How to delete sparse bundle on TC?

I ran out of room on my 1TB TC, so got a new 3TB TC and have set it up for Time Machine.  I want to delete all files on the 1TB TC and use it only as an auxiliary hard drive.  I can't seem to delete the Sparse Bundle file. How do I delete the sparse bundle file on my old TC?

Solved the problem! after a hint by 'nick_harambee', dated Feb 21, 2009 (see at the bottom of: https://discussions.apple.com/message/9036656#9036656) in which he suggested to enable 'guest access' in the Airport Utility tab on the Time Machine..!
Instead of all failed attempts to change the permissions with 'chflags' (for which you don't have the permission ;-)..
So, now the whole -unneeded- sparse.bundle can be erased and Time Capsule disk space recovered..
Thanks 'nick_harambee'! for the simple hint,
Gerard

Similar Messages

  • How to delete "sparse image"?

    how to delete "sparse image"?

    You should be able to delete it via the Finder, as you would any other file, folder, disk image, etc.
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  • Deleting Sparse Bundle File

    I'm running out of disk space on my Mac Book Air. I have used 'What Size' and it shows me that I have 36gb of data as sparse bundle file.
    I have read online that various users has encountered problems after deleting sparse file to make space available.
    Is it recommended to delete those files or am I asking for trouble?
    Thanks

    The sparse bundle you found in WhatSize is indeed a FileVault Home, and the fact that it is currently in /Users/.nelsonesparon (with a leading period) rather than in /Users/nelsonesparon (without the leading period) indicates that you are currently logged into that very account. All the files and folders that currently appear to be in your "Home Folder" - your Documents, Music, Movies, etc - are actually stored in the "bands" of that sparse bundle.
    Bottom line - Don't touch it!
    But if the sparse bundle containing all your "Home" files is 36GB, and you are "running out of disk space", what accounts for the rest of your HD space? How big is the HD? Do you have other user accounts? Does the space used by files and folders as shown in WhatSize "add up" to the Used space on the HD?

  • Is there any way to recover a deleted sparse bundle?

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    but when I went to run a new Time Machine backup to this external drive it deleted the old sparsebundle.
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    As I began to run the new Time Machine backup, it changed the name of the old sparsebundle
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    to xxxx.purgeable
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    but even though the new Time Machine backup didn't seem to start (I cancelled it in time),
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    A sparsebundle is a disk image.. if the actual file info is wiped then I really doubt you can recover it. Since you ran a recovery software which has worked recovering stuff for me.. and it couldn't find it.. your only hope would be real data recovery centre.. but although they can get raw data off the disk how useful it would be is questionable.. sorry but I think it is gone.

  • Deleting sparse bundle without deleting other data

    Hey guys,
    I've got a early 2011 Mac Pro running lion and a Time Capsule from 2011 also.
    My time capsule is connected via Ethernet, and I can see the sparsebundle in Disk Utility (getting to that point was problem enough), and it all APPEARS to be working fine.
    With this exception: when I attempt to backup I get an error message : the sparsebundle cannot be accessed error -01
    My time machine hasn't backed up in about a year (because I kept putting off fixing this issue) so whatever that SB is, I don't need it anymore. I want to delete it.
    BUT I have other items on the Time Mchine (that have just been click & dragged onto it, they have not been backed up onto it) that I don't want to get rid of.
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    Trying to delete post.

  • Please help, deleted Sparse Bundle!!!

    So I have done the worst thing and accidentally deleted my Time Machine Sparsebundle, I have since done an erase and install, and I have no way of getting the bundle back.  I can see that my fils are still on my TC, as it shows that I have 434.63GB available on a 1TB hard drive. 
    My question is; is there a way to access my files again without the sparsebundle or is there a dummies guide to making a new sparsebundle to access my files.  I hav tried using TM to backup and see if it merges new with old backups, but it won't. I have years of important data I am trying to recover, any help is good help.

    You are well past the point of no return if I understand you..
    I have since done an erase and install, and I have no way of getting the bundle back.  I can see that my fils are still on my TC, as it shows that I have 434.63GB available on a 1TB hard drive.
    Why would you erase after having deleted the sparsebundle?
    Perhaps you don't mean erase.. you mean reset.. an erase would cause all the content of the TC to be lost.
    My question is; is there a way to access my files again without the sparsebundle
    No, the sparsebundle is essential to TM.. the files are stored in a special format not accessible to anything but TM.
    You have one hope.. open the TC and remove the hard disk. Put it in a USB to sata holder. and plug into a computer. 
    You will need to buy a utility like disk warrior or data rescue and attempt to recover or rename the sparsebundle or at least extract the backup folder from inside the sparsebundle. If it works it will be immediately obvious. Otherwise the backup I doubt can be recovered.. even if you do the full recover, it cannot put the files back together. 
    If you have no idea what you are doing.. you might be better simply paying for it to be done. Send the disk to a data recovery centre.. it will cost a mint but if the files have to be recovered you have no choice.

  • How do I delete a sparse bundle in Time Machine?

    I backup two computers over a home wireless network to a Time Capsule. But there are three TM sparsebundles on the TC; one is from a computer that is long gone. I need to create space on the TC as I got an error message stating that; I have a new disk and TM is trying to create a new backup for that.
    I read the TM FAQs that are often cited in Discussions but I don't know what vintage those recommendations are; can someone give me an up-to-date proceedure for deleting the uneeded sparsebundle? It is 123 GB and my TC is 500 GB.
    Thansk;
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    I tried this:
    If a sparse bundle is very large, and OSX says it will take many hours to delete it, there is a faster, but more tedious, way:
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    •Right-click the sparse bundle in the Finder and select Show Package Contents. 
    •Open the bands folder (it may take a while to show the contents).
    •Select a large number of bands (up to about 8000 at a time), and delete (trash) them.
    •When they’re all deleted, delete the sparse bundle.
    I got an error message:
    "This operation cannot be completed because df4 [one of the bands] is in use."
    Next step?

