Need to delete old time machine backups from a external drive

was using a 500 gb external drive for time machine so when i upgraded to time capsule 2 tb i just started all over basically. i have these back ups abd videos i wanted to delete from the toshiba dr but appear and attempt to erase securely everytime i need to connect the toshiba to my mac to transfer stuff. i want to use this disk with whats on there like videos and music but i cant seem to figure out how to delete these backups...

Don't try to transfer any old backups to your new TC TM backup drive. Just create a new complete backup. I hope you aren't someone that is trying to store files in a TM backup that you have deleted from your internal hard drive. That is not what TM is for and eventually those deleted files will be removed/deleted from the TM backups.

Similar Messages

  • Is there a way to get my photos off an old time machine backup from an external hard drive?

    Is there a way to get my photos off an old time machine backup from an external hard drive?

    You will have to connect the Time Machine HDD and click on the Icon.  You will see one folder called Backups.backupdb.  Click on that and you will have to continue until you find the home folder.  The iPhoto library (where the pictures are, not the application) will probably be in your pictures folder.  You will have to drag that to your desk top.  Then you will have access to individual images.
    Ciao.

  • Transfer Time Machine backup from one external drive to another

    Surely this has been covered, but I can't find it.
    If you have your time machine backup on an external drive and get a new (larger) external drive, what is the best way to transfer the backup from one drive to the other (and define the new drive as the backup drive)? Straight copy ? Then to define the new drive, rename old drive to something else and name new drive the backup name?

    I haven't tried this yet but a few other methods are described at http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071128055047339

  • Cannot transfer Time Machine backups from one external drive to another

    Since I bought my 13 inch MacBook Pro in September 2014 I've been keeping Time Machine backups on an external 1TB Lacie Rugged.  This is partitioned into three and one of the partitions contains my iPhoto library. 
    Last weekend I left my MBP disconnected from the power source but with the external hard drive still plugged in.  Long story short - the battery level fell below the minimum needed to operate so it turned itself off and 'disconnected' the external hard drive.  This resulted in a corrupted iPhoto library which is no longer accessible.
    In order to restore my iPhoto Library from another backup I needed to buy a second external hard drive.  Yesterday I bought a 2TB Lacie Rugged which I've now partitioned into 5. 
    I want to move my Time Machine backups from the 1TB Lacie Rugged to a partition on the 2TB Lacie Rugged (to take advantage of the new Lacie's Thunderbolt connection). 
    I read the Apple article -
    HT202380: Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive
    and followed the instructions precisely.  About 2 hours into the transfer I came back to my MacBook Pro and saw a message saying that it was not possible to complete the transfer because I did not have the correct permissions.  The only option was to click the OK button which stopped the transfer.
    Can anyone advise what I should do next?
    Cheers
    Tricia

    Hi Eric,
    Thank you for your response.  I came across another thread yesterday which suggested the Restore via Disk Utility method.  It worked for me, too.  This was after I had tried following the method suggested in the Apple article above three times but each time the message was the same ....
    The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.
    I dare say that Apple would like to have us believe that it's a simple matter of 'drag and drop' but it certainly wasn't for me.  From what I've read the permission problem crops up fairly frequently. Before the second and third attempts  I had already amended Permissions on the Time Machine backups so that everyone could read and write, so that mustn't have been the problem.  I'm the only person who uses my computer so that's not a problem.
    The next problem I have is that I decided I would use the Restore route to transfer my SuperDuper clone rather than start from scratch.  Unfortunately, the partition size on my original backup disk where SuperDuper clone is is 350GB and the size of the SuperDuper clone partition on my new backup is 300GB.
    Of course, Apple says you can resize partitions using Disk Utility.  What they don't say is you can downsize partitions but (in my experience and that of many other frustrated users on various forums) you CANNOT upsize using Disk Utility.  I have 100GB spare on my external hard drive (from downsizing two partitions by 50GB each) BUT there is no way Disk Utility will let me increase the size of SuperDuper partition to 350GB :-(((
    Cheers
    Tricia

