Deleting Backups from Time Machine to Make Room

Deleting Backups from Time Machine to Make Room
So, I went into my 1.5 terabyte back-up drive and deleted a number of the TM backups because the drive was getting too full. (I also use that drive to store “permanent” photo files in other folders.)
Evidently, the computer does not recognize the deletions because the drive shows the same miniscule amount of space as it did prior to the deletions.
I know people have talked about using “actions” button in the gear icon. However, I can’t find that.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Tek

Thanks for the reply, V.K.
Unfortunately, I deleted via the finder and then emptied the trash. :-}
I know now, (after the fact) that this was the wrong thing to do. However, I didn’t find a “delete” option within TM.
It all seemed “logical” at the time. . . and quite frankly, still does. Why the heck is TM so difficult to control? Why can’t one just set it for X number of backups and have an easy to access delete button? (grumble, grumble)
I looked at the FAQs, but am still not clear on how to find the “action” button. I am using a laptop with no “right click” feature. The mouse is a one piece model.
My backup drive is directly attached, but, only when I want to backup since I work on a MB pro laptop.
So please:
How do I correct this?
Do I need to format the backup drive and partition? I don’t want/need so many backups cluttering my drive. I need space for permanent photo archives which are very large. These are now merely in a separate folder on the backup drive.

Similar Messages

  • HT203177 how do i clear old backups from time machine to make more space

    My 2TB Time Machine is nearly full.  I am trying to back up a drive in a Mac Min that is starting to fail and wanted to do so on Time Machine.  Unfortunately since my Time Machine is nearly full it will not back up drive without eliminating nearly all of the files on this Mini.  I am okay overwriting the other backups already on the Time Machine but do not know how to force Time Machine to do so.  Please any clues on how to make Time Machine overwrite other backups would be greatly appreciated.

    About TM "Backup Drive is Full" Alert
    TM only deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source and when TM needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.
    So, how long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before being deleted, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room.
    Note, that on a Time Capsule the sparsebundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's view of the TC it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparsebundle.
    Once TM has found it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start your backups anew or replace the drive with a larger drive.
    As you can see Time Machine does prune old backups to make space, but eventually it may no longer succeed. Then you will get the alert. You can delete old backups if you wish, but only using the Time Machine application.

  • I recently deleted imovie 9 .and i don't have a cd and i have not made backup from time machine ..i want it back.plz help me..

    i recently deleted imovie 9 .and i don't have a cd and i have not made backup from time machine ..i want it back.plz help me..

    It depends how you installed it.
    If you installed from your iLife 11 DVD, then you can insert the DVD and install it again.
    If you purchased it from the Mac App Store, you can open the Mac App Store, go to the Purchases tab, and reinstall from there.

  • 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.

  • I am unable to empty my trash w/o getting an 8003 error.Some  of what is in the trash is BackUp from Time Machine. I have tried to Secure Empty and also Unlocking folders yet the error continues. There is over 300gb that I need to trash. MacPro 10.6.8

    I am unable to empty my trash w/o getting an 8003 error.Some  of what is in the trash is BackUp from Time Machine. I have tried to Secure Empty and also Unlocking folders yet the error continues. There is over 300gb that I need to trash. MacPro 10.6.8

    See #E6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • After restore backup from time machine, all thumbnails in photos are blank. How to fix ?

    After restore backup from time machine, all thumbnails in photos are blank. How to fix ?
    I'm using Yosemite 10.10.3 and Photos. i have tried repair database, but no success .

    Try these for the first attempt:
    First be sure to have a backup copy of the library if you already don't have one.
    OT

  • If you remove a backup from Time Machine, can you add it later?

    if you remove a backup from Time Machine, can you add it back later? I have two backup sets active, but only one is connecting to a drive at the moment. It seems to be pausing TM for the inactive one, which is as I would expect, except that the menu icon for TM shows an exclamation point (= "waiting to backup"). I'd rather have that error / pause sign show if the ACTIVE connected drive is experiencing issues. It has zero diagnostic function as currently set up.
    The solution would be to remove the backup drive from the TM list and then add it back later. I am just unsure if I can do this (will TM recognize the alternate backup set again if I re-add it?)
    tx

    Yes, you can re-add it.

  • Deleted items from Ipod Nano to make room for new. Emptied trash. Still getting error message when I try to copy items from ITunes to Ipod. What should I do now?

    Deleted items from Ipod Nano to make room for new. Emptied trash. Still getting error message when I try to copy items from ITunes to Ipod. What should I do now?

    If you delete songs (and other items) from the main iTunes library, yes, you need to empty the Trash because iTunes puts the song files into the Trash.  When deleting items from an iPod, the items are not being deleted from the main iTunes library, so nothing should end up in the Trash.
    Hopefully, you are not deleting items from your main iTunes library, just to sync those deletions from the iPod.  If you are, there is a better way.  You can post back if you want more info...

