Janette17

Q: Deleting old time machine backups from trash

I placed the old time machine backups on my full 1TB portable backup. Now I cannot empty the trash on my 2009 iMac, I am running OS X El Capitan 10:11:4.

How can I delete the trash?

I tried placing the trash by placing the folders in the Terminal as instructed in apple support but that did not work.

Posted on Apr 25, 2016 2:15 PM

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Q: Deleting old time machine backups from trash

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  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Apr 27, 2016 2:31 AM in response to Janette17
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 27, 2016 2:31 AM in response to Janette17

    Can you drag the TM files from the Trash? if yes, drag them to the Desktop so that they are not lost

  • by Janette17,

    Janette17 Janette17 Apr 27, 2016 2:31 AM in response to cdhw
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 27, 2016 2:31 AM in response to cdhw

    I back up to two portable hard drives. One is 1Tb and the other 2TB in size. I received  a message to say the 1TB was full.  I was not concerned as I read that time machine will delete old back ups if the back up device becomes full.  However, after a few nights I kept getting the same message which I though made sense as the old backups would not be as big as the new backups. So I thought I needed to delete a number of backups to allow for the new bigger backups.  this removed the old backups from the 1TB back up disk - freed up more space.  But now I have other problems as outlined.

  • by Janette17,

    Janette17 Janette17 Apr 27, 2016 2:41 AM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 27, 2016 2:41 AM in response to Lexiepex

    Hi Lexiepex,

     

    When I drag a TM dated folder onto the desk top it copies it but leaves it in trash. Should I still proceed to copy them all?  That will create a really messy desktop - does that matter in this case? Will the folders have to stay on my desktop forever?

     

    You noted the Build.bot was dangerous. Please expand.

  • by Janette17,

    Janette17 Janette17 Apr 27, 2016 2:46 AM in response to Janette17
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 27, 2016 2:46 AM in response to Janette17

    I typed Build.bot into Spotlight search.  A window came up with 'Style Builder" can;t be opend becuse it was not dwonloaded from the Mac App Store.  Your security preference allow installation of only apps from the Mac App Store.

     

    I only learnt to alter the security preferences a few months ago.

     

    I take it that Style Builder may be the Build.bot you are referring to?

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Apr 27, 2016 2:56 AM in response to Janette17
    Level 5 (6,365 points)
    Mac App Store
    Apr 27, 2016 2:56 AM in response to Janette17

    Janette, did you ever try selecting a file/folder that is in your trash then selecting "Delete Immediately" from the drop down menu?

     

    Also, is the 1TB drive still connected? The items you deleted from it are not moved to your Mac, they are just pointers to the files you trashed on the 1TB drive. The files would just be removed from the 1TB's catalog. If the drive is no longer connected OSX can't do anything with the files.

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Apr 27, 2016 3:11 AM in response to Janette17
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 27, 2016 3:11 AM in response to Janette17

    "When I drag a TM dated folder onto the desk top it copies"

    Try drag while holding the CMD key

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Apr 27, 2016 3:15 AM in response to Janette17
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 27, 2016 3:15 AM in response to Janette17

    -- I take it that Style Builder may be the Build.bot you are referring to? 

    No it is not: the original program is Build.bot, Style builder is one of it slaves as is Buildslave.

    Let's wait a bit for some experts to come in for help.

    -- about your desktop: you can put all in a folder to keep it clean, don't changes the names!

  • by seventy one,

    seventy one seventy one Apr 27, 2016 3:30 AM in response to Janette17
    Level 6 (15,175 points)
    Peripherals
    Apr 27, 2016 3:30 AM in response to Janette17

    Hello Janette17,

     

    I see many suggestions to/about doing things with Terminal.  Unless you are very competent you should be wary of Terminal.  It can cause havoc with the system.  The expert on Time Machine, Pondini, is sadly no longer with us but his writings remain.  Here are a selection with particular relationship to back ups.  All are interesting but the suggestions in what he called his Yellow Box may be the most helpful.

