How to manage Time Machine backups

Is there any way to manage time Machine Backups?
The things I want to do are:
* Selectively trim old backups for files I longer need
* Delete whole backups to maintain a trimmer backup disk
* Restart the whole backup process from time to time (purge and start over)
I know how the backups works (read the Ars Technica article) but the file system won't give me permissions to manually purge data. I suppose I could mess with the permissions but I'm not sure the effect on TM.
After the upgrade to Leopard, and after I setup Time Machine I started to do a purge of old files and data I just don't need anymore. But of course now there's several backups of that data. And while I know TM uses hard links so its not taking up a lot of extra space, the Gig I could recoup may be worth it for the long haul of having backups.

Not really the original point of the question, but since you mentioned it...
Couldn't time machine be used as archival as long as you have space? Its incremental, its fairly efficient since it uses hard links, and even archives have old data you don't need.
But it does beg another question. It would be nice if Apple could provide a list of directories that could be excluded in the event you want to run a clean install and then restore only files that effect a user and his/her preferences.
I suppose the Home directory would be the simplest answer, but even that includes a lot of Apps and Library files that really aren't necessary.
Maybe its just best to exclude nothing and buy a bigger backup drive. And then maybe periodically start over. Which was one of my original questions.
How does one start over? Just turn off time machine and format the backup drive?
Just pondering (and a bit of rambling) at this point.

Similar Messages

  • What size Time Capsule - i.e. how big are Time Machine Backups

    Hi all,
    Just trying to decide which Time Capsule to get...my question is basically how big are Time Machine backups.
    For example I have a MacBook with 100gb harddrive. At the moment about 80gb in use.
    I assume the Time Capsule will immediately backup that 80gb but how big are the incremental backups. If I modify about a GB's worth of data each day, does this GB get moved to the capsule or is Time Machine cleverer than this and only backups the changes at byte level for example.
    Any pointers, thoughts, etc. much appreciated.
    Michael.

    I have an iMac with a 500GB hard drive and a MacBook with an 80GB hard drive. The MacBook is nearing capacity but the iMac has around 90GB of data (the Time Machine backup is around 93GB). I will likely opt for the 1TB version as I am eligable for a Government discount bringing the cost down to £303 (£183 for the 500GB version). As it's unlikely that it will be easy to upgrade the Time Capsule HDD then I'm looking at future proofing as I do not want to have to repurchase in a few years. I'm also likely to buying a second MacBook or MacBook Pro in the coming months so it does make sense.
    Secondly, you can use the Time Capsule as a shared storage area as well as for the Time Machine function.

  • Concerns ALL Time Machine Users. HOW TO MOVE Time Machine backups. Help !

