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Reducing the Time Machine sparsebundle size on my NAS

I keep backups from my Mac (OSX 10.11.6) on my Synology NAS drive. The sparsebundle disk image has grown to a size of 1.2 TB (of my 3TB NAS) for a 256 GB SSD, as backups for more than 2 years are stored. For me these very old backups are not that important and I would like to reduce the size of the sparsebundle disk image. I haven't set a quota for the Time Machine partition and I also didn't try to compress the disk image using the hdutil compact command from the terminal. I also don't want to scrap all the backups and start from scratch. Is there a way to tell Time Machine to remove backups before a certain date?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 30, 2016 4:24 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Oct 21, 2017 12:06 AM

I realise this is an old question, but I'll answer incase anyone else has the same question.


Summary: It *is* possible to delete individual old backups, but only by using Terminal.


Here is what you need to do (on the machine that is being backed up, not a different machine):


1. Open Terminal


2. Become root (in order to have permission to do what you’re about to do), by typing:


sudo su -


... and then typing your password when prompted.


2. Obtain a list of backups by typing:


tmutil listbackups


This may take a few minutes. You will get a list like this:

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-02-200304

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-09-001847

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-16-005850

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-23-003211

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-19-171147

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-20-121353

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-20-144607

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-20-164616


3. (optional) If you want to check how much space will be freed up by deleting a backup, type:


tmutil uniquesize "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-02-200304"


You’ll get a response like this, after a while:


908.9M
/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx’s iMac/2015-01-02-200304


4. Delete an individual backup by typing:


tmutil delete "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-02-200304"


Again, this will take a while. Do this for each backup that you want to delete, or use wildcards if you’re confident that you know how to.


5. Unmount/eject the backup set by typing:


hdiutil detach /Volumes/Time\ Machine\ Backups


6. Browse to the location that Time Machine stores your backups. It should be a folder called Backups, containing an item with the same name as your machine. Select it and press CMD-C to copy it’s path.


7. Switch back to finder and type the following, pasting the path at the end using CMD-V:


hdiutil compact


e.g.


hdiutil compact /Volumes/Backups/Xxx\’s\ iMac.sparsebundle


This will usually take a long time, but when it completes you will have freed up some space on the disk that you use for your backups.

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 21, 2017 12:06 AM in response to fusionmaster

I realise this is an old question, but I'll answer incase anyone else has the same question.


Summary: It *is* possible to delete individual old backups, but only by using Terminal.


Here is what you need to do (on the machine that is being backed up, not a different machine):


1. Open Terminal


2. Become root (in order to have permission to do what you’re about to do), by typing:


sudo su -


... and then typing your password when prompted.


2. Obtain a list of backups by typing:


tmutil listbackups


This may take a few minutes. You will get a list like this:

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-02-200304

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-09-001847

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-16-005850

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-23-003211

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-19-171147

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-20-121353

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-20-144607

/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2017-10-20-164616


3. (optional) If you want to check how much space will be freed up by deleting a backup, type:


tmutil uniquesize "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-02-200304"


You’ll get a response like this, after a while:


908.9M
/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx’s iMac/2015-01-02-200304


4. Delete an individual backup by typing:


tmutil delete "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Xxx's iMac/2015-01-02-200304"


Again, this will take a while. Do this for each backup that you want to delete, or use wildcards if you’re confident that you know how to.


5. Unmount/eject the backup set by typing:


hdiutil detach /Volumes/Time\ Machine\ Backups


6. Browse to the location that Time Machine stores your backups. It should be a folder called Backups, containing an item with the same name as your machine. Select it and press CMD-C to copy it’s path.


7. Switch back to finder and type the following, pasting the path at the end using CMD-V:


hdiutil compact


e.g.


hdiutil compact /Volumes/Backups/Xxx\’s\ iMac.sparsebundle


This will usually take a long time, but when it completes you will have freed up some space on the disk that you use for your backups.

Aug 30, 2016 7:58 AM in response to fusionmaster

1. You cannot configure Time Machine to remove backups in a date range

2. The sparse bundle grows, but does not shrink

3. Let Time Machine do what it does--hourly backups

4. At some point Time Machine will start deleting your old backups to make room--it is not an archival program

5. Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support


Have a nice day.

Reducing the Time Machine sparsebundle size on my NAS

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