HT202174: How to verify or erase an AirPort Time Capsule disk

Learn about How to verify or erase an AirPort Time Capsule disk
matthewfrombasingstoke

Q: How do I delete a time capsule Sparse Disk Image Bundle

Hi all,

 

i'm the proud owner of a new Macbook Pro and have it all set up and my Time Capsule is backing this new machine up perfectly.

 

Thing is I now need to delete the old back up of my old Macbook Pro and can't figure out how to do this? If I open the Time Capsule via Finder, I can see all the files and know which Sparse Disk Image Bundle I need to delete, however I have right clicked on this and chosen to send it to trash and I don't think it does anything? I've waited overnight and it still shows that it should be deleting this but it doesn't seem to be?

 

Is there an easier way to delete a single Disk image on Time Machine?

Time Machine, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Feb 19, 2015 6:29 AM

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Q: How do I delete a time capsule Sparse Disk Image Bundle

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  • Helpful answers

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Feb 19, 2015 2:52 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke
    Level 9 (52,330 points)
    Wireless
    Feb 19, 2015 2:52 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

    Deletion of a big sparsebundle can be a very long and painful process especially over slow wireless.

     

    See Q12 here.

     

    http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

     

    It is really much better to delete by erase of the TC before you start backing up your new computer..

     

    Honestly it might still be worth thinking about.

     

    There are heaps of posts about attempts to speed this up. They try to use tricks.. eg create a new folder of the same name as the sparsebundle can work.

     

    Can not delete sparsebundle backup

     

    You are far from the first to ask..

     

    There must be 20 more threads of equal length where we go around and around the same tried and true methods.

     

    End result.. accept you should have erased before you started.

     

    Erase now.. go to the airport utility.. select erase under the disk tab.. accept and select quick erase.. in 2min all files are gone.. yes.. all files.

     

    Then do another clean new TM backup of your computer.. It is faster to do that than erase.. but this time plug in by ethernet and turn off wireless.

  • by matthewfrombasingstoke,

    matthewfrombasingstoke matthewfrombasingstoke Feb 20, 2015 1:56 AM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 20, 2015 1:56 AM in response to LaPastenague

    Hi,

     

    thanks for the information, one thing I forgot to say was that the reason I haven't just erased the whole time machine is because there are 2 other people in the family that have MacBooks and they have these backed up on the time machine. So if I erase the whole drive then I loose their back ups - not something I can do.

     

    So based on that I have to be selective as far as deleting the back ups.

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Feb 20, 2015 2:13 AM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke
    Level 9 (52,330 points)
    Wireless
    Feb 20, 2015 2:13 AM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

    Try the trick methods.. at least use a directly connected ethernet computer.. with wireless off.. that will hugely decrease the time.

     

    Windows is sometimes much more efficient than Mac OS at simple things like deletion.

     

    If you have a windows computer or dual boot machine try the deletion from there.

     

    Lots of other methods.. none super fast.

  • by fif7y,

    fif7y fif7y Mar 4, 2015 6:26 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 4, 2015 6:26 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

    I found that Graveyard app works great.

    Still takes pretty long to complete (depending on the size of your backup) but works fine for getting the sparse bundle deleted.

    I just deleted a 700Gb file in about 3 hours over wifi (TimeCapsule) which is quite reasonable.

    It's basically a simple drag and drop (on icon) app that does all the 'dirty' terminal job in the backend There's no visual feedback, but as long as the icon is there and no alert pops up the app is working (use activity monitor in utilities if you really need to know)

     

    Here's the link to the app: www.1802.it/graveyard.php

     

    Procedure recap:

    1 - Open SystemPreferences

    2 - Go in TimeMachine and select disk to remove your active disk.

    3 - Locate your SparseBundle and drag it on the Graveyard.app icon.

    4 - wait...

     

    Hope it helps.

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Mar 4, 2015 7:15 PM in response to fif7y
    Level 9 (52,330 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 4, 2015 7:15 PM in response to fif7y

    Thanks for additional reply.. always good to add to the store of methods around the problems..

     

    700GB in 3 hours over wireless is excellent.