Time Machine Explanation

[ra4oasis]

Can someone clear something up for me? When Time Machine notifies me that it is deleting backups because the drive is out of space, does that mean my oldest data isn't being backed up? My time machine backup is full, but it is 2TB in size, but it is backing up my Mini, as well as my drive of media (movies, picture, TV shows and music), which is around 1.4TB right now. I just want to be sure my oldest media isn't going to be lost if something happens. If the old stuff is NOT being backed up, then I need to wipe my Time Machne drive and do a full, fresh backup more often (like every few weeks I'd guess). Thoughts?

 

[macrem]

I think you're safe as far as getting a complete back up of the files you currently have on your computer. What you would lose is the oldest backed up files you have since deleted from your computer or the oldest versions of files you have kept.

 

[ra4oasis]

Oh ok. If that is how it works, I'll be fine then. I'm not really deleting anything from the computer. Can anybody else confirm this?

 

[tzus]

That's correct. It only deletes the oldest back-up.

 

[benwiggy]

Let's say TM is going to delete December 2011 to make space. You will then have copies of everything on your hard drive from Jan 2012 onward. Any file you had on your computer from Jan 2012 will still be on your TM backup.

However, if you deleted a file in December 2011, then you won't be able to retrieve it now.