Hi,
My Time Machine back up folder is 6TB.
That's really large considering my iMac's storage is only 2TB.
The Time Machine folder is in a NAS (12TB). I have about 2TB of data in the NAS.
Time Machine is set to auto back up.
I'm trying to figure out if this is normal, and also what I can do to reduce the Time Machine folder size.
Thank you.
:)
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
It is normal because Time Machine automatically adds to the backup size, and then consolidates weekly and monthly backups. It will automatically trim outdated content that has been consolidated, and there is nothing that you can or should do to interfere with that process.
It is normal because Time Machine automatically adds to the backup size, and then consolidates weekly and monthly backups. It will automatically trim outdated content that has been consolidated, and there is nothing that you can or should do to interfere with that process.
When you set up Time Machine it asks what drives you want to back up to. If you already have Time Machine installed on drive A and then introduce a new External Hard Disk (drive B) Time Machine will not ask to install on drive B.
Not unless you've told it to.
As for your backup TM size: TM will continue to create backups until the drive is nearly full and then start to delete the oldest ones to make room for new ones. Depending on how much you've got, you could wind up with quite a large folder.
Note that unless your NAS has some provision to limit the amount of data that TM uses (like a virtual drive or partition), TM will continue to grow and fill up the available space. Another reason TM is not compatible with a NAS.
Thanks for your reply.
I also have an external G-drive HDD that’s connected to my IMac occasionally.
Does TM also backs up whatever external drives that are connected to the iMac?
Oh actually what I mean is, my TM is backing up to my NAS.
However I have a separate external drive that’s attached to my iMac. Does TM automatically backs up this external drive too?
I see. How do I tell it to do so?
Go to SystemPreferences, TimeMachine and unlock the padlock. Click on the Options-button. Here you can include the other ecternal drive
I didn't see any padlock. So I connected my External drive, and went to TM/Options and removed my external drive from the list under "Exclude these items from backups".
Will that do the trick?
It should. It is supposed to back up anything not listed there.
Who is the normal size for Time Machine Folder?
