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I am running Ventura 13.6.6 on a iMac Retina 4k, 21.5 inch, 2017 machine and have a 2T back up disk that I use for my Time Machine backup. I want to delete 500GB of data files and have highlighted the files and dragged them to the trash. The process has been running for days. Any suggestion of a quicker way of deleted a portion of the backup files?
iMac (2017 – 2020)
You should never delete Time Machine backups using Finder. Doing so will clog up your Mac's trash and mess up the Time Machine backups.
The only way to fix it now, is to completely erase the Time Machine backup drive using Disk Utility.
You should never delete Time Machine backups using Finder. Doing so will clog up your Mac's trash and mess up the Time Machine backups.
The only way to fix it now, is to completely erase the Time Machine backup drive using Disk Utility.
Hopefully you aren't doiung that in the Finder... it must be done from Tim Machine... deleting TM files in the Finder will blow up the whole TM file structure.
thank to all that helped me out.
I have now erase backup drive and reset it up for Time Machine. All is good and I am now going to let the Time Machine manage the deletion of old files
thank you
Den th d is correct PLEASE leave Time Machine alone ne and let it do its work. If you need a higher capacity HD for Time Machine please buy one!!!
Time Machine automatically removes older backups and does not require user intervention!
Time Machine thins and prunes the backups automatically, so there is never a reason to delete anything.
How large is your TM backup drive?
It should be at least double the size of your internal drive.
Thank you for the comments. How does one delete TM files from Time Machine.
Based on the comments, I have completely erased the disk and set it up for Time Machine again.
If you remove the TM drive you can empty the trash but the old drive needs to be erased.
:)
How to delete old Time Machine files quickly
