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Trying to move Time Machine backup to a new machine

Why do I have two backup folders? Can they be combined into one so my new Mac is a continuation of my old one?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 1, 2020 11:46 AM

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13 replies

Nov 2, 2020 3:21 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Okay, I've gotten sufficiently confused trying to pick out the process in this thread.


I need to find a step-by-step and whether I start fresh with my Mac. I've tried using the migration from my old TM drive and as I said I have 2 backup folders, after trying it twice following "How to move your content to a new Mac."


After quite a bit of frustration I'm leaning towards just doing a clean install and letting all the old stuff go. Not ideal and not utilizing what I thought TM was for, but I want to move on. I think you understand what I'm trying to do by this point. If you have any further ideas, I'm happy to try. Otherwise, clean install.


Thanks for all your help so far.

Nov 1, 2020 2:17 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks I did this, but maybe too late.


Here's the full situation: Bought new Mac and had to get to work before I had time to migrate from old Mac (which Time Machine has backed up on an external drive.) After a couple weeks worth of work on the new Mac, had time to do the migration. Old back up HD was starting to make noises like it was going to fail, so I purchased a new one. Copied Backups.backupb to new HD, in Time Machine on new Mac, selected new HD as my backup disk. Ran Time Machine and got a second folder in Backups.backupb (GregRov's iMac and GregRov's iMac 2). Able to browse other backup disk to get to old folders but can't restore from there. Is it possible to have one continuous backup? Do I need to start from scratch on my new Mac? I am buying another external HD for work so I could copy everything off, wipe things clean and do the migration at the beginning. I'd like to have this set up right instead of working around my rushed and sloppy set up.

Nov 2, 2020 3:42 PM in response to GregRov

It is best to migrate from your old Time Machine backup during the initial setup of the new iMac. It sounds like you did not do that and now the new iMac has made new backups on the same TM drive. The problem now is, that if you migrate from the earlier backups, you will end up with two accounts (one new and one old) on the new iMac.


At this point, your best option (if the old Mac still works) is to manually move files from the old Mac to the new Mac using File Sharing over your local network or Ethernet cable. Which to me, sounds like a better option than wiping the new iMac and starting over.

Nov 2, 2020 5:34 PM in response to GregRov

Yes, but that's totally up to you.


My only concern is, that if you plugged the old TM backup drive into the new iMac and it started doing new backups? If it did, then there's no way of knowing if the old TM backups are compromised or not by the new iMac's backups until you try.


Again it would help to know if the old iMac is still working or not? If it is, then at least you would have that to fall back on. Just in case, you have to make a new TM backup of the old Mac on another external drive.


Hope that makes sense......

Nov 2, 2020 7:14 PM in response to den.thed

I can easily backtrack as I have the original external backup drive, the new external drive (where I copied my TM backup, cuz the old one is making noises), and the old Mac still works. I have all the original pieces. I never backed up the new Mac to the old drive. Only the new drive has the two folders in the backup. I think it will be worth the time to set it up. The worse that can happen is I get to this same point and manually move things like you suggest. I bought the new machine for a job and didn't have time to do the set up the right way. Now I have plenty of time.


Thanks for your help!

Trying to move Time Machine backup to a new machine

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