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Papa Art

Q: Time capsule replacement

How can I replace an old Time Capsule with a new one and then move the existing Time Machine backup to the new TC?

MacBook, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), 2.13 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo; 6 GB RAM

Posted on Apr 25, 2016 12:42 PM

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Q: Time capsule replacement

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  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Apr 25, 2016 1:35 PM in response to Papa Art
    Level 9 (52,280 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 25, 2016 1:35 PM in response to Papa Art

    The airport setup utility has an option for replacing an existing airport.

     

    Plug the new TC into the network.. start the airport utility.. it will try to extend by ethernet but simply select options.. and choose "Replace an existing device" instead.

     

    setup4options.png

     

    We do NOT recommend copying the old backups to the new TC.. It is much better to start new Time Machine backup and after a few months of usage and a fair amount of history built up then erase the old TC.

     

    You can do it.. Plug the Old TC into the new one once you have completed the replacement and using ethernet on computer.. copy the sparsebundle from one to the other.. it is often unusable.. so a total waste of time.. but that is up to you.

  • by Bob Timmons,Helpful

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 25, 2016 3:49 PM in response to Papa Art
    Level 10 (104,968 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 25, 2016 3:49 PM in response to Papa Art

    Replacing the old Time Capsule with the new one is easy......Apple provides this setup option in AirPort Utility, but you will need a few tips as well to complete the task.  A short,, spare Ethernet cable.....any length will do.....will be needed for the setup.



    Replace Existing Device.png

     


    That's the easy part. Unfortunately, trying to move the old backups on the old Time Capsule over to the new Time Capsule is not easy for most users....even with detailed instructions. 


    Frankly, having done this a few times,  it's not worth the hassle and pain for most users, since you will not be able to combine new backups with the old backups on the new Time Capsule.  In other words, Time Machine will start a complete new backup of each of your the Macs on the new Time Capsule and move forward from there.

     

    This takes up quite a bit of space on the new Time Capsule and if your old backups are on the Time Capsule as well, it really eats up a lot of space. Not recommended.

     

    Things would be much simpler and easier if you simply keep the old Time Capsule around for a few weeks to a few months until you have had time to build up a new backup history.  Then, since you won't need the old backups at that time, you can erase the old Time Capsule and use it for additional storage, or sell the device if you don't need additional storage.

  • by Papa Art,

    Papa Art Papa Art Apr 25, 2016 2:09 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 25, 2016 2:09 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Sorry for what may be a dumb question, but "Plug the new TC into the network.." — do I first need to completely disconnect the old TC and replace it with the new one or just connect the new one somehow?

  • by LaPastenague,Helpful

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Apr 25, 2016 3:49 PM in response to Papa Art
    Level 9 (52,280 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 25, 2016 3:49 PM in response to Papa Art

    Plug it into the network.. use ethernet cable as per Bob's post.. LAN port of anything in the network.. but the old TC is perhaps the easiest.. to WAN port of the new TC.

     

    When the setup is finished it will factory reset the old TC and tell you to swap them..

     

    You are over worrying.. do .. don't think (too much). This is apple we are talking about.. Genius invent for the masses.. it doesn't always work but in this case it does.. mostly.

  • by Papa Art,

    Papa Art Papa Art Apr 25, 2016 3:57 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 25, 2016 3:57 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Almost! Connected as indicated above, used the "Replace..." option and reset the old TC to factory settings. But never received that swap message, even after half an hour; I went ahead and swapped the TCs anyway and the new one showed up in AU with a red 3 badge of issues I couldn't resolve. Fortunately, I had read somewhere about saving a configuration file, which I had done in AU prior to starting the above procedure. So I started over from scratch and restored that configuration file -- all is now working. Thanks, guys, for the assist.

  • by LaPastenague,Solvedanswer

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Apr 25, 2016 7:19 PM in response to Papa Art
    Level 9 (52,280 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 25, 2016 7:19 PM in response to Papa Art

    Just to be clear i hope you didn't reset the old TC to factory yourself.. the airport utility will do that for you once it swaps the values.. anyway your alternative method is good enough.. and very few people take the precaution to store a configuration so well done with that.

  • by Papa Art,

    Papa Art Papa Art Apr 25, 2016 7:24 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 25, 2016 7:24 PM in response to LaPastenague

    No, the reset happened as part of the process; I just noticed the message on the screen. Thanks again!