James Braley
Level 1 (25 points)

Q: Used Finder to delete Time Machine files

My setup: an iMac with two external hard drives. I used the Finder to delete all my Time Machine files which are kept on an external hard drive (I'll call HD1), as I was going to start over. While emptying the trash it somehow appears to have actually gone into the other hard drive (I'll call HD2) and either removed files or corrupted the drive. It just cannot be coincidence that HD2 crashed just as I was deleting the TM backup files!

 

To further complicate things, in the Finder window which gives the number of files to be deleted, it moved from twenty thousand something, to negative numbers in the thousands. At that point I stopped the deleting process, as I had never seen this before (been using Macs since the 80's).

 

I didn't know it was not OK to delete old TM backups via the Finder, or obviously wouldn't have done that! But how could doing this have gone into another hard drive (which was being backed up by TM) and taken files from it that weren't even in the trash?

 

This can't be a fluke. Anyone ever heard of this?

Posted on Nov 29, 2011 7:02 AM

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James Braley

Q: Used Finder to delete Time Machine files

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  • by Pondini,

    Pondini Pondini Nov 29, 2011 4:30 PM in response to James Braley
    Level 8 (38,747 points)
    Nov 29, 2011 4:30 PM in response to James Braley

    James Braley wrote:

    . . .

    It just cannot be coincidence that HD2 crashed just as I was deleting the TM backup files!

    That's most likely exactly what it is. 

     

    To further complicate things, in the Finder window which gives the number of files to be deleted, it moved from twenty thousand something, to negative numbers in the thousands.

    That may be because the number to be deleted starts with only visible files (and perhaps only files you're authorized to see), but it counts each file it deletes. 

     

    I didn't know it was not OK to delete old TM backups via the Finder,

    Apple says it's supported on Lion (only), but it doesn't always work well. 

     

    If you want to delete all your backups on that disk, and nothing else is there, just erase it via Disk Utility.  That will take a few seconds at most. 

     

    If there's other stuff on the drive , in the same partition (not a good idea -- see #3 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions), try the procedure in #E6 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • by James Braley,

    James Braley James Braley Nov 29, 2011 4:58 PM in response to Pondini
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Nov 29, 2011 4:58 PM in response to Pondini

    Thanks for the reply and the good suggestions. I was able to recover HD2 today, only after restarting it and the Mac. None of the three drive utilities I have could do anything with it!

     

    So although my hard drive problem is solved, it is still obviously not a good idea to delete Time Machine files via the Finder!

  • by Pondini,

    Pondini Pondini Nov 29, 2011 5:25 PM in response to James Braley
    Level 8 (38,747 points)
    Nov 29, 2011 5:25 PM in response to James Braley

    James Braley wrote:

    . . .

    I was able to recover HD2 today, only after restarting it and the Mac.

    Great!

     

    So although my hard drive problem is solved, it is still obviously not a good idea to delete Time Machine files via the Finder!

    That's usually true.  But other than wanting to erase a drive or partition, you usually shouldn't have to delete backups.  If you do, you can do it via Time Machine, per #12 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.