Moving Old backups.backupdb on iMac Hard Drive to External Hard Drive

Hi gustadora,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We understand that you're having an issue with a folder on your Mac. We'd like to help you with this.

Since you backup to an external drive, it's possible that the folder you're seeing contains local snapshots of your files for days when your external drive wasn't available: About Time Machine local snapshots. If that's what it is, you can go ahead and delete them.

Then, you mentioned that you are getting an error message when trying to upgrade your macOS. What error message are you seeing? Let us know and we can continue to help you with that!

Take care.

gustadora,

Thanks for reaching back out.

What does the alert say? Does it specify which items are being used? If so, closing them should resolve it. If it's your external drive, try disconnecting it and trying to empty the trash then.

If it still won't empty, try to do it in safe mode: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Hope that helps!

Cheers.

gustadora,

Got it!

Have you checked to see if you can remove the configuration profiles on your Mac? This may help: Use configuration profiles to standardize settings on Mac computers

If you continue to have issues with this, Contact Apple Support may be the best next step for you.

Take care!

gustadora,

We're happy to hear that the issue is now resolved.

If you need help again, just reach back out.

Have a great rest of your day!

gustadora,

You're welcome. We're happy to help.

Let us know if you need help in the future.

Have a great rest of your day!