My Time Capsule says it is full

My Time Capsule says it is full and cannot complete another backup. How do I delete files from Time Machine to allow room? Thanks!!

You can delete individual backups. See item 12 in the +Frequently Asked Questions+ post at the top of this forum for instructions.
This will not damage the integrity of the other backups; unless you delete them all, it will only delete copies of items that appear on no other remaining backups.
BUT, first find out what's gone wrong, because under ordinary circumstances, TM should delete your oldest backups automatically, when it needs room for new ones.
To find out just what's gone wrong, download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget from: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/timemachinebuddy.html. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Copy and post the messages here (be sure to get them all, as sometimes they overflow the small window).
Also, answers to these questions may help:
Do you have other data on your Time Capsule, besides TM Backups?
Have you recently had any of the following: repairs to your Mac; a new internal HD; a full restore; gone more than about 10 days without a backup.

Similar Messages

  • What do I do when time capsule says it's full?

    What do I do when time capsule says it's full?

    Basically you have a decison to make about whether you want to keep all of your old backups on the Time Capsule and start new backups on a new Time Capsule (which Apple would prefer) or other hard drive.
    or
    Erase the Time Capsule that you have and start over again with new backups.
    In theory, Time Machine is supposed to delete old backup automatically to make room for new backups, but this does not always work correctly, so you should probably not rely on this over the long term.

  • 2TB airport extreme time capsule says it's 'full'?

    I am unable to complete a time machine back up to a 2TB airport extreme time capsule because it is 'full' - what is going on?  I thought time machine automatically deleted the oldest back up so there is always room?  Also I don't understand how I could fill 2TB?  Thanks!

    That's what I thought too.  Just tried again & I get "Backup Failed - there isn't enough space on airport".  When I click on 'details' it suggests I "Select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by excluding files."  Any suggestions?

  • My Time Capsule says it is full. It has duplicate info. I need to empty it and reload. I just switched to the new OS (ML) and cannot find how to do it in Airport Utilities. Help!

    I need to strip out my time capsule and reload info from computer. It says it is full, but actually has duplicate info as I took all of my files out of an older computer and put them in the new one. It is 500GB, but I only have half of thayt on my computer. I want to start over. I downloaded instructions to do it with airport utility, but in the new OS there is just a picture of my time capsule and no way to get to "manual" to delete info and reinstall. Any help out there? Greatly appreciated, Craig

    Using Mountain Lion, the AirPort Utility screen looks like this:
    It will not stop "restarting". I think I need to pull the plug
    This is an entirely different problem than you described in your intial post. Probably all you can do is pull the power, wait a minute and see if the Time Capsule will restart when you power it up again.

  • My 2 TB Time Capsule's memory is full because it will not automatically delete old files as it is supposed to, so it is giving me zero backup of my two computers now.  How can this be fixed so my Time Capsule deletes the old data and saves the new?

    My 2 TB Time Capsule’s memory is full because it will notautomatically delete old files as it is supposed to, so it is giving me zerobackup of my two computers now. How can this be fixed so my Time Capsule deletes the old data and savesthe new?
    Neither my local computer consultant nor I have been ableto change any of the settings in Time Machine to correct this problem.  Working with the choices in the TimeMachine, there does not appear that there is any way to change the frequency ofthe backups either, so, after a year has elapsed, the time capsule is full, andmy only choice appears to be to erase all the current data on the Time Capsuleand start over, something that I do not want to at all let alone repeat on anannual basis.  My questions are:
    What can be done to have my Time Capsule delete old filesas it is supposed to do, so it has memory available to allow my computers toback up? 
    Is this a software problem that can be fixed online or isdoes this require a mechanical fix of defective hardware?

    How much data is being backed-up from each Mac?  (see what's shown for Estimated size of full backup under the exclusions box in Time Machine Prefs > Options).
    Is there any other data on your Time Capsule, besides the backups?
    Most likely, there just isn't room.  Time Machine may be trying to do a very large (or full) backup of one or both Macs, and can't.  Since it won't ever delete the most recent backup, there has to be enough room for one full backup plus whatever it's trying to back up now, plus 20% (for workspace).
    Also see #C4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for more details.

  • My time capsule says it only has 473.24 gb for my back up of 534gb.  the only back up I can access when I enter the time machine was yesterdays so what has happened?

    my time capsule says it only has 473.24 gb for my back up of 534gb.  the only back up I can access when I enter the time machine was yesterdays so any idea what is happening? I have the latest irmware update.
    Marmimag

    There is an issue with latest Lion update.. it is killing TM.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/19858557#19858557
    Otherwise check via the airport utility if there is something else using space on the hard disk.

  • My time capsule says it has only 75gb free space but when i go through finder to it there is nothing there. trash is empty by the way.

    my time capsule says it has only 75gb free space but when i go through finder to it there is nothing there. trash is empty by the way. i had to delete some things of it as it didnt have enough room and i was backing up too much irrelevant stuff. now it wants to do a complete back up - about 300gb but there is only 75 free. WT

    Ok first what u have to do is remove the Time Capsule from the time machine software and make sure the computer does not back up to the time machine. Next go into disk Utility and find the time capsule. Once found, reformat the drive. Then start using it. If you cannot find the drive in Disk Utility, then open a finder window and find the drive in the sidebar. Right click it and find a button within the drop down menu that will allow you to reformat the drive. If you are forced to go to finder and you right-click the drive, you may have to explore all the options within the drop down menu to find the reformat option.

