Other times, Time Machine might tell you there isn’t enough space to create a particularly large backup, refusing to delete the old backups to make space. However, there are rare occasions where you still need to take matters into your own hands.įor instance, you might need to manually delete Time Machine backups if you want to create space on your external drive for non-backup files. You don’t need to do anything to make this happen, Time Machine just deletes old backups in the background whenever it needs to.

This is because Apple designed Time Machine to automatically delete old backups whenever it runs out of storage. Most of the time you don’t need to do anything to manage your Time Machine backups. Time Machine usually deletes old backups automatically Luckily, there are a few different ways to delete old Time Machine backups from your Mac or external drive. The downside to these incremental backups is that they can end up using a lot of storage. An incremental backup means that Time Machine stores multiple versions of your files, making it easy to undo changes or even restore deleted files and folders. It’s a bit more trouble, but does get you the cleanest new install possible.Time Machine is the best backup software to use with your Mac because it automatically creates incremental backups. That way, I’ve got a fresh start, and can still get back any of the old stuff anytime if I want. Personally I restored just main folders (Documents, Dropbox and such), then brought just the apps I knew I wanted to use and left everything else on the Time Machine drive. If you want to just get your files and not your settings, you can drag over just your individual user folders, or copy over the applications you want. Now browse through the folders and find what you want to restore.

Or, grab an older version if you're really sure that's what you want. Just open your Time Machine drive in Finder, browse to your Mac's folder, and select the “Latest” link to open the last backup folder.

You can also easily selectively restore files from just the folders you want. But you've got to get your old files back on your new (or newly wiped and reinstalled) Mac, and automatically restoring from Time Machine is the easiest and most obvious way to do so. There’s something about that new MacBook smell, that clean feeling of having an original OS X install with no clutter or cruft. Selective Restore a Mac From a Time Machine Backup Selective Restore a Mac From a Time Machine Backup | Techinch tech, simplified.

Restore your mac from a backup