Time Machine

deserter85 · Jul 30, 2008

Hi guys, I have a question with regards to Time Machine. While it is a fantastic program, I have to wonder how "customizable" it is. For example, when I access Time Machine now, I see some files that I know that I will 100% definitely not be requiring it ever (e.g. extra copies of music files when I consolidated the iTunes Library). However, such files still remain in the hard drive that is designated as Time Machine. So I'm just wondering if there's any way that I can delete certain selected files from Time Machine if I start to run out of space on that hard disk?

shahvikram123 · Jul 30, 2008

I don't have time machine but as far as I'm aware you can't delete files from a Time Machine volume.

However from Time Machine's preferences pane in system preferences you can exclude folders you do not wish to backup…

deserter85 · Jul 30, 2008

If that's the case, does it mean that once I had used up the 500 gigs in my hard drive, I'll need to buy another hard drive to continue backing up?

Alexis · Jul 30, 2008

It will delete the day furthest back in time once the drive gets full.

I'm using a 140Gb drive which is now full which goes back to 10th January 2008. I use the machine 9-5 every day and am constantly saving large image files.

In the preferences you can select which folders you don't want to back up.

shahvikram123 · Jul 30, 2008

No, what Time Machine does when the drive is full up it automatically deletes the oldest backup.

Here is what apple say about it:

One day, no matter how large your backup drive is, it will run out of space. And Time Machine has an action plan. It alerts you that it will start deleting previous backups, oldest first. Before it deletes any backup, Time Machine copies files that might be needed to fully restore your disk for every remaining backup. (Moral of the story: The larger the drive, the farther back in time you can back up.)

MacInWin · Jul 30, 2008

So, if the first (oldest) backup is the most full, with incrementals from that time, then when the disk gets full it deletes the most full backup but keeps the incrementals? That would mean that if you deleted a file that had not changed from that first backup and wanted to retrieve it, you couldn't do that as it was gone. Is that how it works?

lifeafter2am · Jul 30, 2008

shahvikram123 said:
I don't have time machine but as far as I'm aware you can't delete files from a Time Machine volume.

However from Time Machine's preferences pane in system preferences you can exclude folders you do not wish to backup…

This is INCORRECT. You most certainly can enter your "time machine" and delete files off of it.

Thyamine · Jul 31, 2008

I wouldn't worry so much about the backups containing the old files. What I would do is make sure your system is in a clean state with all those extra files you don't need removed. Then let Time Machine do it's thing, and eventually when it needs more space those old backups will be purged to make room for new backups.

And to answer jakerich's question, I don't believe it simply deletes that first backup. Most backup systems will begin consolidating the incrementals with the main backup. So if in the first incremental, you deleted a file, it'll remove that file from that first main backup. Not to mention, I don't know how often is does a full backup, but most systems will do a full backup once a week or two weeks or month. I just got my TC, so I'm not entirely familiar with it's methods yet.

deserter85 · Jul 31, 2008

lifeafter2am said:
This is INCORRECT. You most certainly can enter your "time machine" and delete files off of it.

Hmm... I'd sure appreciate some direction as to how to do that. Cos I can't seem to figure that out.

lifeafter2am · Jul 31, 2008

1) Enter your Time Machine

2) Go to the Day / Week / Month Whatever

3) Select the File / Files you want to permanently delete

4) Click on the little Sprocket Icon on the top of the finder window. One of the options will say something to the effect of "Delete All Backup's of this file"

5) It will delete ANY backup of this file on your time machine volume, no matter what day / week / month backup you are on.

*This has to be done from inside the time machine interface.

MacInWin · Jul 31, 2008

Thyamine said:
I wouldn't worry so much about the backups containing the old files. What I would do is make sure your system is in a clean state with all those extra files you don't need removed. Then let Time Machine do it's thing, and eventually when it needs more space those old backups will be purged to make room for new backups.

And to answer jakerich's question, I don't believe it simply deletes that first backup. Most backup systems will begin consolidating the incrementals with the main backup. So if in the first incremental, you deleted a file, it'll remove that file from that first main backup. Not to mention, I don't know how often is does a full backup, but most systems will do a full backup once a week or two weeks or month. I just got my TC, so I'm not entirely familiar with it's methods yet.

But I've seen nothing other than the statement that it deletes the oldest files when it reaches disk limits. The fact that "most" systems are semi-intelligent enough to keep at least one copy of every file, nothing I have found says that TM actually does that.

Thyamine · Aug 1, 2008

Here are two links for you:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7193203&#7193203

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14

The ars article is probably a bit more reader friendly, but is longer. The apple thread is a little shorter, but could be more confusing.

lifeafter2am · Aug 1, 2008

jakerich said:
But I've seen nothing other than the statement that it deletes the oldest files when it reaches disk limits. The fact that "most" systems are semi-intelligent enough to keep at least one copy of every file, nothing I have found says that TM actually does that.

From the Link posted by Thyamine.

Basically, when the old backups are deleted by Time Machine, its not the full/initial backup that's deleted, but only the old versions of files that have been changed. All the original files that were not changed are still there, represented in every backup (new and old) by hard links.

That would answer your question of it keeping at least one copy of every file.

deserter85 · Aug 1, 2008

Thanks guys for the information and the help provided! Greatly appreciated!

cuhnool · Aug 1, 2008

deserter85 said:
Hmm... I'd sure appreciate some direction as to how to do that. Cos I can't seem to figure that out.

Go to the Time Machine volume (disk) from Finder and access it. From there, you can delete/add files to it. It acts like a regular HD, there's nothing special to it or anything, all that it acts as is a drive to backup files on. That should not mean you wouldn't be able to access it. I store my largest applications files on the volume that gets backed up, I have no problems.

Just go to Finder, then select the Time Machine volume (it will be easy to find, it should have a green colored disk icon) and add/remove files as you wish.

MacInWin · Aug 2, 2008

@lifeafter2am

Thanks! That's the first time I've seen a reference that states it that way. Be interesting to see what it really does when it hits the limit.

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