  • My experiences copying Time Machine backups from one external drive to another

    I am reposting this.  The first one was rejected because it contained 'product feedback' and I was directed to the 'Terms of Use'.  The 'Terms of Use' say feedback is welcome...***?!?
    My 3TB external drive started to die a few weeks ago.  It was still under warranty and I just got the new one yesterday.  I wanted to preserve all my backups (I had every backup for my late 2012 iMac) on it.
    The short of it is that there were like 20-25 million files there or something crazy like that. Finder was going to take forever to count the files.  cp and rsync would take like a week. I decided it wasn't worth the hassle, so I just securely erased the old disk and did a new initial backup on the new disk.
    The old disk would only mount in read-only mode, so I couldn't prune the backups down to a manageable size. Unless you only have a handful of backups, or you can internally mount the drives to make it go faster, it's going to take forever to do this.
    Regards, Patrick

    Hi Eric,
    Thank you for your response.  I came across another thread yesterday which suggested the Restore via Disk Utility method.  It worked for me, too.  This was after I had tried following the method suggested in the Apple article above three times but each time the message was the same ....
    The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.
    I dare say that Apple would like to have us believe that it's a simple matter of 'drag and drop' but it certainly wasn't for me.  From what I've read the permission problem crops up fairly frequently. Before the second and third attempts  I had already amended Permissions on the Time Machine backups so that everyone could read and write, so that mustn't have been the problem.  I'm the only person who uses my computer so that's not a problem.
    The next problem I have is that I decided I would use the Restore route to transfer my SuperDuper clone rather than start from scratch.  Unfortunately, the partition size on my original backup disk where SuperDuper clone is is 350GB and the size of the SuperDuper clone partition on my new backup is 300GB.
    Of course, Apple says you can resize partitions using Disk Utility.  What they don't say is you can downsize partitions but (in my experience and that of many other frustrated users on various forums) you CANNOT upsize using Disk Utility.  I have 100GB spare on my external hard drive (from downsizing two partitions by 50GB each) BUT there is no way Disk Utility will let me increase the size of SuperDuper partition to 350GB :-(((
    Cheers
    Tricia

  • How Can I Delete all Time Machine Backup From Computer Hard Drive?

    Can somebody help me on this. I don't want to use time machine anymore because i have low volume External hard Drive(500GB) only but want to do manual buckup.

    Hi,
    If you no longer want to use the Ext Drive with TM...
    Turn TM Off and Erase the Ext Drive using Disc Utility...
    Cheers,  
    If you need more detail... See this Older Discussion:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/7185763#7185763

  • Deleting the time machine backup from an external hard drive

    I wanted to delete the backup because I got another hard drive for that and wanted to free up the space on this one that I had been using for that, and so I moved the whole Backups.backupdb file to the trash. I think I've learned the hard way that is not the way to do it.  Now I can't get it out of the trash, and it continues to take up space on the hard drive. Secure empty doesn't do it. I repaired permissions, and the drive itself in disk utilities, which didn't help. I have a lot of other stuff on that disk which I would like to keep, so I don't want to wipe the whole thing. Please help.

    Next time just use Disk Utility and Erase the Drive, it will be much faster and a whole lot less trouble.
    In fact it might not hurt to do that as well, after you get the Trash emptied.

  • I've mistakenly deleted Time Machine backups from my external HDD. How do I fix this?!

    I manually deleted several Time Machine backups from my external HDD. Whenever I attempt to empty trash, it states (error code -22) has occurred. How do I fix my predicament?
    I understand (now) that I should never do this and ONLY delete from the Time Machine app itself but I did not assume this would be so complex by taking a blind stab at it. How do I either a) place the Time Machine backups where the originated (Put Back is not an option when right-clicked) or b) successfully delete these so I can clear my bin.
    I am running Mac OS 10.10 on a 13" MacBook Air (mid-2013) w/ 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD. My external drive is a 5400 RPM WD USB 2.0 External Hard Drive.

    Try Trash won't empty deleted time machine backups

  • I am trying to delete a Time Machine backup from a Time Capsule.

    I am trying to delete a Time Machine backup from a Time Capsule.  The file is about 400GB and my MacBook has been trying to delete it for 5h now. It still says "deleting" but has not given me a "time remaining" yet. Any idea of what I could do????

    You should not attempt to delete backups using the Finder. The result can be a corrupted backup.
    I recommend you let it complete, no matter how long it takes. That could be days, if your TC is connected via wireless.
    It is not necessary to delete backups, since Time Machine will delete old backups some time after they have been deleted from your source volume. For more information read Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's explanation here: Should I delete old backups? If so, How?

