I found 3,708,612 copies of zero byte plist files in over 50 folders in my Time Machine backup database. One perf-pane application made all of them. Is there a fast way, really fast way to delete all of them at once. The spinning ball takes a long time to delete even one file stored 50 or more times in different or the same folder.
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 3.6 GHz Intel Core i5
I did a search for this before making my post, and I couldn't find anything that would work.
I'm in the middle of doing my final year uni project (a documentary using final cut pro) and I'm fast running out of hard drive space and thought I'd use the external HD I've been using for my Time Machine backups, but when I simply dragged the folder to the trash it wouldn't let me delete it, after hours of waiting. So I sent it all back to the HD from the trash. I tried the disk utility thing and it still wouldn't let me. I wasn't sure if I should select the actual hard drive, or the time machine logo, then which type of delete to choose...
Tried unlocking and allowing myself to read and write. Nope. Tried holding down the option key. Nope.
This drive is no longer being used by time machine and I want to delete some files on it. Is there a way to do it without wiping the entire drive?
I have multiple older Time Machine archives from different Macs that I have been going through manually and picking files out and copying them to another drive file by file. I'm running into massive quantities of duplicate files and the biggest problem is muliple iphoto pictures including the same picture in different sizes.Â
I wanted to give up and just throw the whole Time Machine archive onto another disk so I could format the one it was on and use it for something else. But I got a message reading, "The backup can’t be copied because the backup volume doesn’t have ownership enabled." So I went to manually copy each "Macintosh HD" folder for each date into it's their own respective folders. It worked but required my password for each folder and each of the 19 folders were all ~75GB. Which is impossible because all of that data was on a 500GB drive.Â
I am trying to delete time machine backups from trash. It doesnt allow me to do this because it says certains things are running?
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imac
I transferred all my information from my old computer to time machine and now onto my new great iMac. I have user names that I want to delete. How do I do this? Also, is there a way to transfer photos from iphoto in another users name into my user name?
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iMac
I have recently ran the latest update 10.7.4 (11E53) for my iMac OSX Lion and using Safari browser 5.1.7 and since then I am experiencing intermittent problems with my Time Machine not backing up. The light on the front is on and it looks like it is working however it remains static and will not strobe as previously. The Time Machine is a WD MB Studio 1034. When I select the time machine symbol I get a message to say that the Time Machine is not set up and I cannot get to my backed up files. My last back up was done on 11th June 2012. Since then the back up drive has not automatically backed up.
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
We are trying to migrate our files from an old PowerPC iMac to our new iMac. The migration tool did not bring over music or photos or some of our folders. So I tried again with Time Machine. I now have 2 instances of Time Machine running on the new iMac. One is the old Mac and one is the New Mac. How do I transfer the files (music, photos, docs, etc) from one view to the other. We would like to recycle our old Mac but not until we have saved all our work and wiped the old one clean. I have tried saving and pasting but to no avail.Â
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iMac G4, Mac OS X (10.5.1)
My iMac running 10.7.4 freezes when trying to backup files using time machine. I must reboot each time to stop time machine, and use the iMac.
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iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
Time machine keeps sending old boot.efi files to my trash, and am unable to delete them, maybe because they are locked? should I unlock them and if so, how? should I delete them and if so, how?
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iMac (24-inch Mid 2007), Mac OS X (10.7.2)
I've had a new hard drive installed on my iMac, (and the place that did it for me also installed 10.6 OS). Now, when I plugged in an external hard drive I had been using with time machine (and OS 10.5), and clicked 'restore' in the time machine interface, it transferred 200+gigs of data onto the new hard drive. However, I can't see any files anywhere - only see that that much space is now taken on the new hard drive. I've since read elsewhere that I should have used 'migration assistant' to do the job, but before I do this, I what to get rid of the 200+gig of data taking up room. How do I do this without a fresh install of the OS? (I don't have disks for 10.6). Or will the time machine restore (with migration assistant) not work between 10.5 & 10.6?
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
I just got my 500 Gb HD in the mail and want to swap my hard drives while keeping all of my data. Does time machine work like this? Can i back my 120Gb HD up and then install my 500Gb HD and then put my files back on?
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Mac OS X (10.6.8)
When I mounted the external hard disk I see the trash full with the files and I have no access to time machine. Â
How can I repair that.
All files and folders on the desktop disappeared, I checked time machine and even there are no longer present, even going back months.
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iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)
I was having issues with Safari so I wanted to delete the plist file. However, when I went to, I was told the file was locked. It let me delete it anyways, but I never recall locking it. I'm hoping it was just a fluke, but is there possibly some kind of malware or trojan that would have locked it?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have an early 2006 iMac with 10.5.8, and I am having hard drive problems. I want to reformat my drive, then install 10.6. Can I do that, then restore my files with Time Machine? Will it restore applications?
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iMac 17" Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz 2Gb Mem, Mac OS X (10.4.8)
I'm not talking about a tool like Onyx, which is "excellent". Definitely the best, most simplest maintenance tool/utility.app for the Mac.I'm talking a simple tool for searching, editing and deleting both specific .plist files and cache files on an app-by-app basis. Is there one?I know of PrefEdit, but that is only for .plist (preference) files, and leaves out cache files:
I need, well desperately want; one that does both.Yeah I could use AppZapper, but I would prefer something that is designed for this specific purpose. Anyone?
