How do you delete old time machine back ups?

I have a 2009 iMac (currently on Snow Leopard) that has been using Time Machine (TM) to back up to a 2009 Time Capsule (TC) since new. I have a 2011 Macbook Pro (currently on Snow Leopard soon to be Lion) that I would like to begin backing up using TM to the TC as well. The problem is that I recently did one back up of the MBP to the TC and it used almost all of the remaining space on the TC. Going forward the iMac has continued to back up to the TC creating space by deleting it's oldest back ups. The MBP however says there is not enough space to back it up. I am guessing that the TM for the MBP is unable to delete old back ups of the iMac to create space and since there is only 1 back up of the MBP it cannot delete that.
So... long story short is it okay for me to go into the TC to delete old back ups of the iMac manually and if it is how do I do that?
Thanks for your help in advance
djbrown

Is this more what you mean?
Re: Can not delete sparsebundle backup
Nov 17, 2009 8:30 PM (in response to Ricardo Blach)
+What I really need is to delete the old sparsebundle from the TC. How can I do that?+
Open your Hard Drive and look for the Time Capsule icon under the SHARED heading. Click the TC icon and a folder will appear to the right. Double click this folder.
You should now see a xxxxx.sparsebundle file for each of the computers that have been backing up. The file contains the name of the computer and the MAC address so you should be able to easily identify the xxxxx.sparsebundle file that you want to delete.
Click the xxxxx.sparsebundle file to highlight it and then click the gear shaped icon just above and select Move to Trash.
Be very careful since you will not be able to retrieve the file if you make a mistake and delete the wrong file.
That comes from https://discussions.apple.com/message/10595875#10595875
...and no, I don't think I'm related to that Dave Bean.
david

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HT3275 how do i delete old time machine back ups?

I just switched to a new MBP, and my external drive does not recognize it. How do I delete old backups in order to make room on the external for the new computer's backups?
Thank you.

You could click on the time capsule in the SHARED panel in Finder, then enter your data folder and delete the sparsebundles, but that will take some hours for the delete to finish with the millions of nodes.
You could also use the airport utility and click on the DISK tab, then do a quick erase.

Deleting Old Time Machine Back ups

I regularly back up my system ( every couple of weeks! ) and data to an external 2TB drive however I only really need a copy of recent state of system and data. Will it be good practice to enter time machine and go back to the old back ups and delete so that only recent backs up are maintained on drive. This would also free up space on my external drive? I just want to ensure deleting old back ups does not harm the integrity of the data.
Also i wanted to ascertain if it is possible to use time machine drive in another mac and simply drag and drop files from the latest back up onto this other computer?

DO NOT manually adjust Time Machine Backups. That can cause you to lose the integrity of the Backup database.
Time Machine deletes portions of older backups when space starts to get scarce. It carefully computes what files must continue to be saved and ensures it has a copy of those files, never deleting the last copy as long as the original is still present.
If you would like to understand better how it does this, there is an excellent Multi-page description or how it works written by the late James Pond on his site:
How Time Machine Works its Magic
NB> When you have read the first page, click the Next link at the bottom of the page for more -- the detailed description continues on several more pages.
It is inadvisable to keep other files on a Time Machine drive. If you want to maintain your Backups manually, I strongly recommend you use a different Backup method. Buy yourself an additional drive -- they are cheap.
The BIG advantage to Time Machine is that it is the Backup that actually happens, automatically and in the Background without interfering with your work. Other Backup schemes can be MUCH more clever, but they have the tragic flaw that you need to remember to do them.

Can I safely delete old Time Machine back ups?

I use a 1TB external drive for Time Machine but it's nearly full. There are 43 different back ups on the drive, can I safely delete all but the most recent one or two? I realize I would not be able to restore my system from a deleted back up but I can't think of a reson I'd want to. Would greatly appreciate any insight on this, thanks!
p.s. Why does Time Machine keep so many back ups in the first place? I can't find anything in preferences to limit the number of stored back ups. Is there a way to limit the number?

Hello:
I use a 1TB external drive for Time Machine but it's nearly full. There are 43 different back ups on the drive, can I safely delete all but the most recent one or two? I realize I would not be able to restore my system from a deleted back up but I can't think of a reson I'd want to.
It makes no sense to delete old backups. Time Machine automatically deletes backups if it needs space. If you start deleting backups, you will do it ONE at a time.
Why does Time Machine keep so many back ups in the first place?
It is designed that way.
Is there a way to limit the number?
No.
Why are you having a problem with the design of Time Machine? Do you need, for some reason, extra space on the external drive? If that is the case, you should have partitioned the external.
Barry

Deleting old Time Machine Back ups, locked files wont delete?

Will unlocking them help-if so how do you unlock? I can open with Text edit but due to years of caution when not knowing what I'm doing causes more problems I ask before doing things-grin (Suppose it shouldn't matter since all I want to do is trash them????)
The file in particular is the boot file boot.efi. Trash basket is still full presumable until I can delete.

See > Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions 12. Should I delete old backups? If so, How?
of the > Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions

How can I remove old Time Machine back-ups for a Mac I no longer have??

So, i am trying to back-up a brand new MBPro to my Time Machine but it says there's not enough room. Only 13.5 GB avail and need 284 GB. Is there a way to go into Time Machine and delete all the old back-ups from my former MBPro? (I've already migrated all the files and data to the new MBP from my iMac, also on the same Time Machine.) If I could wipe out the old MBP back-ups that should create enough room.

Delete the backups.
Q12 here. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

How do I delete a Time Machine back-up from my trash?

I use an external hard disc for my Time Machine back-ups.
In order to make some room on the external hard disc for some other files I wanted to store while I reformatted their original disc, I moved the Time Machine bach-ups into my iMac Trash.
Now when I try to delete thes old unwanted back-ups I get this message -
There are some locked items in the Trash. Do you want to remove all the items, including the locked ones, or just the unlocked items?
I've tried selececting Remove All Items but they just stay there.
I tried to darg them out onto the desktop but although that creates a new folder, the back-ups stay in the trash.
I've tried switching Time Macine off in the preferences bu that doesn't help.
Can anyone help me with emptying them?

dear Sue
i've tried the alt solution to empty trash but it does not work
I still got the -8003 error
for emptying time machine backups that i foolishly put in the trash
i've also tried this solution using terminal and it did not work either
http://www.imore.com/how-force-empty-trash-your-mac-using-terminal
any help you might offer would be greatly appreciated
i am using a 24 inch iMac
OSX 10.6.8
Message was edited by: summer_laughter

How do I copy old Time Machine back-up data onto my new (second) back up drive?

I recently bought a second back-up drive for use with my MacBook Pro (running 10.9.4).
I'm successfully backing up my computer to both drives on a regular basis using Time Machine. (a Seagate drive and a Western Digital drive respectively)
I was wondering if there's an easy way to add the old back-up files from the old drive to the new drive as well. That is to say, I wish I had all the data that precedes my new back-up drive on BOTH drives. There's plenty of space on the new drive.
Again, I'm already running Time Machine successfully to both drives, is it perhaps as easy as connecting both drives to my computer and copying the older dated back-up files over to the newer drive within the Backups.backupdb folder for my profile?
Thanks for any help!

Although the documentation says you can copy Time Machine backups in the Finder, it's very slow and sometimes doesn't work at all.
This technique will only work if the volume you're copying to is the same size, or larger than, the one you're copying from.
First, open the Time Machine preference pane and click the Options button. You may have to unlock the settings first by clicking the padlock icon in the lower left corner of the window. Authenticate as an administrator.
Delete the volume you're going to copy from the list of backup destinations. Then turn Time Machine OFF.
Launch Disk Utility, open the built-in help, and search for the term "Duplicate." Follow the instructions. All existing data on the destination volume will be erased.
If the volume you're copying was encrypted by Time Machine, you may have to unlock it first. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar of the Disk Utility window.
Turn Time Machine back ON and select the new volume as a backup destination. You can also continue to use the old volume, if you wish. The two will be alternated when both are available.
CAUTION: If the volume you're copying is corrupt, as shown by Repair Disk or Verify Disk in Disk Utility, then that corruption will be copied to the new drive. Don't copy data from a corrupt volume on a malfunctioning drive. Put the drive aside and don't use it until you're sure you'll no longer need the data. Then securely erase it and take it to a recycling center. Do the same if the Restore operation fails with "disk errors."

Removing old Time Machine back ups from Time Capsule

I have just purchased a new iMac (2.7GHz Intel Core i5 running LION) that I am using to replace both my wife's old iMac (2GHz Intel Core Duo running Snow Leopard) and my 17" MBP Intel Core Duo - we've both made the switch to iPads for lap browsing. I migrated my user accounts from both the MBP and old iMac to the new iMac and I want use TimeCapsule as my back up disk. However, I cannot back up my new machine because the older back ups that I no longer need take up most of the TCs disk space.
How can I remove the older, no longer needed backups from TimeCapsule to make room to run back ups of my new iMac? I've tried deleting the sparsebundle, but that did not seem to work.
If anyone can help, please be as detailed as possible in how to remove the back ups. Thanks in advance.
- Ryan

Thanks for the tip.
You did forget to mention that it is necessary to click on the "MANUAL SETUP" button located at lower left part of the Airport Utility window to get to the Disk.
I went through the more generic/standard setup windows a couple of times because I was not seeing the disk and thought I was missing something. After I had an "ah-ha" moment and clicked the manual setup key, everything was there and erasing the disk was easy.
Thanks again,
RT

Old Time Machine Back-Ups on new iMac

Hey Everyone..
So I got myself a new iMac today and I'm really pleased with it. I went for the 3.1GHz i5 in place of my old 2.8GHz i7.
Anyways - I restored the new machine from the most recent back up of my old iMac which has worked great and looks just like my previous computer. However..when I enter Time Machine it only goes back as far as today and when I try to do a back up it says there is not enough room. I would have hoped that my new iMac would recognise the back up as it's own and reinstate it as normal..but this doesn't seem to be the case.
If someone could give me some guidance on this I would appreciate it.
Many thanks..
Ricky

Time Machine will always treat a new computer's data as a completely new backup and start it from scratch. You can either get a larger backup drive or erase the current one.
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.

