TimeMachine restore on a diff OS

[zoran]

When one has a TM backup from a HighSierra iMac and the iMac breaks down and is not worth to be servicable, can i restore the backup to a newer Mac, with a different and newer OS?

 

[kitKAC]

Yes.

 

[zoran]

Its gonna restore the OS, meaning replace Monterey with HighSierra and all the apps installed in it?

 

[kitKAC]

Since Apple started sealing the startup volume, you can only restore your data, not the entire OS. I don't think the option to restore from Time Machine (in Recovery) exists anymore so you'd restore your data using the Migration Assistant when setting up the machine.

 

[zoran]

So you mean by directing the Migration Assistant to the TMhard drive?
Will that put back my Applications and all their settings?

 

[kitKAC]

Yes and yes.

 

[zoran]

But will not install HSierra. It will just make the Migration to the new OSX that will be present!

 

[kitKAC]

Yep!

 

[adrianlondon]

Yeah, this confused me a year or so ago when I wanted to do a full recover of my Macbook after playing around with a Unix install. It *used* to be that you restored everything from the TM backup. I hope they've improved it, but at the time it just gave me an error saying it wasn't a valid TM backup. Not a nice message to receive when your laptop is dead and you want to restore, although I have other backups.

Solution turned out to be very easy (after I googled it ). I used internet recovery to install the latest supported OS, then used migration assistant to restore everything else from the TM backup. The laptop ended up back exactly as it was at the time of the TM backup.

Basically, everything that kitKAC has posted above.

 

[gilby101]

When one has a TM backup from a HighSierra iMac and the iMac breaks down and is not worth to be servicable, can i restore the backup to a newer Mac, with a different and newer OS?

Yes, but:

1) Some (most?) apps will have compatibility issues with a big jump in macOS version.

2) Your app settings (in your ~/Library) will need updating - hopefully macOS and apps will do that painlessly.

Don't destroy, modify or update your old backup - keep it safely until you are certain it is not needed. Make sure new macOS creates a backup on a new drive.

 

[zoran]

Don't destroy, modify or update your old backup - keep it safely until you are certain it is not needed. Make sure new macOS creates a backup on a new drive.

Ok I guess I’ll delete it only after the migration will occur with success and be certain that everything runs smoothly.

The question here is… if the home drive of the new machine is smaller than the one used in the old machine, can I Select specific files to migrate in order to fit the files in the smaller drive?
I mean, if on the old imac I have a 1 TB drive and I purchase a mini that has a 500gb drive, can I select what files to migrate from the iMac backup so they will fit?

 

[kitKAC]

Ok I guess I’ll delete it only after the migration will occur with success and be certain that everything runs smoothly.

The question here is… if the home drive of the new machine is smaller than the one used in the old machine, can I Select specific files to migrate in order to fit the files in the smaller drive?
I mean, if on the old imac I have a 1 TB drive and I purchase a mini that has a 500gb drive, can I select what files to migrate from the iMac backup so they will fit?

From the screenshots here, it looks like you might be able to:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203981