How to set time machine to only do a full backup manually?

Question

I just want to do a full backup every once in a while, manually. Then turn TM back off. Can this be done? Or maybe set the frequency to just once a week/month?

Answer 1

To set the frequency, Set to OFF and then place the following launchd plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ (mine is saved as "com.tonyt.StartTimeMachine.plist") and then log-out and back in (or re-boot)
This is set for weekly, Monday at 12:00am:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>com.tonyt.StartTimeMachine</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
                    <string>/usr/bin/tmutil</string>
                    <string>startbackup</string>
          </array>
          <key>QueueDirectories</key>
          <array/>
          <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
          <dict>
                    <key>Hour</key>
                    <integer>0</integer>
                    <key>Minute</key>
                    <integer>0</integer>
                    <key>Weekday</key>
                    <integer>1</integer>
          </dict>
          <key>WatchPaths</key>
          <array/>
</dict>
</plist>
For the 2nd of each month at 12:00am use:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>com.tonyt.StartTimeMachine</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
                    <string>/usr/bin/tmutil</string>
                    <string>startbackup</string>
          </array>
          <key>QueueDirectories</key>
          <array/>
          <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
          <dict>
                    <key>Day</key>
                    <integer>2</integer>
                    <key>Hour</key>
                    <integer>0</integer>
                    <key>Minute</key>
                    <integer>0</integer>
          </dict>
          <key>WatchPaths</key>
          <array/>
</dict>
</plist>