User profile for user: KatieOConnell
KatieOConnell Author
User level: Level 1
45 points

Time Machine Backups Disappeared Off the Hard Drive

Last week, I went into my Time Machine to find a file I knew existed less than one year ago. As usual, everything was loading very slooooowly, but I did manage to find what I was looking for. My backup files went back about 3 years.


I also noticed that I had set the frequency for backups to be "every hour" and since I no longer need that kind of frequency, I changed it to "each day."


Now, I'm horrified to see that 3 years' worth of backups seem to have disappeared and what's left is only for yesterday and today.


How could this have happened?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.7

Posted on Feb 9, 2026 11:39 AM

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User profile for user: Camelot
Camelot
User level: Level 9
59,955 points

Posted on Feb 14, 2026 11:19 AM

By changing the frequency, Time Machine likely started a new backup sequence.


You can ask it to use the old backup sequence - assuming you have the Time Machine menu enabled, hold the Option key when you click on the menu to display the Browse Other Backup Disks... option



This should check for other backups that you can choose to run.


Note, also, that having made this change, Time Machine will no longer expire/delete old backups in that sequence. This can be handy if you want to maintain looooong time backups, but it means it will never reclaim that space for newer backups, if needed.

For example, if your original backup ran from, say, January 2020 through February 8th 2026, and you started a new sequence on February 9th, then the original sequence would stay intact, and when Time Machine needs more space, it would start to delete content from the February 9th backup in the second sequence.

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User profile for user: Camelot
Camelot
User level: Level 9
59,955 points

Feb 14, 2026 11:19 AM in response to KatieOConnell

By changing the frequency, Time Machine likely started a new backup sequence.


You can ask it to use the old backup sequence - assuming you have the Time Machine menu enabled, hold the Option key when you click on the menu to display the Browse Other Backup Disks... option



This should check for other backups that you can choose to run.


Note, also, that having made this change, Time Machine will no longer expire/delete old backups in that sequence. This can be handy if you want to maintain looooong time backups, but it means it will never reclaim that space for newer backups, if needed.

For example, if your original backup ran from, say, January 2020 through February 8th 2026, and you started a new sequence on February 9th, then the original sequence would stay intact, and when Time Machine needs more space, it would start to delete content from the February 9th backup in the second sequence.

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Time Machine Backups Disappeared Off the Hard Drive

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