    Concerns ALL Time Machine Users :
    MOVE (or COPY) Time Machine backups from a "x"To Disk to an "y"To greater disk.
    Hello and thank you all for reading me,
    First, excuse me if I make language errors (I'm French).
    Secundo, I don't know if you'll find something interesting for you
    in what I write about Time Machine and my own problems,
    but there's a possibility also that YOU could perhaps help me.
    I'm talking about Time Machine and his **** Backups.backupdb folder,
    containing "*Name of your Mac*" folder,
    this folder containing Time Machine backups, format : YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS
    Time Machine doesn't recognize the backups it made *IF YOU MOVE THEM*.
    I have perhaps a solution in this message.
    You'll see below what kind of problem I (and you could) have.
    Since 12/01/10, an Apple Adviser Level Two (and me)
    are trying to understand how to move backups from TM1To Disk to, let's say, a bigger one.
    My case is TM1,5To.
    *Purpose :* Move 19 backups from Time Machine X disk to Time Machine Y disk.
    Delete TMX disk Time Machine backups after that.
    Make TMY disk the current used Time Machine Disk.
    I don't remember exactly what we did before
    (we even created a "root" account with password (dangerous to do),
    but it didn't solve the problem),
    but we finally copied :
    TM1To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* folder (containing 19 backups) into :
    TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb folder.
    The Copy application announced *16 hours !* (without antivirus, to remove absolutely).
    So I said goodbye and thank you to my Apple Adviser. After *8 hours*, Copy failed.
    BUT it had succeeded to copy *4 backups ONLY* (why ?) in TM1,5To.
    I immediately verified and checked each of these with Get Info.
    They had EXACTLY the same size (Byte to Byte) as in TM1To.
    ➔ BUT HERE IS MY OBSERVATION :
    After designing TM1,5To as Time Machine Disk, I ordered it to Backup (now).
    And what did Time Machine do in TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb ?
    It created a *NEW folder*, named *MacBook Pro 2* !
    ➔ *I HAVE NO ACCESS* to TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* (4 backups copied from TM1To, remember) ;
    ➔ while I still *HAVE ACCESS* to TM1To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* (19 backups) ;
    ➔ *AND I HAVE ACCESS* to TM1,5To > Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro 2*,
    where Time Machine makes actually his backups.
    *NOTE :* If you *change the name* of your computer,
    Time Machine *changes automatically the name* of the folder who is in Backups.backupdb folder.
    ➔ ① I have *never seen* such protections (Sharing and Permissions).
    You are not allowed to do anything. I've tried to change permissions,
    first : "R+W", after that : "Make (Me) the owner", I can tell you : DON'T DO IT !
    ➔ ② It's impossible to install an OS on a Time Machine disk
    (I thought it would allow better permissions).
    OS Installer detects the existence of a Backups.backupdb folder
    and refuses to install on this disk or partition.
    I have now the bad intent to install minimal OS X
    1) after deleting (how ?) this folder (but not its contents, how to move it ?)
    and 2) declare *after that* the disk as Time Machine disk.
    ➔ ③ Time Machine doesn't backup OTHER Time Machine backups
    (who are in an ancient-not-choosed-for-backups Time Machine disk) NOR backups this disk
    (detects, once again, the existence of a Backups.backupdb folder).
    AND you can't *absolutely not remove backups from the folder the're in*
    (for me, *MacBook Pro* or *MacBook Pro 2*).
    ➔ ④ I didn't have time to do it, but I think there would perhaps be a solution
    in restoring backups in partitions specially created to receive them (having the same name,
    that sort of thing) and then re-backup these partitions (vicious and complicated).
    There is a function on Mac OS X Install DVD : start with it, and then (do not install)
    choose "*restore from Time Machine backup*" from the menu bar (it's called "Utilities", I believe).
    ➔ ⑤ I *absolutely don't understand* what follows :
    — If I add (in my TM1To disk) the bytes of the 19 backups
    in Backups.backupdb > *MacBook Pro* folder, I obtain about *1,8 To*.
    — It's impossible (and not french).
    — When I check the size used with Disk Utility (NOT with Get Info),
    I find a correct (?) size : *about 750 Go*.
    — What are Time Machine backups made of ?
    It can't be aliases (because of their size, and because *aliases suppose originals,
    and where could they be ?*), or am I wrong and becoming crazy ?
    ➔ ⑥ If you refer to the numbers shown at the end of this text (*4 backups*),
    you'll see I could *delete duplicate elements* inside these 4 backups,
    to win space (but *what kind* of space *if I delete aliases* ?).
    Back-In-Time (see below) says he does it.
    BUT is it really the OLDEST items I have to destroy (see ⑤),
    when I don't know with what kind of ARTEFACT I'm acting ?
    What does Time Machine delete to create more backup space ?
    Is it REALLY the OLDEST backups it treats, or duplicates, OR ?
    *What you can do :*
    Find and go to Tri-Edre.fr or Tri-Edre.com/fr site (it's a french company
    that creates small Mac applications since fifteen years at least,
    I think I already bought them several programs in 1990) ;
