Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Will time machine snapshots get automatically deleted if external drive/back up drive is not connected to MacBook?

H

Hoki55

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 5, 2024
2
0
My external hard drive is not constantly connected to my macbook. When doing a time machine backup, a snapshot is stored in the internal drive. Will these snapshots get deleted if the backup drive is removed after doing a manual backup? After you do the backup you remove the external hard drive and don't connect it to your mac again for some time. In the mean time do the snapshots that have been created in the internal drive get deleted or do they stay in the internal drive until you plug in your external drive again?
 
I believe time machine backups won't get deleted until you run out of disk space for new backups and/or your time machine options are set to delete them.
 
But Im asking about the snapshots, not the back up itself. I want to know does it matter if my backup drive is connected to my laptop or not regarding the life of the snapshots?
 
TM saves “local snapshots “ on the boot drive each time a backup runs. Every hour (even if the backup drive is not attached and thus no backup is “run”) local snapshots older than 24 hours are deleted.

That’s my understanding and experience, anyway.

EDIT: realized I haven’t tested this… could be wrong!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back