Time Machine - Removing Old Backups

I am using "time machine" to back up my new iMac, the disk being used also was used to back up my old iMac and I do not require those backups any more. I have deleted those files but when I want to "empty trash" I still have the related folders etc. as it is not allowing me to remove bootx and bootefi files - need to use the option key - but this is not working...
can anyone assist in how i can clean out my trash (and 1st step confirm which is the option key on the new wireless keyboard)?
thanks Neil

You should be sure your TM backup drive has been partitioned GUID and reformatted before initiating any new TM backup for your new computer. I would do the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
+BTW, this is the Tiger forum. TM is not available in Tiger, so please post Leopard related questions in the appropriate Leopard forum. Thanks.+

Similar Messages

Time Machine: removing old backups w/o redoing whole thing!

I've been using time machine for years now. In the past, when my backup disk has become too full, I've wiped the entire backup (delete) then created a brand new one. Why?? Because having a backup of what I have RIGHT NOW is all I want or need.
Now, all that said I would rather just prune all files not needed. Right now my 250gb mac HD has a 475gb backup file, and I have 100gb free on my mac's HD.
Is there any way to remove all old backups...or prune up to, say a week prior? I would have to imagine that this would be of some value. Reasons:
1. Save me (some) time of pruning/deleting vs doing a wifi backup from scratch.
2. I could potentially lose all of my data should my HD crash before my backup completes.
Help?

Greazy wrote:
I've been using time machine for years now. In the past, when my backup disk has become too full, I've wiped the entire backup (delete) then created a brand new one. Why?? Because having a backup of what I have RIGHT NOW is all I want or need.
Then Time Machine is not the right backup app for you. The backups of things you've changed or deleted can be very useful, for a number of things, but if you really don't want that, you're using the wrong app, because that's what Time Machine is designed to do.
Try CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to make "bootable clones." CCC is donationware; SD has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling. Either is easily found via Google.
Now, all that said I would rather just prune all files not needed. Right now my 250gb mac HD has a 475gb backup file, and I have 100gb free on my mac's HD.
Is there any way to remove all old backups...or prune up to, say a week prior? I would have to imagine that this would be of some value. Reasons:
1. Save me (some) time of pruning/deleting vs doing a wifi backup from scratch.
2. I could potentially lose all of my data should my HD crash before my backup completes.
Where is your backup disk? You mention a WIFI backup, so is it an external disk connected to a Time Capsule, or Airport, or another Mac; or are you backing-up to a Time Capsule, or ??
There are ways to limit the size of TM backups, depending on what version of OSX you're on (this is the Leopard forum, but your signature says you're on Snow Leopard), and where the backups are. Once you do that, Time Machine will delete old backups automatically when it needs room for new ones.
If they're on an external HD, partition it to the maximum size you want. If they're elsewhere, tell us where, and confirm what version of OSX you're on.

Doesn't Time Machine delete old backups when it needs more space?

I've had time machine running for a long time now. It worked flawlessly for quite some time.
Today it gave me the error that there was not enough free space on the disk to complete the backup (the error message says something like there is 360 GB of data on the Time Machine drive already, 140 GB of free space and it would require more than that to complete my backup). I have a 500 GB Time Machine disk and my Mac has a 500 GB hard drive, so I should technically never run out of space.
The Time Machine almost acts like this is the first time I've ever backed up, which is not true. Shouldn't Time Machine delete old backups to make space for the new? What's even weirder is that if I open the "Star Wars" window of Time Machine I only see one backup from March 31, 2011, but I have been running Time Machine for well over a year now. I'm totally confused as to what happened. Any advice on how to get my Time Machine back up and running (without buying a new drive) would help!

