Alex grey steel mace onnit. Time Machine is such an incredibly useful tool and so easy to use that everyone should be using it to back up their Mac. Not only will it bail you out if the worst happens and you need to delete your boot drive reinstall macOS from scratch, but it allows to recover individual files that you may have accidentally deleted or modified.
- Restore Time Machine Backup
- Time Machine Backup Without Erasing Disk
- Time Machine Backup Without Erasing Disk Backup
- Time Machine Back Up Disk
Linux im messenger. You can restore from a Time machine backup without or after installing an operating system. If you restore without installing an operating system: All the backup will be restored to your disk, including the operating system (for example Yosemite).
Click Use as Backup Disk. If you don’t see the alert, make sure the drive is formatted correctly - it needs to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled), if it isn’t read this. If you still don’t see the. There’s no way to convert an HFS+ Time Machine volume to one that uses APFS without erasing it. Apple created an exceedingly wacky way to encompass. One of the above-mentioned links indicates that converting an unencrypted TM backup drive to encrypted form will erase the disk: 'If you previously used a Time Capsule or networked disk for unencrypted backups and want to turn on encryption now, Time Machine must first erase the unencrypted backup before starting an encrypted backup.' Leave the option to transfer from a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk selected and click Continue again. Click the appropriate icon when asked to select a Time Machine backup disk and c lick Continue. Choose the information you which to restore from the Time Machine backup.
In this article, we’ll show you a couple of ways to delete Time Machine backups when you need to free up space. But before we do, it’s worth recapping how Time Machine works so we know what we’re going to delete.
How Time Machine works
Time Machine backs up everything on your Mac by default. However, when you set it up, you can specify folders, such as, say, your Downloads folder, to omit from the backup. You can also specify where the backup should be stored. When Apple launched Time Machine, it also launched a network storage system called Time Capsule to make it easy for MacBook users to back up wirelessly. And makers of network-attached storage devices added support to those for Time Machine. However, Apple no longer sells the Time Capsule and recommends only directly attached storage drives for use with Time Machine. So the chances are, you’ll be backing up to a USB hard drive or SSD.
The first time Time Machine backs up your Mac, it copies everything, except the folders you’ve excluded, to the backup drive and saves it as a sparse disk image. After that, it backs up your Mac every hour, copying only those files that have changed since the last backup. It keeps every hourly backup for 24 hours, then one backup per day for the previous month, and one backup per week from every month before that.
As you can see, once you’ve been using Time Machine for a while, the size of the backup will grow. When you start to run short of space, Time Machine will ask you if you want to delete backups. However, you may want to free up space before then, here’s how to do that.
Note: If you want to free up space on your Time Machine disk so that you can use it to store other data, don’t. It’s good practice to have one dedicated disk for Time Machine. If you use the disk for other things, you increase the chance of it failing. And if that happens, you’ve lost your backup.
How to delete old Time Machine backups
Here’s how to delete Time Machine backups from an external hard drive using the Time Machine app itself. You can use the same method to remove them from a network drive.
- Make sure your backup drive is connected to your Mac.
- Launch Time Machine from the Finder menu bar.
- Navigate to either Macintosh HD (or whatever you’ve re-named it) or to your user Home folder and scroll back to the point in time where you want to start deleting backups (Tip: you can use the arrows to the right of the Finder window or two fingers on your trackpad to scroll through backups).
- Once you’ve located the most recent backup you want to delete, right-click on the Finder window, or click the gear icon in the Finder window toolbar.
- Choose “Delete all backups of…” from the menu.
- Type in your admin username and password.
- Once Time Machine has deleted the backups, manually start a new backup.
There is another way to manually delete Time Machine backups, using Terminal and the tmutil command. It should only be used if you’re comfortable with a command-line interface. If not, use the method above. As with all Terminal sessions, you should back up all your data immediately before you start and makes sure you follow the instructions carefully, typing the commands exactly as they appear.
- Launch Terminal from Applications > Utilities.
- To see a list of all backups, type: tmutil list backup.
- You will now see a list of all the backups made by Time Machine, listed by date.
- Locate the backup you want to delete and type: sudo tmutil delete followed by the path to the backup as displayed in when you used the list backup command. So, for example: /Volumes/KennyTimeMachine/Backups.backupdb/MacintoshHD/YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS/ — where ‘KennyTimeMachine’ is the name of your Time Machine backup volume, ‘MacintoshHD’ is the name of your Mac, and ‘YYY-MM-DD’ is the date of the backup
If you’re comfortable using wildcards in Terminal, you can specify multiple backups to delete at once.
