Thanks, what I was asking was:

1- Can I set TM to at least keep a few versions of all years going back from when it starts or is in progress? I would prefer to see at least a few versions kepts from old years, than more from just last two years.

2- What I was asking is, pretend the TM you could grab version ok via the finder just fine? (I've yet to have issue doing that), what are the odds that you might want a file in the next two years? If I erase the drive then I have no option to grab anything.

My experience for last few years is everything I grab via finder is fine- perfect, the files all show up ok in TM, just now I can't restore via TM