Well 10.5.6 has been so much fun and full of surprises - like a box of chocolates Gump would say. For some reason, the sleep function settings won't reset. I had my iMac set to sleep the HD after about an hour. I changed the setting to never, but it still wants to sleep. Never had any trouble like this before the update. My install is almost virgin as I had to reinstall because of the update. I don't have any add-ons running or anything like that. Can I delete the .plist file for these settings to start over?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI need delete time machine...
Just drag to trash this folder? Backups.backupdb
I'm lost in trying to delete the backup directories created by Time Machine. I've moved disks around on my network and TIme Machine doesn't seem to remember that it's backed up a given system to a given disk previously, after moving the disk to a different server. So I'm content to start over and I went to /Volumes/Backupdisk/Backups.backupdb and tried 'sudo rm -rf *' to get rid of the existing backups in preparation to start over. It wouldn't let me remove them getting the error 'Operation not permitted'. I note that 'ls -l' shows a lot of rwxr-xr-x@ with the @ sign at the end and I'm assuming that this is a hard link, but I don't know. I'm also thinking this is why rm won't work - multiple hard links?
I really don't want to re-format the disk. BTW I am currently trying to use Time Machine to delete all the file but that is taking FOR EVER and I'm not sure its actually doing anything. Its been about 30 minutes and there's been not reported increase in disk space. Its like its still preparing to delete.
I have a new mac book. I used time machine from my old mac book to transfer all the data. It was successful. When I tried to set up the new time machine with the existing external hard drive, it said I didn't have enough room. What I think is happening is that it is trying to save the entire hard drive from the new computer onto the external even though it already exists from the previous computer. When I looked at the external drive, it had two folders - one for the macbook and one for the macbook pro. Since it was a successful transfer, do I delete the old time machine data and let it start over with the new computer. Or, do I buy a second external hard drive?
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MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
Last night in a desperate attempt to get some GBs back, I went crazy on Spring Cleaning and accidentally deleted all my .plist files... and considering I have tons of media editing software that I had arranged the preferences to ultimate perfection, I'm kinda upset.
How can i get them back?? I just redragged them from the trash to the Library/Preferences folder but they don't seem to be doing much there.
I failed to specify a folder to be excluded from TM's backups. It is 29 GB in size and has cluttered up my TM space. I know the dates of the several daily backup folders in TM which contain this huge file. Would it be safe to open TM and just delete those folders, without mucking up TM?
View 2 Replies View RelatedSo I'm in the process of fixing up an old Power Mac Dual G4 MDD for my Dad. I'm installing all the software he'll use, setting all the pref panes, etc... I've turned on Time Machine, and when I give him the computer for Xmas I'd like for there to not be remnants of this setting up process. Right before I shut off the computer for the last time before giving it to him, how would I delete all of the old backups and just leave the "current" backup?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have a Time-Machine backup on one of my external HD's. It's a backup of my old MBP system. I'm using my Mac Pro now and I wish to delete all the files which I don't need from the backup. Why does it not let me delete anything? It says I do not have enough permissions or something.
so i bought a time capsule last month and backed up my macbook on it.. (love it btw). but anyway my roomate also has a macbook and i let him back it up on my time capsule as well... now were both moving to different locations and i want to get rid of his backup to allow for more space.. how do i do this from my macbook?... is it possible?
if not would i have to reset it? or maybe get him to get rid of it on his macbook?.. (he would give me a hard time so id rather be able to just delete his stuff myself, and hes taking up significantly more space on it than i am so i want it off)
My Time Machine backups are getting rather large and I really don't need backups dating back six months. Is there a way to go in and delete certain dates?
View 10 Replies View RelatedI want to delete the Time Machine backup for my MacBook Pro because I no longer own the machine. In the past I know I've tried to delete a backup by dragging it to the trash and emptying it, but I remember that didn't work. The finder would just say something along the lines of "calculating blah blah blah..." for hours.
View 7 Replies View RelatedI want to delete my time machine backup folder. I have other files on the disk and can not reformat. In the past, I have dragged the folder to the trash, and even though that worked, the process have sometimes taken hours, and on an old powerbook, it took more than 24h.
Right now I'm trying the terminal command sudo rm -rf. My aim was to save time by bypassing the trash. But the process has been going on for about 30 min already, and I see "Operation not permitted" after many or most of the lines. Does anyone know what that means?
What is the fastest way to just delete a time machine backup folder. Surely there must be a way of deleting a folder instantly, without the OS having to go through and verify every file?
Alright, here's the situation. I have a 1TB external set up with 250gigs partitioned for backing up with time machine, and the rest just for storing files. My time machine partition was full so i decided to move the 5 oldest backups to the trash to make some more room. But when i went to delete trash it counted up to a couple million files and just sat there saying preparing to delete. It was never able to actually start deleting the files, it was just preparing to delete for a couple hours.
View 3 Replies View Related