Getting rid of old archive on TM

Question

I want to get rid of old archive on TM. How do I set up a new earliest backup file. For example:
I have earliest 1/2008. How do i only want to keep what's since 12/2008. I want create more space on my TM hard drive

Answer 1

chris650 wrote:
I want to get rid of old archive on TM. How do I set up a new earliest backup file. For example:
I have earliest 1/2008. How do i only want to keep what's since 12/2008. I want create more space on my TM hard drive
Whatever you do, do not delete TM backups via the Finder. Not only will it take forever, but you can choke your Mac to the point where it, and your TM drive, are unusable. Use the TM interface, as V.K. detailed. It's quite tedious and time-consuming, but won't harm anything.
If you want space for other data, besides TM backups, in the same partition, that can be done, but it isn't a good idea. TM works best with it's own, exclusive partition.
There are two reasons for this: first, as you probably know, TM is a bit like the Borg -- it will assimilate all the space available. So once you put other data there, TM will eventually fill the remaining space, and you can't put anything else there.
Second, if you ever want or need to delete all your TM backups and start over, you can just erase the partition if it's exclusively TM's, but if there's other data there, you'll have to copy it somewhere else first.
If that's what you're trying to do, your best bet may be to just erase your TM drive, make two partitions on it (one for TM, one for other data), and let TM start over. Disk Utility can do this quickly and easily -- post back if you need instructions.