Hello! Veteran Mac tech here but wondering if maybe Im missing a simpler solution.
Problem:
I have a couple old Time Machine backups of old iterations of my Mac and each has a different Messages database (User/Library/Messages). Because a lot of my business happens over iMessage and I have a bunch of media that comes through my DBs inflate over the course of about a year. 60gb or so. These databases, in the past, could simply be replaced in Library and then Messages would display the contents. This seems to be less and less the case as the OS versions progress.
Ive taken to recently restoring the whole machine to a spare mac in order to get the information I need.
Id like to make these as easy to get to without having to restore a while time machine.
My solution is to restore them one at a time, remove all other data from the restored machine, and then clone it bootably to a "just right sized" partition and store it like that. This gives me a bootable OS, a working Messages DB which is none the wiser that Ive removed all other data from the user account.
Any better ideas?
Problem:
I have a couple old Time Machine backups of old iterations of my Mac and each has a different Messages database (User/Library/Messages). Because a lot of my business happens over iMessage and I have a bunch of media that comes through my DBs inflate over the course of about a year. 60gb or so. These databases, in the past, could simply be replaced in Library and then Messages would display the contents. This seems to be less and less the case as the OS versions progress.
Ive taken to recently restoring the whole machine to a spare mac in order to get the information I need.
Id like to make these as easy to get to without having to restore a while time machine.
My solution is to restore them one at a time, remove all other data from the restored machine, and then clone it bootably to a "just right sized" partition and store it like that. This gives me a bootable OS, a working Messages DB which is none the wiser that Ive removed all other data from the user account.
Any better ideas?