moving files without Time machine re-indexing them

[mattspace]

Hi,

I have my iTunes music and Aperture photo libraries on a single drive, which is running out of space, and need to get the music off so I can keep ingesting new photos.

Problem is, if I just move the iTunes library to a different drive (which is backed up), Time Machine is going to (I assume) then think it has an extra ~240GB of data to back up, and start pruning my backups really aggressively to get the extra space, which will drastically shorten how far the backups go.

Is there a way to manually work with Time Machine volumes (3rd party app if necessary) so that I can change the 2 folders from 1 drive, to 2 folders on different drives, and have it pick up that the "new" thing being backed up is just a continuation of the old one?

 

[maflynn]

It is, and other then excluding the new location, there's nothing you can do. The very nature of TM is record changes, and in this case changes to file locations.

 

[mattspace]

oh well, I'll have to find a workaround. You wouldn't happen to know if changing the name of a volume that's backed up with time machine, will cause TM to do a full backup on it?

What I've been able to find suggests that TM keys off the UUID of a volume, which afaik doesn't change when you change the volume name, but I don't want to just go and risk it.

 

[MC6800]

Your best bet is getting larger drive as a new TM drive.

But keep in mind the difference between backup and archive: TM is really backup. If you want to keep old versions you should be explicitly archiving them somewhere, such as by using source control, and then keep that repository backed up with TM.