Two macs backing up to one Time Capsule, first Mac hogging all the space
I have two Macs backing up to my 3 TB Time Capsule. One mac (250 GB disk) has 2 years of backups saved, the other (1 TB disk) cannot save because it needs 128 GB of space and there is only 25 GB available on the Time Capsule.
Both Macs were backing up successfully for about the last two years. It just seems that recently one has pushed the other out of the backup space.
I have already excluded all the folders I can to reduce the size of both Macs' backups.
Is there a way to reduce the first Mac's backup space so the other one can get at least 1 or 2 days of backup?
I have read about setting up partitions on the Time Capsule. But I am wondering if there is a way to get both macs to work together and share the space?
There is nothing stopping you from deleting some of the older backups, so long as you do it safely. After all, you're not likely to need 2yrs worth of backups.
Follow these steps to safely delete backups:
- Enter Time Machine (on the Mac whose backup you want to delete)
- Go to the point in time you want to delete
- Click on the cog icon in the Finder and choose 'Delete Backup' (depending on your version of OS X you may need to right-click in the finder window to choose 'Delete Backup')
By deleting backups this way you ensure that Time Machine keeps an accurate record of your backups and keeps your data safe.