Time Machine deletes files/folders

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Level 1

8 points

Time Machine deletes files/folders

Bottom line: Why does Time Machine delete stand-alone folders on the Time Machine external drive? And how do I prevent it?

Background: I use Time Machine to do daily backups of my iMac onto a big external drive. I see the big "backup" folder on the external drive, and I’ve always assumed backups go there leaving the rest of the external drive for anything I want to store. But there’s a problem.

Here’s what I do to free up space on iMac and Cloud; I organize photos into folders, drag photo folders over to the same external drive, and delete those photos/folders from iMac. I checked; the three photo folders were on the external drive. Now here's the problem. After several daily backups, I went to the external drive and 2 of the 3 photo folders were gone. How can I prevent this from happening to these stand-alone folders?

I assumed the backup function mirrors the computer just into the continually overwriting backups in the Backup Folder leaving other stand-alone folders on the external drive alone. But no, stand-alone folders are disappearing.

Just to be clear: I know Time Machine deletes older copies of the backup. That's not the question. These are stand-alone folders on the external drive going missing.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Feb 17, 2022 3:09 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

Feb 18, 2022 4:12 PM in response to Polelamq

In theory, you can add a partition to the external backup drive, drag/copy the photo folders to the new partition, and delete them from the TM partition. When partitioning a drive in this manner there is risk to the data on the drive, and for this reason I've never done it with a TM backup, nor with any files that aren't backed up elsewhere in case of data loss. Do you have other backups?

The process is as follows:

Mount the drive

Open Disk Utility

In the Disk Utility window, select the drive you’re using for Time Machine backups

Click the Partition button in the toolbar

Click the “+” button to create a new partition, then resize it by moving the dial or by typing a specific number (keep as much space as possible for the TM backup, 2x-3x the size of your internal drive is recommended)

Name the new partition

For Format, use Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Click Apply

Click Partition

When prompted when the process has completed (this may take some time), click Done

You should now have two separate volumes on your desktop, the original TM backup and whatever you named the new partition; they will act like to different drives

Your TM should continue to backup to the existing TM backup, but there are no guarantees, as strange things can happen with TM

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Answer 2

tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

Feb 17, 2022 3:45 PM in response to Polelamq

Hi,

You prevent it by putting the TM backup on its own partition. There should not be anything else on that partition, as you've found out.

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Answer 3

tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

Feb 19, 2022 1:32 PM in response to Polelamq

I think that's the better option, to use another external for other backups. In the future, you could buy a larger drive and partition it, if desired, so you could use TM and also put other backups on the drive on a separate partition.

I use partitions on one drive so I can mount it through one USB connection and have two "different drives." One is for TM and the other is for Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC). I have other drives partitioned to save different CCC bootable backups of different OSes so I can boot to a specific OS as desired. I keep a CCC copy of each OS I use after upgrading to a newer OS, so I can always go backwards if needed, whether it's because I don't like the newer OS or certain software will only run on the older OS. I can also boot to a different OS to do troubleshooting for that OS here on ASC. Yet another reason to partition is because there is no need for a partition that is larger than the OS being backed up; for the way I use them, that OS and its files will never be larger than the internal drive they were created on (the internal drive is 250GBs, I'm CCCing it to an external partition, it will never be larger than 250GBs, so no need for a partition larger than that).

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Answer 4

Polelamq Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 18, 2022 6:57 AM in response to tjk

Thanks for the speedy help! Please tell me how to implement a partition? Can I implement it and retain the photo folders when using only the single external drive?

(By the way, if you have time, tsk, please also tell me this: I assumed TM/backup mirrors the Mac into the "backup file", and leaves the rest of the drive for me to store whatever I like. But it seems TM takes over the whole drive, that is, all real estate on the drive is in jeopardy of being overwritten?? that's crazy to me, and while I'll never be an expert, I'm trying to be less stupid...)

Please tell me how to implement a partition.

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Answer 5

Polelamq Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 19, 2022 1:11 PM in response to tjk

Thanks, tjk!! VERY helpful. Since you don't recommend partitioning the external drive I use for TM, I won't partition that one. TY for the caution. I'll leave it alone and archive my photo folders on a different external.

Last question and it's kind of dumb - Generally speaking, what's the purpose of a partition? why does one partition a drive/any drive/external drive? Guessing: since they act like different drives, you can do something to one side of the partition that doesn't affect the other, and you haven't had to physically unplug-plug in different drives to do it. Is that it? What's an example of something you'd do to one side of the partition and not the other? Reformat? probably... What other purposes?

thanks, TJK. You answer very clearly; not everyone here does. Thanks!

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Answer 6

Polelamq Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 19, 2022 2:15 PM in response to tjk

Another good and very clear answer. Wow, you're good at this. I don't think I'll ever need to partition.

Something strange has happened on iCloud account. First let me tell you that I'm on a 5yr-old iMac, 10.13.6 High Sierra. I don't use iCloud for anything (I backup other ways, and I don't require remote access, even for photos). My iCloud has 4GB stored on it right now because I failed to uncheck "Desktop and Document" and "Mail" sharing to iCloud. When I'm reminded that my free 5GB storage is about to run out, I use it as a prompt to organize and clean up of my photos.

More deets: "iCloud Photo Library" is turned off. Only "My Photo Stream" is turned on under "System Preferences/iCloud".

Question: If 'photos to iCloud' is not on, WHY does deleting 100 photos on my iPhone free up "iCloud Storage" in "System Preferences/iCloud"? (I feel like if I understand this, I'll understand a lot...)

Thanks again. You're helping more people than just me by helping manage photos.

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