Hello! I am trying to figure out how to delete backups from my external hard drive (capacity 1TB) that I'm using with Time Machine. I keep getting a message that Time Machine couldn't complete the backup.
See
I go into Time Machine and I get this error message:
I just can't figure out how to delete the files. Can anyone give me some ideas? Thank you, I appreciate any help!
sharynworc wrote:
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It's a 1TB drive, and the Mac Mini itself is 500 GB. There's about 20 gb available out of the 500 GB.
That right there is the problem. You have on appreciable free space available on the Mac mini's startup drive. This will cause all sorts of problems, including the issue of TM no longer backing up.
You need to find a way to free up a minimum of 50-75 GB of space on your startup drive. A generally accepted rule of thumb for giving macOS the room necessary to run properly is to always keep 10%-15% of the startup drive capacity free.
You can use another external drive to copy files from the Mac so that you can delete them and free the drive space. Consider moving your pic and vids first as those typically take up a great amount of space.
Also feel free to delete whatever you may have in your Downloads folder. If you found it once online you can probably find it again there if you need to.
This from Apple on the subject of freeing up space:
I deleted some photos/videos, moved some files to another external drive (not the Time Machine one), and deleted a few apps I haven't used in a while. I now have 104 GB of space free on the drive, and Time Machine is running a backup with no problems!
Thank you again, I really appreciate the help and the clarification where I was misunderstanding.
Then I'm stumped and the following what I'd try out of desperation if it were me.
Try running Disk Utility First Aid on the Time Machine drive.
Make sure the files you deleted to make room for music have been emptied from the waste basket.
Try verifying the backup - that might prompt Time Machine to delete stuff - right click on the backup in the Time Machine settings to do it.
If this is your only backup drive then now is the time to get a second one even if you fix the current one. One backup is not enough.
Follow up -
The big clue is there in the error message you posted:
❝Time Machine could not back up the disk "SnackMini" because it is nearly full.❞
It also says what you need to do to remedy the situation:
❝Delete some files on this disk and try again.❞
Normally, Time Machine manages the space itself by deleting older backups so something odd is happening here.
Have you recently added a lot of data to your Mac so that the data being backed up are bigger than the drive's capacity?
Have you got any other files or partitions on the drive or is it only used for Time Machine backups?
How big is the backup drive compared to the amount of data you're backing up?
Yes, I always understood that Time Machine would delete the older files, so I was confused when I saw that.
I actually did download a lot of music recently, but I also deleted a lot of old files that I don't use. I did check, the music files don't exceed the drive capacity.
I have no other files or partitions on the drive, it's Time Machine only.
It's a 1TB drive, and the Mac Mini itself is 500 GB. There's about 20 gb available out of the 500 GB.
I will try running the First Aid, and double check that everything was deleted. I will also try verifying the backup. Thank you so much for the suggestions!
I back up the computer to Backblaze, so I do have that for a backup. I don't keep too much on the drive. It's used strictly for WFH and for music.
I see, thank you for the tips! It seems to be the photos that are taking up the most space, so I'm working on those. I do have another external drive that I keep most of my files on, so that should be helpful.
Nothing in the Downloads folder, so I'm good there. And thank you for the link!
Right, it’s never recommended that the Time Machine drive be used to store other files and such. The drive should be dedicated to Time Machine only. Also not a good idea for Time Machine to be a partition on a larger drive. Begging for trouble.
Ah, I see that I misunderstood that. I thought it meant to delete some of the older backups on the time machine drive. Thanks for the clarification, it's helpful.
You're welcome.
It sounds like you're on your way to a resolution. 🤞🏽
You're welcome.
Happy to know you got this sorted.
Thanks for the update. 👍🏽
How to delete Time Machine backups from external hard drive
