Can I delete files whilst time machine is working? Or don't I have to?

Long story short...I have just had to start my time machine from scratch. Taking ages.
i have just noticed that it looks like I have less space available on my external hard drive, than I am trying to back up.
So what I am asking is... Can I work on the mac (MBP 10.9.3) and find some big files to delete, even whilst it is backing up... Even if perhaps it has already backed up those files (doesn't sound like a good idea!) ...Or what else can I possibly do?
I am really desperate as it seems my beloved Mac is taking its last breaths.... Two days ago i thought it had completely died after a couple of temperamental weeks, but it woke up this morning and I don't know how long it will last. so I need to do this now. I live no where near an apple store (a plane ride away) and not very technical ....so would be very grateful for any input and help. thank you.
I Have

I think you can try but I am not sure it will work.
You would be better getting rid of stuff on the USB drive you are backing up to..
Or stop the TM backup and get a USB drive with more space.. do not shut down the Mac.
I would grab a copy of superduper or carbon copy cloner and clone your disk.. TM is fragile at best.

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Can't delete files in Time Machine

I have a time machine backup that was used to back up a borrowed computer. The computer has been returned and I want to delete the backups. I can get into time machine with the new computer and delete some of the backup. But some of the files just won't delete.
It asks me if I want to deleted them. I enter an administrator password. And it makes the sound to indicate it is finished, but the files (and the folder they are in) are still there.
These are files in the "System" and "Library" directories.

davidpsummers wrote:
I should clarify. The drive has more stuff than just that backup. I would have to find a place to put it all (non-trivial) and then wipe it.
That's likely what you need to do. It sounds like the previous deletions left some "abandoned" space you'll never get back otherwise, and there may be directory damage, too, which can compromise your backups.
Then partition the drive, so Time Machine has it's own, exclusive partition. See #3 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Or, your best bet may be to use a separate drive for Time Machine.

Is it possible to delete files from time machine?

Is it possible to delete files from time machine? I had a drive crash, restored the files to a new drive, and now the old versions and the new versions of the files are both backed up, taking up a mountain of drive space. Do I just have to wait 'til the drive gets full and then tell it what to delete first?

Hi, I need help in a related problem. I have 500gb time capsule. I needed larger hard drive, so I now use TM to back up to a different 1tb hard drive. So I don't need the TC as a TM back up device. But I want to use the TC's hard drive as an extra external hard drive. I deleted the files that were on it. but it still shows it has a sparsebundle file with a size of over 400gb ( probably the size of the old backups). When I use disk utility to try to erase it, I am not offered the erase tab. This "disk" does show on the desk top as a mounted disk (I think) with only 53 gb free. How can I set this up so all the disk space is free and I can use it for storing files, not as a back up? Thanks

How do you delete file from time machine back up?

How do you delete file from time machine back up?

This from Apple KB Article If Time Machine is not in your Dock, you can enter Time Machine from the Menu Bar or System Preferences.
Deleting data from a Time Machine backup
To delete all backups of one or more items from a Time Machine backup, follow these steps:
Click the Time Machine icon on your Dock to enter the Time Machine restore interface.
Click on the item you would like to delete. Command-click to select multiple items.
Control-click (or right click) the highlighted item(s) and select "Delete All Backups of..." from the contextual menu, or select "Delete all backups of..." from the Action Item menu.
Authenticate with an administrator password when prompted.

Can't restore files from Time machine backup?

I kinda successfully restored my files from Time Machine after a clean re-install of Snow Leopard (Time Machine thought they were new files, though, so backed up the 26 GB... waste of space), but now I'm trying to restore the files of the other user on the computer. In her pictures folder, I can't copy the iPhoto Library because I don't have permission to access it! The same problem occurred on my account too, but I was able to go to my Time Machine drive and manually change the permissions for the files I wanted, which doesn't work on her account.
I have made a Youtube video of the error:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1__PdyAetVg
Can anyone assist me in restoring the files? That's all I need help in. Thanks

wrongusername wrote:
But if I transfer everything with the Setup Assistant, won't I once again be experiencing the problems I had?
If the problems were caused by your data. But that's extremely unlikely. It may have been an app, or, much more likely from your description, something corrupted in the Leopard OS. That's one of the problems with upgrading a sick system without knowing what or where the causes are. It's a bit like a brain surgeon operating on himself: if he isn't in tip-top shape to start with, his condition is likely to change, and not for the better.
Most of us would have recommended first simply doing a +*Repair Disk+* on your internal HD; if that didn't help, installing the "combo" Leopard update; if that didn't work, doing an +Archive and Install+ and re-installing the "combo."
After a clean re-install of Snow Leopard, my Mac worked fine again (except for the TM trouble). So it probably had something to do with my old files.
Probably not. Much more likely OSX was somehow damaged. And you got a whole new one.
How come I could read the files on my external HD and yet not be able to copy the files?
Time Machine uses special "deny everybody everything" permissions on it's backups, among other things, in an attempt to keep us mere mortals from moving, changing, or deleting things and corrupting them.

