Time Machine Disk Full -- delete selected files?

C

coprophagous

Registered
OK, here's an odd problem: I've been using Time Machine happily for years. However, I recently began working on a project that requires me to load many gigs of data onto my hard drive, process it, delete it, then load another batch of data amounting to many gigs. Every time I did this, Time Machine dutifully backed up each huge mass of data. Now, unsurprisingly, the backup drive is full and Time Machine is deleting old backups. If I continue this project, it won't be long before my oldest backup is a few days old. I'd like to preserve the old backup data and I'd like to dump the backups of the huge data files. But Time Machine won't allow me to delete those monster files.

Can anybody think of a method to solve my problem?
 
time machine will allow you to delete files,
enter the TM screen, drill down to the file in question, now from the TM-Finder top menu bar click on the 'gear' icon,
you'll get a drop-down menu and the selection you need is 'Delete all Backups of "your file here".
This will remove all traces of any file you select.
The best thing for you would be to NOT back up these huge files to begin with.
You can set TM to exclude any files or folders of your choice.
 
Thanks for the explanation, jbarley. I executed your instructions and they worked perfectly. It's sad, I've been programming and using Macs since 1984. In the early days it was easy to learn the entire system -- I knew every trick with CopyBits and could handle the heap like a pro. But over the years, the system just kept getting more and more complex, and I found that I didn't have the time to keep up with everything. Nowadays, I can't even keep up with the details of applications like Time Machine. Besides, it's so easy to come to places like this that I can afford to be lazy.

Thanks again.
 
Glad it worked out for you.
PS: next time, check out the big "thumbs-up" Thanks button.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top