backup two macs, both on two time capsules

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backup two macs, both on two time capsules

Hi,

I have a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air. I use Time Machine to Backup both devices. For this I have two 3TB TimeCapsules, one in the office, one at home.

My question:

The size of the individual backups increases until the backup disk is full. In general TimeMAchine deletes older backups to save new ones.

How does TimeMachine handle this if I use the TimeCapsule for two Macs? Especially if I have one of the devices connected rarely? Is it possible that TimeMachine of 'Mac 1' delete older backups of 'Mac 2' to save the current backup? Or is it the case that Backup of 'Mac 2' uses the whole disk space and thus it is not longer possible to backup 'Mac 1'?

Thanks a lot for your help!

best regrards

i-Damo

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Jan 29, 2014 6:51 AM

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Answer 1

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LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Jan 29, 2014 1:19 PM in response to i-Damo

First come first served.

The two Macs that share the TC.. will work away as if they own it. Each keeps expanding the size of the sparsebundle until it fills the disk.

Is it possible that TimeMachine of 'Mac 1' delete older backups of 'Mac 2' to save the current backup?

No this will not happen.. each sparsebundle is owned by the respective computer and will never be touched by the other.. as far as each is concerned it is just files on the TC that are outside its permissions to touch.

Or is it the case that Backup of 'Mac 2' uses the whole disk space and thus it is not longer possible to backup 'Mac 1'?

The two computers are totally unaware of each other.. each treats the TC as its personal property and will merrily fill the hard disk as per its design.

The TC cannot partition its internal disk to prevent this happening. So users have got sneeky and managed to fix the size of the sparsebundle.. see our TM expert Pondini.

http://pondini.org/TM/A8.html

By setting a size for the sparsebundle for Mac1, then Mac2 will not be able to expand futher and will start deleting its older files earlier than if left to consume the whole disk. The sparsebundle is like a partition or virtual disk.. by assigning more space to it, the inside is partly empty and so can continue to be filled by Mac1.

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