Upgraded to Mavericks, can't find files on time machine

I have an external hard drive where I backup my Macbook Pro. I recently upgraded to Mavericks and now I can't find old files on time machine. I am looking for a file around a certain date, but no matter what date I look at in time machine - the files and data seem to be the same. I hope someone has a solution to my problem!

Hi Miax1,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I understand that you are looking for a specific file in your Time Machine backup. It sounds like you are familiar with the interface but just cannot find the file. Just to make sure you are searching in the right area, I suggest reviewing the Restoring data from Time Machine backups section from the following article. Please let me know if you need further assistance.
Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Restoring specific files or folders
Choose Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu. The restore interface appears. You can literally see your windows as they appeared "back in time."
You can use the timeline on the right side of the window to reach a certain point back in time. The timeline shows the times of all backups on your backup drive. If you don’t know exactly when you deleted or changed a file, you can use the back arrow to let Time Machine automatically travel through time to show you when that folder last changed.
Note: Dates in pink indicate the data resides on your Time Machine backup device. Dates in white indicate the data resides on your Mac. In OS X Lion v10.7 and later, portable Macs include local snapshots.
You can also perform a Spotlight search from the Finder. Simply enter a search term in the Spotlight search field, and use the back arrow to have Time Machine search through your backups to find what you are looking for.
Before you restore a file, you can also use Quick Look to preview a file to make sure its the one you want. Highlight the file and press the Space Bar to bring up a quick look.
To restore, select the file/folder and click the "Restore" button. The file will automatically be copied to the desktop or appropriate folder. If the file you are restoring has another file in the same location with the same name, you will be prompted to choose which file to keep or keep both.
I hope this helps,
-Joe

Deleting files on Time Machine HDD

I have a folder containing 2GB or more of music that I don't need backed up any longer. How can I free up the space on my Time Machine HDD and delete this folder?
Does Time Machine just reference this folder once or does it continuously make back ups of your system? I can go back in to the Time Machine drive and find this folder listed for every back up ever made by Time Machine.
What about all the huge bit torrent files I've downloaded? How can I cherry pick and delete them off Time Machine's HDD? I'd like to have more than 12GB left on my 500GB back up drive!

Don't do it manually. I wouldn't even know how, since Time Machine is using multi-linking to make one copy of a file appear to be in multiple date/time archive folders. So if a file never changed during the whole time you have been using Time Machine, it should only be stored once. But if you look in your archive using Finder, it appears to be in every one of your date/time archive folders.
The way to do what you want is through the Time Machine +flying through space+ interface.
Open a Finder window, then go into Time Machine. In the cool interface, navigate to the folder or file you want to eliminate from your backup. Right (Control) click on it and select +Delete All Backups of "<name of the item>"+.

Deleting files on time machine - why doesn't the storage capacity refresh??

Quick question,
After I permanently delete a file off time machine (something that has storage mass ~3 G), I am not seeing the storage capacity of the time capsule refresh with a higher number. In other words, before the file was deleted from all backups, the time capsule disk read 399 G available. After I permanently deleted the backups for this 3 G file, the available storage capacity was still 399 G. I checked to make sure the file was deleted from the back-up volumes and it was. Do I have to wait sometime before the time capsule updates the available storage capacity. Just curious.

remote TM backups are stored inside sparse bundles. if you open your TC in finder you'll see it. when you delete something from a sparse bundle it doesn't automatically compact and recover the free space. TM will use it up again in future backups. you can also manually compact the sparse bundle from terminal if you really want to.
the terminal command is
sudo hdiutil compact /path/to/sparsebundle
you have to put the correct unix path to the sparse bundle in the command and enter your admin password when prompted for it.

How do I restore a deleted file with time machine?

I have accidentally deleted a file that runs my very old HP laserjet. How can I recover the file on time machine? Any ideas? I'm running Lion.
Thanks.

If you need a little more guidance, see:
How do I view or restore selected items?

HT201250 File deleted on Opperating Drive- will this delete file from Time Machine?

If a file has been backed up to my time machine back ups and I delete the file from my computer, will the file be deleted from my time machine backups as well?

Only if the drive used for the backups is out of space.
(66314)

Can no longer delete files from Time Machine

My Gear icon in Time Machine that allowed me to delete all copies of a file, has disappeared -- as has the magnifying glass. Any one else lost this?

Go into View Menu in Finder and see if there is an option to Show Toolbar, if so click on it. If not click on Customize Toolbar and drag the default set into the toolbar.
Joe

How to delete files from time machine volume

Before selling my old MacBook Pro, I had backed up all my data on to an external WD hard drive using Time Machine. I had since switched to a desktop but since I did not have any need for the MacBook Pro files at the time, I had put aside that WD hard drive. Recently, I wanted to clear some space on that external drive to make way for some of my present files. I drilled down in to Backups.backupdb and tried to delete files, but was met with the error "
An error occurred.The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -5000.) Insufficient access privileges for operation".
It did prompt me for a username and password before showing that message. I tried both my current user/pass as well as (what I remember to be) my old user/pass on the MacBook Pro. Both presented me with the same error message.
I also did try to mount the drive as Time Machine on my present system, and then try to enter Time Machine and delete it from there. However, clicking on "Enter Time Machine ... " does nothing.
Any ideas?

