Can you clear the old time machine backups and start fresh?

Is there a way to delete all of the backup sets at once, and start fresh with a new set of backups?

Do you really need Time Machine? It installed itself using my 300GB ext. drive. I never used it but watched it working-hard ever hour. And slowly it started filling-up my ext. drive until it warned me to remove some back-ups.
So I backed-up (manually) all the files I needed on the Ext. drive, cleaned the ext. drive completely with Disk Utility, disabled Time machine and haven't re-started it.
Now I see how great Leopard really is. Stable and fast. And now I back-up manually what I need when I need it.

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With a new Mac, can you join your previous Time Machine backups?

I'm sure this has been answered elsewhere, but my searches couldn't find a specific answer.
So here' the deal. I got a new rMBP to which I transferred data (via a Time Machine backup) from my old Macbook Air.
Am I correct that on the new computer there is no way to "rejoin" the previous backups and that a new Time Machine backup "thread" must be started?
Assuming that's the case, I'm guessing you also should delete the old TM backup files since they'll be useless).
Thanks.

*No, what I want is the ability to continue backing up to my existing Time Machine drive when I upgrade to a new computer.*
I think your scenario is possible with one single possible problem - the first time you plug the TM hard drive to the new computer it will want to copy the entire hard drive. If your TM can't hold the old computer's backup files and the entire contents of the new computer you have a small problem. But it it can then you wind up with two backups, one from each computer. However, when you need to restore from your TM files, my understanding is, you can pick from any computer's backup files. In other words, you don't lose anything. It just isn't as smooth as what you want. After a couple weeks have gone by and you are sure your computer is working fine and is stable, you can erase the folder containing the old computer's TM files because you've already developed a couple weeks of your new system.
If your TM drive isn't big enough to back up the new computer, I'm not sure what your options are other than to buy a new bigger hard drive, clone the TM files onto it and then do as I suggested above.
Remember, TM is a version 1 product and we've plenty of proof that Apple is listening to us. Use feedback to describe your scenario and how you want it to work. Version 2 may well incorporate some of your desires.

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup and external storage as well?

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?

If you are using "Restore from Time Machine Backup" option from OS X Recovery, you can only choose from the broad categories presented.
... Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?
To be clear, if you are asking if you can use the volume containing your Time Machine backup to store additional, non-Time Machine files, the short answer is yes.
It's not a good idea though, since the Time Machine backup will eventually fill all available space, after which it begins to remove old, "expired" backups to make room for newer ones. The presence of additional files doesn't change that fact, and Time Machine will not erase them, but you will encounter a dilemma should you want to store additional files on that volume when there is no remaining space. You will have to make room for them on your own, by deleting existing files. Furthermore, since Time Machine cannot back up its own volume, those additional files will not be backed up by Time Machine.
The easy solution for what you describe is to purchase additional external storage. External USB hard disk drives have become very inexpensive; about $55 will buy a perfectly suitable 1 TB drive.
You can also choose to replace your MacBook Air's internal storage with a larger capacity one. Look for a suitable replacement from OWC / MacSales:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina
That gets a little more expensive but it is the optimum solution.

I can't erase my old Time Machine Backup hard drive.

Hi,
I have a hard drive that I was using for my Time Machine backup. It now doesn't show up in Finder, but when I go to disk utilities it shows up but I can't erase it so I can use it again.
It is a WD hard drive and isn't too old.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Try repairing disk & repairing permissions on the drive in disk utility.
Have you tried partitioning it again?
Otherwise it sounds like it's dead.

Can you import photos from time machine backup after clean install

I had to do a clean install of Mt. Lion. So now I have all my photos on the time machine backup. Is there a way to get those photos in to my library?

When I go back to the backup it does not let me go back to the previous backupprobably because the last backup was Lion and I am on Mt. Lion now. don't what to do another backup if that is going to mess up the old one. I can access it though by just going to it. So i am putting that one on my desktop and I am going to rename it and see if I can open in Iphoto.

Can Synology NAS serve both time machine backup and video/audio servers?

