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t_c_b Author

Level 1

5 points

Restoring a Time Machine backup on a new computer with less storage.

My previous computer with a 3 TB drive died. I've a very large music library, over 1TB and my new computer has 512GB so I want to put my music library on an external drive. How do I go about this? I can't look into Time Machine without using Migration Assistant first, correct? If I do that how do I specify for it not to move my music files. And then, will I be able to go into Time Machine to retrieve my music files and transfer them to the 2nd external drive?

Thanks! I haven't found an answer for this yet and I'm afraid of losing my files.

iMac 27″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 16, 2021 7:34 PM

Top-ranking reply

Jack-19

Level 8

46,014 points

Posted on Oct 16, 2021 7:39 PM

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.

Since it sounds like your new Mac doesn't have enough room to migrate all your data, set the Mac up as new, then inherit the backup on your new Mac. You can then Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac to the correct new locations or drives on the new Mac.

Cheers,

Jack

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Restoring a Time Machine backup on a new computer with less storage.

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