Hello.
When I right click on a Time Machine (TM)'s back up file to delete ALL back ups. They don't seem to go away. I can still do quick look, restore, etc. on the requested deleted all files! Am I doing this wrong, misunderstanding this, or is there something wrong with this TM backup that started late last summer 2012? 😟
Thank you in advance. 🙂
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 13.3" MacBook Pro (9,2/MD102ll/A)
Are you trying to delete a whole snapshot, or all snapshots of a single file?
Linc Davis wrote:
Are you trying to delete a whole snapshot, or all snapshots of a single file?
Trying to delete all backup snapshots on the external USB HDD.
First add the volume to the exclusion list in the Time Machine preference pane.
antdude wrote:
. . .
Trying to delete all backup snapshots on the external USB HDD.
You mean all your backups? If so, just erase the drive with Disk Utility.
The "Delete Backup" option is to delete a single backup.
Pondini wrote:
antdude wrote:
. . .
Trying to delete all backup snapshots on the external USB HDD.
You mean all your backups? If so, just erase the drive with Disk Utility.
The "Delete Backup" option is to delete a single backup.
No, not everything. Just the specific backed up files I don't want on the external USB HDD.
Linc Davis wrote:
First add the volume to the exclusion list in the Time Machine preference pane.
"And then?"
antdude wrote:
No, not everything. Just the specific backed up files I don't want on the external USB HDD.
Then you need to select the item(s), right-click, and select the "Delete all backups of <items>" option. Is that the one you used?
Did you then get a confirmation prompt, and one for your Admin password?
Message was edited by: Pondini
Pondini wrote:
antdude wrote:
No, not everything. Just the specific backed up files I don't want on the external USB HDD.
Then you need to select the item(s), right-click, and select the "Delete all backups of <items>" option. Is that the one you used?
Did you then get a confirmation prompt, and one for your Admin password?
Message was edited by: Pondini
Yep. They didn't get deleted right away on screen. But other snapshots do get deleted, but most aren't. 😟 I noticed something else weird. Sometimes I do and do not get that administrator password prompt.
FYI from console's system log if they help at all for clues: http://pastie.org/private/agzlbqzimrh0aieoxe5x7wwhich I don't see anything interesting/odd?
antdude wrote:
. . .
Yep. They didn't get deleted right away on screen. But other snapshots do get deleted, but most aren't. 😟
If there are a lot of backups, it may take a few moments for the file(s) to be deleted from all of them.
And note that it will only delete files with the identical name in the identical location; if you've moved a file from one folder to another, so it's in different places on different backups, it will only delete the one in the location you specify.
I noticed something else weird. Sometimes I do and do not get that administrator password prompt.
I wouldn't swear to it, but you may only get the Admin prompt once, as long as you don't quit the TM browser.
Pondini wrote:
antdude wrote:
. . .
Yep. They didn't get deleted right away on screen. But other snapshots do get deleted, but most aren't. 😟
If there are a lot of backups, it may take a few moments for the file(s) to be deleted from all of them.
And note that it will only delete files with the identical name in the identical location; if you've moved a file from one folder to another, so it's in different places on different backups, it will only delete the one in the location you specify.
I noticed something else weird. Sometimes I do and do not get that administrator password prompt.
I wouldn't swear to it, but you may only get the Admin prompt once, as long as you don't quit the TM browser.
Ah. How long would it take if I started this TM machine back up back in summer of 2012? Backups are usually done once/twice a week since it is not always connected at home. The specific files have been in the same location since then.
antdude wrote:
. . .
How long would it take if I started this TM machine back up back in summer of 2012?
It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, unless the backups are on a network, and you're connected wirelessly. That could take longer if the connection isn't good.
If there's a large number of items selected, it may take a bit longer, too.
Generally, if your backups are quick, the deletion should be fairly quick; if your backups are slow, the deletions may be slow, too.
If it's been a long while, there might be a directory problem with the backups; you might want to repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
Please navigate in the Finder to the backup volume. At the top level is a folder named "Backups.backupdb". Inside that is a folder with the name of your computer, and inside that is a folder named "Latest". Inside the Latest folder are subfolders with the names of each of the volumes that you back up from the computer. Is the name of the volume you tried to delete among them?
Pondini wrote:
antdude wrote:
. . .
How long would it take if I started this TM machine back up back in summer of 2012?
It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, unless the backups are on a network, and you're connected wirelessly. That could take longer if the connection isn't good.
If there's a large number of items selected, it may take a bit longer, too.
Generally, if your backups are quick, the deletion should be fairly quick; if your backups are slow, the deletions may be slow, too.
If it's been a long while, there might be a directory problem with the backups; you might want to repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
It is just a tiny configuration text file in my home folder/directory. Also, this is an external USB2 HDD. I will try a disk utility to check on it since the HDD is several years old.
Linc Davis wrote:
Please navigate in the Finder to the backup volume. At the top level is a folder named "Backups.backupdb". Inside that is a folder with the name of your computer, and inside that is a folder named "Latest". Inside the Latest folder are subfolders with the names of each of the volumes that you back up from the computer. Is the name of the volume you tried to delete among them?
Yes, they were properly deleted according to Finder when I navigated through each backup snapshot from the oldest (9/30/2012) to the latest ones. TM still shows the backed up files I told it to delete. Note that I did keep the same files on my MacBook Pro's HDD since the backed up ones were wrong/incorrect to keep. Also, I tried shutting down, rebooting, etc. but that they did not help.
I am running Disk Utility on this drive. ETA is about ten/10 minutes.
antdude wrote:
Pondini wrote:
...If it's been a long while, there might be a directory problem with the backups; you might want to repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
It is just a tiny configuration text file in my home folder/directory. Also, this is an external USB2 HDD. I will try a disk utility to check on it since the HDD is several years old.
Disk Utility said everything looked OK on both HFS and FAT32 partitions (please note that this is a 500 GB HDD splitted in half so its FAT32 partition can be used in Windows, Linux, etc.). 🙂
Delete all backups of "filename" from Time Machine not working in Mac OS X 10.8.3?
