Time capsule bloat after MacBook replacement

Question

Hello. The original MacBook I bought, which was backed up to my 500GB Time Capsule, needed to be replaced. I got the replacement unit the other day and immediately transferred my data from the Time Capsule to the new Mac. Data restoration went beautifully.
Last night I did my first backup to the TC from the new Mac. Time Machine wanted to do a full 150GB backup. I thought this made sense since it's a new machine so I let TM do its thing. Everything went fine. This morning, however, I noticed that the TC now only has ~100GB free. This surprises me because when I enter the Time Machine there is only 1 day's worth of backups. Therefore I would think I should have ~350GB free on the TC.
I'm wondering if the TC is still holding a backup from my original, now defunct, MacBook. Perhaps it thinks the new MacBook is just a second computer that I'm backing up to it. How can I tell? If this is indeed the case how can I get rid of the old MacBook's backup and reclaim the space? Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi and welcome to the discussions.
"I'm wondering if the TC is still holding a backup from my original, now defunct, MacBook"
Sounds like this is exactly the case. I had the same experience about a year ago transferring data from my Time Capsule to a new laptop.
Click on Finder at the upper left of your screen and select Preferences. Under the "Show these items on the desktop" heading, make sure there is a check mark next to Connected Servers.
Next double-click on your hard drive icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Look for your Time Capsule on the left had side of the next window under SHARED. You may need to click on the small arrow next to the name to reveal a drop down list.
Click on the Time Capsule icon on the left and a Time Capsule folder should appear on the right side of the window at the top. Double click the folder icon. You may need to click the Connect tab on the upper right of the pane and then enter your password for the device.
The next window should show a few .sparsebundle files with the dates of the first data transfers for each file. You can delete the old sparsebundle file since you should have another file with the date of your most recent data transfer.
It will take some time for the process to complete but after several hours or so, you should have the space back on your Time Capsule. Might also be a good idea to restart your computer and the Time Capsule as well.