HT204157: If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine

Learn about If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine
peterfromestacada
Level 1 (4 points)
Wireless

Q: What are the implications to removing existing backup history?

I have a 17" late 2011 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.11.6. I had a hard drive crash and am attempting to restore to a new hard drive. I got a message indicating there is a problem with my backup when I attempted to restore. I entered time machine and verified my backups and got the following message:

 

"Time Machine completed a verification of your backups on “Time Capsule”. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

 

"Click Start New Backup to create a new backup. This will remove your existing backup history. This could take several hours."

 

What is the implication to removing the existing backup history?

MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 11, 2016 4:57 PM

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peterfromestacada

Q: What are the implications to removing existing backup history?

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  • by Bob Timmons,Helpful

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Sep 11, 2016 5:53 PM in response to peterfromestacada
    Level 10 (105,008 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 11, 2016 5:53 PM in response to peterfromestacada

    What is the implication to removing the existing backup history?

    Removing the existing backup history will erase all the previous backups.  Unfortunately,  Time Machine has detected that the backup history has become corrupted......likely because of the previous hard drive crash on your Mac.

     

    Unfortunately, you will not be able to restore your Mac using the backups that you have, unless you might have a second clean copy of the backups on another drive that could be used for the restore operation.

  • by peterfromestacada,

    peterfromestacada peterfromestacada Sep 11, 2016 5:54 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 11, 2016 5:54 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    i appear to be able to copy files by dragging and dropping. Can I restore piecemeal in this way?

  • by Boyd Porter,

    Boyd Porter Boyd Porter Sep 12, 2016 8:28 AM in response to peterfromestacada
    Level 3 (963 points)
    Sep 12, 2016 8:28 AM in response to peterfromestacada

    Not recommended. I suggest you drag and drop only individual data files that you have created. If you try to restore Mail, iTunes library, or any other database, you would most likely hose it and not be able to use it.

     

    Just let Time Machine delete the old backups and create a new one. You really cannot get around creating a new backup.

     

    Have a nice day.