Unable to delete back-ups of time capsule

Despite many attempts, I am unable to delete copies of time capsule updates. I place the old versions in the trash, hit delete, the items start adding up but they never go away. Any idea why or what I can do?

In general, you want to delete backups of an item or items by opening the Time Machine "Star Wars" interface.
Move to a date of your choice using the scale on the right
Navigate to the folder/item that you want using the Finder like window
Click the item you want to delete to highlight it
Click the "gear" icon at the top of the window
You can "Delete Backup" to delete the backup on that specific date, or
You can "Delete All Backups" to delete all backups of that file on all backup dates
If you don't really need all of the old backups of your computer it may be easier to simply erase the disk and start over with a master backup and move forward again. If you do this, it will erase everything on the disk including backups from other computers that you may have previously setup. Post back if you need info on how to do this.
For excellent tips and "how to's", refer to Pondini's Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule document.

Similar Messages

  • I manually deleted back-ups from Time Machine and now I can't empty the trash

    I manually deleted back-ups from Time Machine and now I can't empty the trash.

    Using Finder (deleting Time Machine backups) to manage Time Machine files is a mistake. The remedy is somewhat easy, but you will lose all the files on that TM drive.
    If there is nothing elese on the Time Machine drive, try reformatting the drive with Disk Utility. This will effectively remove the files from that drive from the trash. If you have files on this drive, temporarily copy the files to another drive, then reformat the TM drive.

  • Deleting a back-up sparsebundle while retaining other computer back ups on time capsule

    I have a late 2009 2TB Time Capsule that has 3 computers backing up to it which are fine, however one of the machines I will no longer be backing up to the Time Capsule and want to delete the sparsebundle for that particular machine. However it weighs in at 900GB and i've tried with it directly connected via Ethernet on one of my other MacBooks, Wirelessly on my iMac but it sits for hours saying its immediately deleting but no luck.
    I tried showing packages on the sparsebundle and remove the bands but that takes just as long regardless if i select 20 or 200 or 2000 of the bands at once to delete.
    is there a good way to delete this sparsebundle and recover the 900gbs to the timecapsule so my other back ups do not get limited?
    Thank you,

    How to quickly remove the sparsebundle using Mountain Lion and Time Capsule
    1 Go to Finder and under Shared locate your time Capsule
    2 Click on Time Capsule and Finder will reveal all your sparesebundles
    3 Select the one you do not want and right click on this - select Show Package Contents
    4 Select the folder called bands - right click and select Move to Trash
    5 Watch all the bands disappear....
    6 Go back to step 2 - select your sparebundle, right click and select Move to Trash
    All gone.  Now go back to Time Machine and start again...
    Enjoy.

  • Removing old Time Machine back ups from Time Capsule

    I have just purchased a new iMac (2.7GHz Intel Core i5 running LION) that I am using to replace both my wife's old iMac (2GHz Intel Core Duo running Snow Leopard) and my 17" MBP Intel Core Duo - we've both made the switch to iPads for lap browsing. I migrated my user accounts from both the MBP and old iMac to the new iMac and I want use TimeCapsule as my back up disk. However, I cannot back up my new machine because the older back ups that I no longer need take up most of the TCs disk space.
    How can I remove the older, no longer needed backups from TimeCapsule to make room to run back ups of my new iMac? I've tried deleting the sparsebundle, but that did not seem to work.
    If anyone can help, please be as detailed as possible in how to remove the back ups. Thanks in advance.
    - Ryan

    Thanks for the tip.
    You did forget to mention that it is necessary to click on the "MANUAL SETUP" button located at lower left part of the Airport Utility window to get to the Disk.
    I went through the more generic/standard setup windows a couple of times because I was not seeing the disk and thought I was missing something. After I had an "ah-ha" moment and clicked the manual setup key, everything was there and erasing the disk was easy.
    Thanks again,
    RT

  • HT1175 view back ups on time capsule

    how do i view what's on my airport time capsule?

    If you mean inside the Time Machine backup.
    See Q15  and 15A here.
    http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

  • HT3275 how do i delete old Back ups from time machine off my mac ?

    I recently Tried to delete back ups from my external drive from time capsule  i moved old backups to the trash but when i try to empty my frash they wont go away
    i keep getting this message........... There are some locked items in the Trash. Do you want to remove all the items, including the locked ones, or just the unlocked items? iwent to get info and i set them both to read and write  but i still get the same Message ,
    Please help
    Gbasscleff

    More info here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1526

  • I'm deleting old back ups in time machine but it's not freeing up any space

    Time machine cannot back up because it is full and is not deleting old backups.
    So I delete back ups myself and it doesn't fire up any space!

    The problem is that the backups of the old computer are still on the volume, and Time Machine won't delete them to make room for more backups of the new one.
    At the top level of the folder Backups.backupdb, there should be a subfolder with the name of each computer that has ever been backed up to that volume. Delete the one with the name of the old computer by dragging it to the Trash and emptying. I warn you, though, that sometimes the Trash will fail to empty, and then you'll probably have to erase the volume and start over. Do this only if you have at least one other complete backup of all current data (which you should have anyway.)

  • How do I delete old back ups in Time Machine?

    Is there a way to selectively delete back ups on TM?

    start Time machine, go to the backup you want, click on the "gear" action button in finder toolbar and select "delete backup".

