I have a 1TB external drive that is filled with old TimeMachine backups. As I delete the oldest ones, I do not see any gains in space on the drive. I want to create space on the drive for other uses.
How do I recapture the space that was occupied by the now deleted TimeMachine backups?
Thanks
iMac Pro
At this point - to regain the space on the drive - IMHO - the drive needs to be formatted again and start over from scratch.
Firstly - deleting Time Machine Backups from the external drive is a receipt for disaster It may even Corrupt the drive to the point it needs to be reformatted.
At this point - to regain the space on the drive - IMHO - the drive needs to be formatted again and start over from scratch.
User wrote " I have a 1TB external drive that is filled with old TimeMachine backups. " Old as in from a previous version of macOS pre-dating the upgrade to Big Sur ??
Personally, if having a TM Backup from Previous version of macOS - that drive I would keep aside. Start a New Time Machine Backup on a New Drive to handle the Big Sur TM Backups process.
Often times, under Big Sur the same drive used and carrying the Old with the New OS - the drive may be converted from HFS Journaled to new APFS format. Thusly, the Old Backups would become inaccessible and basically useless.
Ah - have you verified IF the deleted backup are sitting in the Trash Bin ??
Now, it they are in Trash Bin - you may have yet another issue occur when you try to Empty the Trash.
Advise what the outcome might be SVP.
Thanks for the help. I am going to follow your advise and just get 2 new drives. One for photos and music, the other for backups (unless that is a bad idea too).
But I am perplexed as to why this is seemingly so complicated by Mac/Apple and Time Machine. The technical aspects are getting above my league of understanding. But I still would like to really understand why if I delete a TimeMachine backup, I don't get back the corresponding free space on the drive.
Thanks for the information. Can you help me have a better understanding of why this is the case? Why should TimeMachine hijack my hardware to essentially its exclusive use?
Hi
Nothing is sitting in trash (surprisingly).
Deleting TimeMachine backups from an external drive is not creating more space on the drive
