TimeMachine Backup Intervals

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Level 1

9 points

TimeMachine Backup Intervals

I have an external hard drive on which I backup my iMac. On TimeMachine Editor I have set the interval for backups to once a week at an off hour. However, when I open the drive I see a backup has already been done at a time I did not specify and another one is due to start an hour later. How do I make sure backups are only done as specified in the TimeMachine Editor? This is on a new 2021 iMac which has just been set up. But the external drive was previously used.

Posted on Jun 23, 2021 10:20 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

Jun 23, 2021 11:00 AM in response to Vaccaro81

It's not recommended to alter the Time Machine's normal schedule. If you have a disk failure or corruption you can loose a week's worth of work and files.

Did you leave the previous backups on the TM drive when you moved it over to your new M1?

You would be best served to use TM as it was intended and let it do its thing.

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Answer 2

Vaccaro81 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 23, 2021 7:58 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I can understand your recommendations and will probably leave things as is. The issue I have is that on a daily basis there are very few changes being made and therefore I wonder if the default backup frequency and resultant slowing of the system while the backup is running is justified. The Time Machine Editor program allows the interval to be adjusted as desired. I found that to make the adjustment you have to set it up in the app and then go to Time Machine preferences and uncheck the backup automatically box.. So apparently that’s how you do it. Not that I’m doing it.

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