can I reduce backup thinning? (to keep more old backups?)

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Level 1

26 points

can I reduce backup thinning? (to keep more old backups?)

I have >300 GB left on my TM drive and one TM Backup normally takes about 1..2,5 GB and I have configured it with Time Machine editor to back up only each 3 hours.

So I wonder why TM does not keep more of the old backups for a longer time.
Is there a way to avoid TM removing automatically the old backups and e. g. asking before something is removed?

I'm currently working heavily on a big writing project and at least for the last weeks I'd like to keep more than one backup per day to be able to revert (in case of emergency) to an old version...

Is there a way to do that with Time Machine?

BTW: Can TM distinct manually created backups (launched from the TM menu) and automatically launched backups?
Because the manually launched ones normally define a certain status of the "works" which shall be preserved and it would be nice if at least those could be kept for longer..

MacBook 13" white 2,16 GHz, 3 GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Feb 27, 2011 12:17 AM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Feb 27, 2011 7:12 AM in response to beckmart

beckmart wrote:
. . .
Is there a way to avoid TM removing automatically the old backups and e. g. asking before something is removed?

No, it automatically deletes all but the first backup of the day after 24 hours. That's built-in and can't be changed.

BTW: Can TM distinct manually created backups (launched from the TM menu) and automatically launched backups?

No. They're all the same.

You could use a different app for the document(s) in question. SuperDuper won't do that, but [CarbonCopyCloner|http://www.bombich.com> will. It's used most often to make "bootable clones" of your entire OSX drive, but has an option to keep "archived" copies, and can be set to back up just selected items, and scheduled to run hourly, daily, etc. I've never used the archive facility, but the copies are put in time-stamped folders in a special +*_CCC Archives+* folder at the top level of the backup volume. But you may have the opposite problem; the archives are not thinned at all; you'll have to manage them yourself.

CCC is donationware, so you can try it before sending them some $$ to help keep it up to date. There's also a forum, where you can get more info.

I would not advise putting those (or any other) backups in the same partition as your TM backups; either use a different drive or a separate partition on your TM drive.

And/or, see Kappy's post on [Basic Backup|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12366915#12366915].

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