Transferring Time Machine data from internal HD to external SSD

[Alwyn]

macOS 13.6.7. Because backing up to Time Machine from the external SSD fails because it automatically tries to include both drives, although I have tried to specify that only the external SSD should be backed up, I do the following:

Once a week I clone my external SSD to my internal HD, then restart to open iMac from internal HD, eject the external SSD, connect Time Machine (1TB SSD) and back up to it. In System Settings/General/Time Machine the date of the backup will be up to date. Unless I clone from the HD back to the SSD before restarting to the external SSD the wrong date will show for the backup. If I haven't made any changes while operating from the internal HD cloning back to the SSD is otherwise unnecessary.

It's not a big deal but are there any shortcuts in this process? I can copy files from internal HD to external SSD but not System Settings.

 

[IWT]

Hi Alwyn

I may seem to be "the daft laddie" here, but I can't exactly grasp what your primary aim is?

For most people, Time Machine is used to Backup (BU) the Internal Drive of the computer to an external source , typically an External Hard Drive (EHD), whether HDD or SSD.

Do I understand that this is your primary intention? And if so, what is apparently going wrong.

I ask in my bewilderment because I can't follow the "cloning" back/forward to the Mac's Internal Drive.

Sorry, Alwyn, it's probably clear to you and others, but not me

Ian

 

[pm-r]

I ask in my bewilderment because I can't follow to the "cloning" back/forward to the Mac's Internal Drive.

Sorry, Always, it's probably clear to you and others, but not me

You can certainly add me to that list as well Ian.

I would really question what sort of a backup the OP has actually created and how accurate and reliable is it?



- Patrick
=======

 

[Rod]

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong please Alwyn but this is what I think is happening:
Alwyn is running an iMac off an external SSD which he wants to backup using TM.
He runs TM on the SSD to backup to the internal HD in the iMac.
Then he boots from the iMac, ejects the SSD and wants to backup the SSD (ONLY) to TM.

The problem here is getting TM on the iMac to just copy the SSD backup over not the iMac itself. Does that sound right?

I think the objective is to create a TM backup of the external SSD using the iMac as an intermediary.

If I've got all this right then all that should be necessary is to follow the instructions for backing up an external drive to TM. The below video might help a bit.

Google Search

So, with both the TM Backup external drive and your SSD connected to the iMac and running off your SSD you go to TM Settings and select a destination for the TM backup.
Use the Minus button to omit the internal HD in your iMac (I'm assuming you don't want that) then begin backup as per usual manner.
Obviously this will only work if the SSD is the startup disk for the iMac.
Does that help?

 

[MacBiter]

Because running from an external SSD is still quicker than running from the internal HD? (That's the only reason I can think of why anyone would do that - I actually replaced my internal HDD with a 1TB SSD, but obviously had to pay for the labour on top as jobs like that are beyond my pay grade..).

 

[MacInWin]

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong please Alwyn but this is what I think is happening:
Alwyn is running an iMac off an external SSD which he wants to backup using TM.
He runs TM on the SSD to backup to the internal HD in the iMac.
Then he boots from the iMac, ejects the SSD and wants to backup the SSD (ONLY) to TM.

The problem here is getting TM on the iMac to just copy the SSD backup over not the iMac itself. Does that sound right?

Well, if that is what is going on, it certainly was not clear in his post. But in any case, my understanding is that TM backs up the BOOT drive, internal or external, so if what he wants is a TM backup of the external made to the internal, TM will do that. And if TM is writing to the internal, as you suggest, then it definitely will never add the internal to the backup as that would be an endless loop of backing up the internal to the internal to the internal... I read it that Alwin is cloning from his external boot to the internal drive, then booting from the internal and running TM from there to back up to a SECOND external drive that he attaches to the iMac just for that purpose.

TM should allow him to exclude the internal drive by using TM settings. The "Options..." button opens up a menu that allows the addition of things to exclude. Assuming he is booted from external, he should be able to add the internal to that exclusion list. He didn't say how he tried to "exclude" the internal drive, but if the iMac is truly booted from the external, it should be able to set TM to ignore the external.

