I've got myself a new Mac Mini, and while it's now all setup from my old (dead) machine and I'm happy with it, I'm having trouble using my existing backup disk.
When I've transferred a backup disk in the past all I've had to do was plug it in, macOS would ask if I want to use it for backup, then would ask if I want to inherit the backup history, maybe I'd need to associate a disk or two, but it would otherwise just then run as expected.
But that didn't happen this time.
So I tried doing it via command line instead:
Why is my machine directory considered an invalid target? This backup disk was being used to backup another machine on the same day the new machine arrived, so I know that it works, and is very unlikely to be a fault with the disk or the previous backups, yet for some reason my new Mac Mini running fully-patched Catalina won't use that directory. The previous machines both were running fully-patched Mojave.
I've tried associating all of the disks instead, but when running a backup, Time Machine will just create a new machine directory (Haravikks Mac 2) even though the new machine name and old machine name are identical. I can't let it do this however as there simply isn't room for a whole new backup, and I don't want to wipe my backup history in case there is anything I haven't transferred (I do have a secondary backup but it's not really convenient for quick access).
Does anyone know why Time Machine on Catalina might suddenly consider my machine directory an invalid target, and what I can do about it? On a related note, where is the information on machine directories even stored? I've checked several Time Machine backups and don't see any obvious files that might store machine or disk IDs, yet that's clearly information that Time Machine has.
When I've transferred a backup disk in the past all I've had to do was plug it in, macOS would ask if I want to use it for backup, then would ask if I want to inherit the backup history, maybe I'd need to associate a disk or two, but it would otherwise just then run as expected.
But that didn't happen this time.
So I tried doing it via command line instead:
Code:
sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/Haravikks\ Mac
Usage: tmutil inheritbackup machine_directory
tmutil inheritbackup sparse_bundle
/Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/Haravikks Mac: Invalid targetWhy is my machine directory considered an invalid target? This backup disk was being used to backup another machine on the same day the new machine arrived, so I know that it works, and is very unlikely to be a fault with the disk or the previous backups, yet for some reason my new Mac Mini running fully-patched Catalina won't use that directory. The previous machines both were running fully-patched Mojave.
I've tried associating all of the disks instead, but when running a backup, Time Machine will just create a new machine directory (Haravikks Mac 2) even though the new machine name and old machine name are identical. I can't let it do this however as there simply isn't room for a whole new backup, and I don't want to wipe my backup history in case there is anything I haven't transferred (I do have a secondary backup but it's not really convenient for quick access).
Does anyone know why Time Machine on Catalina might suddenly consider my machine directory an invalid target, and what I can do about it? On a related note, where is the information on machine directories even stored? I've checked several Time Machine backups and don't see any obvious files that might store machine or disk IDs, yet that's clearly information that Time Machine has.
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