Make Time Machine Keep all Backups

[apquinn]

As you know, time machine runs backups every hour. But after a bit (a week maybe), it keeps only daily. Eventually only weekly. I want to run backups every 15 minutes and keep them for a month.

I'm a software developer and I want to be able to roll back to specific times on my machine, not just the times I check in and out of our code repository. I have a 6-terabyte thunderbolt drive for time machine, so why not use it?

Thanks for your help!

----------

I do know how to change time machine to make more frequent backups, it's stopping time machine from eliminating them as time goes by that I don't know how to do.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Looks like you are right... plenty of guides that tell you how to change the interval but not the retention parameters.

An alternative is to turn off TM and investigate the backup settings in the registered version of apps like CCC.

 

[Gochugogi]

As you know, time machine runs backups every hour. But after a bit (a week maybe), it keeps only daily. Eventually only weekly. I want to run backups every 15 minutes and keep them for a month.

I'm a software developer and I want to be able to roll back to specific times on my machine, not just the times I check in and out of our code repository. I have a 6-terabyte thunderbolt drive for time machine, so why not use it?

Thanks for your help!

----------

I do know how to change time machine to make more frequent backups, it's stopping time machine from eliminating them as time goes by that I don't know how to do.

That's odd, at default TM has been doing an hourly backup for me for years. I reformatted TM after installing 10.9 in October and it's still doing an hourly backup.

 

[Bear]

As you know, time machine runs backups every hour. But after a bit (a week maybe), it keeps only daily. Eventually only weekly. I want to run backups every 15 minutes and keep them for a month.
...

It would be great to be able to tweak this. It actually only keeps hourly backups for 24 hours. I would like like to see 48 hours of hourly backups retained. I wouldn't make the backup interval less than an hour.

That's odd, at default TM has been doing an hourly backup for me for years. I reformatted TM after installing 10.9 in October and it's still doing an hourly backup.

Yes it does hourly backups, but it trims them out after 24 hours hours, keeping one from each day for a month and anything over a month old it trims back to one a week.

 

[aicul]

Is the "version" functionality built in OSX (since ML) not what you are looking for.

Disclaimer: It may not be implemented for all application files...

In TEXTEDIT, use the "REVERT TO..." menu option.

 

[Bear]

Is the "version" functionality built in OSX (since ML) not what you are looking for.

Disclaimer: It may not be implemented for all application files...

In TEXTEDIT, use the "REVERT TO..." menu option.

To have to do that for multiple files would be painful. The perosn is looking for everything to be reverted at once and not just a file or 2.

 

[w0lf]

Why not just write your own backup script then?

 

[DanielCoffey]

CCC and similar will schedule incremental backups for you.

 

[mac8867]

I think fundamentally you are looking for Time Machine to be something it is not, a version repository. It's meant for system recovery, with a few extra benefits like single file retrievals... etc

You have a code repository (as you stated) for your development. Personally, I do daily checkins to a branch and merge back for releases. You might want to check out open source shop policies for this type of activity and adapt your methodology.

 

[maflynn]

In full Apple design, you have limited options with TM, its a great application to backup your data but you are limited to how you can alter the application. You're better off looking for a different solution like Carbon Copy Cloner or ChronoSync