HT202380: Time Machine: How to transfer backups from a current backup drive to a new backup drive

Learn about Time Machine: How to transfer backups from a current backup drive to a new backup drive
Casey Heeg
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Trouble copying TM backups from one external drive to another

I have a year old Macbook Pro running OSX 10.9.5 (Mavericks), and two 2TB LaCie external drives.

 

I followed the procedure in:

HT202380: Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive

to copy my TM backups from one external drive to the other.  The new drive has a clean 1TB partition I was copying onto.   Initially, the transfer message box said it was copying 362GB to the new drive, and would take about 3 hours.  12 hours later, the message box said it had transferred 255GB out of 362GB, and after another half hour the number was still stuck at 255.  Can anyone explain this?

 

Also, when I checked the Backups.backupdb file on the old drive, it said the folder had 1.98TB on it, even though it only contained 3 days of TM backups from an uncompressed hard drive with 380GB on it (and very little that had changed over those 3 days).  Does this make sense?

Posted on Feb 26, 2015 11:11 AM

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Casey Heeg

Q: Trouble copying TM backups from one external drive to another

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  • by Eric Root,Helpful

    Eric Root Eric Root Feb 27, 2015 10:23 AM in response to Casey Heeg
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 27, 2015 10:23 AM in response to Casey Heeg

    Try using Disk Utility/Restore to copy the backup. Usually works better than a Finder copy. Note it will reformat the destination drive, so any data on it will be lost.

  • by babybeebeebird,

    babybeebeebird babybeebeebird Mar 25, 2015 3:05 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2015 3:05 PM in response to Eric Root

    Hi Eric,

     

    I came across your post as I am having a similar problem to Casey. Would you (or anybody else) be able to explain how to make a copy from one external drive to another using disc utililty.

     

    I am trying to move my existing time machine backups from 500gb drive to a 2tb drive (I had run out of room as my hard drive is 500gb and didnt realise you needed additional space for time machine!)

     

    I am not very technical but from endless googling Im thinking I should maybe go into disc utility. Select the destination drive in the left hand window. Enter the new drive in the destination box and the old drive in the source box and hit restore? Is it that straight forward?

     

    Im too scared to hit the button as Its a bit of guesswork (read somewhere I may need to instal my OSX disc but not sure why and wouldn't have a clue where to find it!

     

    Also not sure if I should be selecting the disc or volume? Can somebody clarify the difference please!

     

    Thanks

  • by Casey Heeg,

    Casey Heeg Casey Heeg Mar 25, 2015 6:28 PM in response to babybeebeebird
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2015 6:28 PM in response to babybeebeebird

    Hi BBBB,

    I think you're on the right track -- here are a few suggestions from a fellow non-techie:

    1. Turn off Time Machine -- if you have it on your launch bar, you can right click, select 'Open Time Machine Preferences', and click on the OFF/ON switch to turn it off.  If it's not on your launch bar, drag it there from the Applications folder.

    2. Open Disk Utility; you'll find it in Applications/ Utilities.  You should not need to load an OS disk to do this.  If you have both of your external drives connected, you should see them both in the left hand window.  For each drive, you should see an icon for the external drive, and below it, another one for the mounted volume (if you have partitions, you'll see more than one mounted volume). 

    3. Select the Restore tab over the right hand window.  After some introductory text, you'll see a Source window and a Destination window below it.  In the lefthand window, select the volume that has your Backups.backupdb folder on the Source drive; you should see its name appear in the Source window under the Restore tab.

    4. In the lefthand window, find the volume where you want the backups to be stored on your new (Destination) hard drive. Assuming you have not partitioned this hard drive, you'll only see one volume listed. Drag the volume to the Destination window under the Restore tab, and you'll see it's name appear there.  You'll also see the Restore button change from inactive (greyed out) to active (black letters).

    5. Click Restore, and the transfer will begin; expect it to take a long time, and for safety's sake, don't do anything else on the computer while it's going on; for 500GB I would expect it to take about 10 hours.

    6. When it's finished, you should still have your Source drive intact, plus a copy of it on the Destination drive.  Close the Disk Utility and use Finder to look in the Destination drive; if you see a folder that contains the Backups.backupdb folder, you should be in good shape.  Unplug the Source drive, to keep it safe, and turn on Time Machine -- you will probably have to direct it to make its backups to the new drive, unless the new drive has the exact same name as the old one.  When the next backup occurs, Time Machine should add it to the Backups.backupdb folder on your new drive.  If not, you haven't lost anything, as long as you don't mess with the old drive! 

    Good luck,

    Casey