Time Machine won't delete old backups to make space for new ones

I had the same problem and addressed it by excluding some of the larger directories in my hard drive, then running a backup, then including the directories again.

Hope that helps.

Hi. First You should realize how TM works. It needs space for FULL BACKUP and some space for at least one snaphot. If You have ie. 80GB to backup and TM space is 85GB is ok.. since data grows on HDD it is ie. 90GB od data to backup and TM space is still 80GB. That's why it cannot make FULL BACKUP. That's all... I have 128GB SSD and 150GB share on my NAS for TM and no problem with NO SPACE for FB.

The best and quickest way to solve this problem is to simply format the time capsule using disk utility and then have time capsule make a brand new full backup afterwards. You will lose all your old backups but it's better than time capsule not working at all.

CORRECTION: After attempting this myself I soon realized formatting with disk utility wouldn't be possible because time capsule disappears from the network when disk utility attempts to unmount it.

Do this instead: Connect your TC to your computer using an ethernet cable. Connect to the TC by clicking the Time Machine icon on your top status bar and going to "Enter time machine." Once it connects push the cancel button as you aren't actually restoring anything. You will now have a "Time Machine Backups" disk on your desktop. Double click it and drag whatever folder within to the trash. Empty the trash. Once this is done click the time machine icon up top and click "Backup Now." Let the backup complete and enjoy your working time capsule.

FINAL CORRECTION: Disregard everything I've said up until now. None of it works. To successfully delete your old backups go into Airport Utility and select your time capsule. Then click edit. Then select "Disks" on the top bar of the airport utility window. Then click "Erase Disk" NOW you can successfully do time machine backups 🙂

I am going to agree with Steve: there is a problem, because TM is not performing as stated in sales documentation. TM should and can figure out all older data, delete it, make work space, and begin the large backup; it is just that Apple has not found interest in making this happen..125 GB

I have only 1.125 TB of data going to a 2 TB drive, and today it tells me 'not enough space' for my large backup. Yes I made some changes on my other drives, and now TM is not willing to delete the old stuff so I can move forward. It is an Apple failure to make this work brilliantly for the customer.

I am going to agree with Steve: there is a problem, because TM is not performing as stated in sales documentation. TM should and can figure out all older data, delete it, make work space, and begin the large backup; it is just that Apple has not found interest in making this happen..125 GB

I have only 1.125 TB of data going to a 2 TB drive, and today it tells me 'not enough space' for my large backup. Yes I made some changes on my other drives, and now TM is not willing to delete the old stuff so I can move forward. It is an Apple failure to make this work brilliantly for the customer.

Hi!

I am having similar issues. I am backing up to a NAS. I set the limit of space that the NAS provides to Time Machine to 250GB. The data I was backing up was around 200GB. After a while I got an error that the space was not sufficient and that TM could not delete the old files.

I am guessing, that is because of what you explained previously. TM first creates a new backup and then deletes the old stuff. Since my NAS is only allowing 250GB the TM cannot write before it deletes. Is my thinking correct?

I came across this script that talks about auto-deleting of any backups that are older than 30 days. https://github.com/emcrisostomo/Time-Machine-Cleanup#tm-cleanupsh

Have you testes this? Do you think it could work for me with my backups on a NAS? I am not really into the use of terminal and don't want to mess anything up...

Regards! anak85

I have to concur. I think the only way to proceed is to back things up manually as you go along. Time Machine has never deleted my previous back-ups to make space, whatever drives I have been using and whatever the operating system. Given the financial outlay, the process should be elegant, nor should one have to have recourse to tedious troubleshooting pages. The rest seems mere obfuscation.

I have successfully used the following inelegant work around to address the fact that my version of Time Machine will not delete files to make room for a backup. I too received the message that my disk was full in spite of the fact that I told it to notify me when old files were deleted.

My solution was to go to Preferences and select Time Machine. I then turned TM off. This allowed me to reformat the disc using the Disk Utility in the Utility Folder inside the Applications Folder.

Once I had Erased the disk, I could then go back to Preferences Panel and turn TM back on. For good measure (and I don't know if this is necessary or not), I deselected the disc and re-selected the disc as a backup destination for TM. It showed that the disc was empty.

I then jumped ahead of the excruciatingly boring fact that TM begins a 116 second countdown before it begins it's initial backup by selecting the BACKUP NOW option.

Everything worked fine as far as it goes. I suppose that I will have to go through this tedious process the next time the "FULL" disc message appears.

I hope this helps.

OS X Yosemite, 10.10.5, iMac (27" mid 2011), 1 GB Hard Drive, and 1 GB StoreJet Transcend Media for TM Backup destination.

PS I also found out that if I copy an older version of a TM back up to another disc (just for safe keeping) I was unable to delete that file until I turned TM off. Once TM is turned off, I seem to be able to delete anything I want.

When I try to use Disc Utility to erase the files it says, 'Erase process has failed'. Is there another workaround, or solution?