Now, if that is backwards and he is booting from the internal and wants to use TM for the external, that won't work as TM backs up by default the boot drive. It will add the external to that backup, if he wants to, but it backs up the boot drive as the default and that cannot be excluded from the backup in totality. BUt I don't think that is what he wants, anyway.

 

[Rod]

"Now, if that is backwards and he is booting from the internal and wants to use TM for the external, that won't work as TM backs up by default the boot drive. It will add the external to that backup, if he wants to, but it backs up the boot drive as the default and that cannot be excluded from the backup in totality. BUt I don't think that is what he wants, anyway."
I think that's the problem Jake.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, he hasn't been back to clarify, so no need for us to continue to speculate, I guess.

 

[Alwyn]

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong please Alwyn but this is what I think is happening:
Alwyn is running an iMac off an external SSD which he wants to backup using TM.
He runs TM on the SSD to backup to the internal HD in the iMac.
Then he boots from the iMac, ejects the SSD and wants to backup the SSD (ONLY) to TM.

The problem here is getting TM on the iMac to just copy the SSD backup over not the iMac itself. Does that sound right?

I think the objective is to create a TM backup of the external SSD using the iMac as an intermediary.

If I've got all this right then all that should be necessary is to follow the instructions for backing up an external drive to TM. The below video might help a bit.

Google Search

So, with both the TM Backup external drive and your SSD connected to the iMac and running off your SSD you go to TM Settings and select a destination for the TM backup.
Use the Minus button to omit the internal HD in your iMac (I'm assuming you don't want that) then begin backup as per usual manner.
Obviously this will only work if the SSD is the startup disk for the iMac.
Does that help?

Thanks Rod,
You seem to have grasped what I was trying to do and why. As discussed previously I decided to run my iMac from an external SSD because the internal HD was so slow. I tried to back up toTime Machine omitting the internal HD but couldn’t complete it. I assumed this was because I had failed to omit the internal HD. I have looked at the video. Is it possible that, because all my previous backups were made from the internal HD it can’t be omitted? (I back up my wife’s iMac to a separate partition on a 1tb SSD)

If so will I have to erase my partition on Time Machine and set it up to back up only from the external SSD omitting the internal HD In future?

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks Rod,
You seem to have grasped what I was trying to do and why. As discussed previously I decided to run my iMac from an external SSD because the internal HD was so slow. I tried to back up toTime Machine omitting the internal HD but couldn’t complete it. I assumed this was because I had failed to omit the internal HD. I. will look at the video and thanks. Colin.

Alwyn, just to be perfectly clear, you seem to be agreeing wiht Rod when he says:

He runs TM on the SSD to backup to the internal HD in the iMac.

Is that accurate? You had said this:

Once a week I clone my external SSD to my internal HD, then restart to open iMac from internal HD, eject the external SSD, connect Time Machine (1TB SSD) and back up to it.

Which seems to say that the TM backup drive is a separate external drive. So, is an external or are
you are trying to backup FROM the external TO the internal? That latter approach is unusual, but it should be able to make work. But, if you try that and do not exclude the internal from the backup, then what can happen is an endless loop where TM backs up to the internal, which changes the internal to force another backup, which changes the internal to force another backup, which changes........eternally, or at least until the internal drive is choked and TM fails.

What is the "wrong date" issue? TM names the backups for the date/time the backup was made. Unless the two boot drives (internal and external) have different time zone settings which changes the time of the machine, the date should be accurate.

 

[ferrarr]

Did you add the internal drive to the "do not backup" list in Time Machine Settings?

 

[Alwyn]

"Now, if that is backwards and he is booting from the internal and wants to use TM for the external, that won't work as TM backs up by default the boot drive. It will add the external to that backup, if he wants to, but it backs up the boot drive as the default and that cannot be excluded from the backup in totality. BUt I don't think that is what he wants, anyway."
I think that's the problem Jake.

I did want to exclude the internal drive because there’s not enough room to back up both. So I will continue to go through the process as before. This means that, if I want the date of the latest backup to show when I restart the external SSD, I have to clone from internal HD to it first even if nothing else has changed.

I hope this clarifies why but, if not, I’m sure somebody will let me know! The necessity would have been avoided if I had paid to have the HDD Replaced with an SSD but, quite apart from the cost, I wasn’t prepared to part with my iMac for a week. Colin.