Using old time machine back ups for new mac

I have upgraded to a new intel macbook pro from a g4 powerbook. I was able to move my files and apps to the macbook pro. How do I get time machine to use the old back up data on my new laptop. I have selected the hard drive that has the back up data from my powerbook but the macbook does not pull up the info.

First a couple of things you're posting in the iMac forum not the MacBook Pro forum. In addition there is a Time Machine Forum. I'd recommend reading the Time Machine FAQ's there. You can find the TM forum at:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1342
and the MacBook Forum is at:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=190
Roger

I cant restore old time machine back ups.?

Hi , so i went to restore my old itunes from time machine, but i can no longer access te old back up, its just clear line in time machine down the side.
Yesterday it was fine an i was looking through to see when i want to go back to to restore it.
I can see the old backed up files all dated?
CAn anyone please help
regards
Ricky

time machine with a 1tb hardrive, if i go into the hardrive i can see the back ups, but i cant get to them by selecting it from the side

I can't empty trash. I get error code 8003. I am trying to delete some time machine back ups to make more room on my external hard drive.

My trash has files from time machine/Drobo, my external hard drive. It refuses to empty and prevents me from emptying other files from my iMac.

Please look at the More Like This link to your right. Any with a green check mark indicated the question has been answered with a solution.

Merge 2 time machine back ups on 1 back up drive?

I was running low on space on the USB drive I use to back up my Air, OS 10.6.5 with TIme Machine, and I had a new USB drive handy, so I just used the new drive. Now I have 2 USB drives and each has a time machine back up file, "Backups.backupdb"
I'd like to free up the first USB drive, and have the use of all of those old TIme Machine backups on the new drive.
It's clean up time, trying to reorganize my back ups and drives... is there any way to save the old Time Machine back ups from the old drive in usable format?
Thank you for any help
(btw, I do not want to upgrade to the latest versions of Mac OS's)

Funny you should mention... it was Pondini's TM FAQs that sent me here
If they answered this question, I missed it.
I have also read up on http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5096
But neither could tell me how to manage the back up files when I had already started another external drive as backup disk.
I am currently copying all the files from the original back up drive to the new drive under another folder, it's taken about 10 hours so far, estimates 6 hours more to go.
And on the apple bulletin, it said I should uncheck "ignore ownership on this volume", which I failed to note.
Thanks for the link though, its a great one. If I missed it there, (and I checked Troubleshooting too) please let me know?

Complicated corrupted main drive and lost Time Machine back-ups question

Here's tough one I can't pin down answers to: I have an iMac Early 2008 running Lion. The main hard drive system (probably) corrupted over the course of 2-3 months until it became unusable. I had Sophos on it, but removed it about a month ago and reliability improved but only for about a week. Finally the hard drive crashed. I used the Recovery partition while able to have Disk Utility add a second partition to my back-up drive, which contains Time Machine back-ups, my iPhoto folder and a few other files but no system. I installed Snow Leopard from disk to the new partition, checked the first partition, which seemed fine, then upgraded the Snow Leopard partition to Lion and updated and ran under a temporary user. Next I explored the main drive, which Disk Utility said was fine, but doesn't always show up. While in Disk Utility, I noticed that the first partition on the back-up drive showed up as empty! After some panicking, I've a second back-up drive on the way, but how do I access the TIme Machine back-ups, get my original user back and get access to over 15 years of files that are locked into that user?
My (2nd) back-up drive arrives tomorrow, so I'll able to get to work soon.
Thanks for any help.

Ok so wahat you mean is I need to name a partition "Time machine" in order for TM to back up any volumes and TM will always start with the volume titled Timemachine ?
so as I stated
A. All my OS applications _________Rename this to time machine or can I ues the volume name it is now?
B. All my files for those applications ---------Once that is done TM will back this up?
C. All My Itunes / Music etc---------Once that is done TM will back this u last?
Also I did a test run and I geet the error msg that the backup disk of my OS needs 1.36 TB but only 1.34 exists. The orignal OS disk has only 232GB of data why is tome machine asking for all that space?
I set the partition at 1.34 so there would be way more than enough space to copy.
R

How do you delete old time machine back ups?

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