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User profile for user: paulslc
paulslc Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

How long to copy 500MB?

Needed to increase storage for my Time Machine back up. Currently have a 500MB Seagate that's nearly full. Bought a new 2TB Seagate. The Time Machine instructions say to simply copy the Backups.backupdb folder from one to the other. I started it yesterday at about 4:30PM, it's now 2:18PM the next day. The transfer dialog box says "Copying 0 items to TimeMachine2" Further it says "1.25TB of 1.25TB - About 5 seconds"


This makes no sense as the old hard disk is only 500MB. How can it copy more than what's there?


Should I stop and start over? Is there something else wrong?

iMac with Retina 5K display, iOS 11.2.5

Posted on Jan 26, 2018 2:20 PM

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User profile for user: SeaPapp
SeaPapp
User level: Level 7
26,486 points

Posted on Jan 26, 2018 2:32 PM

Yes start over. Follow the instructions here Time Machine: How to transfer backups from a current backup drive to a new backup drive - Apple Support and make sure to format and partition the new drive before you start.

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How long to copy 500MB?

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