Deleting Time Machine snapshots
Restore Time Machine Backup
In addition to deleting Time Machine backups, you may need to delete snapshots sometime. Snapshots are created whenever Time Machine wants to run a backup but can’t connect to the backup drive. The snapshot is saved on your boot drive until Time Machine can connect to the backup drive again. The snapshot files should be managed automatically and deleted when they are no longer needed. For example, Apple says they are deleted once you connect to your backup drive or if that doesn’t happen, once they reach a certain age. It also doesn’t create snapshots if it would cause a drive to have less than 20% spare capacity.
But there have been cases where Mac users have noticed that this hasn’t happened and the snapshots are occupying tens of gigabytes of space on their drive. So, here’s how to delete snapshots manually, again using Terminal and tmutil
- Launch Terminal
- Type: tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
You will see a list of snapshots with names like “com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-12-15-002010” - To delete a specific snapshot, type, or copy and paste: sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots then the date of the snapshot you want to delete, so that it looks like this: tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-12-15-002010
- You should see: Delete local snapshot '2018-12-15-002010' in the Terminal window. This means the snapshot has been successfully deleted. You will need to repeat step 3 for every snapshot you want to delete, changing the date portion of the command each time.
- If you want to prevent Time Machine from making local snapshots altogether, type: sudo tmutil disablelocal
How to delete Time Machine snapshots the easy way
If the methods of deleting Time Machine snapshots seem complicated, you’re in luck. CleanMyMac X has a tool that will do it for you in a few clicks.
- Download CleanMyMac X for free here.
- Launch the app.
- Click Maintenance tab.
- Choose Time Machine Snapshot Thinning.
- Click Run.
That’s it! Once you reduce the size of your Time Machine backups, try out other tools in CleanMyMac X to clean, speed up, and protect your Mac.
Whether you want to delete a complete set of Time Machine backups or just local snapshots, there are a number of ways to do it. The most complex, but also the one that gives you the most control, is to use tmutil in Terminal. As always, take great care when you use Terminal. You can also delete backups, though not snapshots, using Time Machine itself. The easiest way of all, however, is to use the Time Machine tool in CleanMyMac X. And while you’re there, you can use other tools in the System Junk utility to free up more space.
Time Machine Backup Without Erasing Disk
These might also interest you:
Time Machine Backup/Restore Failed
Mac users, who're currently running macOS Catalina or Mojave, report that they got an issue with Time Machine. Mainly, it's about Time Machine backup failed to back up the scheduled files to the configured backup disks, let it be the Time Capsule drive or third-party drive. Hence, how to repair Time Machine backup becomes the topic we're going to discuss here.
You can read on or jump to the issue & solution you're most concerned about.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Issue 1. Can't Backup or Restore | Check Time Machine system requirements > check your Mac..Full steps |
Issue 2. Backup Corrupted | Create a new backup > restart Time Machine > repair with terminal command..Full steps |
Issue 3. Backup Missing | Download software to recover missing backups > repair unrecognized..Full steps |
Issue 1. Can't Backup or Restore Your Mac Using Time Machine
One phenomenon to get Time Machine backup failed is that you can't back up or access an existing Time Machine backup, or restore from an earlier backup won't work. According to Apple's official instructions (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204157), when you have a problem with Time Machine, check these things if you see an alert that Time Machine is unable to back up your data, or if you can't select your backup disk in Time Machine preferences.
Fix 1. Check Time Machine System Requirements
- External hard drive connected to a USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt port on your Mac
- Time Capsule or macOS Server on your network
- External hard drive connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) on your network
Fix 2. Check Your Mac
- Make sure that your Mac software is up to date.
- Restart your Mac and see if the issue continues.
Fix 3. Check your AirPort Base Station
- If you're using an AirPort Time Capsule or a drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that your AirPort firmware is up to date.
- Restart your base station and see if the issue continues. To restart, unplug the base station from AC power for 5 seconds, then plug it back in.
Fix 4. Check Your Network Connection
If you back up to a server, AirPort Time Capsule, or drive connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that your Mac is connected to the same network as your backup drive. You can select your wireless network from the Wi-Fi status menu.
Fix 5. Check Your Backup
If you back up to a server, AirPort Time Capsule, or drive connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that your current Time Machine backup doesn't have any issues that could prevent further backups:
- While holding down the Option key on your keyboard, click the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, then choose Verify Backups.
- If Time Machine finds an issue with your backup, it displays a message with details. Follow the onscreen instructions.
Fix 6. Check Your Drives
- If you're using a drive connected to a port on your Mac or AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that the drive is turned on.
- If you're using a USB hub or a similar device, try connecting the drive directly to your Mac or base station.
- If you're backing up to an external third-party drive, check with the drive manufacturer to make sure the drive's firmware is up to date.
- If you're backing up to an external drive, check the formatting of the drive. Time Machine requires that an external drive be formatted like a Mac startup disk: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID Partition Table (GPT). If you select a differently formatted drive for use with Time Machine, your Mac automatically prompts you to erase it for Time Machine.
