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Time Machine disk is full and can't backup anymore.

Why does Time Machine say my disk is full if it automatically deletes backups when full? How do you delete time machine backups?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Jul 5, 2021 7:32 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 6, 2021 7:54 AM

I don't understand. It's supposed to delete old backups to make room for new? The article you referred doesn't mention how to delete old backups. Is my only option to erase disk and use it again?

10 replies

Jul 6, 2021 8:23 AM in response to forgione

Yes, you understand correctly. But that is how it works in theory. In practice, that does not always hold true. One reason is if your TM backups include very large files that change often. For example, VMs (Virtual Machines), created in something like Parallels or VMware. Any time you access them, they change. Since these can be multiple GBs in size, they can quickly use up the destination's storage capacity BEFORE TM has an opportunity to erase older versions.

Time Machine disk is full and can't backup anymore.

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