Transfer Time Machine to a new computer

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Level 1

42 points

Transfer Time Machine to a new computer

I have a 2014 iMac and I'm moving to an iMac Pro. I don't use migration assistant to setup the new machine because I use the new machine as an opportunity to not transfer a lot of the junk that accumulates over the year; the new computer gets a fresh start.

But I do want to preserve access to the Time Machine backups from my old machine. Of course the new machine will have the same Apple ID.

Can I do that? How?

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS High Sierra (10.13)

Posted on Mar 3, 2018 1:12 PM

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Answer 1

MoonJ.

Community Specialist

Mar 4, 2018 8:29 AM in response to Boat Guy

Greetings, Boat Guy!
Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities! That is a great question you have about accessing Time Machine made from your older computer with your new computer and I am happy to help out! Check out this article for macOS Sierra: If you want a new Mac to “inherit” your backup history as this will explain how you can set your new Mac to use the same backups from the old Mac.
Take care and enjoy your new iMac Pro!

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Answer 2

Boat Guy Author

Level 1

42 points

Mar 11, 2018 3:23 PM in response to MoonJ.

Thanks, but that was not helpful. That article assumes I'm using Migration assistant, which I'm not. It's a clean install of all my apps and I copied over my data.

Is there a way to have my new machine use the old Time Machine backup so that I don't lose the history of my data?

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Transfer Time Machine to a new computer

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