Hi Linc,
my back-up data is managed by Time Machine; the actual data is on a second internal Hard Drive with a capacity of 1TB - not partitioned. I am using Time Machine and have access to all data backed up since Mavericks Clean Install but not the data prior to this date.
When I open the 1TB drive in Finder I can see a folder "Backups.backupdb/Sigi's Mac Pro/ followed by many folders of backup dates going back to 2010-09-20-103441 and up to 2014-02-07-142414 all followed with folder Macintosh HD. February 7th 2014 was the date of the clean install.
These Backups are followed by backup date folder 2014-02-08-075554 with a subfolder of MacPro-320GB (this is the name I assigned to my Boot Drive during formatting; I suspect I should have assigned the same name as before ie. Macintosh HD) and 2014-02-11 with a subfolder Macintosh HD, these are the ones I get access to by way of Time Machine > Restore.
Weird thing is on Febr 11 when I relised my possible mistake and renamed the Bootdrive back to what it was initially ie. Macintosh HD despite this I have access to all backup data since the Clean Install in both folders MacPro-320GB as well as Macintosh HD but not to any data prior to the Clean Install.
Is there something that Time Machine knows and prevents access or is it simply a matter of renaming the subfolder 2014-02-08-07554/MacPro-320GB to ........./Macintosh HD?
I like to restore selectively and not everything - It was hard work reinstalling apps that were supposed to be the troublemakers (ref my discussion on Maverick problems) but I now need to get onto data specific to some of these apps as well as other data I may have missed. Long story? Yes and sorry.
Sigi

How Can I Erase Files From Time Machine ?!

After or while installing 10.6 I had a problem with MAIL which caused my old mail to duplicate itself ... many times. So those files ended up being many Gigs. I didn't realize this so Time Machine backed up those super swelled folders! It filled up my 1T back up HD.
I know have a 2T HD that I want to use as my new Time Machine HD, but I would first like to get rid of those giant old Mail folders.
How can I accomplish that? Since they are back up files I can't seem to just delete them ...

See #12 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

How can I delete all the Time Machine backups to make room for more? And how do I force the trash to empty?

I moved a bunch of my husband's files from his Macbook (which is dieing) to my iMac. I created a user for him on my iMac so he'd be able to keep his stuff separate from mine. All is working great except my Time Machine is now unable to backup. The total of used space on my hard drive (including the recently added user's files) is about 420 GB. The amount of capacity of my external hard drive is 999GB. I think Time Machine failed because there was all of a sudden so much more data and a new full backup would be more than the unused capacity of the HD? Regardless I don't need any old backups. I have all my files and all his files. So I moved all the backups from the external HD to the trash. Apparently that's a no no. I can't fully empty the trash now and that is making my iMac crazy slow.
1) Can anyone tell me how to force the trash to empty?
2) Is there a way to delete the whole external HD and start over with a new full backup via Time Machine? In Disk Utility I try to erase the partition and get an error "Volume Erase failed with the error: Couldn't unmount disk." Then I try to Unmount it and get another "Unmount failed. The disk Backup iOmega could not be unmounted. Make sure that all applications and files are closed on this disk." I turned off Time Machine and tried again but with the same errors.
The external HD is called iOmega. It only connects to the iMac with USB. Any help is much appreciated!!!!

Try this instead:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup volume from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
4. Click on the Erase button.
You will need to reconfigure Time Machine preferences for the backup.
FYI: Never remove Time Machine backup data except through the Time Machine application. If you aren't sure about using Time Machine then visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things related to Time Machine.

Can't Find File in Time Machine

Kind of a weird problem, usually I can figure this stuff out on my own.
Basically, I have an edited version of a video and I want to retrieve the original. I know I did the edit on that day and I know its date created. I have a weekly backup from that week and the week after. In the one for that week, neither the original nor the edit are present so I assume the end of that week was right before I moved the video onto my computer. The next backup has the editied version, but the original is nowhere to be found, so I'm assuming that I can't get at in any way, so basically my question is.
1. Does Time Machine back up the trash anywhere? The .trash file isn't in my ~/ so I'm assuming it doesn't, and the file might have been in the trash.
2. How does Time Machine compress the backups into weekly files? Is it possible that something that only existed on my hard drive for a very short period of time got "dropped" in the combining process? Or did I somehow manage to get it onto my computer and delete it between backups?

1. Does Time Machine back up the trash anywhere?
No, that's one of the things it skips automatically. See What's excluded from backups in #11 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
2. How does Time Machine compress the backups into weekly files?
It doesn't, exactly. It simply deletes the backups that have "expired." That leaves a "snapshot" of how your entire Mac looked at the time of each remaining backup.
Is it possible that something that only existed on my hard drive for a very short period of time got "dropped" in the combining process? Or did I somehow manage to get it onto my computer and delete it between backups?
Yes, it's quite possible. It depends on the timing and how often backups are run, but basically Time Machine keeps all backups for 24 hours, except the first of the day, which is kept for a month. After a month, it keeps one per week.

Can I delete files whilst time machine is working? Or don't I have to?

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