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Forum Discussion
Deleting time machine backup
Hi all,
I've looked what seems to be everywhere on the forum to try and find out how to delete the sparsebundle file in the .timemachine folder but can't find any step by step instructions anywhere.
I have the problem where I have bought a new mac and setup time machine on it, however because of the size of the sparse image from the old mac, it always fails stating there is not enough disk space.
I'd therefore like to delete the sparsebundle file and start afresh. I've managed to locate the file, however using finder I haven't managed to delete it. It just hang's on 'preparing to delete...' i've even left it doing it overnight.
I've heard that the best way of deleting it is by SSH, which I have downloaded the add-on for, however I haven't found out how to go about using this method.
Would anyone be able to either point me in the direction of a how-to, or explain how to do this?
Any help would be very much appreciated!
Thanks
I've looked what seems to be everywhere on the forum to try and find out how to delete the sparsebundle file in the .timemachine folder but can't find any step by step instructions anywhere.
I have the problem where I have bought a new mac and setup time machine on it, however because of the size of the sparse image from the old mac, it always fails stating there is not enough disk space.
I'd therefore like to delete the sparsebundle file and start afresh. I've managed to locate the file, however using finder I haven't managed to delete it. It just hang's on 'preparing to delete...' i've even left it doing it overnight.
I've heard that the best way of deleting it is by SSH, which I have downloaded the add-on for, however I haven't found out how to go about using this method.
Would anyone be able to either point me in the direction of a how-to, or explain how to do this?
Any help would be very much appreciated!
Thanks
11 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- I have exactly the same problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks - Well using SSH
cd /c/.timemachine
rm -rf *.sparsebundle
Will delete all sparsebundles
If you'd prefer not to use SSH, consider this suggestion: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=342868#p342868 - Hi,
Thanks for the reply, would you be able to explain how I go about using SSH? I'm using a mac and have the add-on installed however don't have a clue where I put the code you have suggested.
Thanks. - Go into Applications > Utilities > Terminal
and type
ssh root@ip.address.of.nas
The 'root' user will initially have the same password as the 'admin' user. - Thank you for these very clear and helpful instructions. I found this method much faster than
the one you had suggested to me a few months ago (moving the sparsebundle to a new
temporary share and then deleting that share).
I just wish there were ways to reduce the likelihood of corrupting the sparsebundle... - I had the same problem. I was not comfortable using SSH.
I found this worked.
Go to finder. click go.
Then click connect to server.
You should be prompted to enter your user name and password.
The user name and password that you need to enter is the time machine user name and password and not the admin user name and password for your readyNAS drive.
***Hint for finding your time machine user name and password: If you log into RAIDar with your admin user name and password and then click set up it will take you to frontview. Click back up and then click time machine. This will show you the screen where you can select a username and password for time machine if you forgot what you picked way back when when you set up time machine.
Once you log in you should see your time machine sparsebundle files and can delete them. - Thanks rkspartan, I too was not comfortable with SSH. This worked perfect for me.
- I know I'm bumping a hella old thread, but just wanted to thank mdgm for the SSH tip. I've been trying every other suggestion I could find with no luck and finally I'm able to free up a desperately needed ~200Gb of diskspace and rid my NAS of an old TimeMachine backup. :D
- also a +1 on rkspartan's tip.
on mac, finder -> go menu -> connect to server
in the popped box I got:
smb://admin@10.0.1.48/c/.timemachine
I had to update the ip address to the ip address of the NAS (everything else was correct apparently) and it worked like a charm. - Locking this thread as it is getting quite old. Please use newer threads to discuss issues deleting time machine backups.
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