[Ham-Mac] Manual Deletion of Older OS X Time Machine Backups

[Dick Kriss]

This is not a ham radio related posting but it something I have been thinking
about and would like to know how others feel.

The Apple Time Machine has been working great and has saved my six a number
of times.  The problem or issue is my external Time Machine drive is full. If the
Time Machine determines it needs more space, it tosses the oldest backup.  The
only problem is the Time Machine it takes forever to ditch the old stuff to make 
room for the new stuff. 

I have wondered what would happen if I just opened the Time Machine backup
hard drive in the Finder and trashed some the older backups?  To me this would be
faster; however, I worry that manual deletion could screw up the Time Machine's 
index to go back and restore when needed.

Has anyone manually trashed some of the older ™ backups?

Dick  AA5VU

Ps: Just noted something in the new OS X 10.7 version of Apple's Mail (v5.0)
that I do not recall in the previous version. When I type the letters "T and M"
as an abbreviation for Time Machine, it shows up as a Trade Mark ™.