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g-boac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
291
1
Quick question - I had a folder on my Desktop temporarily that I did not want backed up, but Time Machine backed it up to my Time Capsule. How can I remove this file from my Time Capsule?

thanks,
Mark
 

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
Activate Time Machine as if you were going to access it to get a backed up file, check the earliest time and date which the file you want to remove was backed up, come out of Time Machine so now your TM drive appears on the desktop. Double click it and the file named "Backups.backupdb" will appear.

Double click this file until you navigate to the files that have the date and time on them and can either remove that entire backup or navigate inside those folders to your home folder and desktop to remove the file you don't want to keep. I hope I came across clear enough, sorry if I didn't.
 

PeggyD

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2007
638
2
Covington, WA, USA
Quick question - I had a folder on my Desktop temporarily that I did not want backed up, but Time Machine backed it up to my Time Capsule. How can I remove this file from my Time Capsule?

thanks,
Mark

Another gem I found somewhere.

Permanently Delete files from Time Machine Backups
While navigating Time Machine, go to the present view, and click the little gear icon in the toolbar of the Finder while you have the file you want to delete selected. Simply click the option to Delete all Time Machine backups of this file, and the file will be gone forever.

Then, to make Time Machine not back up that folder/file again, go to Time Machine preferences, click on Options then the + to select the files/folders/drives you want to exclude.
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Mar 13, 2007
3,806
415
NH
Activate Time Machine as if you were going to access it to get a backed up file, check the earliest time and date which the file you want to remove was backed up, come out of Time Machine so now your TM drive appears on the desktop. Double click it and the file named "Backups.backupdb" will appear.

Double click this file until you navigate to the files that have the date and time on them and can either remove that entire backup or navigate inside those folders to your home folder and desktop to remove the file you don't want to keep. I hope I came across clear enough, sorry if I didn't.

That is sooooo not the way to delete a file from TM. Do not remove files manually from a TM backup.

Follow PeggyD's explaination. That is the way to delete a single backup....or all backups of a file or folder from a TM backup.

-Kevin
 

zainjetha

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2007
931
2
If i was to use TC, i would use as an external HD and manually copy/paste the folders or files i want to back up and leave them in their original file format as if i were simply storing them on time capsule.

what are the advantages of using special backup software which does all backing up for you and stores it as a special backup file?

it would be much simpler by storing files on TC, that way you can edit what you want BK'd up easily
 

g-boac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
291
1
Another gem I found somewhere.

Permanently Delete files from Time Machine Backups
While navigating Time Machine, go to the present view, and click the little gear icon in the toolbar of the Finder while you have the file you want to delete selected. Simply click the option to Delete all Time Machine backups of this file, and the file will be gone forever.

Then, to make Time Machine not back up that folder/file again, go to Time Machine preferences, click on Options then the + to select the files/folders/drives you want to exclude.

Peggy - very clear, and instructions worked perfectly. Thank you so much for your help!!!

regards,
Mark
 

reubs

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2006
1,866
175
I saw a thread recently about an app that lets one see what files have been backed up to Time Machine. I had a 1.5 GB backup yesterday, and I can't imagine what it was that was taking up that much space. I'd just like to be able to easily see what has been backed up to see what might be unnecessarily taking up too much space.

Sorry for threadjacking, but I just can't find that other thread.
 
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