Why Did Time Machine Delete My Old Backups?

Question

I recently upgraded my hard drive from the stock Hitachi 250GB to a Western Digital 320GB. I restored from Time Machine.

I plugged in my hard drive today and left my hard drive to back up. Surprisingly, when I came back, the backups were being deleted.

Why?

It was the same installation. Now my unrecoverable backups are gone.

Answer 1

After a full restore, a full backup is preformed (always). It's by design. This is also documented on the wonderful Podini - About Time Machine site, section TM is doing a full backup for no good reason. Other circumstances, that may trigger full backup, are listed too.

I quote:

And Time Machine may do a full backup after any of the following:
* A full restore, whether from Time Machine or a "clone" (probably)