Can't reduce size of Time Capsule Time Machine sparsebundle

I'm having trouble following http://pondini.org/TM/A8.html to reduce the size of a Time Machine sparsebundle image on my Time Capsule (model A1302 with firmware 7.6.8). My machine is a 2016 MacBook Pro running MacOS 10.12.4. The Disk Utility screenshots on the Pondini page differ from what I'm seeing, and when I change the partition size Disk Utility creates a new one called "Untitled" in the vacated space which it won't let me delete without increasing the Time Machine Backups partition back to the full size of the disk, which seems wrong. Am I doing something wrong?

I did some more searching around and found http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071108020121567 which suggests using "hdiutil resize -size 500g -shrinkonly /Volumes/Network_Drive_Name/path/to/timemachine.sparseimage" instead. This seemed to do the job, but then the sparsebundle pinged back to its original size. I guess Time Machine did it so I need to do the file locking steps recommended by Pondini. Is this a better way to do than Disk Utility now?

Time Capsule 2TB 4th Generation-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Time Capsule firmware 7.6

Posted on May 3, 2017 3:06 PM

18 replies

jsliff

Level 1

16 points

Jun 14, 2017 9:48 PM in response to kmbro

I was just on the phone with Apple with a similar question, but I'm confused. You seem to be saying you have a 6GB "Time Capsule" - but there's no such thing. If you have a 6GB external drive attached it's a totally different situation. An external drive can be partitioned only if plugged into one of your Macs - if attached to the Time Capsule under Sierra Disk Utility should not even "see" it. If it does, command may not work properly, or appear to but not "take". The Time Capsule drive cannot be partitioned for multiple Time Machine "areas".

The sparsebundles can no longer be resized. They are dynamic, and that's it. But none should rob the entire Time Machine partition (or drive if using the actual Time Capsule) of space if all machines are kept relatively current. I've backed up 3 Macs of different sizes and never had that happen.

If you're using an external drive, just partition it as 3 drives. And if you still have problems I suggest talking to Apple Support - I just got them in 5 minutes. 4 and 5 year old website information is bound to be outdated and not work - or cause problems. IMO it's inadvisable to try those things, especially when the information applies to different operating systems (i.e not Sierra nowadays).

Good Luck!

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,480 points

May 3, 2017 6:58 PM in response to kmbro

I have not tried this on the current "tower" version of the Time Capsule, so if that is the model that you have, would be interested to see if it works for you.

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,480 points

May 3, 2017 9:02 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for the info. Looks like this clarifies things regarding the "current" Time Capsule versions.

Wow....the "current" version is coming up on 4 years since it was introduced. How time flies.

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Can't reduce size of Time Capsule Time Machine sparsebundle