You see only one backup in the Time Machine window because Time Machine has deleted the older backups to make space to do the current backup.
Time machine needs some working space to do its backups, and so backing up a 500GB drive onto a 500GB time machine volume is not ideal.
However, I do essentially the same thing, and what I do, when I have this problem, is exclude things from the backup.
First off, figure out what you changed. If you moved things from one partition to another, then that will cause a backup of the size of the thing that was moved. This may be why you have a large backup.
When I have this problem, I exclude large things that have changed recently from the backup. This makes the backup smaller, and means that there is less working space needed. I do this until I get a successful backup. Then I remove things, one by one, from the exclusion list, and back up after each one.
So, for instance if you just put 4 new folders on your drive, each of which s 20GB of data and they are named A, B, C and D, add all four to the exclusion list, do a backup, then remove A from the exclusion list (leaving B, C & D on it) and do a backup, and continue like this, adding 20GB of backup data each time until none of the new data is on the exclusion list and you get a completed backup.
Another possible issue, if you use multiple partitions, is that Time Machine may be keeping an obsolete backup of a partition that you previously reformatted. To see if this is the case, go into time machine (The universe interface) and go back to the most recent backup it shows. Click on your computer and see what partitions show up-- are any of them old ones that have been reformatted and renamed? You may be storing a duplicate backup because Time Machine does not realize that the disk that went away isn't coming back (because it has been reformatted as a different partition)
You can right-click on these items and remove them from your backup by sleecting "Delete all backups of...." This will free up space as well.

TimeMachine not backing up, as hard drive is full. Can the time machine clear old backups and replace them with new?

Time Macine not backing up.
As the harddrive is full, Can the time machine clear old backups, and override them with new backups. For example 5 - 6 days +++ old. Backups were proformed dayly
Any help much appreciated
Many thanks,

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. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
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. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
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 this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Time Machine deleted old backups as disk filled up. Now I'm confused

Hi guys,
My backup disk was full, and hence Time Machine deleted my old backup. The most important data on my Mac (for me) is my iPhoto library. As I know it, Time Machine deletes backups for files which are used less frequently. In my iPhoto library, there are some photos which I haven't opened for years. So has Time Machine deleted them?
Thank you

As I know it, Time Machine deletes backups for files which are used less frequently. In my iPhoto library, there are some photos which I haven't opened for years. So has Time Machine deleted them?
Time Machine won't delete files that are still on your Mac, regardless of how long since you view them.
What it trashes are files that have been removed from your Mac. So, it's not an archive app. For instance, if you backed up with TM and then deleted the pics from iPhoto on your Mac (to save space or whatever) then eventually they will be deleted from TM.
Regards
TD

Any way to restore Time Machine deleted old backups?

Hi,
I've just discovered that Time Machine has successfully deleted my very first backup and all my files tediously archived from 2002 has disappeared. TM has failed to warn me that my disc was full.
My only question is there any way at all i can recover these files? I have unfortunately dumped all my old cdrs.<proceed to wail uncontrollably>
Help.

V.K. wrote:
nerowolfe wrote:
I am beginning to suspect that when TM informs the user that backups are being deleted, it is not with a popup on the desktop, but rather via the console only.
No. that would be totally absurd.
Absurd, perhaps, yet possibly true. From reading these boards, many people have never gotten that message, but the logs do show that old backups are being removed.
I was also being sarcastic but I suppose unless you know me, it does not show
No user is reasonably expected to monitor console for a message like that.
I agree but the facts show that very few have ever gotten this warning. Again, I was being sarcastic.
I did get a regular desktop popup warning me about this when my TM drive filled up. but as I understand this particular feature is quite buggy and many people don't get those popups.
If it is buggy as you note, then what I wrote is not so absurd after all, IMO.
TM is not quite ready for Prime Time. It is a useful tool, much like a hammer or tire wrench, but it is only a tool.

Time Machine Deletes Old Backups without warning!!

