Time Machine duplication question (El Capitan and newer)

[FMiguelez]

Hello.

I recently renamed and moved to a different folder a folder that has all my video files, and it's more than 400 GB in size. If I do a normal TM backup, it will insist on copying the full 400 GB to the new location, even if it's identical (other than the new main container folder name and location)... A total waste of space and resources.

Is there a way to avoid this in TM?
I would like to safely either, move (not copy) the folder to the new location, or at least be able to delete it from the old location once TM copies it reflecting where it is now.

I understand that moving files manually in the TM backup (regular USB disk) will ruin the database, so I'm hoping there's a safe way to do it via Terminal or even a special program.

Thank you for any thoughts.

[cuttime]

In Time Machine Preferences>Options>Exclude.

[FMiguelez]

Ha! I thought about that, but then that means it would never get backed up again, even if the content (I add more videos to the source) does change. I obviously wouldn't want that. I need it to keep backing up normally.
And the backup is supposed to reflect the source to perfection, so that option might not work too well.

But thanks for your thoughts. Any other ideas appreciated

[MIDI Life Crisis]

What I would do (and have done) is move the folder to where you want it. If you want the new folder backed up and, let it do it's thing or, as above, exclude it. If you no longer want the old folder, you can delete that folder from Machine. I'm not clear what it is your asking. Either you backup an item or you don't. What's the problem? Which folder don't you want to backup? Want them both backed up, then that's what's happening. If you don't, exclude the one you don't want backed up, But you can't copy a folder and mirror it in Machine. They are separate items and will be treated that way, at least as far as i understand the way TM works.

[cuttime]

But you can't copy a folder and mirror it in Machine. They are separate items and will be treated that way, at least as far as i understand the way TM works.

What MLC said. Either you have a backup or you don't. The other alternative I see is to wipe the backup and start from scratch. Another possibility is to perhaps create an alias? I really don't know how TM handles aliases (or symbolic links). Worth a shot anybody?
https://www.howtogeek.com/297721/how-to ... -on-a-mac/

[FMiguelez]

If I let TM do its thing normally, since I changed the main folder name and moved it to a new location in the computer, TM will think that the content changed (it didn't) and it will want to copy it again to the new location with the new name.
That alone would eat up 1/3 of the drive space for an unnecessary and redundant copy.

I want to be able to either, safely delete from TM the original copy of the folder in the original location with the original name, or better yet, tell TM to NOT copy the whole folder again and simply move it from where it is, to avoid the duplication. That would save me 400 GB of space.

But I'm afraid to do any of that manually because I heard that moving and deleting TM files around breaks havoc in its database and basically ruins everything.

I know it's supposedly going to delete that folder when it seeks new space as the disk gets full, but I'd like to see if I can do what I described. It's much more efficient. And I want to have the option to decide what gets deleted when that happens, not the machine.

[cuttime]

You could try this YMMV:
TimeTracker
https://www.charlessoft.com

[MIDI Life Crisis]

So why not let TM back up the new folder and the delete the original from TM when done?

[mikehalloran]

So why not let TM back up the new folder and the delete the original from TM when done?

TM deletes old backups when the disk gets full. You can delete the oldest ones manually but there’s no real reason to do so.

[HCMarkus]

My first thought: consider all the money and time you spend creating, then move the folder and let Time Machine go to town. Sure it's redundant. Buy a new Time Machine drive when this one fils up.

What's 400GB between friends when an 8TB HD can be had for $150? (calculated, it is $7.50)

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-External ... hard+drive

Alternately, move the current Video Folder, exclude it from TM backups in Options, and create a new Video Folder 2 (not excluded from TM backups) to house additions to your video collection.

Feliz Navidad Amigo!

[FMiguelez]

So why not let TM back up the new folder and the delete the original from TM when done?

Because I heard doing that would ruin TM's database...

But maybe I'm mistaken,and it's perfectly fine to do it, and that's why my question sounded silly?

So why not let TM back up the new folder and the delete the original from TM when done?

TM deletes old backups when the disk gets full. You can delete the oldest ones manually but there’s no real reason to do so.

Wow. So I was mistaken...
I didn't know you could do that without messing up the backup.
Now I wonder where the hell I got that idea from?

So if I can manually delete old stuff from TM safely, I do just that.

My first thought: consider all the money and time you spend creating, then move the folder and let Time Machine go to town. Sure it's redundant. Buy a new Time Machine drive when this one fils up.

What's 400GB between friends when an 8TB HD can be had for $150? (calculated, it is $7.50)

I guess I just don't like waste when it's avoidable

But even then, my stupid folder alone would waste, overnight, almost a full TB between the original and the copy from your above system. Only 7/8s left to go... 1/16th being completely wasted for duplication.

But I do like your other last idea with the second folder.

And I like it that I was wrong and one CAN delete older files from TM

Thank you guys!

[FMiguelez]

Aha!

So, turns out, I was only partially incorrect. There IS a right and a wrong way of deleting TM files from the drive.

I was just about to deleting them from the Finder, but something didn't feel right... So I did a little research and one must do it from within the Time Machine interface. Then one can delete away, with the proper caution, of course.

http://osxdaily.com/2013/08/06/remove-i ... -mac-os-x/

and

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-clea ... e-backups/

This is intended for rare cases like the one I mentioned in the OP.
But I'm glad I brought this up, since I had been living with a misconception about TM since forever. All this was new to me. I learned something cool today.

Thanks guys!

[HCMarkus]

Good info!

Btw, if you excluded the original folder from tm, you’d waste only 400gb. Regardless, the solution you found is superior!