Apple

I’ve done the googling and I can’t find anything that helps me with this issue. I have a 2017 MacBook Pro. It’s updated to Ventura. I want to take the HD out and install an SDD. I have the HD stuff backed up on Time Machine. Problem is, when I install the SDD and plug in the external hard drive with the backup, nothing really works. The menu you get when holding down CTRL+R upon start up gives me a few options but none of them work. First you’ve got Time Machine, which will only show me a folder of backup’s from back in 2016 (not even backup data from this MacBook.) If I plug my external into a different computer you can see clear as day all the back up’s leading up to today. So why can’t I see those when trying to restore with the SDD? When I try to restore via the 2016 back up’s, I just get a spinning wheel of death.

Second, trying to re-install my Mac without a backup leads to an error message because by default it’s trying to re-download High Sierra, which I’m guessing cannot be found because it’s no longer supported by Apple or the Apple Store. The other option, Get Help Online, just tells me to do the things I’m doing that aren’t really working. Google isn’t helping me because all the answers just say “Yeah, back up your latest back up, easy as that.” What am I missing here? Is this upgrade not possible?