Time Machine restore question

[mjohansen]

Hi

I have a few questions I hope someone can help me with.

If I have 2 MacBook's (MacBook A and MacBook B, both backed up with Time Machine) and I want to do a clean install of OS X on MacBook B and restore MacBook B with the MacBook A backup, does that mean:

i) that the MacBook A and MacBook B are now identical. Is this no issue for Time Machine, as it can distinguish between the 2 devices and therefore makes 2 backups going forward?

ii) that the backup of MacBook B before the restoration will not get deleted, as Time Machine does not interpret the restoration as a deletion of files, but rather that the MacBook has not been turned on since the restoration?

iii) that going forward there will be 3 Time Machine backups (one of MacBook A, one of MacBook B prior to the restoration and one of the MacBook B after the restoration), and therefore I can always do a restoration of the original MacBook B backup if I wish?

Also, when I use Setup Assistant after doing a clean install and restore MacBook B with the MacBook A backup, how much can I customize? Can I choose not to restore documents and images etc?

 

[JohnDS]

I think this is the answer.

After you restore MacBook B with MacBook A's backup, the two should be identical.

When the MacBook reboots after the restore, it will ask you if you want to associate that MacBook with a Time Machine Backup. At that point, since you still want MacBook A to backup to its original backup, you don't want to associate with the MacBook A backup. Therefore you have two choices. Either tell it to associate with the old backup for MacBook B, which should work if the two MacBooks were not too different, or tell it not to associate with an old backup at all.

If you associate with the old MacBook B backup, then you will still be able to retrieve old files which have been subsequently changed. If that is not important to you, it probably makes more sense to delete the old MacBook B backup and just start a fresh one. It probably would help if you changed the name of the MacBook in the Sharing prefs panel so that you do not confuse the two Macs.

 

[mjohansen]

I think this is the answer.

After you restore MacBook B with MacBook A's backup, the two should be identical.

When the MacBook reboots after the restore, it will ask you if you want to associate that MacBook with a Time Machine Backup. At that point, since you still want MacBook A to backup to its original backup, you don't want to associate with the MacBook A backup. Therefore you have two choices. Either tell it to associate with the old backup for MacBook B, which should work if the two MacBooks were not too different, or tell it not to associate with an old backup at all.

If you associate with the old MacBook B backup, then you will still be able to retrieve old files which have been subsequently changed. If that is not important to you, it probably makes more sense to delete the old MacBook B backup and just start a fresh one. It probably would help if you changed the name of the MacBook in the Sharing prefs panel so that you do not confuse the two Macs.

Thanks for the answer. Is there anything that prevents me from just keeping the old MacBook B backup and just start a new fresh (third) backup? Wouldn't that allow me to keep the old backup (just in case I need it later on) if I have storage enough? Or would that backup automatically be deleted when the drive fills up (provided that Time Machine thinks that the files has been deleted)?

 

[JohnDS]

There should be no problem keeping the old MacBook B backup.

 

[mjohansen]

There should be no problem keeping the old MacBook B backup.

Cool, thanks man.

Do you know how the Setup Assistant works? Is it possible to deselect certain items from getting restored (documents, pictures etc.) or will I always get a 1:1 restore when I use Time Machine?

 

[JohnDS]

You can delete categories of things. See: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204350

 

[Fenway]

Please let me know how this works out... Because, some day........

 

[mjohansen]

Please let me know how this works out... Because, some day........

I will. But will probably first do it after Sierra has launched.