Can't delete back up from time machine

Hi there,
I'm having trouble deleting some old back ups on my time machine disk.
Basically, i did an archive and install and now have a new account. As such, even though I have changed the permissions of the backups to the new account, i still cannot delete them. I've tried everything, including sudo rm -rf <filepath>
NOTHING works. Can someone please help?
If sudo rm doesn't work i can't think of anything else to do.

Simbad54 said:

Hi there,
I'm having trouble deleting some old back ups on my time machine disk.
Basically, i did an archive and install and now have a new account. As such, even though I have changed the permissions of the backups to the new account, i still cannot delete them. I've tried everything, including sudo rm -rf <filepath>
NOTHING works. Can someone please help?
If sudo rm doesn't work i can't think of anything else to do.

Click to expand...

You can format the drive from Airport Utility.

Sure, but i don't want to wipe the drive, i only want to delete some of the files

What i don't understand is why using the super user doesn't work. That should trump everything.

Simbad54 said:

Sure, but i don't want to wipe the drive, i only want to delete some of the files

Click to expand...

In the Finder's sidebar, click on Time Capsule, double-click on Time Capsule Disk (or however you have it named), double-click the sparsebundle to mount it. Switch to the mounted Time Machine Backups image, browse to whatever it is you want to delete.

Using sudo probably isn't working because this isn't a locally-connected drive. You are accessing a network volume managed by another computer (the Time Capsule itself), much like how you'd access, say, a Windows PC from a Mac.

I don't use time capsule. I've tried browsing to the file in the finder and doing it that way. I've tried from within Time Machine itself, and it goes through the motions of deleting the file, but it remains afterwards.

Simbad54 said:

I don't use time capsule. I've tried browsing to the file in the finder and doing it that way. I've tried from within Time Machine itself, and it goes through the motions of deleting the file, but it remains afterwards.

Click to expand...

Ah hmmm…. *roots through Google search*… AHA! Have you tried deleting it from the Actions menu? Enter Time Machine, browse to the file you want to kill, click on the gear icon, select "Delete all backups of…".

@lifeisabeach in a different thread about G5 audio you said you learned something new from me. Now it is my turn to say that to you. I either did not know, or had forgotten, that little trick.

Well, after rooting around myself, yes, that works. I had tried something similar and it didn't work. For posterity, you need to open time machine, and navigate to the backup you wish to delete, and click on the computer name. In my case Simeon's MBP, from the gear menu click delete backup. You can only do one at a time, so takes some time.

Thanks for the help guys.