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7 Replies Last post: Feb 28, 2008 7:51 PM by Rcovell

Rcovell

990 posts since
Aug 7, 2001

Feb 23, 2008 10:21 PM

Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

I'm using Time Machine to backup to an external hard drive. If I replace this drive with a different one, can the backups on the old drive be transferred to the new drive so my backups don't start all over? The old drive would no longer be available.

Thanks, Bob.

wgood

771 posts since
Nov 11, 2004

1. Feb 24, 2008 7:26 PM

in response to: Rcovell

Re: Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

I imagine that if you clone a drive with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! that Time Machine will honor the previous data.

I have no way to check, of course, so you might want to proceed carefully.

2Ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook • Airport Extreme (Gigabit) • 8GB iPod touch
http://www.wesg.ca - Macs and More

Rcovell

990 posts since
Aug 7, 2001

2. Feb 25, 2008 9:55 PM

in response to: wgood

Re: Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

Well, I ordered a new external drive today, so I should be able to give it a try later this week.

I contacted Shirt Pocket Software (the SuperDuper! people) and they agree that I can use SD to copy from one drive to another. So, even with 2 partitions on the old drive, I should be able to copy, in two sessions, the info to the new drive.

I'll post again with the results.

Bob.

JohnGS

11 posts since
Nov 17, 2007

3. Feb 27, 2008 6:28 PM

in response to: Rcovell

Re: Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

I'm doing the same thing, and I've run into a problem. Both my old external drive and the new external drive are mounted, and I figured that all I would have to do is copy the Time Machine files over to the new drive before designating it as the TM drive. But all of my copying efforts result in a hung process, with the progress bar stopping at various points while "preparing to copy".

So, since it appears that the TM files are not portable using the copy process, are the duplicating programs mentioned (Super Duper etc.) the only way to get the earlier backup positions on the new drive, or is there some other trick that can be used rather than getting such a program?

thanks

John

Rcovell

990 posts since
Aug 7, 2001

4. Feb 27, 2008 11:11 PM

in response to: JohnGS

Re: Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

Hi John-
I received my new external hard drive today (thanks OWC, really fast shipping!) and got it all partitioned. On the old drive that was still connected, I changed the name of the TM disk to Old TM disk, just to keep things straight. Then, I designated one of the partitions on the new drive as TM Backup.

At that point, I should have turned TM off, but, I didn't. I opened SuperDuper! and did a Smart Backup from the Old TM to the new TM Backup and let it run. Took over an hour, but, did fine. I checked the new drive and all my TM data is in place.

I also did a backup of my Mac HD, something normally done weekly on Sundays using SuperDuper!, and it went OK, too. I also verified it, but, did not try booting from it. With everything in place, I erased the old hard drive and removed it from the desktop all together.

I highly recommend using SuperDuper!. While it only provides a snapshot of your system, it's a bootable snapshot, unlike Time Machine. SuperDuper! is free to use, paying for registration gives you access to the Smart Backup option, a real time saver and well worth the $$ for ongoing use. If you just want to use it to copy TM data from an old to a new drive, the free version should be just fine.

Good luck, Bob.

JohnGS

11 posts since
Nov 17, 2007

5. Feb 28, 2008 3:38 PM

in response to: Rcovell

Re: Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

Bob:

Thanks, SuperDuper! did the trick; it copied the TM files to the new drive, after which TM recognized them and added the current position. SD took about 2 1/2 hours to copy 155 GB of data between the two external drives (FW800). I think I'm going to use the old drive as a bootable copy of the system HD, so I can have multiple backup approaches. I'll play with SD more tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll be buying the full version. It is good software.

Will the system tolerate having two bootable drives mounted? I presume that it would simply start off of the first drive encountered.

I wonder what it is about the TM files that keep them from being copied normally; that angle surprised me.

I also got my new drive from OWC; they have always been fast and reliable for me. Rather than select a pre-configured external drive, I chose their quad interface cabinet and a Toshiba 750GB 7200 RPM drive; the combination was $20 less than the pre-configured setup, and I did not want the software bundled with it anyway. And this way I got to select the brand of drive myself.

wgood

771 posts since
Nov 11, 2004

6. Feb 28, 2008 3:48 PM

in response to: JohnGS

Re: Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

JohnGS wrote:
Will the system tolerate having two bootable drives mounted? I presume that it would simply start off of the first drive encountered.

Once you select your primary drive with System Preferences (Startup Disk) the computer should respect that choice until you use Option or select another disk.

2Ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook • Airport Extreme (Gigabit) • 8GB iPod touch
http://www.wesg.ca - Macs and More

Rcovell

990 posts since
Aug 7, 2001

7. Feb 28, 2008 7:51 PM

in response to: JohnGS

Re: Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

John-
I was doing some more reading in my Missing Manuals version of MacOS-X Leopard and ran across a possibility why a straight copy may not work. David Pogue, the author, mentions that using a 'disk image' for certain things preserves invisible files that the OS uses, where the 'drag and drop' method to copy doesn't preserve those same files.

I don't understand enough of the little tricks and tidbits to be of much more help, just what I've experienced and worked out with much help from the people on this forum. Glad to hear you got your copying needs taken care of. I agree, SuperDuper! is a great program.

Bob.

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This Question is Answered

Feb 23, 2008 10:21 PM

Time Machine-Keeping Old Backups with New Drive?

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