How to get rid of files on time machine that no longer exist
I replaced my computer several months ago when my old one died. A large amount of data which was in a partition on my old computer is still on my time machine and is taking up a lot of space and forcing time machine to delete backups much sooner than I would like. I don't know how to get rid of it. If I try to delete that folder from an individual backup, I get the message, "The operation can't be completed because backup items can't be modified." Of course, I can't delete it from my new computer because it's not there! Any help appreciated.
Marion
The best method is to archive the contents of the TC to a disk.. archive is available via the airport utility.
Simply plug in a USB drive large enough to store all the material presently on the TC, 1TB or 2TB or 3TB.. whichever model it is.
Archive I have drawn red box around.
Once the archive has completed ..
Use the Erase disk.. just the Quick erase is ok.. takes a couple of min and then you have a nice empty drive to start loading TM backups on.
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HT201250 How can I find a file on Time Machine.
The file was on my Desktop at one time but has been deleted. Typing it's name in the TM Spotlight field and clicking the Back Button (per the TM tutorial) doesn't work. Has anyone found a specific file on Time Machins that is no longer on the Mac?
First of all, I don't work for Apple and neither do most people who post here. This is primarily a user community.
The documentation is correct, even if you didn't have any success. I prefer to use mende1's suggestion, so I don't use Spotlight in Time Machine.
I understand you are frustrated, as I would be if it didn't work. Computer frustration isn’t one of my favorite pastimes.
Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.
Feedback -
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how can I delete backups in iCloud from iPhone that no longer exists?
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How to remove old backup files from time machine? Lion OSx
Hi everyone,
I am just wondering how to efficiently and safely remove the old backup files from time machine? I tried once with command, but it damaged my extra-disk... Does Lion OSx have fixed that?
Many thanks
HongBlue-
Time Machine will automatically delete back-ups as the need for space arises. If you want to delete a certain file (application, document, whatever) and have it gone for good you can do that as well.
The best place on the web for information about Time Machine is...
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
...it covers everything!
Clinton -
How do you retrieve individual files from Time Machine?
If a file original is lost or becomes corrupted, is there anyway to retrieve that individual files from Time Machine? If so, how?
ElRay (Amazingly, not the 1st) wrote:
SharonZ wrote:
Time Machine finds that file, and not other files that meet the criteria. BUT...
That's not what TM was doing. My search criteria was "by filename", however when I try to go backwards in TM, that limit is lost and it appears to be returning every file in the rolled-up weekly archive. This is especially odd, because I have since determined that the file was actually corrupted before TM was running, so there should be only one version of the file in TM's archives.
No, it was a file sitting on my disk. Email was mentioned, because the fact that every email in every junk folder appears as a separate item to be restored, which is what triggers that little "too many files to show you at one time" issue.
So your name search returned lots of junk mail items. I shudder to think what the file name was that you were searching for! <g>
Also: you can tell Time Machine to ignore your junk mail if you've filtered the junk mail in Mail into a different folder/box.
I figured that one out. I had used Spotlight to find the junk mailboxes, but couldn't, only the messages "labeled" junk. I had to use 'find' in Terminal.app to actually find Mail's junk & spam folders.
Yeah, it's hard to find stuff when you don't know where it is <g>. In general, though, for these kinds of things, always think: "Library" which is where SO many pieces of programs are stored. Of course, there's lots of Library folders, so your first job is to decide: system or user level? Realizing more than one user account could have email setups, you can assume the path you need starts at the User level. So, you start at Home[UserName]/Library. Scanning that Library folder, you see a Mail folder (aha!). Checking out that folder, you might first suspect the Mailboxes subfolder, but you'll soon see that it has the mailboxes you've defined for sorting your mail; so, you continue to scan the Mail folder and you see a folder with your email address on it (or multiple folders, one for each of your emails). Open one of those and, ta da! You see something labeled junk.mbox.
You've already found your Junk mail, of course, but I'm suggesting this as a general approach, especially for other readers of this thread, who might not want to touch Terminal.
