Restore Time Capsule archive

[RaceTripper]

I just returned a 1 TB Time Capsule I bought a few weeks ago. Before I did that I archived it. It only had Time Machine backups for two laptops.

I am getting a 2 TB Time Capsule in the next couple days. Can I copy those archived Time Machine backups to the new Time Capsule and pick up where I left off with Time Machine backups?

 

[geoffreak]

Time Machine backups are just folders and files. The computer doing the backups is what determines which backup it will backup to, so simply copying back over the archives and setting the new TC as the backup drive *should* restore functionality, but no guarantees.

 

[RaceTripper]

Time Machine backups are just folders and files. The computer doing the backups is what determines which backup it will backup to, so simply copying back over the archives and setting the new TC as the backup drive *should* restore functionality, but no guarantees.

Actually, they are sparsebundle images. Yes, thanks, I know I can copy the files back and try it. I even said that in my OP.

I'm asking if anyone knows for sure whether that'll work. It took 9 hours to do the archive. I don't want to bother with the time copying it back if it isn't going to work as I hope.

 

[skorpien]

I just returned a 1 TB Time Capsule I bought a few weeks ago. Before I did that I archived it. It only had Time Machine backups for two laptops.

I am getting a 2 TB Time Capsule in the next couple days. Can I copy those archived Time Machine backups to the new Time Capsule and pick up where I left off with Time Machine backups?

When you created the archive, did it just copy the sparsebundle files onto your external? If so, and if it is in fact just a duplicate of the files on your old TC's internal disk, copying them over to your new TC's internal disk and selecting it as the target drive for Time Machine will work just fine. Your computers will back up to the new one and continue where they left off, and you'll be able to navigate through your old backups.

Edit: Just saw your second post, disregard the first part of mine. It will work if you just copy them over. Connect your external to your computer, then connect your computer via ethernet. I don't know if you can restore using your TC's USB port, and copying them wirelessly will take more time than ethernet.

 

[RaceTripper]

When you created the archive, did it just copy the sparsebundle files onto your external? If so, and if it is in fact just a duplicate of the files on your old TC's internal disk, copying them over to your new TC's internal disk and selecting it as the target drive for Time Machine will work just fine. Your computers will back up to the new one and continue where they left off, and you'll be able to navigate through your old backups.

Edit: Just saw your second post, disregard the first part of mine. It will work if you just copy them over. Connect your external to your computer, then connect your computer via ethernet. I don't know if you can restore using your TC's USB port, and copying them wirelessly will take more time than ethernet.

Thanks. Good point about copying over ethernet. That will probably go quicker. The two sparsebundles are 336GB total. It also archived a few invisible files that match up with the sparsebundles, i.e.

-r-------- 1 me staff 16 Jun 3 2008 .0017f2dfd4bd
-r-------- 1 me staff 16 May 24 15:15 .001b633a648e
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 me staff 0 Jul 2 19:45 .com.apple.timemachine.supported*
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 me staff 204 Jul 30 08:56 honeybee_0017f2dfd4bd.sparsebundle/
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 me staff 204 Jul 30 16:59 thor_001b633a648e.sparsebundle/

I'll probably just copy those over as well. I may just use "scp -r " to do the copy.

 

[RaceTripper]

Thanks. Good point about copying over ethernet. That will probably go quicker. The two sparsebundles are 336GB total. It also archived a few invisible files that match up with the sparsebundles, i.e.

-r-------- 1 me staff 16 Jun 3 2008 .0017f2dfd4bd
-r-------- 1 me staff 16 May 24 15:15 .001b633a648e
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 me staff 0 Jul 2 19:45 .com.apple.timemachine.supported*
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 me staff 204 Jul 30 08:56 honeybee_0017f2dfd4bd.sparsebundle/
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 me staff 204 Jul 30 16:59 thor_001b633a648e.sparsebundle/

I'll probably just copy those over as well. I may just use "scp -r " to do the copy.

I got the smaller (30 GB) backup copied over and backups for that device have resumed where they left off.

I'll copy over the 300 GB sparsebundle tonight while I sleep and get that backup going again tomorrow.

2 TB of space. Sweet!

Update: 300GB archive back in action now too. Everything works like before.