    Their program *Back-In-Time 1.4.4* is free (Trial) and complete to download (with PDF docs too).
    It is *ENTIRELY DEDICATED* to Time Machine and *things you can't do* with.
    Price is about 30 €, I think it's worth.
    The TRIAL version you will obtain can only work on the LAST Time Machine backup,
    but you will see what's featured *AND :*
    You will ACCESS to ANY Time Machine backup you want
    (It has to be the last of a serie of backups, but the serie you want.
    I've bought the application and own an activation key, but you understand I can't give it to you
    (it would not be ethic) and anyway you would be obliged to disconnect AirPort, Ethernet etc.
    •➔ I have bought the application because I thought (it's said in PDF FAQs) I could IN THE END move Time Machine backup files, but it cannot, (I'm afraid).
    *BUT ANY ACCESS PROBLEM IS SOLVED.*
    •➔ Back-In-Time 1.4.4 can *delete :* duplicate backups, complete backups,
    or duplicate items inside one or several Time Machine backups,
    things that I believe impossible with Time Machine itself
    (I've seen it offers to delete ALL occurences of an item) ;
    •➔ The application can also restore anything you want, where you want
    (but I think Time Machine does it too ?)
    •➔ Believe it or not, but since I've bought it on 15/01,
    I've only worked about 2 hours (no, much more) on it
    and didn't make sufficient progresses (enhancements ?)
    to talk of it with sufficient experience (I'm a bad guy, don't you think ?)
    •➔ Tri-Edre offers on-line support, e-mail support (and so on),
    and I EVEN didn't manage to join them, because I did many other things,
    and also somewhat have been disgusted *not to be able to move* or copy
    *(accessible by Time Machine after that)* backups,
    and I also didn't succeed (*another Time Machine inconvenient*) to DESTROY an ".inProgress"
    Time Machine (package) which doesn't work anymore (several interruptions while active),
    date (and name) 2010-01-27-164345.inProgress, but is used (*with failure results*)
    by Time Machine (it's turned off till I find how to destroy its **** ".inProgress" package.
    •➔ I've asked my Apple Adviser Level 2 to wait for news from me
    before working himself on the problem, and I think I will send him this message
    to prove I haven't forgotten him.
    •➔ I'll send it to Tri-Edre too, in the same move.
    I hope those remarks to be useful for somebody, tell me if it has helped.
    I will also publish this in any Time Machine topics I find here, and in MacRumors site too.
    As you can see, I need help too … Does anybody have an idea ?
    Perhaps if I used a specific Copy software, it could work ?
    You'll see below an example of some time I've spent to study my problem
    (you will think I'm crazy).
    With my kind regards, and good luck if you have other Time Machine problems !
    Olivier Herrbach
    <Edited by Host>
    Le but du jeu est de transférer toutes les sauvegardes Time Machine
    d'un volume/partition que nous appelerons "1 To"
    sur un volume/partition que nous appelerons "1,5 To".
    *Je rappelle que les 4 sauvegardes effectuées par Time Machine sur le 1 To
    n'ont pas été reconnues comme siennes par Time Machine sur le 1,5 To,
    bien que strictement identiques en taille après leur copie.
    J'ai remarqué dans Back-In-Time des fichiers invisibles (tels que "TimeMachine.log"
    ou quelque chose de genre), et je soupçonne fort qu'ils n'ont pas été copiés et que Time Machine,
    ne les trouvant pas dans le 1,5 To, a ignoré à cause de leur absence les 4 sauvegardes décrites ici.*
    *Sauvegardes effectuées par Time Machine sur 1 To :*
    Path : MacBook Pro > Volumes > 1 To > Backups.backupdb > MacBook Pro
    MacBook Pro contient 19 items (dont un alias appelé "Latest") :
    1°) 2010-01-02-045758 Size : 913.207 B for 41.888 items comprenant :
    • Hitachi 1 To Size : 907.664 B for 41.887 items 7 folders
    Différence avec 1°) = - 5.543 B - 1 item (1 folder)
    2°) 2010-01-03-001957 Size : 982.211.325 B for 67.490 items comprenant :
    • Hitachi 1 To Size : 901.516 B for 41.886 items 6 folders
    Différence avec 1°) = - 6.148 B - 1 item - 1 folder
    • Samsung 500 Go Size : 981.302.510 B for 25.602 items 4 folders
    Total • + • = Size : 982.204.026 B for 67.488 items
    Différence avec 2°) = -7.209 B - 2 items (2 folders)
    — *Supprimer • Hitachi 1 To* dans 2010-01-03-001957. Comparer les dossiers.
    3°) 2010-01-04-222709 Size : 5.241.032.819 B for 26.509 items comprenant :
    • Samsung 500 Go Size : 5.187.330.874 B for 19.392 items 8 folders
    Différence avec 2°) = + 4.206.028.364 B - 6.210 items + 4 folders
    • StartUp Disk Size : 53.692.703 B for 7.115 items 4 folders
    Total • + • = Size : 5.241.023.577 B for 26.507 items
    Différence avec 3°) = - 9.242 B - 2 items (2 folders)
    — *Supprimer Samsung 500 Go* dans 2010-01-03-001957. Comparer les dossiers.
    4°) 2010-01-05-125449 Size : 9.428.705.396 B for 204.915 items comprenant :
    • HD 250 Go Size : 9.374.308.265 B for 181.575 items 7 folders
    • Samsung 500 Go Size : 692.898 B for 16.222 items 8 folders
    Différence avec 3°) = - 5.186.637.976 B - 3.170 items
    • StartUp Disk Size : 53.692.703 B for 7.115 items 4 folders
    Total • + • + • = Size : 9.428.693.866 B 204.912 items
    Différence avec 4°) = - 11.530 B - 3 items (3 folders)
    — Supprimer • StartUp Disk dans 2010-01-04-222709. IDENTIQUE.