But, back to one of your initial problems: TM seemed to lose your search criteria. Do you think it was related to the high number of " hits"? Does it work for you otherwise, when you search for something less general? -
How do I delete folders listed in Time Machine that are no longer good?
I AM TRYING TO DELETE FOLDERS ON MY TIME MACHINE THAT I NO LONGER NEED:
MY TIME MACHINE FOLDER SHOWS AT PRESENT:
DIGI FILES_PE
DIGI FILES-PE-ACDS
DIGI-ACDS
HARD DRIVE
IPHOTO-PHOTO-PREV-PE
PREV-ELEMENTS
WORKING
I WANT TO DELETE:
PREV-ELEMENTS
DIGI FILES_PE
DIGI FILES-PE-ACDS
When I checked the Help INstructions it tell me to Highlight the file and click the Actions menu (Gear icon) from the toolbar.
Select “Delete all backups of <this file>”.
BUT...when I do that the Gear icon only shows "Move to Trash" Not “Delete all backups of <this file>”.
So when I try to move the old folders to the trash it tells me that the operation cannot be done?See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.
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HELP
How do I selectively select files and programs from TimeMachine to put back on my macbook pro?
it had to be wiped out by a genius who unfortunately will not come to my house to fix - no matter how much cash I offerThis page:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
this section:
• Restoring data from Time Machine backups - Restoring specific files of folders -
How to us iPhone backup file from Time Machine drive to restore iPhone
Stupidly, I deleted my primary account on my iPhone that contained my contacts and calendar. I don't currently subscribe to MobileMe. I took advantage of the free service when I bought my phone, but decided not to subscribe as I synch my iPhone to my computer and back up my computer using a hard drive connected with Time Machine. Unfortunately, when I stopped using MobileMe, a synch to my iTunes wiped out all my contact data in my Address Book on my computer and my calendar. Therefore, all my most current information was on my iPhone.
I went to the Apple store and was told that the iTunes backup file may be used to restore the contacts and calendar information on my iPhone. I synched my iPhone to iTunes and then did the iPhone restore to factory settings. Only then did I realize that the older, correct backup file was not an available option in the dropdown.
So, I'm trying to figure out how to pull an older iPhone backup file and then use it to restore the iPhone. The only thing is that when I go to Time Machine and look at an older Library --> Application Support --> Mobile Sync --> Backup folder, there's a whole bunch of .mdbackup files in there.
How do I select what I need? How do I get the iTunes protocol to run the restore on my iPhone using those files?Select the folder that contains the .mdbackup files and use Get Info for the folder to check the date the backup was updated. I would forget about trying to extract individual .mdbackup files and transfer the entire folder to the same location on your computer's hard drive - with iTunes quit before doing so.
After doing so, this backup should be available to select when restoring your iPhone from your iPhone's backup.
If this is successful restoring contact info and calendar events on your iPhone, if the Address Book and iCal on your Mac is empty - it does not contain any data, before syncing your iPhone direct with the Address Book and iCal on your Mac, enter one unique contact in the Address Book, and one calendar event in iCal on your Mac. Make these up if needed, which can be deleted later. This will provide a merge prompt when syncing this data, which you want to select.
Does Time Machine include a backup of your Address Book and iCal on your Mac? If so, it will be much easier and faster to restore the Address Book and iCal on your Mac from your Time Machine backup. -
How do I find a file in Time Machine?
I get time machine. It just works. But my questions is, how do I locate a file that I know was backed up but I have no idea when the last time it was actually present on my system? Is there a way to just search like in Spotlight but have it show files that have been backed up?
Open a Finder Window.
In the Finder Window, search for the file you want, select "file name" or "content", make sure "This Mac" is selected.
Click the Time Machine icon, in the dock, it will open on "Today".
Click on the back arrow to go back in time.
If the file was backed up, TM will go back and find it. -
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I downloaded this music program iMesh, and now every time I go to another tab it automatically takes me to the iMesh search engine. And I have iGoogle as my homepage but it doesn't take me to iGoogle. How do I get rid of this iMesh? I've uninstalled the program already.
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How do I access old files on Time Machine?
