Start Time Machine via usb and then move to network?

[nathansz]

I'm redoing our household file server and back up system and want to do fresh backups of our Macs.

I would really like to do the first backups via usb before connecting them to the "server" (an old Mac mini) in order to speed things up.

I cannot seem to figure out a way to do this.

I've found some old work arounds but none of them seem to work anymore so wondering if anyone knows a way to do this currently.

Thanks.

 

[Le Big Mac]

I've found some old work arounds but none of them seem to work anymore so wondering if anyone knows a way to do this currently.

Are you referring to starting a sparsebundle on a network backup, then moving it to the Mac USB to finish? Didn't realize that doesn't work . . . may not be worth finding a workaround. Just wait the few days.

 

[kschendel]

I think he wants exactly the opposite: take a full backup on USB, then move it to a network drive. Unfortunately, if you can't make it work by giving the drive the same name on the network, and fiddling with the time machine preferences, I don't have an answer.

 

[nathansz]

Are you referring to starting a sparsebundle on a network backup, then moving it to the Mac USB to finish? Didn't realize that doesn't work . . . may not be worth finding a workaround. Just wait the few days.

that was one of the methods I tried yes

it does not work

patience may be the only answer

 

[nathansz]

I think he wants exactly the opposite: take a full backup on USB, then move it to a network drive. Unfortunately, if you can't make it work by giving the drive the same name on the network, and fiddling with the time machine preferences, I don't have an answer.

I would have gone either way, but couldn't find a way (that still currently works) to do either

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

While I haven't done this in a long time, you may still be able to start it on the network (the reverse of what you are thinking), then "stop backup" with the menu choice (might be "skip this backup" now), move the drive to the Mac, direct connect via USB, select it as Time Machine backup and it may then do the quicker "local" backup.

When it is done, eject it, put it back at the network connection, re-select it in Time Machine and it will then work. This used to work fine but I don't know if it still works. Easy enough to try.

 

[nathansz]

While I haven't done this in a long time, you may still be able to start it on the network (the reverse of what you are thinking), then "stop backup" with the menu choice (might be "skip this backup" now), move the drive to the Mac, direct connect via USB, select it as Time Machine backup and it may then do the quicker "local" backup.

When it is done, eject it, put it back at the network connection, re-select it in Time Machine and it will then work. This used to work fine but I don't know if it still works. Easy enough to try.

I did try this and it does not seem to work

if you select the disk form the Time Machine preference pane it wants to overwrite it,
the preference pane does not show the sparse image as an option,
adding the sparse image via tmutil in terminal says that the "destination could not be added"


it seems I'm just going to have to do it over the network

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Again, it's been a long time, but it seems like there was an extra step involved. I just can't remember it. Back when I did this the last time, it certainly was faster to start it on the network, then move it to local for that first, LENGTHY (time) backup... then back to being a network TM disc again. You might want to do some digging. Here's a start (though 12 years old information).

 

[nathansz]

Again, it's been a long time, but it seems like there was an extra step involved. I just can't remember it. Back when I did this the last time, it certainly was faster to start it on the network, then move it to local for that first, LENGTHY (time) backup... then back to being a network TM disc again. You might want to do some digging. Here's a start (though 12 years old information).

thanks


I have done quite a bit of digging, and while I haven't seen that owc page I have tried several variations of essentially that method. none of them seem to work any longer

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Sounds like it's going to be a "start TM" and go to bed and just let it do its thing until complete. It is a good background task. Maybe start it on a FRI evening and let it run up to all weekend+.

 

[Bigwaff]

In current macOS, Time Machine wants to own the volume. It will reformat as APFS and change permissions. If using TM over network, TM creates sparsebundles per Mac over SMB on top of the file server native file system. If you can attach drive to your Mac, format file system same as file server uses, and mount the local attached disk as SMB file share (requires local SMB server/client set up), you can sort of fake TM network backups. Then place drive in file server, create SMB share, and adopt existing backups.

Time Machine on a local drive, then make that drive a network drive (via Server.app) on a different computer

I have two macs running OS X 10.10.3. One has Server.app installed, is connected to the internet via ethernet, and also has a 2 TB disk attached via USB, with two partitions - "Backup" and "Storage...

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