migrate time machine backups to new drive on big sur

[neal_o'shaquille]

ok so i just got a new hdd that i want to use as a time machine backup drive - however i'm having trouble trying to migrate my old time machine backup to the new drive. i'm on big sur and both drives are formatted as apfs so im wondering if that is the issue.

if there's no way to do this due to the way time machine handles apfs backups thats seems like a huge oversight.

any thoughts?

 

[gilby101]

Migrating (copying) TM backups gets harder and harder. I don't think you can with BS.

Start again with TM on the new drive. Keep the old drive until you are confident you no longer need its backups.

 

[honestone33]

The format of the external drive/partition should not make any difference. What has worked for me is that whenever I want to move to a new Mac OS, I do a clean, fresh installation and then at the end I am offered the opportunity to migrate/copy needed files, folders, settings, apps, etc. from 1 of 3 sources: either a TM backup, or another backup, or another Mac. Given that I make my backups with SuperDuper!, I choose another backup and then just point to that one for SuperDuper!. Has always worked for me, and I'm hoping the same is true for Big Sur. Still on Catalina, but eventually will want to move to Big Sur.

 

[neal_o'shaquille]

Migrating (copying) TM backups gets harder and harder. I don't think you can with BS.

Start again with TM on the new drive. Keep the old drive until you are confident you no longer need its backups.

yeah that's basically where i'm at. ideally i'd be able to move everything over and have it under one drive but i guess that's not an option...

 

[honestone33]

Oops! I misunderstood. Sorry about that.

But yeah, how does one migrate/copy TM backups from one device to another? Seems like something Apple would offer a method that is simple and reliable.

 

[neal_o'shaquille]

Oops! I misunderstood. Sorry about that.

But yeah, how does one migrate/copy TM backups from one device to another? Seems like something Apple would offer a method that is simple and reliable.

right?? you would think with apple being apple this is something they'd build functionality for, and from a technology perspective i can't see why it would be an issue. hopefully it's something they'll consider in the future.

might also try talking with tech support in the morning - i'll update this post if i find anything useful!

 

[AppleSmack]

ok so i just got a new hdd that i want to use as a time machine backup drive - however i'm having trouble trying to migrate my old time machine backup to the new drive. i'm on big sur and both drives are formatted as apfs so im wondering if that is the issue.

if there's no way to do this due to the way time machine handles apfs backups thats seems like a huge oversight.

any thoughts?

My understanding is that you can just drag all of one TM disk's contents into the top level of your new drive, then tell TM to use that new drive.

Apfs is made for SSD, so if your drive is actually a spinning HDD, you'll get slow performance. You can still TM backup to an HFS-formatted HDD.

PS: lol at your username!

 

[gilby101]

My understanding is that you can just drag all of one TM disk's contents into the top level of your new drive, then tell TM to use that new drive.

Maybe. I have never got that to work and certainly not across major changes to TM storage.

Apfs is made for SSD, so if your drive is actually a spinning HDD, you'll get slow performance. You can still TM backup to an HFS-formatted HDD.

My experience with Time Machine is that it performs well with an APFS HDD destination. And new TM makes use of APFS features (snapshots) that are not present with HFS+. If you allow TM to use an empty partition (even if already formatted HFS+) it will always re-format it as APFS (Case-sensitive).

For a high activity HDD, there is an argument that says that an APFS HDD becomes fragmented as it gets full and is likely to slow down. But not for TM or other relatively stable purposes.

 

[Ifti]

I did this just last week - on Catalina.

I found it quite easy.
Copied the entire backup folder from my existing drive to the new drive.
Entered Time Machine Preferences.
Select the new drive a the TM destination.
Thats it.

I let it do another backup (I do manual backups, I dot use the automatic backups) and then entered Time Machine and tested to ensure I was able to successfully see all old backups and retrieve any files.

 

[gilby101]

I found it quite easy.

Good. Maybe I lack the patience to wait for it to complete.

But did you copy a Catalina backup and then use it with BS?

 

[HDFan]

For a high activity HDD, there is an argument that says that an APFS HDD becomes fragmented as it gets full and is likely to slow down. But not for TM or other relatively stable purposes.

APFS uses a lot of pointers. On an SSD this isn't a problem as accessing a pointer location is almost instantaneous. On a hard disk it means moving a physical head which takes time. It isn't a good idea to use APFS on a hard disk.

 

[Ifti]

Good. Maybe I lack the patience to wait for it to complete.

But did you copy a Catalina backup and then use it with BS?

No Im still completely on Catalina. Not sure when I will move to Big Sur but I want to wait for all my required software, and more importantly the RAID software for my drives to be ready and tested before I move across.

Also I forgot to note my external drives are formatted HFS+
I found this makes things so much more easier. I tend not use use APFS with external drives unless I really have to, like for SuperDuper for instance.....

 

[neal_o'shaquille]

Also I forgot to note my external drives are formatted HFS+
I found this makes things so much more easier. I tend not use use APFS with external drives unless I really have to, like for SuperDuper for instance.....

yes, this is the whole point of the thread - for HFS+ drives you can just move the .backups folder to the new drive. however when they are formatted as APFS, it won't let you move the backups over as they are not contained in a .backups folder. see the structure of an APFS time machine drive below. none of these are copyable/moveable:

also, i'd like to note that the only reason i formatted the external HDD as APFS over HFS is because my original backup drive was an SSD formatted as APFS (samsung T7 external ssd). i figured if i formatted this new drive as APFS i'd be able to migrate all the backups and just deal with it being APFS, but alas i cannot, which is why we're here!

 

[Ifti]

yes, this is the whole point of the thread - for HFS+ drives you can just move the .backups folder to the new drive. however when they are formatted as APFS, it won't let you move the backups over as they are not contained in a .backups folder. see the structure of an APFS time machine drive below. none of these are copyable/moveable:

View attachment 1690245

also, i'd like to note that the only reason i formatted the external HDD as APFS over HFS is because my original backup drive was an SSD formatted as APFS (samsung T7 external ssd). i figured if i formatted this new drive as APFS i'd be able to migrate all the backups and just deal with it being APFS, but alas i cannot, which is why we're here!

In which case, everything I have said above is completely irrelevant! lol
Apologies.

 

[neal_o'shaquille]

In which case, everything I have said above is completely irrelevant! lol
Apologies.

no worries! i should've been more clear in my original post - hopefully your post will help someone with an hfs drive looking to do the same thing!

 

[jazz1]

I've got a followup question. I have a load of AIFF audio files on an external hard drive that are under TimeMachine backups from an old computer. Can I just drag and drop these old TimeMachine backed up filed to my new BigSur M1 MacMini. I'm waiting for a cable adaptor that will allow me to hook up the old Lacie HD to the new M1 MacMini.

 

[gilby101]

Can I just drag and drop these old TimeMachine backed up filed to my new BigSur M1 MacMini.

If you can see the files (and folders) in Finder you can drag and drop them elsewhere. It is moving whole TM backups for reuse with TM where you are likely to have issues.