I am trying to go back far enough to get a data file that doesn't automatically get updated in Quicken. I apparently have a corrupted data file that make Quicken 2015 crash every time I try to open it. The problem started in October 2014 so I have tried to go back to early September using the same file name but have not had any luck despite replacing the file with the older file but same file name. do I need to assign a new file name to the older file in order for it to work? I have been assured that the Quicken software appears to be working and it is the latest version so they are stumped. I'm dead in the water and need any advice you can offer.
Thanks in advance.Hi,
You would normally open the folder where the file or item normally resides.
You would then launch Time Machine and use the arrows to go back in time and select the same File/items name and then press Restore to bring it "forward" to the current date.
You can also manually look in your Back Up Drive/Backups.backupdb/computer name and then the dated folders and then the "mirror' spot in the file system that the item normally resides.
Whilst this sounds like an easy way you may have to search lots of folders to find the item as an item is only saves when it is changed.
You should not need to change the File Name using Time Machine.
If you were thinking on manually bring it to the Desk top from inside the back Up files I would make a Copy and rename it. Then work on the copy.
In the Console App (Applications/Utilities) there may well be a Crash Log of the app which may give more clues.
I don't use Quicken but the Log may show some generic type issue or highlight something about the files it is trying to open.
It might pay to say what sort of data is in this particular file as people who use Quicken may be able to spot something.
10:00 pm Friday; December 26, 2014
iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
Mac OS X (10.6.8),
Couple of iPhones and an iPad -
I've got one or maybe two problems. Time Machine routinely crashes and there is a file in the TM folder that is an .InProgress file at the end of successful backups. Can't delete it, even using various sudo commands in Terminal. These come back with a "Resource busy" message.
Similarly, there is a Microsoft Office alias in my trash that will not delete, again including various delete or Terminal commands. Also "Resource busy"
I can't reformat the TM volume since it cannot unmount and it also cannot unmount the whole disk, which contains some other backup files I'd rather keep.
Any suggestions?
MikeI'm not sure I can be very helpful since I was doing a lot of things and ultimately the problems went away. But one thing that definitely seemed to help was to shut down, restart, do something, shut down again and repeat. So with a clean start, try to move the file to the trash. If that works, shut down restart and look to see if it is still in the trash. Empty the trash. Shut down if it appears to empty and then restart. It seemed sometimes that the computer was doing what I wanted then something was overriding this and restoring. The shutdowns immedately after I could do something but before it engaged an override operation seemed to keep this from happening.
Sorry to not have more to offer but... -
How to drag and drop files in Time Machine Capsule?
Hi, all
I have recently bought a Time Machine 2 TB. I have backed up my MacBook Air over the Time Machine. I was trying to copy or drag and drop files in the time capsule, but it wont allow me. It Neither does allow me to create any new folders in the Airport Time Machine. If i try to drag and drop files in it, it says, click to Authenticate, however, there is no place or tab to authenticate. I am the administrator.
Please advise.
ThanksIt sounds like you are trying to copy / paste files to the Time Capsule Finder icon, when you should be copying / pasting to the drive on the Time Capsule, which is named "Data" unless you have changed it.
Open any Finder window and look for the Time Capsule icon under the Shared heading on the left side of the window
Click on the Time Capsule, which will display a folder to the right named Data, unless you have changed the name of the drive
Double-cllick on Data to mount the drive on the desktop
You can drag / drop or copy / paste files onto the drive icon, or open the drive and drag files into the open window.
The first time that you do this, you may be asked for the Time Capsule device or disk password. -
How do I erase a file on Time Machine?
<arrows or the timeline along the right side of your screen to browse through the backups Time Machine has created.>
My TM doesn't have arrows or a timeline. I've looked through all the discussions and don't see the answer. Maybe it's an old version. My MacBook Pro is almost two years old.
Thanks for any help.Uhhh, maybe I didn't phrase my question right. I backed-up my laptop with an external hard drive and would like to erase a file on that external hard drive. But the above Time Machine does not seem to have the arrows I need to scroll through the hard drive.
Any ideas?
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