Can't delete backups

Question

Can't delete backups

I now have quite a few backups of my MacBook in the trash been. They were originally on my external hard drive, which I use for other things, and when I deleted them to free up some space they appear in the trash bin of my Mac. I have been unsuccessful at any attempts to completely delete these backups in the trash. After about five minutes it says, "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8072)."

In addition to this it requires the administrator password whenever I want to do anything as far as folders or delete items in the trash. I'm fairly new to the world of Mac, and my searches haven't uncovered any help. I was hoping maybe respondents to this post would give me some clues.

MacBook Pro, iOS 10.2.1, macOS Sierra Version 10.12.3

Posted on Feb 20, 2017 3:50 PM

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Answer 1

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Feb 21, 2017 10:03 AM in response to WhatABearThinks

Hi WhatABearThinks,

I understand that you've tried to delete some of your backups, but now you're unable to empty your Trash or perform some other actions on your folders. I'm happy to provide some troubleshooting to help with this.

For your Trash issues, check out the troubleshooting provided here:

You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash - Apple Support

If you can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash

For example, this message might appear when you try to empty the Trash: "The operation could not be completed because the item '(item name)' is locked."

First, try holding the Option key as you choose Empty Trash from the Finder menu.

Otherwise, check for these conditions:

Is the file locked?

If files are locked, unlock them before deleting or delete using the tips in the "Deleting locked files" section below. Also, see this article.

Do you have correct permissions to modify the file?

Every file and folder in Mac OS X has some permission settings to help define what you or other users can do with the file or folder, for example whether you may modify it or not. If see an alert box with a message that says you do not have "sufficient" privilege or permission, see the tips in the "Emptying the Trash" section of this article.

Does the file or volume have special characters?

Usually, Mac OS X can delete files whose names contain special characters, but sometimes you might need to follow this advice.

Note the name of the volume which the files are being deleted from. If you are not sure of the item's location, you can verify that by selecting it then choosing Show Info from the File menu. If the name of the volume contains any special ASCII characters, such as a bullet or trademark character, temporarily rename the volume so that it does not contain these characters.

Example: If you cannot delete files from a volume named "·Dox", rename the volume to "Dox". After the Trash is empty, restore the volume's original name as desired.

Examine the name of the files or folders you cannot delete. They should not contain a solidus ("slash", "/") character or any other special ASCII character such as a trademark, quotation mark, or copyright symbol. If the file does, remove the special character or slash from its name, then delete it.

Example: If you cannot delete a file named "Things/stuff", rename the file to just "t", then delete it.

For your other issues with performing actions on folders, see if this article helps:

Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder - Apple Support

Let us know if this helps and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Cheers!

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Answer 2

Feb 25, 2017 6:51 AM in response to WhatABearThinks

Alright. They're gone again. For now, haha. I think they may stay gone this time. The solution was booting the machine in "Recovery" and running the First Aid there. I'm not sure if it was necessary, but I ran the First Aid feature on each partition from the menu. The backups are gone now. Thankfully.

Sidenote, the reason the non-deletable backups became a real issue was the hard drive I use to save backups was no longer large enough to save even one backup with so much information sitting in the trash.

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Answer 3

Feb 22, 2017 5:49 AM in response to Teddy_B

The backups are in the trash, but in attempting to delete the backups from the trash they cannot be deleted. It says, "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8072)."

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Answer 4

Feb 22, 2017 7:51 AM in response to WhatABearThinks

So, I'm not sure what I've done or whose advice, if any worked, but the backups have disappeared. What I did do was hit delete then walk away from the Mac for an entire night. Right before I went to bed I did see the error code -8072 message come up, but I just hit ok and left it alone.

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Answer 5

Feb 24, 2017 3:06 PM in response to WhatABearThinks

I was wrong. The backups are not gone. They were just grouped differently than I am used to seeing. They're still taking up space, and unable to be deleted... 😟

Still giving the message, "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8072)." 😢

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Answer 6

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Feb 21, 2017 9:50 AM in response to WhatABearThinks

Trash – Empty When File is Locked or in Use

Try holding down the option/alt key while trying to delete the Trash. If that doesn’t work, here is some more information.

Trash FAQ

Trash won’t empty

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Answer 7

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Feb 25, 2017 7:55 AM in response to WhatABearThinks

Just a suggestion, but it is usually better to erase backup drives than to delete the backups. The backups getting stuck in the Trash is 'normal' when backups are deleted.

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