Can I delete Backups.backupdb?

jack fox wrote:
I want to remove the TM archive from my drive and start over. Can I just put Backups.backupdb in the trash and let TM start a new archive?

jmf

Most likely.
Turn off TM and using DU, delete the partition data.
Best to erase everything.
Turn TM on.
It should start a new backup.
Naturally you will lose everything you had originally backed up.

Message was edited by: Archie G.

jack fox wrote:
I want to remove the TM archive from my drive and start over. Can I just put Backups.backupdb in the trash and let TM start a new archive?

jmf

If you want to restart TM I strongly suggest you simply reformat the TM drive using disk utility. trashing Backups.backupdb will take forever because you'll have to delete millions of files and you'll also have to deal with locked files inside the backups.

Message was edited by: V.K.

jack fox wrote:
Backups.backupdb is a folder on an external drive.

yes, I know. reformat the external. or do you have other data on it beside TM backups.

jmf

jack fox wrote:
Lot's of other data.

jmf

In a separate partition, or in the same partition as TM?
Always best to let TM have its own partition.
Copy all other data on external drive to a temporary place, reformat and repartition external drive - copy temporarily backed up data to new partition, assign other partition to TM

You cannot just "trash" it, there are lots of "undocumented" things that will frustrate simply
deleting it, for instance the folder "Backups.backupdb" is protected by the system and extremely
hard to delete it or any of its contents by normal deletion means.

To delete it and its contents you will have to turn off ACL support on the TM drive, rename the
TM folders with the "mv" command, run the chflag command to remove locks on files, and
generally take it apart piece by piece.

It is much easier to let time machine remove it (if there are other important files on the same
volume) or simply erase the volume.

Kj

this is one of the reasons why you should have a dedicated partition for TM. deleting backups.backupdb folder from finder is a serious pain.

I believe the following should work

First send this folder to trash. then select the TM drive in finder and enter command+i. in the popup unlock the lock at the bottom and check the box "ignore ownership on this volume". try emptying trash. it will take a long time so let it work through it. when done uncheck the box to ignore ownership.

I wish it was that easy. Apple has built safeguards into the system that keeps even the command
line from deleting TM folders and data. The "rm" command is helpless, the chmod -N command is
helpless. You can't manipulate the ACL's or delete the data. The only work around I've found is
as I stated above, changing the names, turning off the ACL's, resetting the flags, deleting the
back up files first. I believe Apple uses some process(es) and data file to keep track of the
TM generated files and folders and protects them from the normal modes of deletion, even
by most command processes, making it unpractical to do it manually. Each individual backup
folder that is generated at each hourly backup is equally protected against deletion.

If you have a bootable Tiger volume or DVD, you can delete the TM backup pretty easily
using Tiger.

Kj

Hi JMF,

In a word, yes.
Yes you can do that.

Now, as the others say, you might find some files that refuse to go away when you empty trash, even some that would need two option-empty Trash (from the right-click command on the Trash icon),
and you might lose some precious seconds or minutes too during the process,

but yes, you can do that, no problem.

Losing time because as the others say, trashing big folders sometimes takes a lot of time.

To right-click with a one-button mouse you must control-click
(click the Trash icon with the control key depressed),
then the right-click menus appear and you can choose to option-erase for the Trash icon one.

Try also control optionclicking, see what it gives in menu if some files refuse to be emptied.

Also: files that refuse to be emptied sometimes accept after a logout-login.

I suggest you create a Time Machine Backup and go ahead and trash it and see just how much fun
it is to get rid of it.

Be sure to back up your data and OS somewhere else first, you might need it.

Kj

I would not advice something I've not done myself before.
That said, I'm not saying your solutions were wrong. Actually I agree with you guys.
All I was saying is that yes, you can do it, and yes, sometimes you might need to do it, as it happened to me once although I do have many externals with many partitions and so on and so on, in accordance with your indeed good setting approaches.