I have just lost loads of pictures and emails when my Timemachine deleted old backups. I was so happy to have an easy way to keep my iPhoto cleaned up while keeping all the photos for the future. I would load my all the photos from my camera, backup with TimeMachine and delete the "bad" unwanted photos, confident in the knowledge that these pictures are still there on my external. I looked forward to some future date when someone would write an easy piece of software to consolidate old iPhoto libraries and even go through TimeMachine and consolidate those photos too. But until that fantasy event, my pictures, even though not wanted were still there.
Not any more!!
I replaced my hard drive and reloaded my laptop from Timemachine and I think that was the event that sparked the dump.
There should be a special check box to make sure that NO backups are automatically deleted, EVER. They should be a way to make them Sacred!!
There should be a way to create a separate backup just for iPhoto because right now, there are no good ways to easily break apart or merge iPhoto libraries. At least what I was doing worked, (well.... until it didn't).
Any ideas??

nerowolfe wrote:
True, TM is not a classic archival system, but until the drive is full, the difference is moot.
No, the difference isn't moot.
I still have on my TM HD every file I ever had because it's only 1/2 full.
No, you don't. Read on...
Time machine has three levels of backups:
1) hourly - deleted after 24 hours
2) daily - deleted after a week
3) weekly - deleted only when the disk is full - these are the only deletions you will be warned about
Time machine is always deleting files. Every time it backs up, it deletes files.
But the OP's real question is why he was never warned about the old backups being deleted, as TM says it will do, archival stuff notwithstanding. Apparently TM simply ignores the user's request to be warned.
No, it doesn't.
That being said, as I asked in a post not too long ago, "how many have had a warning from TM that old backups are being deleted?" as one would expect when the TM preference box, "Warn when old backups are deleted" is checked.
It appears to me to be a bug.
I ask again if anyone has gotten this warning.
Nobody answered my previous post with a yes.
Yes.
Because Time Machine continually cleans up behind itself, it tries very hard to ever delete the weekly backups. The only time I've gotten the deletion warning was when my disk was full. I think I just avoided the problem by removing my old Parallels images from Time Machine and got back an extra 70 gig or so - good for another six months.
This is not a bug. This is how Time Machine works. It is unfortunate that the original poster did not fully understand this. The fact is that Time Machine backs everything up. If you create 100 files, it backs up the folder with 100 new files. If you delete 100 files, it backs up the folder with 100 less files. Then, the next day, it deletes old backups. The only one it keeps is the last one, with 100 less files.
It is correct to say that Time Machine is not an archival system. It is a backup system. If you want to save your files forever, you need to copy them to a location that isn't under the control of any sort of automatic software.

HT201250 HELP! My Time Machine deleted old backups

If any one can help me, please do so.
Yesterday i did a clean install of OS X Lion. Started importing photos from the Time Machine this morning. While at work TM has deleted all old backups, so now the latest backup i have is from 5 minutes after I did the clean install.
How can I restore an old backup that has been deleted automatically by TM?
Thankful for any help!
Lars

The problem is that Time Machine is only a temporary repository. It will always ensure that you can restore the machine to the state that it was in at the last backup. But if the backup drive runs out of space - as yours undoubedly did when you installed a brand-new system, forcing Time Machine to back up everything on the entire drive all over again - then it will start deleting older files until it makes enough room to back up the newer files.
So, if you only had one backup, with Time Machine, and it wasn't large enough (at least double what you planned on backing up) ,and you didn't restore all your files before letting Time Machine start backing up the new system, there is unfortunately nothing you can do at this point. Your data is not only gone, but it has almost certainly been written over. You could always try a data recovery tool on the backup drive, but results are likely to be poor. Some such tools are DataRescue, FileSalvage and Stellar Phoenix.
In the future, you need to:
ensure that the Time Machine backup drive has a minimum of 2 times the capacity of what you plan to back up, now and in the foreseeable future
make at least one other backup on another drive, preferably more than one (minimum of two backups total)
use a different backup program, such as Carbon Copy Cloner, for at least one of those backups
keep at least one backup off-site - but frequently updated - in case of fire, flood, theft, etc(I keep Carbon Copy Cloner backups on two drives, one of which is always in a safe deposit box at the bank, and swap them out about once per month.)

Time machine deleted old backups

I was wondering if anyone has tried to use time machine? i've just started a time machine backup and it is not detected the old backups made on lion.

