Adding older Time Macine backups to a new hard drive...

[eyebidder]

Here's my situation:

Got a new HD for my Mac backups to day and did a full back up. Previously, I used a different HD for backups and would like to know if I can add those older back ups on a different HD to the new HD that I'm currently using?

If so, will Time Machine recognize the older versions and still access the information?

If not, is there any way to use those older backups?

thanks for any info you might have!

 

[lostngone]

Why would need to access the older Backups did the system crash between the time you un-plugged the old backup TM drive and then plugged in the new one?

 

[eyebidder]

Because the new backup does not have those files. I'd like to use only one HD for my backups, not the old one AND the new one.....do you understand?

That's the main point in backing up....to have older files available. Keep in touch..

 

[lostngone]

I don't understand?
When Time Machine is setup on the new drive it will do a full backup of the whole drive so you should not need the old backups anymore.


Time Machine is for disaster recovery and should not be used as a file archive/off-line solution.

You should never delete a file you want/need because you think Time Machine has Backed it up.

 

[eyebidder]

My last back up on the older ext. HD was in 2007(old back up). I now have a newer backup as of a few days ago, so I have not backed up the drive since 2007.

Can I add those older files to the newer back up? Am I missing something here?

When I go into TM to get backups, it only goes as far back as when I first backed up, not as far back as 2007....

I'm sure I'm doing it correctly....or maybe not?

 

[jw2002]

There are a couple of options. First you could just let the old backups sit on the old hard drive and then access them only when you need to recover some old file that isn't backed up on your latest drive.

The other option would be to physically copy the existing backup (either a folder or .sparsebundle) to the new drive and let backups resume on the new hard drive.

 

[danny_w]

I don't understand?
When Time Machine is setup on the new drive it will do a full backup of the whole drive so you should not need the old backups anymore.


Time Machine is for disaster recovery and should not be used as a file archive/off-line solution.

You should never delete a file you want/need because you think Time Machine has Backed it up.

Sorry, I think you have that confused. Time Machine is not and hever has been a disaster recovery solution. Sure, in some cases it may be used that way, but that is certainly NOT its strength. Time Machine backups are more for archiving than anything else, hence the name that implies going back in time. There are many better solutions for disaster recovery; I would out Time Machine dead last in that category.

 

[lostngone]

Sorry, I think you have that confused. Time Machine is not and hever has been a disaster recovery solution. Sure, in some cases it may be used that way, but that is certainly NOT its strength. Time Machine backups are more for archiving than anything else, hence the name that implies going back in time. There are many better solutions for disaster recovery; I would out Time Machine dead last in that category.

I am NOT saying Time Machine is the best backup tool on the market...

I see this questions like this over and over again in this forum and with people I help.

People deliberately detele files because Time Machine has "Backed them up". This is NOT what Time Machine is for, it IS for disaster recovery if you accidentally delete a file or your HD bites the dust. It is NOT a Off-line/Archive file solution. Is it the best Back-up solution on the market NO... It is FREE and it does its job when used properly...

 

[danny_w]

I am NOT saying Time Machine is the best backup tool on the market...

I see this questions like this over and over again in this forum and with people I help.

People deliberately detele files because Time Machine has "Backed them up". This is NOT what Time Machine is for, it IS for disaster recovery if you accidentally delete a file or your HD bites the dust. It is NOT a Off-line/Archive file solution. Is it the best Back-up solution on the market NO... It is FREE and it does its job when used properly...

OK, I see what you mean. No, it is not an archive utility in the classical sense. and you should not purposely delete files and rely on TM to get the files back. If the file has been backed up then you should be able to get it back, but there is no guarantee that it has been backed up or that it has not be deleted. I think SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner are far better utilities for disaster recovery though, with far more utility (but ar less flashy). A bootable clone lets you get back up and running far faster than a TM backup ever will. Even Apple backup is a much better offline backup utility IMHO. Of course there are many others. I use TM, but I do not rely on it, and I never would.

 

[eyebidder]

Getting back to the two options....if I copy the older files to the new HD I would probably have to change the folder names since they both say 'backups.backupdb'.

Would TM recognize that older file and be able to use it for recovery?

Any suggestions?

 

[jw2002]

I would probably have to change the folder names since they both say 'backups.backupdb'.

Would TM recognize that older file and be able to use it for recovery?

I would create a read-only disk image of the old backups.backupdb and call it something like OldBackups.dmg. This way it won't collide with your existing backups. If you ever need to access the old backups, then mount the dmg volume, go into Time Machine system preferences and turn off backups, and then click on Change Disk to point to the backups living in the dmg volume. Then you can use the Time Machine browser to navigate to whatever files you need to recover. When you're done with the old volume, go back into the Time Machine preferences, point to your active backup destination, and reactivate backups.