Time Machine - Not enough space (hidden items)

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Level 1

8 points

Time Machine - Not enough space (hidden items)

So i was cleaning out my old time machine external to make room for a new back up and I forgot that mac has invisible items, which i ended up not deleting. Long story short i dont have enough space because the hidden files are taking up space.

PROBLEM: Normally I'd just reformat the thing, but I have 418GB or so of data that is on there that i dont want erased. ALSO id go ahead and finder>showinvisible and just delete all the files that pull up on my external, but how do i seperate what is part of the folders I want to keep and what isnt?

Screen cap to show my problem.

http://tinyurl.com/m4p92wm

1 TB external
400 GB 1 folder
2 GB 1 Folder
18 GB 1 folder

67 GB Left = Not enough room?

Posted on Dec 19, 2013 12:47 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,057 points

Dec 19, 2013 3:41 PM in response to Ongaku69

Hello,

You do not want to use Finder to delete files on the TM drive. 🙂

See if these help...

http://pondini.org/TM/C4.html

http://pondini.org/TM/30.html

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2783346

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Answer 2

Ongaku69 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2013 5:42 PM in response to BDAqua

Except for the fact that I already have deleted them and I do delete things this way because I use the disk both as a TM and an external.

Im assuming that the 600 gb im missing or so is due to hidden files from the TM? how do i find out if this is true and how would i delete them WITHOUT accidentally deleting the hidden files of the items in the other folders i want to keep?

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Answer 3

Ongaku69 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2013 5:44 PM in response to Ongaku69

And FYI my current HD in my MBP only has 320 GB of info so I should have more than enough space on my external...

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Answer 4

Ongaku69 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2013 5:48 PM in response to Ongaku69

Hmmm well i might have found the culprit. When I deleted things off the external i clicked on my trash on the desktop and emptied it that way. (I dont remember if I had the TM external plugged in still) either way, I just went to finder and....

- this had been bouncing around in my head, the idea that the items may not have been deleted -

... chose to empty trash from the finder menu.

My externals clicking away and the "preparing to empty trash" pop up is at 100,000 items and counting...

Praying that this is the fix...

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