However, there is more too this. I just upgraded another MacBook and no matter what I tried I could not get Mountain Lion to recognize the prior backups. I just had to start fresh. So there is clearly a bug here.

When Time Machine deletes old backups......

My Time Machine disk is about to be full. I realize that when the disk becomes full, Time Machine will delete old backups.
I am not clear, however, exactly what this means.
Is what are deleted:
1. older disk pseudo-images?
2. files which no longer are on the computer?
Or is Time Machine actually deleting files which are still on the computer (but were in the old now-being-deleted backup)?
I suspect it is #1 and #2. So if you had a computer where files are added over time (without meaningful deletions), this strategy will not help a lot---you just need to get a new disk.
Is another option to just make a complete new full Time Machine backup (losing all the intermediate backups)? How is this done?

Jeffrey Folinus1 wrote:
Is what are deleted:
1. older disk pseudo-images?
I have no idea what that is.
2. files which no longer are on the computer?
Yes. More to the point, files that were changed or deleted long ago.
Or is Time Machine actually deleting files which are still on the computer (but were in the old now-being-deleted backup)?
No.
When Time Machine does it's first, Full backup, it of course copies every file and folder on your system. It also makes a folder in your backups, named with the date and time of the backup. This folder appears to contain all those copied items.
But it doesn't. It contains "hard links" to the backup copies. Think of these as extra-fancy aliases.
Thereafter, TM does "incremental" backups. It copies only the files and folders that were added or changed, and makes another dated folder for that backup. In that folder are links to the new items, plus links to the items that didn't change: so they're cleverly named "multi-links." This is how TM appears to have many full, complete backups of your system when it obviously doesn't.
When TM deletes a backup, all that's really deleted are the folder and the links.
Consider what happens when you do a normal (not secure) deletion of a normal file: OSX basically "forgets" where it was, so the space can be re-used. TM is a little fancier: as long as there's even one link to a file, it isn't forgotten, so it's available to be recovered from any backup that has a link to it, and the space isn't re-used. When the last link is deleted, the copied file is forgotten.
Thus, when you delete a backup, the only actual backup copies that are deleted are the ones that have links in no other backup. So, for example, once you've done a Full backup and a single Incremental, you (or TM) can delete the Full without losing it's copy of anything current.
Another way to look at it is, *each backup is, in effect, a full, complete copy of your entire system the way it was at the time of that backup.*
So much for "fancy." The "extra" fancy part is, TM doesn't necessarily make another link for every single file and folder that didn't change. Instead, if a folder wasn't changed, and nothing in it was changed, TM makes only a single link, to the folder. When you consider that your System folder, for example, contains many tens of thousands of sub-folders and files that rarely change, you see how efficient this is.
For more details: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_mac_os_x_leopard_timemachine.html
and: http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2007/10/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14

Time Machine delete old backups

My wife has a MacBook Pro and uses Time Machine on a 500 GB external drive. She is using about 160 GB on her MacBook Pro, but the Time Machine drive is now full and is not backing up current files. The Time Machine backups go back to 2010 and two or three versions of the operating system. I would like to delete old backups from Time Machine, as I understand that only files no longer needed in other backups will be deleted. Is there any reason this approach should be avoided? Are there instructions on the best way to do this? Thanks.

tomarm wrote:as I understand that only files no longer needed in other backups will be deleted. Is there any reason this approach should be avoided? Are there instructions on the best way to do this? Thanks.
yes, your wife ..
A: needs a MINIMUM of a second HD to archive data on
B: Yes, time machine "throws data out the window" when full
C: HD clones are more important.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.

Time Machine - which old backups are deleted?