    Dear James Pond,
    Thank you once again, and, don't be afraid, I will be as short as possible,
    but I need to use your last reply (I've cut all what was already said).
    JP ➔ You can copy an entire set of backups, but you cannot copy part of it successfully. See #18 etc.
    JP ➔ Read this from the first paragraph: "you cannot copy only selected backups,
    or merge two (or more) sets of backups." The structure of the backups simply will not allow it.
    I've read it, and found it regrettable. And I've also read, after that, what were the solutions under Leopard and Snow Leopard, and my conclusion is that it's a *dead end* for me. In short,
    — I can't move (by drag and drop) the 1To's Backups.backupdb folder (containing MacBook Pro, 19 backups, access) to 1,5To, because there exists already the Backups.backupdb folder created by copy on 12/01 with Apple Assistance (containing [MacBook Pro, 4 backups of 19, no access] and [MacBook Pro 2, 15 backups, access]). I don't even know if it could be deleted by the copy (and I don't wanna do that anyway) ;
    — I can't rename (and what for, I already forgot it) any Backups.backupdb folder nor delete it ;
    — I can't copy any Computer'sName folder (entire set containing backups), being in a Backups.backup.db folder, into another Backups.backupdb folder ;
    — I can't copy any (or all of an entire set) YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS backup(s), being in a Computer'sName folder, into another Computer'sName folder (even if it would be empty).
    — Saying NONE in Time Machine Preferences and putting it to OFF is simply no use.
    All is said. What I can try to do is :
    — Delete (not with Finder, but with Back-In-Time) all duplicate things I find in all backups and also entire duplicate backups (I have full access to all with the software) ;
    — Restore each of the reduced-to-minimum backups obtained in specially right-sized partitions wearing the YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS name of each restored backup. Time Machine doesn't backup his backups, but will backup these partitions.
    I'm afraid to be actually completely running out of the target, when I read what I write … It's time to go to bed !
    Reminder (OH) : Where did you find these amazing informations ?
    JP➔ Some of it is detailed here: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_maco[]sx_leopard_timemachine.html
    ➤ Thank you ;
    JP➔ and here:
    http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2007/10/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14
    ➤ Thank you too ;
    JP➔ You have to understand the structure. When TM does the first backup, yes, it copies everything.
    On subsequent backups, it copies what's new or changed, but also makes "hard links" (sort of like aliases) to the copies of the things that didn't change. That's how it can only back up a few things each time, but show you a complete "snapshot" of the way your entire system looked at the time of every backup.
    ➤ I'll do my best to understand.
    JP➔ Time Machine deletes backups under two conditions. See the first part of #12 in the Frequently Asked Questions User Tip, also at the top of this forum.
    Under normal circumstances, you should not have to delete any backups. See the rest of #12.
    ➤ I understood why Time Machine didn't delete oldest backups : they were not weeklies ones.
    Reminder (OH) : How can I destroy the (corrupted ?) not working "2010-01-27-164345.inProgress" in 1,5 To, which causes Time Machine to abort any backup of any size I ask ?
    JP➔ Why do you think it's corrupted? TM is designed to "recover" a partial backup.
    ➤ I'll verify that with the little Tools/Apps I discovered in your FAQ User Tip document and downloaded immediately.
    Why didn't Apple tell me anything ? It's my fault, I'm perhaps not clear and not demanding enough more from them.
    JP➔ You cannot install OSX on a disk containing TM backups. That's because they need to be on separate disks.
    Technically, you could put them on separate partitions of the same disk, but that would not be a good idea.
    ➤ I never told you that (there would be no interest at all). I talked about the same location, to see if it would allow me more permissions, but if all works without doing it, it's really no use.
    JP➔ Sorry, I don't know what that means.
    ➤ I'm sorry, I didn't explain : "but if all works" meant : Copy Backups.backupdb, "without doing it" meant : Install OSX.
    ➤ If I install an OSX BEFORE, Time Machine will REFUSE completely to backup on it, it's understood.
    JP➔ Correct. The partition you're running from will not be an option in TM Preferences > Select Disk. That prevents TM from backing-up it's own backups!
    ➤ Would it be so absurd ? Maybe it could resolve my actual problem ?
    I think you are right, but I don't know why. I trust you.
    Reminder (OH) : "I will not bore you again except if I don't find a specific answer to an unknown-never-seen-incredible malfuction."
    JP➔ Don't worry about that -- thats what this forum is for, especially if you're still having problems.
    ➤ It's seems in fact that there is no possible solution, except what I said above and is certainly crazy/out of subject.
    Just try to be as clear and concise as you can.
    And please don't post the same things repeatedly -- it wastes your time and ours, and can confuse other folks.
    ➤ You're absolutely right and I tried to do so this time, and I'm sorry because I see it's still (far) not enough (short).
    Thank you once more. I wish you a good evening and week-end. Here it's 01:40 AM.
    With my kind regards
    Olivier Herrbach
    [email protected]