  • How to delete a sparse bundle

    I have added a new Mini to my network and repurposed a former Mini. I would like to remove the sparse.bundle for the former mini to free up space and start a new TM backup.
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    Is there a way in Terminal or something to delete this file which must be damaged without erasing the whole TC and starting over. I do have other sparse.bundles from other machines on there I would like to keep.
    Thanks in advance for any advice.

    Molson2043 wrote:
    Is there a way in Terminal or something to delete this file which must be damaged without erasing the whole TC and starting over.
    First mount the internal Time Capsule disk, assumed in the example below to have the default name "Data". Launch Terminal, then type these commands:
    cd /Volumes/Data
    ls
    That's a lower-case letter "L" at the beginning of that last command. You should see all your "sparsebundle" volumes.
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    Now open the "Data" volume. Drag the "sparsebundle" file you want to delete from the "Data" volume's Finder window to the Terminal window. This should cause the path and name of the volume you want to delete to be copied into the Terminal window. Now select the Terminal window. Double-check that the correct "sparsebundle" file is in the command, then press "return". You'll be prompted for your administrative password.
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  • How can I delete a sparse bundle for an old machine from a Time Capsule?

    I have multiple Macs backed up to a Time Capsule. I have given away one and want to delete the backup for the old system completely. Trying to move the sparse bundle for the named system to the trash seems to hang with the barber pole forever. Do I need to wait several hours for the delete to happen?

    You might want to take a look at the blue box at the bottom of this document from Time Capsule and Time Machine expert Pondini
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/TCQ5.html

  • Deleting a Time Capsule Sparse Bundle in OS 10.7.5

    How can I delete a sparse bundle representing one of 4 backups on a 1 TB Time Capsule backing up 4 computers? All Macs. The sparse bundle I need to delete without affecting the other 3 computers is the largest on the Time Capsule and is corrupted to the point it needs to be eliminated entirely so
    I can start an entirely new backup process for that computer using Time Machine on the Time Capsule. I am trying to delete by trashing "Bands" but
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    will not mount. My Time Machine for this computer is totally worthless and must be rebooted so I can start a new one. Help

    There is a bug that is killing spotlight and TM in latest Lion update.. 10.7.5
    Try turning this off and see what happens.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/19858557#19858557
    Otherwise copy the sparsebundles of the other computers to a usb drive or do an archive to USB drive.. although the corruption of the sparsebundle might cause that to fail.
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    Aint Apple just great how they test their updates so throughly.

  • Can't get free space after deleting a file-sparse bundle disk image

    I have a 150 GB Sparse bundle Disk image with a 256 AES enc. I just deleted about 30 GB worth of tv shows to free up some space but the Disk Image is still the same size with no more free space on the virtual disk either. I know that with Filevault the user has to log out in order to recover free disk space but how does this work with a normal Sparse disk image? Thanks in advance!
    -Macguy3000

    IIRC, sparse images only grow as things are added, but do not shrink. Create a new one, mount the original, transfer your stuff from the original into the new one, and delete the original one.

  • How to delete all content on a time capsule created by Time Machine, and begin again creating a new savings bundle

    How to delete all content on a time capsule created by Time Machine, and begin again creating a new savings bundle ?

    You make a sparse bundle.. but don't ask me how that is different to a bundle of savings. Sparsebundle is what the special TM backup is called. It is a kind of disk image I think.. what makes it sparse is unclear as well.
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  • Time Capsule won't back up due to "sparse bundle" how do I fix this?

    I recently updated to IOS6 now my time machine will not back up... due to some "sparse bundle" issue.  Can anyone help me fix this?

    I do not see how the two are related..
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    Reboot the TC .. does the issue go away.
    I have heard there are some wireless issues with the new iOS release.. perhaps check in the iphone area.

  • I get this error message when I try to back up my laptop:  Time machine could not complete the backup.  The backup disc image "/Volumes/Data/Lou Ann Buesing's Mac Book Pro. sparse bundle is already in use.  Anyone know how to fix it?

    I get this error message when I try to back up my laptop:
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    Reboot the TC.. Sometimes you need to reboot the whole network.
    This is what comes of Lion and then made worse in Mountain Lion of Apple not spending enough time to fix the bugs.
    Read C12 in pondini.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    C17 can be related I think.

  • Due to NAS issues, when I started a new time machine backup it did not have the old backups available. My question is do I need to delete them or will time machine automatically reclaim the space?  Only one Sparse Bundle, same name.

    Due to NAS issues, when I started a new time machine backup it did not have the old backups available. My question is do I need to delete them or will time machine automatically reclaim the space?  There is only one sparse bundle but when I enter time machine I don't see my historic backups.  I use a synology DS212 for my time machine.  Started a new backup which is 218gb but it says 618 gb is occupied  therefore it looks like 2 or 3 backups are still on the disk. Before my NAS issues the last backup was in 2014.  As you can see there is a second sparse bundle from 2012.  Not sure what that is.

    This is an old message now, but what happened to me similarly was:
    I had a major computer crash and through complicated pathways ended up reinstalling (Mavericks) as a new user (long story).
    At least I had good Time Machine backups on an NAS drive (Synology DS212j), or so I thought - when I started Time Machine up again, the old backup file was gone, replaced by a new one using my "new computer" name. The old file was gone both by directly mounting the NAS drive and by clicking "Enter Time Machine".
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    As usual when things get complicated with computers (not just Apple computers) there was never a warning message. Something like "YOU'RE ABOUT TO DELETE A TIME MACHINE BACK-UP FILE!!!" would have made my life a lot simpler.
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