Delete Time Capsule Sparse Disk Image Bundle OS Catalina

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Delete Time Capsule Sparse Disk Image Bundle OS Catalina

How to delete an old Sparse Disk Image Bundle?

Used to backup iMac and MacBook to time capsule. MacBook is now expired. Trying to delete the 400GB MacBook Sparse Bundle.

Selected the backup folder in finder - Time Capsule / Data / MacBook

Dragged the sparse bundle to trash

Get this message

"The operation can’t be completed because some items had to be skipped. For each item, choose File > Get Info, make sure “Locked” is deselected, and then check the Sharing & Permissions section. When you are sure the items are unlocked and not designated as Read Only or No Access, try again."

File Info shows the Sparse Disk Image Bundle is not Locked

Can I access the individual files in the sparse bundle to delete them?

iMac 27″, 10.15

Posted on Jul 29, 2020 10:36 PM

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Answer 1

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black99S Author

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Jul 30, 2020 11:47 AM in response to LaPastenague

Do you happen to have a Mac running an older OS than Catalina.. it will certainly work better than Catalina ever will??

Connected to Time Capsule with MacBookPro running El Capitan.

Deleted the unwanted Sparsebundle within 2 minutes.

Problem solved.

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Answer 2

Jul 29, 2020 11:05 PM in response to black99S

Can I access the individual files in the sparse bundle to delete them?

Yes, you can open the sparse bundle in finder and drill down until you reach the individual dates or bands.. then delete them.. it is horribly slow and messy but Apple have done about turn in helping users with Catalina. It is now extremely unreliable.

A better approach might be to resign yourself to needing new backups.. open the disk tab in Airport Utility and erase the TC disk.. after you archive any existing backup you may require. I strongly suggest using a different backup app like Carbon Copy Cloner until Apple fixes the issues.

There are other solutions. Do you happen to have windows on a computer?

You might find this works from windows or you can fix the permissions in one go.. using windows version airport utility.

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Answer 3

black99S Author

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Jul 29, 2020 11:14 PM in response to LaPastenague

There are two Sparse bundle files on the 2TB time capsule .

400G for the MacBook I want to delete and 1450G for the current iMac I want to keep.

Sure, I can use the Airport Utility to wipe the disk and start over But I'd like to just delete the 400G Spars Bundle in its entirety.

Don't have a Windows computer - everything I own is Mac.

I do have Carbon Copy Cloner - I use it as the 2nd backup to Time Machine.

Prefer to get the 400G file gone to get more free space.

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Answer 4

Jul 30, 2020 1:28 AM in response to black99S

Well you are forced to open the sparse bundle in Finder then and just keep going deeper into the sub folders until you hit rock bottom and then start deleting files.. it just takes a long long time to do it.

Do you happen to have a Mac running an older OS than Catalina.. it will certainly work better than Catalina ever will??

If you have High Sierra or earlier there might be a way to fix it.. via 5.6.1 utility which was working on those earlier OS.

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Answer 5

black99S Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 30, 2020 9:36 AM in response to LaPastenague

When I try to open the Sparsebundle in Finder on the iMac with Catalina I get a

WARNING - The following disk images couldn't be opened

MacBook.sparsebundle - no mountable file systems.

I have a MacBookPro running El Capitan I'll try that.

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Answer 6

Jul 30, 2020 1:48 PM in response to black99S

The lesson is obvious.. when it comes to backup Time Machine is to be avoided like the plague on Catalina. Get a 3rd party app. I use Carbon Copy Cloner.. exclusively now. I see no sense in a backup that does not work reliably.

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Delete Time Capsule Sparse Disk Image Bundle OS Catalina

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