How come files get deleted from the iOmega backup hard drive when I only want them deleted from my Mac Mini?

Asked by karl (4

) July 11th, 2011

I am trying to set up Snow Leopard onto my Mac mini, but there is not enough space on the hard drive. So I backed up (with Time Machine) everything on my hard drive onto my iOmega mini max hard drive. I then selected three videos that are all on the Mac mini and the iOmega and dragged them to the Trash, only to have the files delete not only from the Mac mini, but also on the iOmega. I have to delete lots of files on the Mac mini to make room for Snow Leopard and I don’t want them deleted off the back up hard drive too.

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3 Answers

Have you tried disconnecting the backup drive before deleting your files off the Mac mini? I suspect it has something to do with the way the iOmega drive is linked to the main hard drive while still plugged in. Do a test with a dummy file and see what happens.

SavoirFaire (28945

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It is most likely due to the way Time Machine works. Time Machine tries to mirror your drive and if you are low on space it starts to delete stuff. Use Carbon Copy Cloner instead to mirror the drive.

jrpowell (40562

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I heard Time machine saves versions ..? They might be on the backup somewhere.
Try to get Time Machine to “previous state” or “as of <earlier date>” mode.

dabbler (18896

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