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I have a Time Machine backup located on the same Macbook that I want to restore the backup to. Is this possible?
I am unable to locate this backup with the Migration Assistant as the assistant wants to connect to an external server. Am I forced to copy the Time Machine backup I have to an external server in order to restore from it?
Thank you for the help!
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.14
Hi fleshins,
macOS changed how Time Machine restores work in macOS Big Sur. Because of how the Sealed System Volume (SSV) works, it isn't possible to restore it from Time Machine, and as a result, only the Data volume gets backed up.
This means that you can't use the "Restore from Time Machine" utility in macOS Recovery to restore from your backup. Instead, you'll need to use Migration Assistant - which you did. The only problem is that Migration Assistant doesn't erase anything; it only tries to import data.
To truly erase and restore from your backup, you'll need to complete these steps:
Hi fleshins,
macOS changed how Time Machine restores work in macOS Big Sur. Because of how the Sealed System Volume (SSV) works, it isn't possible to restore it from Time Machine, and as a result, only the Data volume gets backed up.
This means that you can't use the "Restore from Time Machine" utility in macOS Recovery to restore from your backup. Instead, you'll need to use Migration Assistant - which you did. The only problem is that Migration Assistant doesn't erase anything; it only tries to import data.
To truly erase and restore from your backup, you'll need to complete these steps:
A TimeMachine backup should be made on an external drive https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250
In case something goes wrong with your internal drive, you will be happy to have a backup on an external drive
Here is a link How to move TimeMachine backups from one external drive to another https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202380
As you are not supposed to make TM backups on your internal drive, you won’t find a manual how to do move a TM backup from an internal drive to an external drive
So here's a quick update: I was able to free up space on MacBook A and complete the restore!
Unfortunately, the restore didn't go exactly as I was expecting. I thought I would get a "copy" of MacBook B on MacBook A. This is how I've used Time Machine backups in the past but it seems that option wasn't available to me and I had to use Migration Assistant which just copied my user account from MacBook B to MacBook A. At first glance I thought this might be OK (I don't need an exactly copy of MacBook B) but when I logged into my freshly migrated user account I discovered lots of broken applications. I've reported that here since it's a separate issue from this one.
If you have any insights on what might be happening, thank you for chiming in!
Well that was actually rather straightforward. All you have to do is create a Time Share backup destination folder on MacBook B. The steps to do that are as follows:
I then connected MacBook A and MacBook B with a Thunderbolt Type-C cable.
Now MacBook B's Time Machine backup destination shows up in the list of available Time Machine backup disks when I fire up Migration Assistant on MacBook A.
Thank you! Here is the scenario:
I have MacBook A and MacBook B.
I create a Time Machine backup of MacBook A on MacBook B.
MacBook A does not have enough disk space to host its own Time Machine backup.
Now I want to restore the MacBook A TM backup on MacBook B.
Can’t figure out a way to do this. It seems I need another external drive, which seems kind of silly 🙃
fleshins wrote:
Thank you! Here is the scenario:
I have MacBook A and MacBook B.
I create a Time Machine backup of MacBook A on MacBook B.
Can you please describe the steps you used to perform this? How did you create a Time Machine backup of MacBook A onto MacBook B? Are you absolutely sure that you stored the backup on the internal drive and not on an external drive?
Thanks for that detailed info! I completely forgot about Time Machine sharing... lol.
If I remember correctly, the backups should be stored inside a sparsebundle disk image. Check the shared folder you specified and let me know if it has a disk image inside. If it does, we can transfer that to an external drive, or directly to MacBook A if enough space is available on it, and then restore its contents to MacBook B.
Yes - that's exactly right! Next challenge is freeing up disk space on MacBook A to make room for a ~300GB backup ;)
Perfect!
If you have an external drive available, you could also copy the disk image to there instead if it's too much of a hassle to clear out space on MacBook A :)
Dude! Thank you! Will do this over the weekend and report back ;)
Just closing the loop - this worked like a charm. All applications seem to be running as before on the new MacBook.
Encryptor5000 to the rescue!
Can I restore a Time Machine Backup to the same Macbook holding the backup?
