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Work-around: Deleting Time Machine images
Forgive me if I've missed any posts, but when I was trying to figure out how to quickly delete a Time Machine archive image on the ReadyNAS a month ago (notably, before Lion or 4.1.8 came out) I didn't see anything on point.
Deleting the archive via Finder is not only painfully slow (and you're lucky if it gives anything resembling an accurate estimate of time remaining), and rysncing an empty directory into the bundle's contents with the --delete --progress flags enabled does give a little more detail but isn't exactly speedy either. The ReadyNAS frontview doesn't give a quick option to delete the images, either.
However, it does give an option to delete shares, and moving files between folders on a given share on the ReadyNAS is quite quick. So, to delete a Time Machine bundle quickly:
1. Create an empty share on your ReadyNAS (doesn't matter what you call it, I'll call it "Delete" in this example).
2. Log in as admin
3. Mount the "c" share
4. In Finder, hit -Shift-G and go to "/Volumes/c/.timemachine". You should see bundles for whatever computers are set up to backup via Time Machine.
5. The folder for the share will be at /Volumes/c/Delete, in this example » do not try to copy it to a separately mounted share, or all the benefits of this method are eliminated. Both the folder with the time machine images and the share from Step 1 are accessible via the "c" share, so you want to access both through that mount point.
6. Move the bundle you want to delete to the folder of the share you created in Step 1 (should be /c/Delete/, in this example).
7. Log in to Frontview and delete the share from step 1.
You won't see the space reappear instantly - I'm not sure what file process the ReadyNas uses in the background to process the share deletion, but the space will be reclaimed over the course of a few minutes. The deletion doesn't require network interaction or for your computer to be on, however, and it is *far* faster than deletion via Finder or rsync.
Hope this is helpful. Be very very careful you don't delete a sparse image you're still using - there's no way (that I know of, at least) to get it back!
-Jamie
Deleting the archive via Finder is not only painfully slow (and you're lucky if it gives anything resembling an accurate estimate of time remaining), and rysncing an empty directory into the bundle's contents with the --delete --progress flags enabled does give a little more detail but isn't exactly speedy either. The ReadyNAS frontview doesn't give a quick option to delete the images, either.
However, it does give an option to delete shares, and moving files between folders on a given share on the ReadyNAS is quite quick. So, to delete a Time Machine bundle quickly:
1. Create an empty share on your ReadyNAS (doesn't matter what you call it, I'll call it "Delete" in this example).
2. Log in as admin
3. Mount the "c" share
4. In Finder, hit -Shift-G and go to "/Volumes/c/.timemachine". You should see bundles for whatever computers are set up to backup via Time Machine.
5. The folder for the share will be at /Volumes/c/Delete, in this example » do not try to copy it to a separately mounted share, or all the benefits of this method are eliminated. Both the folder with the time machine images and the share from Step 1 are accessible via the "c" share, so you want to access both through that mount point.
6. Move the bundle you want to delete to the folder of the share you created in Step 1 (should be /c/Delete/, in this example).
7. Log in to Frontview and delete the share from step 1.
You won't see the space reappear instantly - I'm not sure what file process the ReadyNas uses in the background to process the share deletion, but the space will be reclaimed over the course of a few minutes. The deletion doesn't require network interaction or for your computer to be on, however, and it is *far* faster than deletion via Finder or rsync.
Hope this is helpful. Be very very careful you don't delete a sparse image you're still using - there's no way (that I know of, at least) to get it back!
-Jamie
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- I need to do this very thing but am not sure how to do step 3 when it states to mount the 'c' share.
Is this done via the ReadyNAS webpage or in the Finder? I assume the finder but not sure of how to mount it.
Thanks. - Login to CIFS as "admin" (Frontview user). You should then see a "c" share.
- Hmm. I can seen an item in my Finder sidebar called ReadyNAS (CIFS). It shows me logged in as Guest. It gives me the option to "Connect As..." and when I use 'admin' as the user and my admin password, it shows my shares including the new 'Delete' share alongside with 'c'.
If I then try to go to use the Finder Go command, /Volumes/c/.timemachine, I get an error stating 'The folder cannot be found'.
If I click on the 'c' share within in the Finder, I get the following message, 'The operation cannot be complete because the original item for 'c' can't be found.'
I am sure I am doing something wrong and appreciate any help.
Gilbert - When logged into NASNAME (CIFS) as "admin"
In the Finder, Go > Connect to server. To the right of the server address field, there will be a plus button and to the right of that there will be a button with an circular shape on it. Click on the button with a circular shape and select "NASNAME (CIFS)". Then at the end of the address displayed in the server address field add "/c/.timemachine"
e.g. for my NAS (called "MDGM-NAS") the address is
smb://MDGM-NAS%20(CIFS)._smb._tcp.local/c/.timemachine - mdgm,
Thanks for your help. I hope I am getting closer. I did as you stated by logging into ReadyNAS (CIFS) as admin but after choosing Connect to Server and selecting the ReadyNAS (CIFS) from the drop down and adding '/c/.timemachine' to the field, I get an error stating:
'You entered an invalid username or password for the server "ReadyNAS (CIFS)". You do not have permission to access this server.
I do appreciate your help and I apologize for my lack of knowledge. - I should have been a bit clearer and mentioned you should have logged into ReadyNAS (CIFS) and successfully have connected to the C share before doing the further step I described. If you are having issues doing this, try rebooting your Mac and then try again. If necessary reboot the NAS as well.
Edit: This is an alternative to, going to Go > Connect to Folder and I guess a bit more complicated. The method that jwbeard suggested involving that is simpler. I would still try rebooting your machines before attempting to do that again. - OK. I'll reboot both machines as I am still not able to connect to the C share. I can see it in listed after giving my admin credentials but get an error when trying to access stating the original item couldn't be found.
I found in another posting the following:
c) It is much faster to delete the sparsebundle from a windows pc! Here you must log in via the IP address eg 192.168.1.11 + admin/"password"
I do have one PC machine. Any idea on how to log in from the windows PC via the IP address as stated above? - On Windows login to \\192.168.1.11 as "admin" then type \\192.168.1.11\c\.timemachine in the address field.
Actually my suggestion for connect to server on Mac will work when not even connected to CIFS (at least it did for me) and prompt for credentials. - Well, I must have something else amiss as I tried as you stated without connecting to CIFS and get prompted for credentials and when I change the Registered user to 'admin' and put in my password, the box shakes like either the user or password are correct.
On the Windows side, when you state, 'login to \\ip.address.of.NAS' as 'admin' then type \\192.168.0.11\c\.timemachine into the address field, what program am I using to do that? Windows explorer? I am Windows 7 if that makes a difference.
I already see my ReadyNAS shares in the Network section of Explorer. - When your in a folder in Windows Explorer, there should be a field that shows the path of the folder you are in. That is where you type the network address.
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