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 (12 GB 1333 MHz DDR3), I used Time Machine for the first time, using a 3 TB external HD made by Seagate. My oldest TM backup is from 05/15/12.

A brother of mine bought the same model of Seagate 3 TB drive about a week before me, and it suddenly packed it in within 5 months.

Then I got the Apple recall notice about replacing the Seagate drive built into my iMac. So I need to back up everything before I take the iMac in for replacing the HD, but I am now paranoid about Seagate HD.

I bought a 3 TB Western Digital HD which I would like to move my Time Machine backup files onto so that I am not starting again from scratch, losing the backups going to May 15th. I plan to back up my iMac files onto the WD drive as well.

How can I smoothly transition my Time Machine files to a different external HD so that it becomes the new default backup drive?

Thanks in advance ...

- Tom

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Answer 6

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Oct 29, 2012 2:10 PM in response to TomToonz

TomToonz wrote:

. . .

How can I smoothly transition my Time Machine files to a different external HD so that it becomes the new default backup drive?

See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #18. You'll need the first option in the How to section, but read the earlier stuff first. Depending on how large your backups are, that may take a very long time.

However . . . for maximum safety, a better bet might be to continue backing-up to the Seagate with Time Machine. It's a different model and/or build period than the one inside your Mac, and unlikely to have the same problem.

For your "secondary" backups to the other drive, you might want to use a different backup app, per the green box in #27 of the FAQ.

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Answer 7

TomToonz

Level 1

0 points

Nov 1, 2012 2:19 PM in response to Pondini

Thanks for your prompt and helpful responses, and for the detailed FAQ sheet.

Cheers!

- Tom

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