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Time Capsule AND External Drive for two differe...

Good morning,

I'm not sure if this is feasible, but here goes.

I own a Time Capsule (ac) model, to which my rMBP currently backs up.

I own an iMac, with an attached external drive which acts as the Time Machine.  I would like to move said external drive to the Time Capsule, and direct the iMac to continue to back up to it (wirelessly of course).

I would like to know if this is as simple as connecting the external drive to the TC, and adjusting the time machine settings on the iMac.

For what it is worth, all devices are updated to the latest versions and firmwares.

Time Machine backs up to a drive that is connected directly to a Mac differently than it does to a network drive like a Time Capsule.

Specifically, Time Machine backs up the iMac to a normal folder on the external drive called Backups.backupdb while your MacBook Pro backs up to a special container on the Time Capsule called a sparsebundle file.

The two file formats are not interchangeable, so while you could copy the backups that are on the external drive over to the Time Capsule, Time Machine will not continue to back up to that file.....it will start all over again with a new complete backup of your MBP to a new special sparsebundle file and then continue future backups to that file.

My advice.....if you want Time Machine to back up to the Time Capsule.....is to go ahead and set up backups that way. Keep the external drive handy for 3-6 months or so, in case you need to go back and pick up a file from that older backup history.

Once you have a 3-6 month history of new iMac backups on the Time Capsule, you could go ahead and delete the old backup file on the external drive and use it as a spare.

Time Machine backs up to a drive that is connected directly to a Mac differently than it does to a network drive like a Time Capsule.

Specifically, Time Machine backs up the iMac to a normal folder on the external drive called Backups.backupdb while your MacBook Pro backs up to a special container on the Time Capsule called a sparsebundle file.

The two file formats are not interchangeable, so while you could copy the backups that are on the external drive over to the Time Capsule, Time Machine will not continue to back up to that file.....it will start all over again with a new complete backup of your MBP to a new special sparsebundle file and then continue future backups to that file.

My advice.....if you want Time Machine to back up to the Time Capsule.....is to go ahead and set up backups that way. Keep the external drive handy for 3-6 months or so, in case you need to go back and pick up a file from that older backup history.

Once you have a 3-6 month history of new iMac backups on the Time Capsule, you could go ahead and delete the old backup file on the external drive and use it as a spare.

In addition to Bob's comments, Apple does not recommend transferring a Time Machine backup between a local and a network drive, which effectively you would be doing with what you were trying to do.

However, it can be done, but again would be highly NOT recommended. If you are curious on how, the following Pondini article describes the process: 18. How can I copy my TM backups to a different location? - Pondini

Thank you Bob!  I really appreciate it!

Thanks Tess!  I think this might be a touch out of my league.

I appreciate the input!

最后更新：2017-10-05 00:07:45

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