- #How to delete old back ups from time machine for mac how to#
- #How to delete old back ups from time machine for mac full#
It will probably take awhile because OS X recognizes that you're backing up an entirely new disk, so backs up the entire disk. Click the Gear icon from the top menu of the backup and then select Delete Backup. After a few seconds, the backup will start. Scroll your mouth to switch the Time Machine backups to find the one you need to delete. Click Select Disk and choose the Time Machine drive.
#How to delete old back ups from time machine for mac full#
Note that I haven't tested this with Lion. Open the Time Machine preferences and turn Time Machine on. To solve the error of can’t delete time machine backups, you need to get the full disk access for the terminal app, and then use the terminal to delete time machine backups. Terminal will display a list of the files as they are deleted.įound on Stack Exchange. Sudo /System/Library/Extensions/TMSafetyNet.kext/Contents/MacOS/bypass rm -rfv /Volumes//Backups.backupdb/ Deleting Time Machine Backups within The App Click or tap the Time Machine icon in the Menu bar and browse the backup files to find the one you want to delete. So pull-up the options by clicking the gears Options icon as shown below. For some crazy reason, you can’t ctrl-click (right-click) in the starfield view. Select one or all of the old files in that backup and click the gear icon in the Menu bar to reveal the dropdown window.
Hit the Time Machine icon to jump into the starfield view. How do I Delete Time Machine Backups on my Mac Click or tap the Time Machine icon in the Menu bar and browse the backup files to find the one you want to delete.
#How to delete old back ups from time machine for mac how to#
Sudo /System/Library/Extensions/TMSafetyNet.kext/Helpers/bypass rm -rfv /Volumes//Backups.backupdb/ Here is how to remove files and folders from your Time Machine backup. To use this with Mountain Lion, run the following command: There is an executable accessible from the command line that lets you delete these backups. Finally, even if all goes well, you may want to delete backups on a remote Mac's Time Machine disk.
In some cases, deleting backups from the Finder won't work you also may not be able to use the rm command to delete these backups, because they are handled in a special way. In some cases, under Mountain Lion, this results in an error, with a message saying "The operation can't be completed because backup items can't be modified." You may know that you can enter Time Machine through the GUI and delete a backup.