Thanks for your thoughts Peter (C) Current idea is now to remove the data drive via Time Machine preferences and run a few days of plain MBA SSD backups. The HOPE is that Migration Assistant would allow a TM backup from a specified date and therefore copy just the latest 150GB or whatever. May even try adding a third TM backup drive to create a “pure” SSD source for initial migration with a short date range, while the other TM drives are temporarily removed. Then, as Peter (H) said, try it!
Cheers Alan > On 8 May 2019, at 9:34 am, petercr...@westnet.com.au wrote: > > Hi Peter and Alan. This is a conundrum I have yet to encounter but I had > wondered how I would do it if I ever had to. I have a similar environment > where I have an MBP (256GB SSD) and a 2TB external drive holding Photos > library, iTunes library and an assortment of other foldered items. My > external drive is INCLUDED in the back up to Time Capsule. I also > periodically do a CCC backup of both the MBP and External drive too for some > added protection. > > What I have observed, during a trial I did a few months back, is when using > the recovery process from the TM backup, if I was to try and recover a file > that was resident on the external drive, then I must have the external drive > attached to the MBP for it to be reinstated back to. Conversely, if I were to > not have the external drive attached to my MBP, when I try to do a recovery > of a file that was on the external drive, then the ability to see the image > of the backed up external drive to select a file to recover is not made > available. It follows therefore (I think) that if I was to try and recover > the entire external drive using TM, then I would need to have that drive > attached in the destination of where I was trying to recover it to. > > A suggestion to think about before implementing anything. If you were to use > Migration Assistant to restore the backup of the on-board SSD content ONLY > from the TM backup to the Mac Mini (with the external drive NOT attached to > the Mac Mini), then it would follow that only the on-board SSD backed up > content from the MBA would be recovered onto the Mac Mini 256GB SSD. If you > then were to attach the external drive to the Mac Mini, then you are back in > the same place you were previously - the Mac Mini is a clone of the Macbook > Air and the external drive is now moved over to the Mac Mini. Another of my > observations is that the first time that Time Machine does a backup of this > new configuration, it will create a new backup of the ENTIRE SSD + the ENTIRE > external drive, even though the content is the very same content. This has > the undesirable effect of bloating the backup file and you may run out of > space on it. Maybe there is a clever way to make it recognise it's backing up > stuff it has already backed up, so only does an incremental backup, ie only a > back up of what has changed. > > I think TM is pretty clever but without knowing exactly how it will behave in > these circumstances, it's difficult to know what you'll end up with. But as > Peter indicates, the worst that can happen is you have to clear it off the > Mac Mini and start again. > > Another thing with TM is to be extremely patient. Extremely patient. > Extremely patient. > > Regards > > Pete. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > wamug@wamug.org.au > > To: > <wamug@wamug.org.au> > Cc: > > Sent: > Wed, 8 May 2019 08:03:17 +0800 > Subject: > Re: System migration to new computer > > > > > > On 8 May 2019, at 6:34 am, Alan Smith <sma...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > > > > What is the best way to migrate complete data and settings from an > > unreliable 2012 MacBook Air to a still-in-the-box 2018 Mac mini? Both macs > > have internal 256 GB SSD. There are Time Machine and Super Duper backups. I > > will be the technical assistant for my brother in law who owns the macs. > > > > I proposed to use Migration Assistant from Time Machine but this has a > > complication. The MBA has a 1TB external data drive using symbolic links. > > Time Machine includes the data drive in its backups to two disks, internal > > and external on Time Capsule. > > > > Can Migration Assistant use Time Machine in this case? If expedient the > > external TM backup disk can be removed and a new backup made of just the > > MBA SSD on the TC internal disk. > > > > The MBA has bad days when it fails then restarts several times. This has > > been happening for some months. A direct migration from MBA to Mini would > > not seem to be feasible. > > > > Your help would be appreciated. > > > > Regards > > Alan > > > > > > > > Logic tells me that all the files archived by Time Machine end up in the same > Time Machine folder on the TM drive, regardless of origin, but I agree the > restoration process through Migration assistant could well be unpredictable. > > My first insticnt would be just to try it. The worst that could happen is > that the files base on the MBA’s internal drive will be restored to their > correct locations, but those originating from the external drive might be > ignored (worst case scenario). It’s also possible that MA, not finding a > matching location on the new 2018 Mac, might just create one and proceed > regardless (best case scnario). > > I think that if you wind up with the worst case scenario, you’d just have to > spend some time manually dragging over the folders and/or files which were > ignored. In the best case scenario, there’d be nothing else to do. > > Dunno. I haven’t been faced with this situation before so I can’t report from > experience unfortunately. Hopefully, there might be others on the list who > are more enlightened. > > Kind regards, > > Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services > FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer > Perth, Western Australia > Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 046 948 > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
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