Leopard Tricks Tips and Tools

Last week, I spoke about using Time Machine’s “Exclusion” functionality to make sure unwanted files were deleted/ignored during backups. But what do you do if you come across a file that’s already been backed up and you want it gone forever?

Luckily, Time Machine has anticipated this need–though it might not seem obvious right away. Let’s say you come across a file on your drive, and you want it gone completely, backups and all. Here’s how:

First of all, open the folder/directory where the file is located. Trash the current “version” of the file as you normally would. Next, while you’re still in the window, click on the Time Machine icon in your dock to enter Time Machine “mode.”

Click back once to the previous backup version of that window, and you’ll see the file you just deleted. Click once on the file to highlight it, then go up to the actions (”gear”) pull down menu, and select “delete all backups.” Voila! That annoying file wont bother you again.

Obviously, you’ll want to use this function with care, since there’s no turning back once you’ve deleted something in this manner. That being said, it’s a great little feature that might not be obvious when first using Time Machine.

written by rockmsockm \\ tags: Leopard, time machine