- Reformatting a disk erases all data stored on the disk, so you might want to move important files to another disk first.
If your drive is already formatted correctly, turn off Time Machine, then check it for problems:
- To check the drive of an AirPort Time Capsule, follow the steps to verify an AirPort Time Capsule drive.
- To check an external drive connected to your Mac, open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Then use the First Aid feature in Disk Utility to verify your disk. Do this for your startup disk as well.
- You can turn Time Machine back on after your drives are verified or repaired successfully.
Time Machine Backup Without Erasing Disk Backup
Issue 2. Time Machine Backup Is Corrupted
What's a corrupted Time Machine backup? Below are some backup corruption symptoms.
- Fail to complete Time Machine backup
- can't access time machine backups
- Time Machine keeps asking to create new backups
- Searching for time machine backups taking forever
- Time Machine disk or external device becomes unrecognized
How to repair a corrupted Time Machine backup? According to some experienced users and professional geeks, when Time Machine corrupted, it can be fixed by the following four troubleshooting methods.
Fix 1. Create New Backup
If Time Machine keeps asking you to create new backups, click Create new backup to start the new backup then. So that it can work smoothly later.
Fix 2. Restart Time Machine
Restart Time Machine several times may also help. You may need to switch Time Machine to On-Off-On and then reboot the Time Machine again.
Fix 3. Swap out The Hard Drive
Another solution to repair Time Machine is to set up a new external hard drive with Time Machine as a backup drive.
Fix 4. Repair Corrupted Time Machine with Terminal command
If Time Machine stops responding or even not working on Mac, to repair the corrupted Time Machine becomes tough yet still resolvable with Terminal command.
- Notice:
- Before starting the process, You should stop Time Machine: Time Machine Preferences > Toggle Time Machine 'OFF'.
- Step 1: Open Terminal on Mac and type: $ sudo su - and hit Return.
- Step 2: Type: $ chflags -R nouchg '/Volumes/.sparsebundle' and hit Return.
- If you don't know the TM name, go to Time Machine Prefernces and check out. Or type: $ ls '/Volumes/ and hit Return.
- Step 3: Type: $ hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite -noverify -noautofsck '/Volumes/.sparsebundle' and hit Return.
- Step 4: Type the below command and hit Return each time:
/dev/disk5 GUID_partition_scheme
/dev/disk5s1 EFI
/dev/disk5s2 Apple_HFS - Step 5: Type: $ fsck_hfs -drfy /dev/diskxs2 and hit Return. After this, if you receive 'The volume was repaired successfully', congratulations.
But if Terminal warns you 'The volume could not be repaired', relax and continue with next command. - Step 6: Type: $ fsck_hfs -p /dev/diskxs2 and hit Return.
- Step 7: Type: $ fsck_hfs -drfy /dev/diskxs2 and hit Return. Wait for the process to complete.
- Step 8: Type: $ vi '/Volumes//.sparsebundle/com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist' and hit Return.
Change the value of integer from 2 to 0 within that file.
Issue 3. Time Machine Backups Missing
When you cannot access to Time Machine or Time Machine corrupted, you are highly recommended to get backup data back first. How?
Fix 1. Recover Missing Backup Image with Software
If the Time Machine backup disk can be opened but nothing appears, the best way is to scan and restore all lost Time Machines' Backups.backupdb files. Here we'd like to recommend you try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac which supports users to restore all lost data from different situations within only 3 steps. Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac and restore Time Machine backups now:
Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.
Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover Now' button to have them back.
Time Machine Back Up Disk
What's more, if you lost files on Mac or external storage devices, you can also apply EaseUS Mac data recovery software to easily recover files on Mac without Time Machine backup.
Fix 2. Repair Unrecognized Time Machine Drive
When the Time Machine backup disk or external hard drive becomes unrecognized, as a result, backups are missing, you can first mount it on Mac and then run First Aid on Time Machine disk with disk utility.
Step 1: Connect the Time Machine backup external hard drive to Mac. Launch Disk Utility, check external hard drive at the left panel.
You'll see that the external hard drive is greyed out, marked as untitled. (Untitled means unmounted on Mac computer.)
Step 2: Select the untitled external hard drive and click the 'Mount' button from the Disk Utility bar.
Step 3: Select Time Machine drive at drive level on the left panel of Disk Utility and run First Aid.
Step 4: Select Time Machine drive at volume level and run First Aid.
Wait for the process completes, check if Mac computer can recognize your backup disk and open it in Time Machine again.
Conclusion
Regarding the topic 'Time Machine backup failed' and 'how to repair Time Machine backup', we gathered all feasible solutions to help you resolve the various issues with Time Machine on your Mac. If you have further Time Machine problems, click for more Time Machine guidelines from the following collection.