  • I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and i can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help

    I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and I can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help? I can find the mail folder in my libraries, but the Restore Button is grayed out

    OSX treats the reformatted drive as a different one; it's the same as replacing it, and the old one is no longer connected.
    See #E3 in  Time Machine - Troubleshooting to see and restore from the "old" drive.
    And, you may not want to restore via the Finder; see the blue box in #15 of  Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

  • I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

    I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my IMac desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

    Since you didn't mention what type of error message you were seeing, I'm going to guess on what is happening.
    I'm guessing that since you threw away Time Machine backups, that Time Machine is probably active on your Mac. There is a chance then that the files you tossed are marked as in use. You can't delete files that are in use.
    Try turning Time Machine off, then restart your Mac. Then try deleting them again.
    Once done, turn Time Machine back on.
    Tom

  • Errors when transferring my Time Machine backup to an external drive.

    Hello,
    I need some help transferring my Time Machine backup to an external drive. Let me explain what happened.
    I have a Mac OSX Mountain Lion that was upgraded to Mavericks when the upgrade came out. Prior to upgrading, I've been backing up  WD Passport Mac with the proprietary software "WD Unlocker on it". It worked flawlessly but after upgrading to Mavericks, I decided to backup and noticed that once i inserted the WD Passport, my screen will flicker, windows will close and reappear.
    I decided to read up on this and discovered that Mavericks is not compatible with the "WD Unlocker " program on the Passport drive. Since I already have a backup in place, i decided to restore my computer to factory settings and when I attached the Passport drive with my backup on it, My device will see the backup but it will keep spinning for hours without restoring my backup. I decided to read further on this and I got the same Mavericks compatibility conclusion.
    I then copied my entire backups.backupdb folder to my Mac desktop and formatted my WD Passport external drive and got rid of the proprietary software "WD Unlocker".. Once this was completed, I then tried to copy my backups.backupdb folder to my external drive within finder. Each time i tried, i get error messages and permission messages. Even when i changed the permission on the backups.backupdb folder to read & write for everyone, i still get the permissions error.
    Please helppppp. I have over 500gb of vital data in my backup.
    Thank you.

    Since you don't really have a question, I will give you a very broad information source for the next time you have a Time Machine question.
    Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
    Oh, you cannot use a computer whose only disk drive is the target of a an OS X cloning operation regardless of what software is used for the clone. You can, however, use the source drive except if you try to clone using Disk Utility.

  • Accessing Old Time Machine Backup From a New Account

    I have had problems with my old Account and decided to create a new Account. I can "see" the old Time Machine backup lists from the new Account, but can't open or restore them to the new Account. I get the message that I do not have sufficient privileges although I set the new Account up with Administrator privleges.

    You should have used Setup Assistant, not Migration Assistant, to transfer your data. I suggest you start over by booting into Recovery, erasing the startup volume, and installing OS X. When you reboot, Setup Assistant will start automatically. Follow the prompt to import data from a Time Machine snapshot. The backup history will then be inherited. The first backup will still be a full one; that can't be avoided.

  • How do I access an old Time machine backup from my new MBP?

    I wanted to access my Time Machine Backup from a new MBP. Time machine recognized my backup drive but could not find my Backup file. What's wrong here? I use another Login name on my new MBP - could that be the reason?

    Take a look on this page at item #17:
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html

  • HT201250 How can I migrate a Time Machine backup from an external hard drive to a new TimeCapsuls?

    I just got a 2TB Time Capsule.  I want to migrate my time machine backups on an external hard drive to the new Time Capsule.  I have about 430Gb of files to back up; I don't want to wait 7-8 days for the backup, unless I have to.  I am using OS 10.7.5 (forget which cat that is).  I have mounted the TC drive as 10.0.1.1; I tried to drag and drop from old to "data" on TC, but I get the error "The volume is the wrong format for a backup."  Any ideas how I can move my old files to the new, and bypass creating a brand new backup file?
    Thanks.

    Rather than do that, which means starting over from scratch, losing all your edits, organisation and so on, why not simply use iPhoto Library Manager to revert the Library to the older version? Easier, less destructive.
    The instructions on that are here
    If you really want to start over: you can access the Originals folder simply by going to your Pictures Folder and finding the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

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