Time Machine on Time Capsule

Question

Time Machine on Time Capsule

Hello,

I have bought a Time Capsule backup device for my Macbook Pro. Time Machine does hourly backups to the Time Capsule. Or so it seems.

Two months ago I imported a huge file with some video data on it. Before deleting it again (due to space) I made sure that an automatic Time Machine backup had been completed so that it would be saved on my Time Capsule.

However, the other day I went back to the day that it was supposed to be saved and discovered that it was not there.

Can it be true that Time Machine only keeps one (random) backup per day, if you go two months back in time?

I thought it was supposed to save ALL the changes done since last backup.

How can I be sure, that all my important files are backed up then?

Maybe there is something fundamental I have not understood!

Best

Sofie

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OSX Yosemite 10.10.5

Posted on Sep 1, 2015 5:25 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 1, 2015 6:05 AM in response to sofie_copenhagen

Time Machine is not an archival backup. It will delete older backups during "cleanup" after a backup. If it runs out of space, it will begin deleting older backups to make space for the new backup. Once you deleted the file from your main drive, it became a prime candidate to be deleted. If you want to keep files off your main drive to free up space, save them to an external hard drive that is formatted as HFS, and let Time Machine back up both drives.

Here is everything you need to know about Time Machine (maybe more), and how it works.

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

Have a nice day.

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Answer 2

Sep 1, 2015 6:19 AM in response to sofie_copenhagen

I thought it was supposed to save ALL the changes done since last backup

Not quite. Time Machine backs up the changes that have occurred on your Mac since the last backup.

If space was tight on the Time Capsule, then Time Machine backed up the changes that you made.......you deleted files from your Mac.....so Time Machine did the same. Sometimes, this can occur even if there is ample free space on the back up drive.

Word to the wise......never delete a file from your Mac unless you also want it to be deleted....at some point.....in your backups.

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