How To Transfer Time Machine Back Ups Om Time Capsule To New External Drive?

[Bazzy]

Hi All,

I was advised on another thread to upgrade to a newer version of MacOS on my 2015 rMBP. Before I do that, I wish to back up using Time Machine.

Problem is that my Time Capsule is making loud whirring sounds & you can hear the fans at high speed. I understand (correct me if I am wrong) that the loud whirring sounds are indicative of a failing Hard Drive inside the Time Capsule.

I have a new external 4TB Hard Drive & I wish to transfer all of the Back-Ups on the Time Capsule to this new external drive.

I am Monkey See, Monkey Do so please can someone kindly provide me with detailed Step by Step instructions that a noob like like can follow & not make silly mistakes on how to properly & correctly do this please - this way, hopefully I can still have access to all my TM Back Ups on the external drive if the HDD inside the Time Capsule suddenly dies.

Many Kind Thanks!

 

[ChrisA]

Hi All,

I was advised on another thread to upgrade to a newer version of MacOS on my 2015 rMBP. Before I do that, I wish to back up using Time Machine.

Problem is that my Time Capsule is making loud whirring sounds & you can hear the fans at high speed. I understand (correct me if I am wrong) that the loud whirring sounds are indicative of a failing Hard Drive inside the Time Capsule.

I have a new external 4TB Hard Drive & I wish to transfer all of the Back-Ups on the Time Capsule to this new external drive.

I am Monkey See, Monkey Do so please can someone kindly provide me with detailed Step by Step instructions that a noob like like can follow & not make silly mistakes on how to properly & correctly do this please - this way, hopefully I can still have access to all my TM Back Ups on the external drive if the HDD inside the Time Capsule suddenly dies.

Many Kind Thanks!

Does the drive in the time capsule show up on the Mac in Finder? If so open it and drive the "sparse bundle" to wherever you want.

But iiti s better to place the new drive on the computer, add it as a second TM drive and let TM mak a fresh backup. Now you have a redundant backup. Yes a fresh backup will take a long time but so will copying an entire Time Capsule drive over that old, slow WiFi.

You have an empty disk drive, use it.

 

[Bazzy]

Does the drive in the time capsule show up on the Mac in Finder? If so open it and drive the "sparse bundle" to wherever you want.

But iiti s better to place the new drive on the computer, add it as a second TM drive and let TM mak a fresh backup. Now you have a redundant backup. Yes a fresh backup will take a long time but so will copying an entire Time Capsule drive over that old, slow WiFi.

You have an empty disk drive, use it.

Hi ChrisA,

Thanks kindly for your kindly input!

As I am limited in my technical prowess, please help me understand:

A) You say connect the problematic Time Capsule to the rMBP, open it & "Drive" (do you mean move and/or copy/paste it to the new external HD?

By doing this, if I understand correctly, by doing this, I will retain all of the various Back Ups the problematic Time Capsule has done over the years?

B) By connecting the new External HD to my rMBP & doing a fresh back up, this will only have a back up from the day I created it (say today) & none of the many back ups made over the years on the problematic Time Capsule - have I understood that correctly?

I really wish/need to keep ALL of the many previous Back Ups on the Time Capsule & risk losing them if I keep them on there as I fear the HD inside it is failing.

Many Thanks!

 

[ChrisA]

Hi ChrisA,

Thanks kindly for your kindly input!

As I am limited in my technical prowess, please help me understand:

A) You say connect the problematic Time Capsule to the rMBP, open it & "Drive" (do you mean move and/or copy/paste it to the new external HD?

By doing this, if I understand correctly, by doing this, I will retain all of the various Back Ups the problematic Time Capsule has done over the years?

B) By connecting the new External HD to my rMBP & doing a fresh back up, this will only have a back up from the day I created it (say today) & none of the many back ups made over the years on the problematic Time Capsule - have I understood that correctly?

I really wish/need to keep ALL of the many previous Back Ups on the Time Capsule & risk losing them if I keep them on there as I fear the HD inside it is failing.

Many Thanks!

Yes, you got it all correct. If you look inside the TM drive on the Time Capsule you see a "Sparce bundle". That is where all the old backups live.

After you copy the bundle VERIFY you can restore from it.

As said, copying over WiFi is slow.

Remember the "one-two-three" backup rule. Three copies of the data at two different geographical locations

 

[Bazzy]

Yes, you got it all correct. If you look inside the TM drive on the Time Capsule you see a "Sparce bundle". That is where all the old backups live.

After you copy the bundle VERIFY you can restore from it.

As said, copying over WiFi is slow.

Remember the "one-two-three" backup rule. Three copies of the data at two different geographical locations

Hi ChrisA,

Thanks again! Please can you tell me how to "VERIFY" the bundle after I have copied & pasted it to the new external HDD?

Many Thanks!

 

[ChrisA]

Hi ChrisA,

Thanks again! Please can you tell me how to "VERIFY" the bundle after I have copied & pasted it to the new external HDD?

Many Thanks!

Easy, recover any random file. See if it works.

In fact, you should periodically test every backup system by pulling a file off of it. This tests the system but just as importantly, it keeps you trained on how to do recovery. When you do need a old version of some file, usually you are in a hurry and you will not have time to figure out how. So do a test every month or two.