  • Removing Corrupt Back-ups in Time Machine

    I had a serious crash yesterday. While trying to install XCode the machine locked up and I had to reboot by turning it off using the power button. When I restarted I got the folder icon with the question mark. Rebooted using the installation disk and after restoring using the latest time machine back-up I successfully booted the machine, however, my user file, one of 3, would not open, giving the message that the File Vault pass word was not accepted due to an error. I reverted to an earlier back-up and fixed all the problems with minimal data loss. It seems that whatever corruption caused the problem was backed up on the late time machine back-ups.
    So, is it safe to simply delete those later back-ups? Time Machine really saved me here and I don't want to make a mistake by deleting something I shouldn't.

    Hello M:
    I would be guessing if I suggested what would happen….
    However, if you decide to delete some of your Time Machine backups, do it INSIDE Time Machine. This is a slow process (one at a time), but it is the safe way of removing old backups.
    Barry

  • Cannot back up to time capsule using time machine on new MacBook

    Have a time capsule that was seamlessly backing up my previous MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard. Recently got a new MacBook Pro running Yosemite. After a horrendous file migration using migration assistant from my Time Machine backup (non Apple programs were crashing after migration), I erased the MacBook hard drive, reinstalled Yosemite, installed non Apple apps from original disks and transferred files from my old Mac manually (drag and drop). Now everything works well on the new MacBook except for back ups via Time Machine to my Time Capsule. Airport Utility can find the Time Capsule and Time Machine starts a back up but it stops and produces an error that ends in ".sparsbundle" could not be accessed (error null)"

    Hmmm that is one of our old errors.
    Haven't seen that one for a while which suggests one of you apps might be a problem.
    Look at  C17 in particular here.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    Although the error codes have changed the basic reason for the error can be the same.
    It can also just be a network error.
    It is most important if you want to preserve the old backup.. that you make sure you still have enough space. and the new computer has a completely different share name to the old one.
    Look at the reference and it has some info about names.. these are vital to get Yosemite to work properly as Apple have changed default protocols between SL and Yosemite.
    I would even go further and say.
    1. Factory reset the TC.
    2. Redo the setup via yosemite version airport utility.. but do not use the apple recommended names.. use extremely short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.
    3. Use only WPA2 Personal security with pure alphanumeric mixed case and number password.
    Tell me if you still have issues as there is some other stuff that might help.
    What gen is the TC?
    What firmware is it running?

  • HT1449 I moved my itunes library to the time capsule. Everytime I put the computer to sleep, I have to change the location back to the time capsule. I cannot get the iTunes library to stay located in the time capsule.

    My itunes library does not stay in its new location in the time capsule. Every time I put the computer to sleep or leave it alone for awhile, the itunes location goes back to the original location in the macbook. Then I have to change the location back to the time capsule and wait for it to reorganize all the files again. So the question is how to keep my itunes in its new location the time capsule?

    Welcome to the discussion area!
    +Can someone please provide a definite answer, or at least warn against using the TC as a shared media device on a network. The whole point of getting such a device is to be able to offload large multimedia libraries from the laptops, yet access a shared library when networked. N'est ce pas?+
    We're all users here...not pros...so you'll get few definitive answers on a forum with varying opinions about almost every subject.
    My opinion would be this: Apple designed the Time Capsule for Time Machine to automatically backup all the files on your Mac and other Macs in the household on a regular basis and provide a way to retrieve a file that had been deleted recently by mistake. It's a pretty good router as well.
    If you check the info about the Time Capsule on Apple's site, the main features mentioned are backup of your Macs and a dual band wireless network capability.
    The Time Capsule was never designed to be a media server housing audio, video and other multi-media files and has never been promoted as such. Nevertheless, some users seem to have adopted the stance that this should be one of the benefits of the device, if not a main feature.
    There may be a need for media server type device, but the Time Capsule, at least at this time, is not the answer. If you feel otherwise, you might want to speak directly to Apple and let them know via Time Capsule Feedback.

  • If i clear the storage on my mac will i be able to pull what i want back from my time capsule?

    i finally ran out of space on my laptop so im wondering if i delete everything and just pull what i need back from my time capsule. It's been backed up and everything

    NO, NO, NO, don't even think about that.
    See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #20.

  • Time-Machine to back-up 2nd Time-Capsule

    Hi - I'm using my old Time-Capsule (2T) as external drive for all my media files and I just bought a new 3T Time-Capsule to make back-ups using Time-Machine.
    Time-Machine makes back-ups of my Mac but does it actually include the files on my 2T Time-Capsule?
    Regs,
    LL

    It depends how you set it up:
    http://pondini.org/TM/27.html
    http://pondini.org/TM/32.html
    Ciao.

  • Time machine has stopped backing up to time capsule. message is that sparse bundle is in use

    Time machine suddenly stopped backing up to time capsule returning this message:
    The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-1/xxnymacbooknamexx MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use.

    Complex procedure that will almost always solve this bug:
    Pull the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule
    Count to ten
    Plug the power cord back into the back of the Time Capsule
    Wait a few minutes, then try a backup again.

  • When back up to time capsule I get the message no access to backupcopyfiledisc/Volume/data/imac.sparsebundle ( error - 1 )

    When back up to time capsule I get the message no access to backupcopyfiledisc/Volume/Data/Terjesumac.sparsebundle ( error-1)

    Try #C17 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for known fixes. Works for me as well.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

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