  • How to remove time machine backup from a mackbook pro used in target disk mode

    Many months ago I (as my backup drive failed) I used my macbook pro in target disk mode to store the time machine backup of my iMac.  How do I delete the backup on the macbook pro?  I am running mountain lion on both machines.  When I boot the macbook pro in target mode, it's not showing up in the finder on my mac.

    When I boot the macbook pro in target mode, it's not showing up in the finder on my mac.
    From the Finder menu bar, select
    Finder > Preferences > General
    and check the box marked Hard disks.

  • How to restore time machine backup without disturbing already installed app

    Hi!
    My school recently reconfigured/reformatted my macbook and install the school image. Now it is filled with applications that the school help us installed. Now how do i restore the backup that my time machine backups last time? Migration assistant or what? I did not change my mac, it is just that my hard disk got reconfigured. How do i restore backup without disturbing the apps my school installs?
    Please help thanks!
    ALa.

    alazahee wrote:
    I did not change my mac, it is just that my hard disk got reconfigured.
    I'm not sure what you mean by that. Is your user account still there?
    If not, and if you have either Time Machine backups or a "clone" as backups, yes, use Migration Assistant. See [Using Migration Assistant|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Migrate.html]. Note that you must be logged-on with a user account that's named differently from any of the accounts you want to transfer, or else be prepared to rename the duplicate.
    If your backups aren't either Time Machine backups or a "clone," you'll have to drag and drop or restore using the app that made them.

  • Switching upsizing my internal hard drive - how to ensure Time Machine backup works

    I'm replacing my 250 gig hard drive in my Macbook Pro with a 500 gigabyte version.  I'm concerned about being able to use my Time Machine backups.  Can anyone shed some light on how to do this properly?

