Time Machine Question

[ger19]

I've been using Time Machine since I got my computer in January. I have it backing up once per day. I have a 1T HDD that I use. It has about 86GB of data stored so far.

What does it do if it runs out of space? Does it start dropping the oldest date at some point?

If I deleted the very first back up (or the first few), does that ruin the backup? i.e. are all the files incremental or are they all a full backup?

 

[picpicmac]

What does it do if it runs out of space?

TM will clean out old versions as needed.

 

[Basic75]

If the Time Machine backup disk for your Mac is full

If Time Machine runs out of space for your Mac backups, add another backup disk or change your backup preferences.

support.apple.com

 

[Basic75]

Are all the files incremental or are they all a full backup?

Both! New files are copied, previous files are "linked". The details are different for HFS+ and APFS.

The end result is the best of both worlds, only new files are copied, but each snapshot is a full stand-alone representation of all files.

That said, I still wouldn't start manually messing about with the Time Machine backup folder. Apple's solutions work best when used as intended.

Apple's solutions can also be inflexible. If you want more control over the backup process and what to keep you should use something else for your backups.