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Delete Time Machine Sparsebundles
I have read numerous positngs regarding how to delete the Time Machine sparsebundles. Nothing works, including SSH. I enabled SSH on the NAS, rebooted, then used Mac Apple Terminal to SSH in to the server to delete the sparsebundles. Nothing happens. The files are still there. No error messages. Nothing. How long should the SSH remove files command take to complete? The Time Machine fiiles/folders are huge, terabytes in size, but some are very small. Help.
The process that I used:
Terminal lobg into to the ReadyNAS successfully,
Change directory suddefssfully.
Give command to remove files, no error message, no feedback. Is there a way to list the files in this directory?
# cd /data/.timemachine # rm -rf *.sparsebundle
Thanks in advance for your advice.
That truncate command is what you'd run if the sparsebundle is already very small. Check the PM I sent you. If the files are huge the whole point of the truncation method is to gradually reduce the file size.
If you want more space allocated for TM you'd simply go into the web admin interface of the NAS and increase the amount of space allocated to TM and apply your change.
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If the files are large then deleting them can take quite a while.
You can do e.g.
# rm -rf *.sparsebundle &
Note:
the # at the start of the line comments it out (this is to try to prevent blind copy & paste, you should always think about every command you enter)
the & at the end means that it will create a sub shell and run it in the background. So you can run other commands in the foreground while you're waiting for the command in the background to complete.
The command ls (note that's a lower case L followed by a s) is used to list the files in directories
# ls
# ls -la
You can look up the man command for the command.
ls is one of a group of basic commands that everyone using SSH should know. If you're going to be using SSH a bit going forward you should look at free tutorials online to learn about basic commands such as ls, cp, mv, rm, grep, cat, kill etc.
As your files are huge, deleting the files by truncation may be more effective than deleting them using the rm command.
Thanks for your kind remarks.
Yes, I knew the "ls" and "ls -l" commands but forgot how to refresh it. Too much of a hurry as you can see by the typos. I can enter the command again to refresh the volume file list. I did need reminder to comment out the command and appreciate the instructions on how to put these commands into the background.
I appreciate the information about the truncation method. I didn't know that. Is this the correct command?
# truncate -s 0 filename.sparsebundle
My goal is to create a new Apple Mac Time Machine backup after deleting the existing sparsebundles that are too small. After the sparsebundles are deleted, do I then open FrontView to Backup, then open Time Machine, then increase the size of the existing TM setting or do I disable the TM and then renable it, thus creating a new partition?
Thanks in advance.
That truncate command is what you'd run if the sparsebundle is already very small. Check the PM I sent you. If the files are huge the whole point of the truncation method is to gradually reduce the file size.
If you want more space allocated for TM you'd simply go into the web admin interface of the NAS and increase the amount of space allocated to TM and apply your change.
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