  • My os is 10.8.4. Airport Utility is 6.3. When I try to pull backups, time capsule says: 'The folder "Pictures" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents.'.

    My os is 10.8.4. Airport Utility is 6.3. When I try to pull backups, time capsule says: 'The folder “Pictures” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.'. So I cannot use Time capsule to back up so what gives?

    Did you use migration assistant when you set up the computer?
    TM will treat this as a different computer and permissions issues can arise from that.
    Pondini is the expert on that stuff.. hopefully he can drop in.
    But I recommend you read all the FAQ to do with restore.. Q14-17.
    And then look at the permissions issues he lists in troubleshooting.
    E9 in particular. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

  • I have two Macs that won't back up to time capsule, says The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Douglas Chalmers's iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use.

    I have two Macs that won't back up to time capsule, says The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Douglas Chalmers’s iMac.sparsebundle” is already in use.

    Please look over to the right of this page for the heading of More Like This.
    There are multiple answers and solutions there.

  • Time capsule says sparse bundle busy

    Time capsule says "sparsebundle busy" and cannot backup

    Already in use.. is that what you mean.. it is well known error. the most common here since Mountain Lion came out in all its glory.
    Pull out the power cord from the TC.
    Count to 10 (allows the caps to discharge)
    Plug the power cord into the TC.
    98% of the time the problem goes away.
    Tell us if you are part of the select 2%.

  • Upgraded to Yosemite and now my Time Capsule says it does not have enough space to complete backup, yet it has 500 GB free space?

    I have just upgraded to Yosemite and now my Time Capsule says it does not have enough space to complete backup, yet it has 500 GB free space?
    I am using the latest mac book pro and hacvent added anything aside from the upgraded iOS so not sure why the Time Capsule is saying that there is not enough space.
    How can i fix this problem?

    Time Machine has to completely index all of the old backups that are already on the Time Capsule before you can run a new backup successfully.
    That process is going to take a long time......probably 6-10 hours or more if your Mac is connected to the Time Capsule using a wired Ethernet connection.
    If the Mac connects using wireless, it may take a day or two for the process to complete depending on the speed of your connection and the amount of data that you already have on the Time Capsule.
    Wait a day or two for the indexing process to complete and then try to run a new backup again.

  • Time capsule says my hard disk is full?

    When I try and revert to my timecapsule memory of yesterday - the process starts, and then a dialog box says it can't continue as my hard disk is full.  How is this so if I am only reverting to my status/computer of yesterday?  Please not my hard disk has over 20Gb of storage prior to this process.  II aam rrunning Snow Leopard Intel IImac Help!
    THANKS!

    First, don't confuse "Time Capsule", an Apple Wi-Fi base station, with "Time Machine", backup software included with OS X since version 10.5.
    If in the Finder you select the Mac's boot volume,then invoke the menu option File > Get Info, what values to you see for "Capacity", "Available", and "Used"?  For proper operation the value of "Available" should be at least 10% of the value for "Capacity".

  • My time machine says it is full after backing up 1.5tb from my hard drive.  The time machine itself is 3 Tb.  Should I reset it?

    I have recently acquired a new time machine 3 tb.  After backing up succesfully twice (My backup is circa 1.5tb) I get an error message saying there is not enough room to continue the back up. Maybe it is writing the back up as a different computer each time?  How do I check and create space?
    Thanks

    Seems to be very odd.
    BTW Time Machine is the software in the computer. What you bought is a 3TB Time Capsule.
    Both the TM application and the airport utility will show you the free space.
    If the freespace is reading wrongly as indeed it sounds to be.. welcome to Mavericks which I guess you are running.. (not old snow leopard as per your profile).
    Reboot the TC .. reboot the computer.. is there now enough space?
    Check by using Finder.. open the TC disk and check the size of all the sparsebundles you can find. There should be one, unless you have multiple computers.
    I also think you would know if it backed up twice the whole 1.5TB because it would take days and days to do it.

  • Do I need to get a new time capsule if mine is full?

    My time capsule has only 24 gigs left. When it is full, do I just buy a new one and store the old one for backup?

    Sorry, I cannot duplicate the error that you are seeing to be able to figure out how to find a solution. One of my Time Capsules has been full for months, but it always makes room for any new backups.
    If you really don't need all the old backups from months ago, the simplest and fastest thing to do is erase the Time Capsule drive and start all over with a new backup and move forward from there.
    Otherwise, you can manually delete backups, but the process is very time consumming because it takes a long time to delete individual files. I do not recommend this, but will provide you with some links of instructions for "how to's" on this if you want to give it a try. You will be on your own if you do this.
    If you want to preserve all of your current backups, then you will need to add another Time Capsule and start backups to that new device. Buy the largest drive capacity that you can afford. I have yet to meet the first person who ever regretted buying too large of a hard drive.

  • My time capsule backup space is full yet, how can i extend the backup space?

    how can i extend the backup space?

    Two possibilities:
    Add a new USB hard drive to the Time Capsule and start a new full backup and move forward from that point.
    (Unfortunately, it is not possible to have Time Machine simply continue backups on a new drive. You have to start over with a new full backup.)
    Or, if you decide that you really do not need all the old backups on the Time Capsule, the disk can be erased and you can start over with a new full backup and move forward.

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