Time Machine from remote to local

[Wando64]

I have been using Time Machine to backup to a drive connected to a server and, if you are familiar with it you would know that it creates a sparsebundle on the drive which is not how it handles a Time Machine on a locally attached drive.
I am now considering retiring the server and connect the TM drive directly to the M1 Ventura mini that it needs to back up.
As far as I can tell there is no way to get TM to recognise the existing sparsebundle backup when it is connected locally.
Is there any way to convert this TM (on the sparsebundle) to a normal TM backup so that it can be used locally without me having to start again from an empty drive?
Thanks

 

[sunapple]

Have you tried mounting the .sparsebundle and just copying the folders onto your drive? As suggested over here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can-i-convert-a-sparsebundle-to-a-folder.2093428/

 

[Brian33]

Is there any way to convert this TM (on the sparsebundle) to a normal TM backup so that it can be used locally without me having to start again from an empty drive?

I don't know of any way to do that and haven't seen anyone report doing it.

I was about to opine that it's probably impossible, because the TM backup includes APFS snapshots and Apple hasn't supplied any tools that can copy snapshots to another volume, when I remembered the 'asr' command. Perhaps it is possible using 'asr', but I'm just guessing. I've never used it. I think it'd be tricky and take some experimenting!

From https://ss64.com/osx/asr.html:

Apple Software Restore; copy volumes (e.g. from disk images.)

asr efficiently copies disk images onto volumes, either directly or via a multicast network stream.
asr can also accurately clone volumes without the use of an intermediate disk image.

In its first form, asr copies source (usually a disk image, potentially on an HTTP server) to target.....

 

[Wando64]

Have you tried mounting the .sparsebundle and just copying the folders onto your drive? As suggested over here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can-i-convert-a-sparsebundle-to-a-folder.2093428/

I considered trying this, but hesitated on the basis that ordinarily it is not advisable (or even possible) to make a copy of a TM drive.
I would need to purchase a new 3TB disk to try this and it would be good to know if someone has actually succeeded first.

 

[Wando64]

I don't know of any way to do that and haven't seen anyone report doing it.

I was about to opine that it's probably impossible, because the TM backup includes APFS snapshots and Apple hasn't supplied any tools that can copy snapshots to another volume, when I remembered the 'asr' command. Perhaps it is possible using 'asr', but I'm just guessing. I've never used it. I think it'd be tricky and take some experimenting!

From https://ss64.com/osx/asr.html:

From everything I read in the last few days I am starting to come to this conclusion too.
It seems poor of Apple not to consider that someone might want to do this and offer an easy conversion tool.

I will look at the asr commAnd, but at first sight it doesn’t seem to be designed with APFS in mind.

I might have to archive the disk and start a new TM on a new drive.

 

[Wando64]

Have you tried mounting the .sparsebundle and just copying the folders onto your drive? As suggested over here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can-i-convert-a-sparsebundle-to-a-folder.2093428/

This website seems to suggest that this is possible, but it was before APFS.

Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions 18. How can I copy my TM backups to a different location?

 

[gilby101]

I might have to archive the disk and start a new TM on a new drive.

I am sure that is the correct answer!