Can't Delete Files Off of TimeMachine

[Fear12]

Hello,

I have an Airport TimeMachine that I used to use to backup a Windows PC. I no longer have the PC and would like to delete the backups as I have no use for them anymore. Trying to delete from the finder gives me the following message:

When I do Get Info on the folder I have full read / write privileges and the "Locked" option is not checked.

I then tried to delete through terminal using sudo rm -rf which also gives the following message:

rm: path/to/file: Permission denied.

I'm at a loss here. These windows backups are chewing up tons of space on my TimeMachine. How else can I try to get rid of these files?

 

[Phil77354]

Are you using the TimeMachine to also back-up a Mac or other computer? If not then you could simply wipe the disk and start fresh. And if you don't need the older backups to any other computer that is on the TimeMachine backup now, then you could do the same thing.

Also, I'm not sure how you're attempting to delete from Finder, but in general I think that Disk Utility may be what you should be using here.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Erase an AirPort Time Capsule in AirPort Utility on Mac

If you’re using an AirPort Time Capsule, you can use AirPort Utility to erase the internal disk.

support.apple.com

 

[Fear12]

Are you using the TimeMachine to also back-up a Mac or other computer? If not then you could simply wipe the disk and start fresh. And if you don't need the older backups to any other computer that is on the TimeMachine backup now, then you could do the same thing.

Also, I'm not sure how you're attempting to delete from Finder, but in general I think that Disk Utility may be what you should be using here.

Unfortunately I am using it to backup two other Macs so I want to avoid wiping the whole disc if I can.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Unfortunately I am using it to backup two other Macs so I want to avoid wiping the whole disc if I can.

If you have mounted the Time Machine backup, you would need to delete the files from within Time Machine, you can't do it directly from Finder.

 

[Fear12]

Somehow the Terminal command was able to delete but required multiple uses (??). Even though the command would fail, I would notice that the size of the folder would go down. It eventually deleted the entire folder after the third or fourth try.

If you have mounted the Time Machine backup, you would need to delete the files from within Time Machine, you can't do it directly from Finder.

I don't understand. I wasn't mounting a Mac backup, in my post I'm talking about deleting a folder containing windows backup files stored on my TimeMachine disc. When you enter TimeMachine you can't see network folders right?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Somehow the Terminal command was able to delete but required multiple uses (??). Even though the command would fail, I would notice that the size of the folder would go down. It eventually deleted the entire folder after the third or fourth try.


I don't understand. I wasn't mounting a Mac backup, in my post I'm talking about deleting a folder containing windows backup files stored on my TimeMachine disc. When you enter TimeMachine you can't see network folders right?

What you are doing is going to damage the Time Machine backups with the way you are going about deleting those folders outside of Time Machine.

Do you see the Time Machine drive on your desktop? If you do that means it has been mounted on your desktop.

 

[Fear12]

What you are doing is going to damage the Time Machine backups with the way you are going about deleting those folders outside of Time Machine.

Do you see the Time Machine drive on your desktop? If you do that means it has been mounted on your desktop.

I'm sorry, I think the confusion is in how I have been wording my posts. I meant that on my networked Airport Time Capsule I had a windows backup folder that I wanted to delete. I am not modifying anything within a Time Machine backup.

 

[Taz Mangus]

I'm sorry, I think the confusion is in how I have been wording my posts. I meant that on my networked Airport Time Capsule I had a windows backup folder that I wanted to delete. I am not modifying anything within a Time Machine backup.

Gotcha.