[dnanian]

Well, it's generally a mistake to think of Time Machine as an 'archive'. It's kind of like the "if you haven't unpacked that box after 5 years, throw it away" rule - if it's starting to delete old backups, they're probably backups you don't really need...

It's pretty easy to find a LaCie d2 Quadra for ~$100 or so, lots of interfaces, good drive, cables, etc.