time machine not backing up my two MacBooks

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I had my time machine set up to backup my pmacbook pro retina and a new macbook air.The set up was by done by a genius senior tech with 9 years experience. It backs up my retina but when i go to backup my air which has almost identical contents it wants to and does ech time create a new vback up. my i terabyte time machine quickly is full. What am i doing wrong?
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Are you attempting to backup both machines to the same external hard drive?
 

pigoo3

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The set up was by done by a genius senior tech with 9 years experience.

I had to chuckle at this!;) Not only was the person a "Genius"…they were a genius with "9 years of experience".

So obviously…there is a level above genius! Maybe "Super Genius"! Or maybe "Super Genius" requires at least 10 years of experience!;)lol

I wonder what title someone gets with 30 years of experience??;);)

- Nick
 
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2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
Also chuckling here and maybe the OP should forget using the "genius" help and just start over on their own, and maybe also make sure that both Macs aren't both named "Macintosh HD".
 
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yes. I was told that both macs could be backed up to the same time machine. But can anyone say yes or no with the reasons not just an exclamation mark please.
i did have this performed in the past on one macbook pro and the backup able to restore.Of course i have virtually the same information and applications on both machines in different location.
i supooose if one disk crashed and i could use the other mac to restore. Or could i . at 85 years of age this puzzles me.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
yes. I was told that both macs could be backed up to the same time machine. But can anyone say yes or no with the reasons not just an exclamation mark please.
i did have this performed in the past on one macbook pro and the backup able to restore.Of course i have virtually the same information and applications on both machines in different location.
i supooose if one disk crashed and i could use the other mac to restore. Or could i . at 85 years of age this puzzles me.

Yes you can, but I sure wouldn't advise it and neither would several others. But it also depends on your setup and what equipment you have for your use.

Do a Google search on 'use time machine to backup multiple macs' :
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=tNisU93dCKWV8QeStIHQCA

If you're just going to use a single backup drive for the two Macs, I'd suggest just partition the external into two partitions so that each Mac has it's own partition.

For some good info on TM, checkout this site that used to be updated with good info:
Apple  OSX  and  Time  Machine  Tips

PS: May I suggest you also use CCC and create a cloned bootable backup!!
 
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backing up 2 macs to one time machine

Thank you for the excellent information. I will do as advised.
 

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