Deleting Time Machine Backups only before a specific date.
How do I delete backups from before a specific date, and keep the most recent ones.
I am still on OS 15.7.3 Sequoia since the latest is awful.
Mac mini (M4 Pro, 2024)
This may depend on several factors
1 - is the TM Backup drive formatted HFS Journaled / GUID Partition map ?
2 - is the TM Backup drive formatted APFS / GUID Partition map ?
3 - How important are the TM Backups ?
4 - How many different Drives are used with TM Backup Utility ?
5 - Do to have only ONE Time Machine backup drive ?
6 - Do you have another empty Drive that is at least 2x - 3x the size of your Internal Drive ?
How Time Machine Works its Magic
I do not recommend doing anything manually with the TM drive. The oldest backups will be deleted automatically as the drive fills up. You can mess up the drive structure so best to leave alone. I would just start a new clean backup after erasing the drive or start a new drive as desired.
Rules for good computer practices regarding Time Machine Backup Utilities
Do not attempt to cull older TM Backup Snapshots - full stop
Do so, may very will corrupt ALL the TM Snapshots
To truly protect your non replaceable Data
Have a 3-2-1 Rescue Plan in place and always current
3 Backups using 2 methods and 1 off site incase of natural disaster or un-natural disaster.
Each of the above should be done to a Dedicated Single Purposed External Drive
Below link is intended to augment what TM Backup does
How do I delete backups from before a specific date, and keep the most recent ones.
You don't. Time Machine manages its own backups.
If the TM backup drive is to small or full...?
Erase that backup drive and start new backups, or...
set it aside and start new backups on a larger external drive.
Thank you all for your advice. I reset my OS back to Sequoia in December, (Tahoe is a dog...) and not much has changed since then.
I know Time Machine is clever and will delete history to free up space, but I have experienced it not doing so in the past.
It's a 6TB disk and my Mac mini has a 2TB disk in it - so plenty of headroom for now.
I will erase it and start over.
Timothy Holt wrote:
I know Time Machine is clever and will delete history to free up space, but I have experienced it not doing so in the past.
The reason for that apparent inaction is usually the presence of a separate Time Machine backup created for a completely separate Mac — or — (most commonly) the presence of a backup of that same Mac whose source volume had since been renamed.
In either of those two cases those older backups are effectively "archived" and cannot be deleted... unless...
I will erase it and start over.
That's the way to do it.
Also, be advised that the dialog that appears when TM is unable to complete a backup due to insufficient space is easily misinterpreted. TM requires a minimum amount of space on the backup device as well as a minimum amount of unallocated space on the source volume. Neither one of those amounts is easily calculated, but the particular dialog wording is important to understand which limitation TM is encountering.
Delete old Time Machine backups, keep recent
