How to copy time machine backups to another drive

Before we begin, make sure both your old drive (the one with your Time Machine backups) and your new drive are connected to your Mac.

Here are the general steps to do so:

• Format the new drive:
  • Open Disk Utility (found in Applications > Utilities).
  • In the sidebar, select the new drive you want to use for Time Machine. Please make sure you select the main drive itself, not any partitions under it.
  • Click the "Erase" button. Choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" format and the "GUID Partition Map" scheme. You may give your drive any name you wish.
  • Click "Erase" to begin the format process. All existing data on this new drive will be wiped out so please ensure you have any necessary files backed up elsewhere.
• Turn off Time Machine on your Mac:
  • Go to System Preferences.
  • Select Time Machine.
  • Toggle the switch to the OFF position.
• Copy the backup:
  • Open a new Finder window and navigate to your current Time Machine drive.
  • You will find a folder called "Backups.backupdb". This is the folder containing all your Time Machine backups.
  • Drag this folder to your new drive. Alternatively, you can use the "cp" command in Terminal to copy the folder, which could provide more stable results for large transfers.

sudo cp -a /Volumes/{Old-Time-Machine-Drive}/Backups.backupdb /Volumes/{New-Time-Machine-Drive}

Replace {Old-Time-Machine-Drive} and {New-Time-Machine-Drive} with the names of your drives. This may take a while, depending on the size of your backups.

• Re-enable Time Machine:
  • Go back to Time Machine preferences (System Preferences > Time Machine).
  • Click "Select Disk..."
  • Choose your new drive and click "Use Disk". Your future backups will now be stored on your new drive.

That's it! You should now have successfully copied your Time Machine backups to your new drive. The first backup after this might take a while, as Time Machine will need to do some housekeeping to get everything in order.

Remember that it is very important that you don't interrupt the copy process, as this could lead to corrupted backups. You might also want to consider keeping your old drive as a secondary backup until you're sure everything has been transferred correctly.

Please note: Any backups you already have on the new drive will be deleted when you follow these instructions.

Thanks!

No, it's not clear. OS X 10.9.5 is Mavericks and it's nearly nine years old.

Mavericks will be able to read disks formatted for recent macOS versions.

In general we may no longer copy TM backups from one disk directly to another.

More information is needed.

Copying a TM backup to a new drive is a thing of the past. Usually does not work. Just start a new TM backup and save the old one if needed as ku4hx has suggested.

I don't doubt it. The Safari version incorporated in Mavericks will be too old for most websites. Upgrade that Mac to whatever the latest macOS version for it might be: How to download and install macOS - Apple Support. Try Yosemite or anything later (and Yosemite will still be too old).

It would help if you were to identify your model iMac: Identify your iMac model - Apple Support

As for Time Machine backup disks, forget about "cloning" them unless they are formatted for a commensurately old macOS version and commensurately old Time Machine versions. If the Mavericks version of Disk Utility can recognize those disks, use its Restore function to do that: Restore a disk using Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support.

That Support document is written for Ventura but the instructions have not changed since Mavericks. We just can't do that with recent Time Machine backups though — "recent" meaning several macOS versions ago by now.

The format of those external drives and the Time Machine version you used is what is not clear.

First, upgrade that Mac to whatever the latest macOS version for it might be. Don't reinstall, you did that already.

We still don't know which iMac you have. There are lots of models.

Retain the old backups for future reference, and create a new TM backup on a new HDD. That way you have your old data and may find a way to access it, and also protect your current data immediately.

Excellent work Tom! Thanks for the update.