James,

I have an old Xserve running Snow Leopard Server 10.6.8. It's been successfully backed up for years with QRecall, and it's currently running QRecall version 1.2.3.8. I'm planning to replace the Xserve with a newer Mac mini, running the latest version of High Sierra. Somehow, I need to transfer the top-level /Groups and /Users folders from the Xserve to the mini, along with the OpenDirectory database (I have the Server app on the mini.) I do not need to transfer system files, applications, or anything else. The backup archive is on an external drive.

The OpenDirectory database is small, and I have an export of it that I'm hoping will load into the Server app on the mini. I can transfer the database on a USB stick. The tricky part, I think, will be moving the Groups and Users folders, which have about 750 GB of data. Ideally, all files and folders need to retain their group and user IDs and protections, so that I don't have to reset all that after I get them moved.

Can I do that with QRecall? If so, do you have any recommendations? For example, should I load the old version of QRecall on the mini (if that will even work) and use that to restore the files to the mini? Or can I put the latest QRecall on the mini and then use that to restore the old archive? Or is there a better way?

-- Bruce

In theory, the latest version of QRecall can read any archive, back to about 1.0.something. So you could load the latest version of QRecall on the mini and use that to restore, piecemeal, whatever you want.

However, I've noticed that the server software keeps changing stuff with every major release and I'd worry that simply dropping OS X Server 11.6 files into a 10.10+ system isn't going to work. So if I were doing this, I'd take this approach:

Use whatever set up you can (target disk mode, etc.) to restore the entire OSXS 10.6 system onto the mini's HD.

From 10.6 system, or using recovery mode, install 10.13 over it.

The installer should perform whatever upgrades are necessary to the data, users, directories, configuration files, etc. to bring your 10.6 system up-to-date.

I'm not going to transfer over ANY of the old operating system or server applications. In fact, I don't think that would work, even if I wanted to. The Mac mini is much newer than the Xserve, and while I might be able to use QRecall to copy Snow Leopard Server onto it, I doubt it would boot. The mini already has the latest High Sierra OS and the latest Server app, and I intend to stick with those.

What I do want to transfer is all the user (/Users) and group (/Groups) folders, along with the OpenDirectory database. (I'm somewhat concerned that the OpenDirectory database format may have changed enough I can't import the old database into OpenDirectory in the current Server app, but that's my problem.) If I can get all the User and Group folders transferred, that will accomplish most of what I need to do.

So you're saying that if I install the latest QRecall on the mini, and then connect the external drive that contains the backup created by QRecall 1.2.3.8, I should be able to restore those files and folders to the mini?

Also, will it make any difference if the server drives are APFS?

-- Bruce

Bruce Giles wrote:So you're saying that if I install the latest QRecall on the mini, and then connect the external drive that contains the backup created by QRecall 1.2.3.8, I should be able to restore those files and folders to the mini?

Yes

Also, will it make any difference if the server drives are APFS?

No. To QRecall, a volume, is a volume, is a volume.

But getting back to my previous suggestion, I'm sure the mini won't boot with a copy of Snow Leopard on it; that's why I suggested using Internet recovery mode to install High Sierra over the Snow Leopard boot volume. My concern is that there's a lot of stuff in /Library and /var/db that you might want and just migrating /Users and /Groups is not going to include.

Then again, this is a new system so just give it a try. If it doesn't work, you can always and wipe it and try plan B.

James Bucanek wrote:My concern is that there's a lot of stuff in /Library and /var/db that you might want and just migrating /Users and /Groups is not going to include.

Ah, now I understand. For this server, I don't think it's going to be a problem. A few years ago, we used it for a lot of things -- it was our network firewall, it was a license server, it was our DHCP server, and our DNS server, etc. But over time we moved all those functions over to other hardware. The only thing the Xserve does any more is act as a file server and run OpenDirectory. The users are all running Windows machines, and they don't even know it's an Apple server running Mac OS. They store only data files on it. We no longer run any third-party apps on it other than QRecall, or even any Apple apps other than OS utilities. So as long as we can get all the data transferred to the mini, I don't think there's anything else we'll need from the old server. But like you said, if that turns out to be wrong, there's always Plan B.

-- Bruce