  • What items do you delete from backup on time machine to make more space available

    What items do you delete from back up on time machine to make more space?

    There's no need to do that unless Time Machine has reported a Disk Full alert. In this case you can:
    1. Delete older entries using the Time Machine application to free up sufficient space.
    2. Get a new and larger Time Machine backup drive to replace the old one.
    3. Erase the backup drive and start over.

  • Deleting old backups from Time Machine/Time Capsule

    I've spent a long time deleting copies of old back ups from Time Machine today. In view of this am I right in assumming this should in turn reduce the size of sparsebundle on TC?  If not, please can someone tell me how I can reduce the size of sparsebundle on my 2TB TC; my MacBook has 150GB HD and my sparsebundle is 500GB in size.  I want to address the amount of backups I keep as I do not wish to have a TC clogged up with multiple monthly backups of data each month, which in my opinion is pretty redundant.

    A sparsebundle file behaves differently than a normal file or folder. As you add data to the sparsebundle file, it expands as long as there is room on the drive. But, if you delete data from the sparsebundle, the size of the file remains the same, even though the data has been deleted.
    You will be able to add more data to the sparsebundle, and it will continue to expand as long as there is room on the drive.
    If you want to "compact" the sparsebundle file to have it indicate the exact amount of data in the file, there is a Terminal command that you can use for this purpose.
    See the pink box in this link for excellent information provided by Time Capsule -- Time Machine guru Pondini:
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/12.html

  • Cannot retrieve old backups from time machine

    Two weeks ago I brought my iMac to the apple store for the hard drive replacement program.
    I backed up everything before bringing it in and deleted most of my data.
    When it came back, it looked exactly the same as how I brought in. (Most things were deleted.)
    I tried to restore one folder to test out the function, and then I was off to work when I saw the files transferring.
    After I finished work, the files finished transferring but when I go back into time machine, all my recent backups were from today and my previous backups were all gone.
    Is there any ways to retrieve my old backups?
    Some of my important files were only stored in this external hard drive...
    Thank you...

    Wimek,
    According to this KB article (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1760)
    "When upgrading from one Leopard-based Mac to a new Leopard-based Mac, and you wish to use Time Machine backups from the previous Mac, make sure the computer name of the new Mac (in Sharing preferences) is the same as your previous Mac's computer name was when its Time Machine backups were made. Afterwards, if the previous Mac is still on your network, give it a different computer name."

  • How can I restore an old iPhone backup from Time Machine?

    Hi there,
    I lost my iPhone 4S but have a extra iPhone 4 (used for travel) that I would like to restore the 4S backup to.
    The problem is that the backup of my 4S has somehow disappeared from itunes and the only one that shows up is the iPhone 4 backup even though they are set up as different devices with different names. I know that the backup for my 4S is included with my Time Machine backups (on external harddrive) but I can't find the files. Also very strange is that I don't have the folder "MobileSync" in /Library/Application Support/MobileSync on my computer. I can't find that folder anywhere.
    My computer is less that 6 months old and I know that I have not deleted that folder or any other that are preinstalled.
    I'm using OS X 10.9.4 and I don't want to restore my hole computer from Time Machine, just the files that hold my 4S backup.
    Also note that I have not backed up everything from my 4S phone to iClould so that's not an option.
    I've tried everything including:
    - Restoring the settings on the iPhone 4 to factory settings and then connecting to itunes.
    - Deleting itunes and restoring it from Time Machine at a date that i knew had the original iphone backup.
    Who ever can solve this for me deserves a gold medal. I'm truly desperate. I've searched all forums and haven't found a solution for this.
    Thanks.

    caxx wrote:
    Also very strange is that I don't have the folder "MobileSync" in /Library/Application Support/MobileSync on my computer. I can't find that folder anywhere.
    Correct.
    You need to go to ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/.
    The ~ indicates your User folder not the top level /Library/ folder.
    Click on the desktop, then hold Option and go to Finder menu Go and Library will be there (only when holding Option as it is hidden).

  • Deleting files from Time Machine not possible

    Prior to Mavericks it was possible to delete specific files or directories form all TM backups using the action menu.
    this option no longer appears. this is an issue since it is no longer possible to prune the backups (remove files you really don't want to keep).
    I know it is possible to exclude directories from backup (beforehand) but this does not cover removing files after they have been backed up..

    It was always fraught to remove anything from Time Machine and I have read somewhere that there is now a bug that the engineers are working on.   It appears you cannot go back beyond the date you download Mavericks.
    Perhaps someone will come into the thread who knows more about this.

  • Delete  hardrive from time machine

    how to delete  hardrive  from time machine

    Not quite sure what you're asking. Time Machine is normally an external hard drive - are you perhaps wanting to eject it or erase it? Perhaps you could clarify what you wish to do.

Maybe you are looking for