Time Machine Contents

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Level 1

10 points

Time Machine Contents

I back-up 3 Macs (2x iMacs and 1 Laptop) all running Yosemite to one Time Machine. The Time Machine is nearly full. Can I access ALL the information on the Time Machine from one iMac and selectively delete contents on the TM?

Posted on Apr 24, 2015 2:14 AM

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Answer 1

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LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Apr 24, 2015 1:35 PM in response to MikeR-NZ

No.. !!

However you can delete the whole sparsebundle..

Deleting bits and pieces from TM backups is very seldom a success.. our advice is .. don't do it.

If you want to save the backups, archive them to a USB drive.. then wipe the TC and start again.

Don't fiddle with the internal structure of the TM backups.. it will create a mess.

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Answer 2

MikeR-NZ Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 24, 2015 1:37 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thank you. I think I'll keep it simple and let the TM do it's own deletion.

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Answer 3

Apr 24, 2015 3:24 PM in response to MikeR-NZ

You can plug a USB drive into the TC and move one of the sparsebundles to it.. then one computer can do its backups to the USB.. moving the original backup is a long process.. and it might be better just to let TM start over.. and a month or two after that, delete the sparsebundle on the TC internal disk.

If you have a Gen3 TC.. you can easily upgrade the internal disk to 3TB..

If you have earlier TC I would seriously consider replacement.. as they are just too old to bother with.

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