Time Machine settings

[transmaster]

I added a second 4TiB Samsung SSD external drive to my Mac Studio. This time, I set it up to use as a Time Machine. It is set to the default settings; it takes a snapshot of the Mac Studio every 24 hours. I need advice on how often and how long to save past snapshots. This functions like the restore function on my PC. Suggestions would be appreciated

Below is what the file looks like today.

 

[chabig]

You shouldn’t do anything to the files on that drive. Time Machine will manage it all automatically.

 

[transmaster]

You shouldn’t do anything to the files on that drive. Time Machine will manage it all automatically.

Thanks that is all I needed to know.

 

[Weaselboy]

Like @chabig said, it will manage itself. If you open the TM settings there is a text box at the top that explains the snapshot purge criteria.

 

[transmaster]

When I set up the time machine on this 4TB SSD, I did not put a partition on it, so it has 4TB available. I don't need this space; I have another 4TB SSD for regular files. I have a 1 TB internal.

 

[Gregg2]

View attachment 2479010

Because of the last sentence in the first paragraph above, the more frequently you have backups made, the younger your oldest one will be. Because I don't modify files at a rapid pace, I set TM to Manual backups. I put a reminder in Calendar to run it twice a month. Thus, my oldest backup is several months old. It might be that long of an interval for me for viewing a file and discovering something wrong with it.

 

[transmaster]

This is how mine is running. I am just going to leave it alone. I have now moved past my decades-long practice of being a "digital packrat." This started back when an 80-meg HD was considered gigantic. Rather than keep files cleaned out, I just added another hard drive. At the peak of the obsession I had ten 1 to 3 TB HDs in a full-sized computer case.

I would have set the Time Machine up differently now, but storage space is cheap, and I have another APFS-formatted 4TB SDD external, which has 3.7TB of free space.

 

[transmaster]

I did change the update to once every day. I did not need hourly.