    As far as I know, you can use Time Machine back up on new 500GB HDD as well.
    Time Machine drive connect MacBook Pro, then boot with pressing Option key with new drive to select Time Machine back up drive as boot drive to restore or make clone back up with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper on another external HDD, then boot from it to restore.
    http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-upgrade-an-os-x-lion-systems-hard-drive/

  • How many concurrent Time Machine backups can be run on one Time Capsule?

    I'm using a WD My Book Live (MBL) GbE NAS for the Time Machine backup for 2 MacBook (Pro and Air) over wireless-N.  It's very often the MBL gives "verification error" to one or even two Macbooks if both of them are doing Time Machine (TM) backup at the same time.  I want to see if the Time Capsule will be more reliable. 
    The Time Capsule 4th Generation is using a Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB Caviar Green SATA HDD ($79) which is slow in spindle speed (5400-rpm) and slow data transfer rate (Serial ATA-300), while the previous TC versions were using 7200-rpm HDD. 
    Apple said Number of Users can be supported by the TC 4th Gen is 50.  Does it meant that 50 concurrent Time Machine backup processes can be supported:
    1.     over the four GigaBit Ethernet ports?
    2.     over 802.11n simultaneous dual-band WiFi?
    How come I start getting "verification error" after I started adding 2 more backups to a TC used to backup just one MBP?

    The Time Capsule 4th Generation is using a Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB Caviar Green SATA HDD ($79) which is slow in spindle speed (5400-rpm) and slow data transfer rate (Serial ATA-300), while the previous TC versions were using 7200-rpm HDD. 
    That was the original release .. I am not sure now the ones you buy will be the same. Anyway the Gen1 Gen2 (identical boards) were 50% slower than the new TC Gen3 Gen4 (identical boards) They are processor bound.. you can put an SSD in the TC and the actual transfer speed will not improve.. so forget the disk.. it is faster than wireless by a long way.. a bit lacking for gigabit but file transfer for TM is not actually hugely fast as the TM process the files.
    Apple said Number of Users can be supported by the TC 4th Gen is 50.  Does it meant that 50 concurrent Time Machine backup processes can be supported:
    1.     over the four GigaBit Ethernet ports?
    2.     over 802.11n simultaneous dual-band WiFi?
    How come I start getting "verification error" after I started adding 2 more backups to a TC used to backup just one MBP?
    Concurrent users is internet.. and that is stretching things. There is no way 50 users can run TM at once.. the disk isn't big enough anyway.
    TC is designed for domestic setup.. 3 or 4 Macs.. would be fine.
    Your last point, I don't follow .. you stated it was a WD MBL not a TC.. and TM is really not known to work well on anything but a TC. WD disks connected to a non-apple router?? is hardly going to get apple support.. even an airport extreme with USB is not supported. TM is not reliable on airdisks.. so it doesn't surprise me if the MBL corrupts on a daily basis.
    Same can happen with any airdisk.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
    But I have to say I don't think wireless has been great for TM reliability in later OS.. especially if you upgrade installed.. TM is pretty easy to corrupt itself. So you get lots of issues reported here with TM needing to wipe the old backups and start over.
    The older OS .. BTW I use 10.6.8 still is very reliable to a non-apple NAS. Everything went to pot with Lion and the new security level of AFP.

  • Multiple Hard drive  how to customize Time machine backup

    i know we can do mutiple HD back up using timemachine . 
    But-
    is there way i can costomize what to back up for each hard drive?
    because-
    im back up 2  diifferent hard drives.
    my computer is almost 4TB  to fully back up.
    i have
    4TB External HD
    and Apple airport time captule 3TB.
    looks like i have to do exact ONE Setting  ( Option) for both HD.
    is there anyway i can do timemachine back up different setting
    for two different Hard drives?
    such as
    1st drive 4TB back up fully
    2nd drive back up ony music and movie
    ONLY using timeachine so always scheduled to be back up. and i can go back using timemachine...
    please help