     

     

    https://web.archive.org/web/20151007135944/http://pondini.org/TM/12.html

  • by cdhw,

    cdhw cdhw Apr 27, 2016 3:33 AM in response to Janette17
    Level 4 (2,668 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Apr 27, 2016 3:33 AM in response to Janette17

    Time Machine can get a bit chatty when its disk is full. There is a setting 'notify after old backups are deleted' accessed via the 'options...' button

     

         System Preferences > Time Machine > Options ... > Notify after old backups are deleted

     

    that allows you to make it a bit less naggy by unchecking it.


    Anyway, we are where we are, which is that you are half-way through trying to erase your 1TB TM drive but you have a second 2TB drive which is okay. It may be possible to fix what you've done, but frankly I doubt it and it's not worth the risk of discovering in a year's time when you need to recover something that you messed up. So I recommend erasing the 1TB and then starting a new TM backup from scratch on it.


    Start by using

     

         System Preferences > Time Machine

     

    scroll to the bottom of the list of drives and select 'Add or Remove Backup Disk...' select your 1TB drive if it is listed under 'Backup Disks' and click the 'Remove it' button.

     

    At this point I would shutdown the machine, unplug the 2TB drive, then restart. This is to make sure you don't accidentally erase or damage your 'good' 2TB backup while sorting out the remaining issues. You should now be able to use

     

         Utilities > Disk Utility.app

     

    to select and erase the 1TB Time Machine drive. You now have an empty drive that you'll be able to reuse for your second TM backup.

     

    Having done that, check to see if your Trash will now empty. I doubt it, but it's worth checking. Otherwise, as I previously recommended

     

    Open Terminal.app and copy-and-paste this command:

     

         ls -len ~/.Trash

     

    at the prompt and use the return key to execute it. Paste the results here.

     

    C.

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Apr 27, 2016 3:39 AM in response to cdhw
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 27, 2016 3:39 AM in response to cdhw

    Hi cdhw, sorry for my interruptions, but isn't it better to slow down a bit to avoid confusion.. When Jeanette17 is going to delete TM backups and starting new ones, it is better that she understands a bit better before doing such things...

    Reading a bit on Pondini's site (that Seventy One proposed) is good for a better understanding...

    Emptying the Trash and storing the files on the Desktop does make it possible to complete the TM backups again.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Apr 27, 2016 3:45 AM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 5 (6,365 points)
    Mac App Store
    Apr 27, 2016 3:45 AM in response to Lexiepex

    Lexiepex wrote:

     

    Emptying the Trash and storing the files on the Desktop does make it possible to complete the TM backups again.

    Just curious, why would she want to store nearly 2 million files on her desktop she doesn't want in the first place, seeing she was trying to delete them?

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Apr 27, 2016 4:22 AM in response to dialabrain
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 27, 2016 4:22 AM in response to dialabrain

    She said some backup files.

    If she meant all, then it is enough to turn off the TM, and format the external...

    there is a filled.trash on the external now also.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Apr 27, 2016 4:28 AM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 5 (6,365 points)
    Mac App Store
    Apr 27, 2016 4:28 AM in response to Lexiepex

    Lexiepex wrote:

     

    She said some backup files.

    If she meant all, then it is enough to turn off the TM, and format the external...

    there is a filled.trash on the external now also.

    what she said…

    This has not worked. I have 1623383 files in the trash

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Apr 27, 2016 5:25 AM in response to dialabrain
    Level 6 (10,497 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 27, 2016 5:25 AM in response to dialabrain

    no idea, they may be very small and by a long shot not all....

    with some files missing in the TM backup, the automatic condensing and cleaning will not work...

  • by Janette17,

    Janette17 Janette17 Apr 28, 2016 3:37 AM in response to seventy one
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 28, 2016 3:37 AM in response to seventy one

    Thank you for the referral to Pondini

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