I'm looking for a NAS box such as Synology 2 bay solution. I've seen the box can be used as Samba server to store network folders and files; and also there is discussions on Mac Time Machine backup using the Synology boxes; I'm wonder if the RAID disks can be partitioned to do both, some space for the backup from time machine and others with regular NAS services as network disk space, and if you can share your experience if you have done that.

Your answer is found on the Synology website with this link:
http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/tutorials/481

HT201250 erase time machine backup and start with a new Mac from scratch

see title

Is this a case where you are getting a new Mac and will then transfer data from your old Mac's Time Machine backup with Setup Assistant (which is the ideal way)?
See here.

Help: Can no longer see old time machine backups

Hello everyone and thank you for your help.
I have two computers, a Power Mac G5 tower and a Mac Book Pro both backing up using time machine to a USB drive connected to my Time Capsule. Previously my backup drive was connected via usb to my airport extreme, however when I moved the drive my Power Mac G5 stopped being able to see its old backups. However my Mac Book Pro can still see its backups. Both have always connected via WIFI for backups.
Also my G5 tower takes a very long time to "prepare" its backups (usually much longer than 30 minutes) while my mac book pro does not, any insight into why this might be?

Dude, was having the same problem; just saw this solution in the FAQ listed below you. It worked for me, just hold down the Option key while you click on the TM button and select "Other backups".
I had the same setup as you, an external drive that's been used as both an Airport disk and a locally mounted drive. TM gets confused when you switch it up like that.
17. What if I can't see my backups, or the Backups for a different Mac, via Enter Time Machine ?
TM keeps the backups for each Mac separate, and normally only shows the ones for the Mac it's running on, even if there are other Macs' backups on the same disk/partition.
Also, sometimes TM will start a new "sequence" of backups, as if they were from a different Mac.
To see these "other" backups, you need the (badly named) Browse Other Time Machine Disks option. It's available by holding down the Option key while selecting the TM icon in your Menubar, or by control-clicking (right-clicking) the TM icon in your Dock.
You'll see a selection screen showing all the disks/partitions that have TM backups on them. Select the one you want, and you'll be taken to the normal TM "Star Wars" interface, where you should see all the backups on that disk/partition.
This is the 3rd version of this tip. It was submitted on July 05, 2009 by Pondini.

Can i just delete OLD time machine backups?

I went to the BAckup directory because I keep getting this annoying window that time machine has run out of space.....It is 1 TB and my HD is 500gb and i am using about 400gb....roughly.
i think I see 2 backup ups from June 9th.
How can I change the setting on length of time TM keeps backups?

vdotmatrix wrote:
How can I change the setting on length of time TM keeps backups?
There is no such option. Time Machine keeps backups for as long as there's room on the backup disk, then deletes the oldest one(s) to make room for new ones.
It is 1 TB and my HD is 500gb and i am using about 400gb....roughly.
Which message are you getting? There's one that's just letting you know it deleted some old backups:
That's not really a problem -- it just means Time Machine is doing it's job of cleaning up old backups for you, so there's room for new ones. If you don't want to see it anymore, just click the box on the message.
But if the backups are actually failing, with a message like this;
Then something doesn't add up -- if you're backing-up 400 GB to a 1 TB drive, there should always be enough room, unless you have (lots of) other stuff on the same drive.
See #C4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details on those messages.
If those June backups are really the only ones left, it sounds like your backups have been failing for a long time (or you haven't done any). If so, your best bet is probably to erase the backups and let Time Machine start fresh. Then keep an eye on it -- if backups fail, or don't complete, investigate sooner rather than later. If you get an error message, see Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If you're backing-up to an external HD, just erase it with Disk Utility (see #2 in Using Disk Utility if you don't know how to do that).
If you're backing-up to a Time Capsule, erase it via Airport Utility (per the green box in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule.
If you do have other data on the drive, roughly how much is there, and what sort of data is it?

Can I manually delete old Time Machine backups?

I've got a 1TB ext. HD that has 950GB of TM backups on it from my Mac Pro. The Pro has to go in for repairs so I'm using my Macbook Pro. Can I (& HOW) remove some of the older backups from the drive to make room for things off the Macbook Pro?

