Time Machine Backup Ghost...

Hello Cory:

Welcome to Apple discussions.

If you wish to delete TM backups, that needs to be done inside the TM application. It is a cumbersome process as each backup needs to be deleted individually. I am assuming you did not follow that procedure.

At this point, I would bite the bullet, erase and then format your external HD, and have TM do a new backup.

Barry

Message was edited by: Barry Hemphill

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

As Barry says, your best bet is probably to erase the disk and let TM start fresh.

The first part of your problem comes from the way your backups are stored. Time Machine stores your backups in a folder named Backups.backupdb. But when they're done over a network, that folder is placed inside a rather odd container called a +sparse bundle.+ The two are not compatible; that's why TM started a new "sequence" when you moved the HD to your Airport.

The second part may have come from the way you deleted things. If you used the Finder to delete any part of either set of backups, that set is now corrupted. From your description, it sounds like you deleted some from the sparse bundle. One of the oddities of a sparse bundle is, it doesn't automatically contract when you delete things from it; that's a separate operation.

So you have a decision to make: do you want to continue with the backups directly attached, or via your Airport? Unfortunately, using the Airport is not officially supported by Apple: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html. It does work well for some folks, not so well for some, and not at all for others. If you get it to work well now, for you, there's always the possibility a future update will render it useless.

If you want to continue wirelessly, your best bet is, as Barry says, to erase the disk and start over.

If you want to continue with the disk directly-attached, then delete the entire sparse bundle via the Finder. Before continuing, however, Repair the TM drive -- see #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

If the backups you deleted were in the Backups.backupdb folder (made while directly-attached), you may be able to continue using them, if the +*Repair Disk+* is able to repair them, but you may have lost some disk space. If so, the only way to recover it is to erase the disk and start over.

Cory Fischer wrote:
Thanks for your help!

I knew (the hard way) that the two were not compatible. I had originally deleted the backup I did locally (with the Backups.backupdb). Unfortunately since the airport backup is the one I want to keep, I guess I'll have to erase the past 3 months worth of backups to gain my space back.

Not necessarily.

If you deleted backups from inside the sparse bundle (via the Finder), then yes, that's probably your best option.

If not, you shouldn't have to delete it.

First, delete the old backups (outside the sparse bundle) and empty the trash (that may take a long time).

Time Machine will "compact" the sparse bundle the next time you try to do a backup and there isn't enough room, or you can do it yourself. See the pink box in #12 Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.