Back Up Only What You Need with Time Machine

By default, Time Machine backs up everything on your Mac. But if you want to exclude certain files, that’s easy enough. For example, applications don’t typically change on a regular basis. To exclude specific files, just go to Time Machine preferences, then click Options, then select the folders you wish to skip. You can also delete a single file or folder that you’ve been backing up — and delete it from all of your backups going all the way back in time for as long as Time Machine has been up and running. This is useful if, for example, you have lots of files of work you’ve done for a particular client. Should your projects be completed or if you no longer have that client, it’s easy to delete everything pertaining to that client (though in our experience, it’s often a smart move to burn a DVD of the data just in case the client suddenly changes his or her mind, which typically happens ten minutes after you erase everything).