Problem Copying Time Machine Backups

Unfortunately, you cannot copy Time Machine backups that way. Time Machine backups are not simply ordinary file copies. There is only one way that makes a reliable and re-usable Time Machine backup copy - using Disk Utility. However, Disk Utility will erase the target volume before transferring files, and the target volume must be about 5-10 GBs larger than the source volume or Disk Utility will refuse to make the copy.

What you will need to do is partition your large drive into smaller volumes so you can use Disk Utility to copy each old backup to the suitable volume on the new drive.

You cannot directly partition a mirrored RAID, but you can partition each drive identically, the mirror all the volumes. This is a bit of a pain, but does work.

The alternative to this is to forget the old backups and simply make a new, fresh backup on one mirrored RAID.

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

This technique will only work if the volume you're copying to is the same size, or larger than, the one you're copying from.

First, open the Time Machine preference pane and click the Select Disk... button. You may have to unlock the settings first by clicking the padlock icon in the lower left corner of the window. Authenticate as an administrator.

Delete the volume you're going to copy from the list of backup destinations. Then turn Time Machine OFF.

Launch Disk Utility, open the built-in help, and search for the term "Duplicate." Follow the instructions. All existing data on the destination volume will be erased. That shouldn't be a problem, because you don't want to mix backup and non-backup data on the same drive anyway.

If the volume you're copying was encrypted by Time Machine, you may have to unlock it first. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar of the Disk Utility window.

Turn Time Machine back ON and select the new volume as a backup destination. You can also continue to use the old volume, if you wish. The two will be alternated when both are available.

CAUTION: If the volume you're copying is corrupt, as shown by Repair Disk or Verify Disk in Disk Utility, then that corruption will be copied to the new drive. Don't copy data from a corrupt volume on a malfunctioning drive. Put the drive aside and don't use it until you're sure you'll no longer need the data. Then securely erase it and take it to a recycling center. Do the same if the Restore operation fails with "disk errors."

I experienced the same problem when moving from WD 2TB to a WD 4TB drive. There was something wrong with the 2TB drive. It would not mount until I forced quit "fsck_hfs".

I tried to clone the drives first, which left me with the same error on both drives (as Linc Davis remarked). Then I tried it the "official" way (drag and drop as Apple suggests) which resulted in the "iWork error". This doesn't make sense to me. I would really appreciate if someone would have a solution for this. Thanks. I researched quite a bit but couldn't find something that works.

Time Machine – Transfer Backup to a New Drive

Time Machine – Transfer Backup to a New Drive (2)

Try using Disk Utility/Restore to copy the backup to a new location. Please note that this will reformat the destination partition.

I did use Disk Utility first and by doing so copied the corruption to the new drive.