Got so many errors when transferring Time Machine to a new drive

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Level 1

35 points

Got so many errors when transferring Time Machine to a new drive

I tried transferring my Time Machine volume to a new drive using the instructions provided by Apple, where it requires that I drag-and-drop via the Finder, but I got a ton of errors. At least a dozen at the same time. I don't recall them all, but some were quite strange. I have transferred a Time Machine drive once before, and it took 24 hours, but there were no errors.

There were a lot of "This operation could not be completed." errors. I think the codes were along the lines of -50 and -8300. I also noticed one particularly strange error, saying something like "The version of iWorks used to create this document is older."

What do these all mean, and what can I do to fix them? I already ran "Repair disk" on both the source and destination volumes, with no errors.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3, 16 GB RAM

Posted on Jul 4, 2013 6:23 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Jul 4, 2013 10:44 PM in response to GaryKing

Although the documentation says you can copy Time Machine backups in the Finder, it's very slow and sometimes doesn't work at all.

Launch Disk Utility, open the built-in help, and search for the term "Duplicate." Follow the instructions. Turn Time Machine OFF in its preference pane while copying the volume.

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Answer 2

Jul 4, 2013 11:40 PM in response to GaryKing

I've had excellent results, when moving Time Machine backups to a larger capacity device, in using Carbon Copy Cloner.

Give it a try - it has a 30-day free trial I believe.

Clinton

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Answer 3

GaryKing Author

Level 1

35 points

Jul 5, 2013 8:58 AM in response to Linc Davis

Okay I will try using Disk Utility first. I have had previous experience with it, and noticed that it was very slow, so I am worried that it will actually be slower than the Finder. Although I guess the advantage of using Disk Utility is that it's a complete carbon copy, essentially.

I'm running it now, and notice that while the Finder method would have taken five hours, the Disk Utility method is currently taking about 30 hours.

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