Time Machine backups

[donnac]

I have a 500 (it says 465G)G external drive for my Time Machine backups. It's used approx 323G and has approx 142G available.

I'd like to know what I can exclude from TM backups to save space in the future. A couple of hours ago I deleted 3-4 of the oldest backup folders and already TM's complaining that it doesn't have enough space. Is there a particular way to delete folders other than sending them to the trash?

I'm not a tekkie person so I don't want to be causing problems.

I also went to a site that suggested deleting:
•Application
•System Files and Applications

I removed Applications from backup, but I'm not sure where to find the second item.

Please help!

donnac

 

[bobr1952]

You really don't need to mess with that. Just leave Time Machine alone and let it do its thing. When it runs out of space it will let you know and then it will clear up enough space to continue backing up for you--it will remove the oldest backups to make room--automatically. Much better to let Time Machine do this for you than to do it yourself. I've had a full backup drive for over a year and I still have over a year's worth of backups.