Is it possible to selectively erase time-machine backups for a given period? I would like to know if I could selectively erase some backups, for example all backups of Folder X in the last 2 weeks, and still be assured the following (future) backups of this Folder X will be correct.
Could it be as simple as mounting the hard disk of the backup, go to the targeted folders and thrashing them ?
The objective is obviously to reclaim space.
I'm on an iMac 2019, Big Sur 11.3.1.
Edit: following some remarks, I looked again in the interface and I found a &quot;delete backup&quot; option, by right-clicking on a file or folder.
What is strange is that there are inconsistencies. Sometimes the option disappears. Then comes back. I am quite confused. Maybe, just a temporary bug while TM updates its indexes.
And I'm also a little embarrassed to ask such a stupid question if the option is right under my eye. I've been using TM since 2007 and did not notice this feature.
Did anyone use it successfully ? Currently, I can't test it as I disabled TM while I'm working on my 300 GB library
You can open Finder and select your backup disk. Find the backups in the time range and delete them (shown in the image below). This will delete those backups on disk. This will properly delete the backups - if you inspect system logs you will find it handling these as requests to delete a backup, rather than as requests to delete a folder.
I would recommend doing it one at a time to avoid overwhelming the backup disk.
Deleting a backup will not delete files that were added in that backup from other backups. Each backup can be viewed independently, as a snapshot of your disk at that time.