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How to delete certain time machine backups?

I didnt realize time machine defaulted to hourly backups. For me that is overkill and my brand new drive has a lot of backups that I just dont want. But I cant find a way to delete them. With that said, it used to be possible. Did apple update something so that time machine backups are permanent until the drive gets more full?


If thats the case, it would have been nice to have been prompted to select the frequency upon setup.

Mac Studio, macOS 14.1

Posted on Dec 10, 2023 2:09 PM

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3 replies

Dec 10, 2023 2:54 PM in response to jawns

You should not mess around with deleting items on the Time Machine backup disk.


Time Machine automatically makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. The oldest backups are deleted when your backup disk is full.

To change the backup frequency in macOS Ventura or later, choose Open Time Machine Settings from the Time Machine menu . Click Options, then choose a setting from the “Back up frequency” menu.

The first backup might take longer than you expect, but you can continue using your Mac while a backup is underway. Time Machine backs up only the files that changed since the previous backup, so future backups will be faster. 

Dec 10, 2023 3:00 PM in response to jawns

Hi jawns,


There are a couple of points to note about Time Machine. Since Ventura it has been possible to select different backup Frequencies in System Settings; you can now select Hourly, Daily, or Weekly. Also, don't forget you can choose to exclude files from the backup. Further, Time Machine is most useful when you don't use the drive for anything else. It's tempting to whip out the drive to store some other bits and pieces on it but it's doing a disservice to the Time Machine backups and also, some say, puts at risk the functioning of the backups.


Time Machine backups are designed to be a complete unit so that if necessary the user can go anywhere in the backups (ie. back in time) to restore files, or use the backups to restore a whole system to a new or erased drive. In other words, it's not meant to be fiddled with by having bits of it deleted.


I get the sense that what you are looking for is an archiving regime where you can store files that are especially important to you, and this makes sense with a powerful Mac Studio you have with the intense professional-level work that would permit. The two are not incompatible and it's something for you to consider if you find Time Machine a little inflexible. However, I think that it is still important to have a complete Time Machine backup. You don't need it until you need it - and at that point you really need it.


If you have any comments you can always send them directly to Apple via their feedback page: Feedback - Time Machine - Apple


Apple has a couple of helpful webpages on Time Machine for further reading:

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

Exclude files from a Time Machine backup on Mac - Apple Support


Dec 11, 2023 8:01 AM in response to David McKinlay

Thank you both. So I have my answer—its not possible to delete particular TM backups anymore—something I have done in the past.


Again, it would've been nice when setting it up to be asked what I wanted the frequency to be, rather than defaulting to hourly.


I have a dedicated drive for this too. And eventually will be including other external drives in the TM backups. Which is why I didn't want to waste space. If for no other reason than when a TM drive gets full backups become very slow.


Guess this is just apple simplifying things to a fault again, at least for me, as someone whos been utilizing TM since its inception.

How to delete certain time machine backups?

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