On my 2TB Time Capsule the are three old sparsbundle backup files of Macs that I don’t have anymore. How can I delete them? I have tried via Finder but I got a message the deleting was not possible due to the fact that “bands” was in use. Or something like that.
Is there anything on the Time Capsule disk you want to keep? If not you can easily fix the problem from airport utility disk tab and select quick erase. This is best method actually.
If your computer is refusing to delete the backup tell us what OS it is running.
Is the TC your main router? It is easier if it is just bridged.. Make sure no Mac on the network is backing up.
Turn TC off for 60sec to force any computer using the TC to stop it!!
Turn the TC back on and see if you can delete the files.
No luck then do a full factory reset. Reconfigure the TC from computer you are using to delete the Sparsebundles. Use short names, no spaces and pure alphanumerics. Passwords same rules but can be longer. No files on the hard disk of the TC are affected. Open it again in Finder and you should be able to delete the unwanted Sparsebundles. Configure Time Machine to use the reconfigured TC. It will continue to backup fine if that is one of the backups you kept. However it will say it is going to do a new backup.. ignore this and it should work fine.
In this case the message was that the part "bands" was in use.
Powering off the Time Capsule and restarting the Mac will fix this bug about 95% of the time. You did not indicate whether you might have done this, but if you did not, that would be a good thing to try the next time that you see this issue.
Things would be tons easier if you can simply erase the Time Capsule disk and then start over again with new backups for the Mac(s) that you are using at the present time.
Post back if you can consider this and need more instructions.
As far as "bands in use", I am not able to duplicate that error, so another user will need to help on that issue.
Click on the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Macs screen
Click on Open Time Machine Preferences
Uncheck the box next to Back Up Automatically
No backups will occur unless you choose to back up manually, or you enter a check mark again in the box next to Back Up Automatically
Click on the "smiley face" Finder icon on the dock on your Mac
Click on the Time Machine icon under the Locations listing on the left panel of the Finder window
Double click on the Time Capsule disk in the window to the right......(named "Data" unless you have changed the name)
Click Connect or it might read as Connect As
You may be asked for the Time Capsule administrator or base station password when you do this
If instead of a "sparsebundle" file, you see a "backupbundle" file, this indicates that the Catalina operating system has been installed on the Mac in question. Apple has made a number of undocumented changes with Time Machine in Catalina, so unfortunately all bets are off if you have installed Catalina.
Thanks for you answer. Unfortunately it did not work.
I have found another way to do it:
Disable Time Machine first.
If you are saying that you powered off and then restarted the Time Capsule and also restarted your Mac......and the "bands in use" message still appears, then as I have already noted......I cannot duplicate the error that you are reporting, and you will need to see if another user can help on that.
Simply erasing the Time Capsule using AirPort Utility is much easier and faster if you don't mind starting over again with a new backup of the Mac(s) that you are using now.
It would be great if there was a way in Airport Utility to select backup files that you want to delete. But even with Finder it would be easy to go to the Time Capsule and simply delete the sparsebundle file. In this case the message was that the part "bands" was in use. That was the weird thing because this was the old sparsebundle file I wanted to delete. How could that file being in use? Anyway it worked and Time Machine can use the free space. Thanks again and greetings from The Netherlands.
That is painful. We have not had to use that method since Moutain Lion I think.. and Apple did some big improvements around Sierra to delete it rapidly. Not sure what is wrong but I would say you have issues.
Certainly the Airport Utility should always have power to Erase its own disk.
Can you please further explain the instructions? I have 3 machines on mine which are no longer in use and getting the "bands' thing, too. I rebooted the TC and iMac but still getting the same reply about "bands".
Thanks
I Powered off the Time Capsule without restarting the Mac. This did not help.
How to delete backups on time capsule of macs I don’t have anymore?
