Time Machine Restore

[Mainbeam]

Hi folks,

My 2011 MBP is slowly dying and I have managed to create a time machine back up. It has a 1TB SSD and 1TB HDD instead of optical drive. All storage, pictures, music is on sata HDD and OS etc is on SSD.

I have bought a replacement 2017 MBP which only has 128GB flash drive storage. I was hoping to use an external drive for photos, music etc and just plug that in whenever I want to back up my iPhone or iPad.

I bought a 4TB external HDD and partitioned it into two 2TB partitions. One partition holds the time machine back up and I was hoping to use the other partition to access my pictures, music etc on new MBP.

Is there a simple way of doing this because I keep failing miserably?? I've tried migration assistant and it says not enough storage but I want to use the 2TB partition which it doesn't give me the option. I've restored from time machine back up to 2TB partition and when computer boots its is unusable.

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Stephen.R]

For one thing, I would suggest against using a drive for backups + something else - because that inherently means that other thing isn't backed up.

Personally I'd just designate the 4TB drive as time machine, and then use an external SSD (you could use the one you put in the 2011 MBP with a USB-C case if the machine is failing to the point of not being usable) for your photos/videos etc.

 

[Mainbeam]

For one thing, I would suggest against using a drive for backups + something else - because that inherently means that other thing isn't backed up.

Personally I'd just designate the 4TB drive as time machine, and then use an external SSD (you could use the one you put in the 2011 MBP with a USB-C case if the machine is failing to the point of not being usable) for your photos/videos etc.

Thanks Stephen. I may consider that. I am still clueless as to how to go about it so the new MBP runs fine but I can access my old iTunes and photo library.

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Stephen.R]

If it's just iTunes/Photo libraries etc on the second drive in the old laptop, you can just copy them using the Finder. I'd guess Migration Assistant won't work because it's trying to put stuff into the main SSD on the new machine (either apps, or stuff in your home folder) and thus it hasn't enough free space.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I have bought a replacement 2017 MBP which only has 128GB flash drive storage. I was hoping to use an external drive for photos, music etc and just plug that in whenever I want to back up my iPhone or iPad."

DON'T use Time Machine.
There's a better way.

You already have the external drive, with 2 partitions ready and waiting.

Download either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
Both are FREE to download and use for 30 days (doing what I advise will cost you nothing)

Then, use either CCC or SD to clone your 1tb SSD and 1b HDD to their respective partitions on the external drive.

What you'll have when done are FULLY-FINDER MOUNTABLE volumes that look like any other hard drive. You just "plug them in, mount them, use them".

Nothing could be easier.

 

[Stephen.R]

DON'T use Time Machine.

Your 'advice' seems to relate to making two one-time copies, onto a device, ignoring that one of the things being copied is just a system drive, and that it leaves him without any backup device of any kind.

Sure, you don't like Time Machine. But blindly offering full-disk cloning software as some kind of "better alternative" without any context or explanation of how it will work long term is irresponsible IMO.