Use an existing backup on a new Mac

Updated

CloudBak keeps its records of what it has backed up on your Mac, not in the backup folder. On a new Mac, or after setting CloudBak up from scratch, it starts without those records. It can still use the backup you already have.

  1. Set up CloudBak as usual. See Set up CloudBak.
  2. In the Destination step, choose the backup folder you used before: the folder that holds iCloud Drive and _Archive, not the iCloud Drive folder inside it.
  3. Finish setup and start a backup.

What the first backup does

  • It recognizes the files already in the backup folder, with the same size and date, instead of copying them again. Activity shows how many files are already there. Only new and changed files are copied.
  • At the end, Activity shows Checking the Backup Folder. CloudBak looks for copies of files you deleted from iCloud Drive in the meantime, and moves them to the archive, or deletes them if the archive is turned off.

If a very large number of those copies have no matching file in iCloud Drive, CloudBak leaves them in place and lists Many Files Missing in Issues instead. See What the issues in the Issues list mean.