Thanks Slydude. The only instance I can think of where I might need to go back(which I never have) would be with my SketchUp files that have had multiple modifications. Otherwise, most all my important files are kept either in Box or Dropbox.
This seems to be one of those instances that would support the use of Carbon Copy, Super Duper, Flashback, etc and just reboot from a clean and "complete" copy of my hard drive. Opinions vary on this of course as we all know.
[possible new thread]
With both my machines a few years old and already maxed out with memory upgrades, I would like to reformat and reinstall a "clean" copy of my hard drive in hopes to optimize performance a bit. It seems like TM impedes this process by keeping such a large file or am I missing something? This applies to my scenario of course, which is that I don't believe I will need to get an old version of a file(famous last words).
Since I'm 1). about to upgrade from SL to Mavericks, 2). I'm in need of upgrading my TM backup drive, and 3). I'm considering reformatting and reinstalling a copy of my existing hard drive to optimize my machines performance(and I don't feel I need an older version of my hard drive), is copying over my entire TM backup really the best option or should I purchase cloning software and create bootable copy, reformat, make TM backup to new external HDD, then install Mavericks? I realize we've just entered into new thread territory here, so my apologies. Thank you for all your insight! Wish I had joined Mac Forums long ago.