Copying files from one external HHD to another

[OceanFrog]

... copy files from an external HDD ( journaled case-sensitive) to a different HDD (journaled)?

 

[angelwatt]

Why would you think you cannot? I see no reason why you can't as long as you have read access from the source and write access on the destination it doesn't matter where the drives are or their format.

 

[maflynn]

Of course, just like you can copy from HFS+ formatted drive to a FAT32 drive and even with NTFS (provided you have ntfs-3g installed).

 

[OceanFrog]

Why would you think you cannot?

Of course...

Interesting ... same as I thought. But its not working for me.

I have TimeMachine backups on an old HDD (formatted journaled case-sensitive). I tried to copy these to my newer HDD (formatted journaled) and they wont copy.

Just wondering if I'm doing something stupid or if its not possible to copy TM backups between different formatted drives in OSX.

 

[miles01110]

Interesting ... same as I thought. But its not working for me.

I have TimeMachine backups on an old HDD (formatted journaled case-sensitive). I tried to copy these to my newer HDD (formatted journaled) and they wont copy.

Just wondering if I'm doing something stupid or if its not possible to copy TM backups between different formatted drives in OSX.

It would have been helpful to provide the nature of your files in your original post. Time Machine requires a certain disk formatting, as you have discovered.

It would be easier to simply do a new TM backup on the new drive once it is formatted properly, btw.

 

[OceanFrog]

It would have been helpful to provide the nature of your files in your original post. Time Machine requires a certain disk formatting, as you have discovered.

It would be easier to simply do a new TM backup on the new drive once it is formatted properly, btw.

Thanks.

So is it possible to copy TM backups between differently formatted HDD's or not? I'd like to keep the original TM files if possible.

What is "properly formatted" btw?

 

[miles01110]

So is it possible to copy TM backups between differently formatted HDD's or not? I'd like to keep the original TM files if possible.

Apparently not, since you tried and it didn't work. Even if you could copy it, TM probably wouldn't be able to read them... so this seems to be one of those academic questions that might have a semi-interesting (but ultimately pointless) answer 🙂

What is "properly formatted" btw?

Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).

 

[OceanFrog]

Apparently not, since you tried and it didn't work. Even if you could copy it, TM probably wouldn't be able to read them... so this seems to be one of those academic questions that might have a semi-interesting (but ultimately pointless) answer 🙂

Thanks for the answer ... genuinely appreciated.

However, I don't think this is just an academic question ... this might be important for anyone trying to copy TM backups to a new HDD. And just because I couldn't do it does NOT mean its not possible! I'm a relative newbie to OSX 🙂 and thought the experts here might know better than me.

So, I'll give it one more shot ... is it possible to copy TM backups between differently formatted HDD's (i.e. journaled case-sensitive to journaled)? Has anyone done this successfully?

 

[angelwatt]

Interesting ... same as I thought. But its not working for me.

Can you better define "not working?" Are you getting error messages? What is the behavior of the OS when you try? The only issue I can see with the formats being case-insensitive on one side, is that if there are any files/folders in the same spot with a different case it would cause an issue, but other than that copying should be fine. The TM stuff is still just folders and files as far as the HD is concerned.