[Pao|o]

So I have a pre-unibody MBP and I want to add more HDD space. Problem is my Mac wasn't designed to be user-upgradeable and I am wary of taking it apart just to more than double my HDD to a paltry half terabyte.

Now my ideas is to Time Machine my Mac as usual and after it is done delete all the pre-2008 data files off it.

My questions are these

1. Will Time Machine keep all my files saved/archived on my external HDD?

2. Will it retain all the deleted files I deleted?

3. In the event I need them can I just retrieve them as usual?

4. Will iPhoto or Aperture access my old files via Time Machine?

I'm guessing I can recover more than half of my HDD back if I did this.

[mduell]

1. Yes, until there's no longer room for them due to new files.
2. See 1.
3. See 1.
4. Only iPhoto, and only to recover them into your new library.

It sounds like you're trying to use a Time Machine backup as a poor replacement for an external drive. Keep your current TM setup, just buy another external hard drive to store files on.

[Spheric Harlot]

Also, the point of time machine is to keep a *duplicate* of your files as a backup.

If you do not keep duplicates of your files, you WILL lose data at some point. Period.