Time machine keep last N backups

is there a way to configure time machine to only keep the last, lets say, 5 backups instead of every backup ever done?

zeroelink wrote:
is there a way to configure time machine to only keep the last, lets say, 5 backups instead of every backup ever done?
TM does not keep every backup ever done.
Your very first backup, and the first of that same day of every week, is kept as long as there's room on your TM disk/partition.
The first backup of all other days is kept for a month.
All other backups are kept for 24 hours.
If you want to limit the amount of space TM uses, you can partition the drive, so TM has it's own, exclusive space. See items 3 and 6 of the Frequently Asked Questions post at the top of this forum.

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    ☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

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    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
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    Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
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    Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
    When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
    Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.
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    If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
    Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
    Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Post the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear.
    Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
    When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
    Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.
    Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

  • Time machine keeps preparing backup..

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    S.

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    Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
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    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
    Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
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    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
    Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered — the text, please, not a screenshot.

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    Can some one HELP me , I keep getting this error with my Time Machine Back up, "The backup disk image “/Volumes/JKPN Safe/JKPN IMAC.sparsebundle” is already in use.

    See > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

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