Hi,
     Apologies if the answer is obvious - just wanted a second opinion.
     I'm backing up a 500GB MBP and a 2TB external to a 4TB Time Machine. If I complete a backup right now, can I be sure that everything on both drives is contained on the Time Machine drive?
     If both my MBP and 2TB drives exploded in the next few minutes, will I be able to get back all those files from my Time Machine?
     I ask because TM deletes old files during the backup process but we're never told which ones. If I've created and then backed up files in March (and not deleted them from the original drives) can I be sure that they're still available to restore from in July?
     Thanks,
A

championshipdigital wrote:
I'm backing up a 500GB MBP and a 2TB external to a 4TB Time Machine. If I complete a backup right now, can I be sure that everything on both drives is contained on the Time Machine drive?
Everything you need, yes (Time Machine skips some things that aren't needed, such as system work files, most caches & logs, trash, etc.).
I ask because TM deletes old files during the backup process but we're never told which ones.
It "thins" backups, per the schedule on the prefrences window:
If I've created and then backed up files in March (and not deleted them from the original drives) can I be sure that they're still available to restore from in July?
Yes. Time Machine will never delete the backup copy of anything that's still on your system.
The mistake some folks make is, they start deleting originals to save space not realizing that Time Machine will, eventually, delete the backups of those files.
See #12 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for details.

Time Machine remove all backups of this files not working

I've just left a company that had me use my MB as a BOYD...now I have to remove all of their stuff, including files held by Time Machine.
I selected their directory in TM and said "remove all backups of this file". It asked for my password and seemed to accept it.
And then nothing happened. I've left the MB plugged in, with my Seagate drive plugged in (by usb), untouched for 48 hours. Even though there is no other activity on the machine TM keeps says that its doing multi-gig backups. And yet, the files I've asked it to remove remain in my various TM backups.
I've heard that TM can be unbelievably slow....is 48 hours not long enough? My MB has 128 gig and my TM has 500 gig so this is not a lot of data.
Suggestions?

Best bet would be log problem on apples support and then set up call with support - particularly if most of the backup is not your stuff - but you want to keep your stuff.
Time Machine Cleanups don't match the length of the backup - because of collapsing of daily files into weekly files - and the hourly ones into daily.
Have you opened Time Machine desktop drive to look at the folder and see what is going on -- you should have daily backups for the last month (in days) and weekly backups back to the beginning. With the delete all of some files that may be an issue where that is the only set of files that changed in that week (if you chose not to back up system files).
Just to be sure - you are running Apples Time Machine and not the backup that came with the Seagate drive?

Time Machine Deleting Old Backups!!

Good morning,
I recently installed a new hard drive and a clean OS X 10.6.3 in my MacBook Pro (2008).
I plugged in my Time Machine back-up drive, and TM started getting rid of my old back-ups!
Can anyone advise me on what is happening and how to prevent this? Is this a malfunction or, more likely, something I don't understand about TM?
Thanks for your help.
Cheers,
Burntmonkey

BurntMonkey wrote:
Currently my new 500Gb hard drive has 210Gb of data.
My back-up drive is a 500Gb drive. Previously it had 180Gb free space, but all (98%) of the data on the drive is what I rebuilt my new drive with so it's the same data.
Does Time Machine need to 're-backup' this data?
Yes; it's a different drive, so is treated as never having been backed-up.
Time Machine erased about 60Gb of old backups so now the capacity of the back-up drive is at about 240Gb.
Yes, it would have deleted a lot of old backups to make room. In addition, it adds 20% to the estimated size of the backup, for workspace on the backup drive, so it would need roughly 250 GB to back up the 210 GB on your drive.

Time machine dropping old backups after migrating

I recently changed from an iMac to a retina Macbook Pro. I read that I could continue my time machine after migrating my mac. My new macbook keeps trying to create a brand new backup. I enter time machine and go back to find all my old dates but it drops after a minute or so. Is my mac trying to create new backups instead of continuing? I have a second backup portable hard drive with thunderbolt. It only took an hour to do what my network storge was taking 22 hours! how can I keep my old backups without my mac trying to restart again?

For all things TM... See Pondini's excellent Information Here...
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
Perhaps this is what you are looking for...
http://pondini.org/TM/B5.html
From Section B = Troubleshooting.

Time Machine - Removing Old Backups

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