Time Machine Backup frequency
How do I change the frequency of backups within Time Machine in Big Sur? I do not want the hourly frequency.
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.1
How do I change the frequency of backups within Time Machine in Big Sur? I do not want the hourly frequency.
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.1
Time Machine keeps:
Local snapshots as space permits
Hourly backups for the last 24 hours
Daily backups for the past month
weekly backups for all previous months
The oldest backups are deleted when your disk becomes full.
I don't recall there ever being any other options.
The simplicity of Time Machine is its best asset. Apple says in their support page Back up your Mac with Time Machine "Time Machine immediately begins making periodic backups—automatically and without further action by you."
The only way to change the frequency is to perform a backup, dismount your backup drive and mount it again when you want to perform another backup - continuously, which is somewhat tedious compared with the set and forget method of always having a backup drive connected.
Time Machine keeps:
Local snapshots as space permits
Hourly backups for the last 24 hours
Daily backups for the past month
weekly backups for all previous months
The oldest backups are deleted when your disk becomes full.
I don't recall there ever being any other options.
The simplicity of Time Machine is its best asset. Apple says in their support page Back up your Mac with Time Machine "Time Machine immediately begins making periodic backups—automatically and without further action by you."
The only way to change the frequency is to perform a backup, dismount your backup drive and mount it again when you want to perform another backup - continuously, which is somewhat tedious compared with the set and forget method of always having a backup drive connected.
I tried opening the file apple.backupd-helper.plist and it is locked. So there is that.
But I found a workaround for my specific issue. Specifically, I want to backup every day at midnight. I used Automator in conjunction with Calendar.
Open Automator
Click on Calendar Alarm for the type of automation you want
Click the Record button (red circle at top left of window
Perform the 3 following actions
Click on the Time Machine icon on the header bar
Click on Backup Now
Click on the Time Machine icon on the header bar (necessary to stop the automation)
Click on the Stop button on the recorder
You can now look at what you've created, the three lines describe exactly what you just did.
You can even Run it if you want to see how it works if you'd like.
Next, Click File>Save
Give it a name
Calendar will open and the Alarm will be inserted into your calendar at the current time.
Edit the Calendar event to your purposes (I used run 11:58-11:59 PM, every day, Never end)
Done!
you cannot make changes to the frequency of the time machine automatic backups. you can, however, disable automatic backups and start a backup as you see fit. in my case, i have disabled auto updates and manually start a backup once a week. but note that my mac is only a part of my home entertainment system, and i keep very little on my internal drive anyways. and since mine is an iMac, i leave the time machine drive connected to my mac at all times. when i shut down, the time machine mounts by itself upon restart. but i would like to add that if you are using the mac for work purposes, i would leave the time machine set to perform automatic backups.
You used to be able to change the backup interval, by editing the plist file, com.apple.backup-auto, in terminal. The command was:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backup-auto StartInterval -int 3600
This command no longer works. Apparently, Apple removed the ability to change the interval in Big Sur.
I've just upgraded to Big Sur and Time Machine wants to back up every hour. I know I had set it for once a day at midnight under an earlier OS. I'd like to do that again, thus my question on this thread.
Earlier submissions said you could edit apple.backupd-auto.plist, changing the interval from 3600 (sec) to whatever (86400 for a day for example). There is no such file I could find under Big Sur.
There is a file apple.backupd-helper.plist that contains 3 different intervals:
Find <key>com.apple.backupd-auto.dryspell</key>, <key>Interval</key>, <real>86400</real>, etc
Find <key>com.apple.backupd-auto.dryspell.test</key>, <key>Interval</key>, <integer>9223372036854775807</integer>, etc
Find <key>com.apple.backupd-auto</key>, <key>Interval</key>, <integer>3600</integer>, etc
Does it make sense that these represent three different intervals for performing a backup? The first after a 'dryspell', say the computer has sat idle, the second is a test mode (value is incredibly large), and the third is the normal backup interval?
Any thoughts? Anyone game to try it and see?
Thanks
Thank you for the kudos. However, while the script works I don't seem to be able to get the calendar to activate it. I've looked on some other threads and have changed preferences but no go so far. Still working on it.
Here's what I did. Go to system preferences, then Security and Privacy, then Accessibility. Then will need to click on the lock at the bottom of the screen to make changes. Put in your password. You will need to give permission to Automator and also to the actual event in Calendar. In both cases, you will receive a notice that this needs to be done.
delaina05 wrote:
I should be able to assign the frequency that works for me, not Apple.
You can let Apple know they should write macOS to work the way you decide.
I am trying to minimize what is constantly going on on my Macbook Pro and would like to be more in charge of my backups...I should be able to assign the frequency that works for me, not Apple.
FWIW, TimeMachineEditor is supposed to be Big Sur compatible and allow one to change the backup intervals. I don't use it so I can't say if it works or not. The developer seems to think so.
I have no need for an hourly backup, once a day is perfect.
Thanks for the solution!
I want to also thank you for the solution. THANKS !!
Thanks Ron, I've Accessibility for Automator and my app were set, I've added Calendar. I am very hopeful.
Time Machine Backup frequency