Can I delete my sparse bundle disk image on the local drive?

We don't now what is in the disk image so we cannot guess what value or use it has.

Disk images are containers that look like disks but are portable like files. You could copy the file to another disk if you are uncertain about deleting it. Then you can delete it without worrying about needing it in the future.

You can also try opening the disk image to see what is inside it. It will mount like any other disk (unless it is password protected or damaged). Open the Finders 'Go menu > Computer' to see any attached disks after yo click it (it may not make a new Finder window).

If you can post the filename or filepath it may help us understand if it is part of the system (it doesn't sound normal so far).

Select the File in Finder and use the 'File Menu > Get Info…' to show the details, post the name/ path here if you need help with it.

NOTE: a Mac will need more than 10GB to be usable - I'd suggest 20GB as a minimum for free disk space, more is better if you have a spinning disk (not an SSD). Please do not use the Time Machine disk to store the disk image - Time Machine is best when there is no other data on the disk, so it can just be left to backup on the disk alone.

P.S. I'd also consider a clean install if it has had years of use from 2 inexperienced users, eventually too many old apps get forgotten about & it can slow up things or waste space or CPU. You would want to backup to another disk before doing that, but it may not be required if you are OK with how it is running.

Sparsebundles are disk images…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparse_image 🙂

It could be from a deleted user account - there is an option to save the users files into a disk image when removing users. Normally that goes into a 'Deleted Users' folder within the Users folder.

It is odd that the home folder has a dot in its name - is that intentional or a typo? That normally makes the folder hidden on OS X.

You are right, the greyed out nature of the folder is because it is hidden, you can see it in Finder if you know where it is & what it is called (basically use the Finder's 'Go menu > Go to folder…' to open hidden stuff, it also 'tab completes' paths).

'bethdarby' is not your current user?

File vault 1 used to have options to just encrypt a users home folder, leaving the system data open to all. File vault 2 came along with full disk encryption protecting everything. This Mac has been migrated with Filevault 1 active. If you are sure you don't need it consider deleting that user account in 'System Preferences > Users & groups'. The home folder was kept in a disk image with the users password protecting it.

If you need more info look around for 'Filevault 1 migration on 10.9', it is not totally clear if it is still supported or what course of action you want to take.

You can also remove items from Time Machine backups, by using the Time Machine 'space UI' to browse to that location & then remove all copies of x. Select the browse Time Machine item from it's menu bar item. I prefer not to start over with Time Machine unless it is misbehaving.

Right,

I think the hidden sparse image is the actual container for your bethdarby home folder. I suspect when you login the sparseimage is 'mounted' into /Users/bethdarby. It's possible that if you delete the sparsebundle you will no longer be able to login as bethdarby.

Another possibility is that you somehow have 2 home folders for that user (technically one of them may be the sparse disk image).

I'd do this…

Logout of bethdarby, login as BraveSaintStuart.

Open the /Users folder & see if bethdarby's home is still inside that folder. If her home folder is still there & you can see the regular folders (Documents, Music, Pictures etc) then you may have 2 versions of the home folder.

If the home folder is empty then it seems likely that the sparse image is decrypted & mounted when bethdarby logs in.

You can also use the 'mount' command in Terminal to see what disks are mounted when logged in as bethdarby. The output is a little confusing, but you should find one line with the the sparse bundle listed. Terminal is in /Applications/Utilities, just type the word mount & hit return 🙂

I fear you may need to leave this disk image alone - it probably has all of bethdarby user data in it.

If you want you can test this hypothesis by making a copy of the system, then you can delete the sparse bundle on the copy without fear of breaking the main OS. Do you have a spare disk to copy the entire OS onto? Macs can boot from external USB disks, I can help with the cloning if you want to go down that route.

Have you tried opening the sparse image? It should be protected with bethdarby's user account password. Try opening the copy you made (it may take eons to 'verify' as it opens, skip that step if you get the option).

If you can open that & see the home folder is intact it should be possible to get out of this situation…

You could delete the bethdarby user account & avoid saving the existing home folder (assuming your backup copy is up to date).

Then copy the disk image contents into /Users & then create a new user account in System Preferences.

Provided you use the correct 'short name' the OS will prompt you into reusing the existing home folder, then it resets the correct permissions on that home folder & you should have the ability to log back in as bethdarby. The users short name is the one without the spaces (bethdarby in this case 🙂).

It sounds onerous but it can work. The most complex part is copying the user data back - you need admin privileges to do so.

To be honest it may be better to do the erase & clean install but if you are not ready for that yet it could be possible to get it working again.

You can also do the same thing after a clean install. This process will restore the user data, you would still need to get the apps installed.

I'm not sure what your best option is however I'd suggest you make some more backups just in case Time Machine is not enough (it should be OK but the complexity of your situation worries me).