Time Machine question

[swindmiller]

My wifes macbook was running really bad so I decided to wipe it completly and install Mavericks fresh. I made a time machine backup of it before I wiped it just incase I needed anything but did not want to restore everything from it incase something in there was causing the slowup. I now have it working fine and want to back it up at its current state but still keep the original backup just incase I missed something.
If I use the same external drive will it see it as a new laptop and make a new folder?
This is what I would like, to have 2 different copies then eventually I will delete the original.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Weaselboy]

This seems hit and miss for people I think deepening on how the reinstall was setup. The Time Machine backup name come from the machine name in the Sharing pane in System Prefs. If the new instal has a different machine name that the old install, it should start a new backup.

If it were me and to make sure nothing goes wrong, I would just use Disk Utility to shrink the external partition that contains the old backup then add a new partition at the end with a different name. Then select that partition as the target for the new TM backup.

This way you can be sure there are no screw ups and you lose you old backup.

When you are sure things are okay you can delete the second partition and expand the first one back out to fill the disk then start a new backup. Or you could drag the new backup from partition two to partition one then change Time Machine to point back to partition one and continue your backup.

 

[swindmiller]

Perfect...that's exactly what I will do!
Thanks,
Scott

 

[sixrom]

This seems hit and miss for people I think deepening on how the reinstall was setup. The Time Machine backup name come from the machine name in the Sharing pane in System Prefs. If the new instal has a different machine name that the old install, it should start a new backup.

If it were me and to make sure nothing goes wrong, I would just use Disk Utility to shrink the external partition that contains the old backup then add a new partition at the end with a different name. Then select that partition as the target for the new TM backup.

This way you can be sure there are no screw ups and you lose you old backup.

When you are sure things are okay you can delete the second partition and expand the first one back out to fill the disk then start a new backup. Or you could drag the new backup from partition two to partition one then change Time Machine to point back to partition one and continue your backup.

I've used this method you suggest and it's a very good solution.

I have the same issue where my wife is a bit careless with her MBPr usage so I'm the one that gets the task of sorting out the mess

 

[swindmiller]

Lol...and thanks

I've used this method you suggest and it's a very good solution.

I have the same issue where my wife is a bit careless with her MBPr usage so I'm the one that gets the task of sorting out the mess