Of course. To do it, open Finder and choose the Time Machine drive in the Finder sidebar, under "Devices". Then, open the "Backups.backupdb" folder, open the folder with your MacBook Pro's name and delete the old backups. You can delete as many as you need.
Then, you have to create a volume in the external drive, as you can't use the Time Machine volume to store other data or you might damage the Time Machine structure. See > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html

Can you resume using a Time Machine backup?

Hi everyone,
I recently migrated to a new MBP using Migration Assistant but now Time Machine wants to do a full backup of the new system. I don't have enough room on the external hard disk I use - how do I get TM to resume updaing the existing backup?
The external disk is a WD MyBookWorld which has a separate area for TM backups so I can't see any files in Finder.
As far as I know I named the new MBP the same as the old MBP...
Thanks

If you transferred you data from the WD MyBookWorld HDD, your 'new' MBP should have no more user data than before. It should not be able to exceed its (the WD) current capacity. (Am I missing something here?)
If your 'new' MBP had a HDD with a capacity greater that the WD MyBookWorld HDD, then you should get a HDD with a capacity equal to or greater than the internal drive in your MBP. Otherwise it is simply a matter of time before you exceed the capacity of the Time Machine HDD.
Though you have named the new HDD the same as the old one, Time machine looks at the 'name' in SYSTEM PROFILER>HARDWARE>SERIAL-ATA. That will be different than your old HDD>
Ciao.

I can not delete my old time machine backups

I manually backed them up to my 1TB seagatte, and then I moved old TM backups to the trash after it prompted me for my password, then I couldnt empty the trash.
Nothing lets me empty them, not even the "Secure Empty Trash" option. None of them even say "locked" when I hit "Get Info". The box is unchecked.
Please help! I hate seeing a stuffed trash can!

can you try restarting your computer then try deleting it again?
if it does not help, have a read to these links
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=80598
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17519859
what i usually do is format the external hard drive. i know i'm gonna loose data but as long as you know that all the important files are present on you computer, should be no issues.

HT203177 Can I store my old time machine backup drive?

I don't want to take the time to copy the files from my 500GB backup drive to my new 2T. Can I simply store my old one, start using the new one, and then later if I need to find a really old file reconnect my old backup drive and expect to find the file>

Yes. The only issue would be if in the future you end up using an OS that would have trouble reading the drive. The files themselves should remain intact on the drive.

Help. I hit 'Restore All' in an old Time Machine backup

I fully realize I made a terrible mistake. I had an iphoto library on my imac that i haven't backed up at all. I was playing around with an old time machine backup and i pressed restore all thinking it would warn me that i was going to overwrite my existing library. well, now i have lost a years worth of photos without having backed them up. my question is, is there anyway to retrieve them? the trash holds nothing. there is no backup save my iphone. when i hook that up it only shows 2 photos. hide already imported photos is NOT checked. i imagine i can pull them off. i'm wondering if they will be the full resolution however. i would like to UNDO the restore first if there is a way. if not i guess i have to do it with the iphone which i'm not sure if it had all the photos from my previous library anyways. please advise and i will love you forever.
mark

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. About the only recourse is to use a file recovery application like SubrosaSoft FileSalvage. You can run it in demo mode to verify that you can recover the photos you want before you have to pay for it.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There's now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Accessing Old Time Machine Backup From a New Account

I have had problems with my old Account and decided to create a new Account. I can "see" the old Time Machine backup lists from the new Account, but can't open or restore them to the new Account. I get the message that I do not have sufficient privileges although I set the new Account up with Administrator privleges.

You should have used Setup Assistant, not Migration Assistant, to transfer your data. I suggest you start over by booting into Recovery, erasing the startup volume, and installing OS X. When you reboot, Setup Assistant will start automatically. Follow the prompt to import data from a Time Machine snapshot. The backup history will then be inherited. The first backup will still be a full one; that can't be avoided.

Can you clear the old time machine backups and start fresh?

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