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mike693 Author

Level 1

5 points

Operation Can't be Completed Because Backup Items Can't be Modified (Not a Time Machine Volume)

When attempting to move a file from an external disk to the trash, via the Finder, I receive the warning message "The operation can't be completed because backup items can't be modified." I can not move the item to the trash. I can delete the file using the rm command via Terminal. I would like to be able to delete items from this disk, using the Finder again.

I noticed this problem shortly after upgrading from OS X 10.7 to 10.7.1.

I did see the other discussions about similar problems on Time Machine disks. This external disk, which I am trying to delete from, has never been my Time Machine disk, nor has it ever been backed up via Time Machine. I do have another external disk that is used for Time Machine

There are no problems reported by the "verify disk" function in Disk Utility.

Thank you for your time.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Aug 23, 2011 8:36 PM

Top-ranking reply

LaraCroft_NYC

Level 1

28 points

Posted on Aug 26, 2011 7:12 AM

Correction: I subsequently foud that I could not delete ANY file through the finder (after repairing permissions with disk utility). After a mild freak-out, I calmed down and rebooted. Problem solved. Thanks!

View in context

25 replies

CaNe2o1

Level 1

9 points

Jun 4, 2012 11:43 AM in response to jamie80

Wow Thanks jamie80. I relaunched Finder after googling this error message and finding this thread and your post and it worked perfectly. Thanks for the excellent tip. 🙂

Sep 24, 2012 3:28 PM in response to jamie80

Another happy customer with finder relaunch - I haven't re-experienced it, but mine was created by partitioning my drive (a couple times I should say) heh

@jamie80 thx!

komich

Level 1

8 points

Nov 30, 2012 9:44 AM in response to mike693

One other solution in case you don't have time to reboot: delete the file using 'rm' comand in Terminal.

Feb 2, 2013 10:59 AM in response to mike693

I had the same message, but when trying to restore a file from my time capsule. Thanks for the tip. I restarted finder and was able to restore the file to my computer.

Feb 17, 2013 3:06 AM in response to LaraCroft_NYC

Thanks for that terminal kill suggestion. It worked well.

mixn

Level 1

0 points

Jun 2, 2013 11:53 PM in response to mike693

In my opinion the easiest way to fix this is:

1. Open up the “Terminal” application (don’t worry, it’ll be easy).

2. Type in `killall Finder`.

3. Press Enter.

Problem solved. 🙂

Dec 8, 2013 1:14 PM in response to Dr. Dreadz

This worked like a charm. Thank you!!!

MacEs

Level 1

26 points

Mar 22, 2014 4:23 PM in response to mixn

Worked for me as well, thanks a lot.

Apr 20, 2015 4:08 PM in response to bunnywuffles

How did you figure this out?! Your answer was so helpful 🙂

big-cat

Level 1

8 points

Jul 27, 2015 2:47 PM in response to bunnywuffles

Non of the solutions mentioned above worked for me and, like you, I didn't want to mess with Terminal. Tried your solution and it worked. Great! Thank you so much.🙂

Operation Can't be Completed Because Backup Items Can't be Modified (Not a Time Machine Volume)