time machine backup to portable USB

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time machine backup to portable USB

I have WD my passport portable external USB as one of my backup disks (in addition to time capsule).

Due to various changes such as old Mac vs. new Mac; El Capitan vs. Sierra vs. High Sierra etc., now the backup disk shows its content as per attached 1st SS. The highlighted folder is what I'd like to keep/continue with the backup, since it contains more of the earliest backups than the other folder seen. In addition, there was another backup folder which was backed up from the time I purchased this new Mac. But since I kept getting 'no space' errors on time machine, I sent it to trash (2nd SS).

How do I get the new Mac to continue using the older backup folder (1st SS)? How can I also get the folder that is currently in trash (2nd SS) also merged into the backup folder so that all backups would be available?

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), macOS High Sierra (10.13.3), Time Capsule 1 TB (1st Generation)

Posted on Mar 2, 2018 11:20 PM

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Answer 1

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leroydouglas

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Mar 13, 2018 11:14 AM in response to liquidmetalin

liquidmetalin wrote:

any suggestions anyone on the above or do I have to format the USB drive?

formatting you will lose all data

macOS Sierra: If you want a new Mac to “inherit” your backup history

Inherit Time Machine backup after changing source hard drives - Ask Different

http://www.creativetechsupport.com/help/it/install/timemachine-inherit.html

How to create a boot clone you can google "3-2-1 Backup Strategy" for more info.

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Answer 2

Mar 13, 2018 11:14 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks for your reply leroydouglas. I attempted the steps mentioned in the links (with various combinations of the backup drive drag and drop) and for both terminal commands got errors (?) as follows. Ravis-MacBook-Pro:~ ravi$ sudo tmutil associatedisk -a /Volumes/bhdtm/Backups.backupdb/Ravi\'s\ MacBook\ Pro Usage: tmutil associatedisk [-a] mount_point volume_backup_directory A local volume mount point and a snapshot volume path are required. Ravis-MacBook-Pro:~ ravi$ sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/bhdtm/Backups.backupdb/Ravi’s\ MacBook\ Pro The backup "Ravi’s MacBook Pro" can't be inherited because it would conflict with "Ravi's MacBook Pro".

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Answer 3

Mar 12, 2018 10:29 AM in response to liquidmetalin

any suggestions anyone on the above or do I have to format the USB drive?

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time machine backup to portable USB

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