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User profile for user: covenda
covenda Author
User level: Level 1
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Can I delete old backup files

I recently bought a nice big new external HDD (WD My Book Studio Edition II) and an Airport Extreme Base Station to plug it in to, and then (to try and save time) plugged the HDD directly in to my macbook pro and did a backup via Time Machine (which used up approx 200Mb of my shiny new drive).

A few days later (when I got time) I unplugged the external HDD from the MBP and plugged it in to the Airport Extreme (via the USB), I repointed Time Machine to the drive (now attached to the Airport Extreme) and it proceeded to do a full backup (which took another 200Mb from the drive and about 18 hours).

I now realise that Time Machine operates differently for directly attached and wirelessly attached drives, but how do I get the original 200Mb back, as it seems to me that I now have a double up on the external HDD?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

MacBook Pro and Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.5.7), Airport Extreme, 2TB MyBook external HDD

Posted on Jun 26, 2009 5:47 AM

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User profile for user: Pondini
Pondini
User level: Level 8
38,863 points

Posted on Jun 26, 2009 6:16 AM

You can delete individual backups via the TM interface, +Enter Time Machine.+ See item 12 of the Frequently Asked Questions post at the top of this forum.
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User profile for user: covenda
covenda Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jun 27, 2009 5:48 AM in response to Pondini

Thanks for that ... I guess my question is really, is it safe to simply delete all of the files under the "backups.backupdb" folder, or is there something there that I need to keep for the wireless backup to continue to work? (i.e. is the "backups.backupdb" folder only the old backup files from the "wired" backup, and the new "wireless" ones are all in the ".sparsebundle" file)?
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User profile for user: Pondini
Pondini
User level: Level 8
38,863 points

Jun 27, 2009 8:25 AM in response to covenda

covenda wrote:
Thanks for that ... I guess my question is really, is it safe to simply delete all of the files under the "backups.backupdb" folder


Yes, but only via the TM interface.

or is there something there that I need to keep for the wireless backup to continue to work?


No.

(i.e. is the "backups.backupdb" folder only the old backup files from the "wired" backup, and the new "wireless" ones are all in the ".sparsebundle" file)?


Correct. Once all the old backups are deleted, and Backups.backupdb is empty, you can delete it via the Finder.
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Can I delete old backup files

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