    You have a lot of data to protect.  With that much data you may want to consider cloned backups instead of Time Machine backups.  You would need at least one backup hard drive for each live hard drive.  Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) and Super Duper! (SD) are good applications to use.
    Closing backup techniques are covered here.
    Most commonly used backup methods: 
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
    Methodology to protect your data.  Backups vs. Archives.  Long-term data protection:
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
    From your description you appear to be storing as single copy of some of your data (music and movies) on the Time Capsule 3 TB drive.  If so, that is not a good idea.  If that drive crashes you will lose that data, even if there is a copy of it in the Time Machine backup because the Time Machine backup and the live data are on the same drive.
    So I suggest you reorganize your large live data onto external hard drives that are not the 3 TB Time Capsule drive and then create a backup drive for each external live drive and run CCC or SD to clone them.  You can continue to backup the internal drive to the Time Capsule but, in addition, I would make a cloned copy of it on external backup an external hard drive.
    If the data that won’t fit on your internal system drive will fit on the external 4 TB drive then you would have only one external drive to clone.  If it really is more then 4 TB of total data then you could use two external live drives and two clone drives.

  • How to delete Time Machine backups from Trash

    OK, so you deleted Time Machine backups via Finder and now you can't delete them from Trash.
    First of all - you should NOT delete Time Machine backups in this way.
    BUT all is not lost - to remove the backup folders from your Trash can, all you need to do is hold down the Alt key whilst using the Empty Trash facility.
    Hope this helps.

    I have same problem keep getting annoying error something like 8003. trying to delete all of my back ups as well as the one back up i placed in the trash

  • How to verify time machine backups for consitency

    While I had a problem w/ my HDD, I thought I would be save because I was always backing up all my data w/ time machine. After rebooting from the system disk (CD) and selcting to restore from my time machine backup, I had to learn that not all data where consistent and w/ this the restore stucked in the middle of nowhere...
    Then I installed the systems brand new from the System-Disk and then tried to restore to most of my data and programs from time machine. After many hours I had my system up an running nearly as it was before, but only nearly.
    Now, I would like to avoid a similar situation and look for a way to verify that for the future the backups are correct and consistent. Since Snow-Leo time machine offers an option to verify backups, but I have found that it does not work for external disks attached by USB or FireWire.
    What can I do to make sure that the backups are OK?
    Thanks a lot
    Hansjoerg

    HaJo-aus-BS wrote:
    Since Snow-Leo time machine offers an option to verify backups, but I have found that it does not work for external disks attached by USB or FireWire.
    Yes, that's for network backups only. 
    What can I do to make sure that the backups are OK?
    You can tell if the File System (the various directories, catalogs etc.) is ok by repairing your backup drive, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
    You can "spot check" whether the Time Machine "Star Wars" display seems correct.
    You can do a full system restore to another disk per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions, then start up from it and see if things are there and seem to work.
    You can keep "secondary" backups (always a good idea).  See #27 in the FAQ post for some suggestions.

  • How long for Time Machine backup with USB v. 1

    My hard drive might be failing.  I'm going to backup with Time Machine for
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    See this for an indication of transfer rates these are theoretical speeds - real world is slower!
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    USB 1.1 runs about 1.5MB/s at full rate.
    How much data is on your internal disk?
    Wolfram Alpha says 1TB would take 7 days & 17 hours.
    http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1TB+at+1.5+MB%2Fs
    I would add more days to that time to account for the fact that USB 1 is slower (more like 0.7MB/s in my tests from years ago).
    This is an appalling idea - your disk could easily stop working in the time it takes to copy.
    Fortunately you have got the spec wrong on this iMac…
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  • How to restore Time Machine backup (2011 mini with Snow)?

    I have a Mini 2011 running with Snow Leopard, and it runs perfect and stable, but when I apply the latest security update, it stops working.
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    Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
    http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
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  • How to delete time machine backups from trash bin

    Hello,
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    Hi DonnaR,
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  • How to move Time Machine backup

    Up until recently, I have been using an external hard drive connected directly to my computer as a Time Machine drive. When I bought the drive, I was the only person using a Mac in my house, but as time went by, and technology failed, other members of my family decided to buy Macs. Now they all need a backup option.
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    JFASI wrote:
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  • How-to move time machine backup from an old Time Capsule to a new one?

    As written on the title, I need to move my old backup from an old 500GB to a new dual-band 2TB Time capsule, but I have not found any hint.
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    Cesare Cerutti wrote:
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