Prevent Time Machine from Deleting Certain Files

Question

Prevent Time Machine from Deleting Certain Files

I am keeping certain files on my external hard drive (not on my MacBook HD), and using Time Machine to back up. These are files I need to keep, but I don't have room for them on the MacBook. I'm worried that when the external drive fills up, and Time Machine starts to backup over the older files, that I will lose these files I need.

My question: what can I do to prevent these files from being overwritten when the external is full? How can I tell Time Machine to keep them and delete some other, more recent stuff?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jan 12, 2009 7:52 PM

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Answer 1

bdmarsha

Level 4

2,580 points

Jan 12, 2009 7:57 PM in response to UCSD Bodysurfer

First, time machine will warn you before it starts deleting any old backups. Second, time machine will not delete files from the drive that are not part of the backup. So your files should be safe. Of course, you should have them backed up somewhere else in case your TM disk fails.

bd

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Answer 2

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Jan 12, 2009 7:59 PM in response to UCSD Bodysurfer

How can I tell Time Machine to keep them and delete some other, more recent stuff?

you can't. Time machine is not an archiving tool and should not be used as such. if you need to keep the copies of those files do not delete the originals. or you can copy them to a separate drive.

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Answer 3

gkap

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2009 7:19 AM in response to bdmarsha

My time machine/capsule does not delete old backups, so it stops backing up when the time capsule is full. I tried deleting old backups from the sparseimages but it did not clear up any space. Any advice?
Thanks,
Glenn

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Answer 4

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Jan 13, 2009 8:14 AM in response to gkap

gkap wrote:
My time machine/capsule does not delete old backups, so it stops backing up when the time capsule is full. I tried deleting old backups from the sparseimages but it did not clear up any space. Any advice?

Please start your own thread.

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Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jan 13, 2009 8:18 AM in response to UCSD Bodysurfer

How are you "keeping" those files on the external?

If they're separate files, that you copied or moved onto the same disk/partition that TM uses, TM will NOT delete them. It will only delete backups it made.

In general, this isn't a good idea. It's usually better to partition your disk, so TM has it's own, exclusive partition, but it will work.

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Answer 6

gkap

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2009 8:28 AM in response to Pondini

They are TM backups, not my individual files. I do have other individual files stored on the TC drive. Would that affect it?

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Answer 7

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jan 13, 2009 9:58 AM in response to gkap

No. Storing other files will reduce the amount of space TM can use, and therefore it won't be able to keep its backups as long, but otherwise it will usually work fine.

The only exception might be, if the disk is fairly close to full, and you suddenly fill nearly all the remaining space with non-TM backups, TM may choke and fail. It does need some free space (as does OSX for your boot drive), but just how much is a bit of a mystery.

But it won't delete anything it didn't put there.

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