HT201250 When using time machine do I need to keep my drive plugged in all the time or can I back up when I wish?

Is it necessary to keep the external drive plugged in at all times?   Or can I unplug it and choose when I wish to back up my system.

No, I do not believe so. Time Machine would keep all those now-deleted files in previous backups, and as time goes by those backups might be deleted if you needed room, but it would still keep one backup from each day in last month, as well as one from each week forever, as long as you don't start running out of room, then just the oldest would be deleted to make room if needed.
I use a backup drive about double the size of my drive to be backed up, so I would guess it will never get to the point where deleted files being replaced by new ones being backed fill up that drive to the point where backups actually have to get deleted.

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