Can't delete Time Machine Backups from Trash

I manually deleted a bunch of Time Machine backups from a Seagate USB drive (using Finder). The backups are in my trash, but I can't delete them. I tried the Option Delete and Shift-Option Delete, but I get the same results. The trash emptying process gets stuck after a VERY long time and says it can't delete certain files. If I disconnect the USB drive the deleted files disappear, but they reappear as soon as I connect it again.

Any ideas on how to delete what the delete dialog box says are about 4MM files! I'm running 10.12.6

Your first mistake was using Finder to delete Time Machine backups. The proper way to delete Time Machine backups is to open Time Machine, highlight the backup you wish to delete on the right side, authenticate with your Admin password and then wait until Time Machine completes the deletion. You must do each one individually.

chscag said:

Your first mistake ....

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I already figured that out. My question was not "HOW" to delete backups..but How to Empty my Trash given the situation.

You can't. You don't have the right permissions to do that, as a protection for Time Machine. I would try attaching the TM drive, then try to restore the backups from Trash and if that works, use the method chscag said to use.

Frankly, I'm not optimistic that even that approach will work, which will leave you with very few good options. But give it a try and report back on how it went.

RJMang said:

I already figured that out. My question was not "HOW" to delete backups..but How to Empty my Trash given the situation.

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As Jake has already told you, you can't delete those backup files from the Trash because you do not have permissions. And, they likely can not be restored. You might try wiping (erasing) the Time Machine drive and then using one of several methods for force emptying the Trash. This method works.

One caution: The terminal commands chscag pointed to in the link most likely will work (they should). But bear in mind that the command rm is very powerful and very unforgiving. SO by using the super user sudo to execute rm, you can wipe out just about anything (and everything). So, be very, very careful in using that technique, if you choose to do so. But if that rm gets executed incorrectly, you can erase the entire drive, including the boot drive, leaving you with nothing.

EDIT: The point is to assure that you have a valid backup before trying that trick. And your current TM backup may not be valid at this point because of what you did with Finder. The links in the backup that threaded through those deleted backups are no longer valid, so the backup has lost integrity. I'd make (and test) a new one somewhere before I did anything in terminal.

How about trying to reformat the Seagate USB drive ?That would wipe off everything on that drive....

Please, don't tell me you have used this drive for other things than as a time Machine Back-up drive, each backed-up drive enjoying its exclusive partition ?

If you do what Michelangelo suggests, that SHOULD solve the problem, but you'll lose everything on the drive and will have to restart Time Machine all over again.

I'm a bit late here, but just a thought, some OS versions have an option to "Put Back" or "Put Away" which could possibly be used maybe to put the Trash stuff back to where it came from and then do any removal the correct way??? Just thinking out loud… and a "maybe" type solution.

But I think it's much too late for anything like that to actually work properly.





- Patrick
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Patrick, that was suggested in post #4, but worth repeating. It's doubtful it will work because TM does things slightly differently, but the OP may get lucky and have it work.

Patrick, that was suggested in post #4, but worth repeating.

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Thanks Jake, but I didn't see anything about the old "Put Back" or "Restore" command mentioned there, but I have a feeling it disappeared maybe after Snow Leopard and I can't recall if the command, option or control keys were needed to invoke it.

Anyway, it's probably is too late and probably doesn't work any more with recent OSX versions.

But I can't say I'd use what the OP did as a reason not to recommend to rely on only Time Machine for a "backup" which I do all the time, and man is your comment a big understatement — because TM does things slightly differently. Yup!!!




- Patrick
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Patrick, it's there in HS, and it's called Put Back. You right click on the item in the trash and then pick Put Back. That's what I meant in post #4 by "restore the backups." Maybe I should have been more specific.

But I can't say I'd use what the OP did as a reason not to recommend to rely on only Time Machine for a "backup" which I do all the time, and man is your comment a big understatement — because TM does things slightly differently. Yup!!!

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That's a bit confusing to me, but if you are saying that the issues from the OP are not sufficient to reject TM as the sole backup, I would agree. TM is better than no backup at all, but you do have to treat the backups carefully because of the way TM works. Deleting backups from Finder is definitely NOT a good idea!

This is an old thread, but this is EXACTLY what happened to me just now. Ok, I get it now - I should have just deleted through Time Machine or reformatted the drive, but it's too late now. I sent 50 folders of backups to the trash. I'm trying the Terminal Method suggested in post 5 now on one of those folders, but once that's done, I believe I'm going to see if reformatting the drive clears the trash, because I'm not relishing the idea of doing this 50 times.

I must say, this is the STUPIDEST design I've seen in a LONG time. Why in the name of all that is reasonable would Apple allow you to delete something from the Time Machine volume in Finder if it screws you over this badly? You can't even move the freakin folders back from the trash to the backup volume. I know you can screw yourself without excuse by messing around with Terminal or in the Library folder, but this was WAY too easy to do, and I'm no computer dummy either, so I can only imagine many others have done this. Why on EARTH couldn't they just have a window pop up saying "Unable to delete [file/folder name] using Finder. Please use Time Machine to remove unwanted backups" or something like that? They sure have no problem with dialogues telling you that you're screwed...AFTER you've already done this, so why can't they just prevent the issue in the first place?!

EDIT: The Terminal method worked for one of the 50 folders, although I had to acknowledge about 30 or so times (by hitting return) to override specific files that apparently were resisting deletion. Going to try reformatting now before resorting to doing the Terminal process another 49 times.

Hi Jonathan

We get this situation a lot. You are not alone. And I very much take your point. Anyway, it's done.

From previous threads and posts, the answer is to reformat the Time Machine EHD. This not only gives you a fresh start, but empties the Trash in the process. In fact, it's the only efficient way of achieving this.

The reformat is necessary because the TM links have been broken and, as a backup, it is dead.

I'm sure you know this, but when reformatting it requires GUID partition and Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) irrespective of your Mac's OS and irrespective of whether it is HFS+ or APFS.

Ian

IWT said:

Hi Jonathan

We get this situation a lot. You are not alone. And I very much take your point. Anyway, it's done.

From previous threads and posts, the answer is to reformat the Time Machine EHD. This not only gives you a fresh start, but empties the Trash in the process. In fact, it's the only efficient way of achieving this.

The reformat is necessary because the TM links have been broken and, as a backup, it is dead.

I'm sure you know this, but when reformatting it requires GUID partition and Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) irrespective of your Mac's OS and irrespective of whether it is HFS+ or APFS.

Ian

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Thanks. I'm not even given a choice for GUID when going to Disk Utility > select the disk in question > Erase. Only the file system type, so I assume it does this automatically. First time the erase process failed, but after rebooting, it worked. Trash is now empty.

Thankfully there was nothing left on the disk I wanted, otherwise I'd be up all night mucking around with Terminal because Apple left a big gaping hole in the way they handle backups (ironic, since the whole principle that caused this mess was supposedly the integrity of your backup data...yet now it's completely destroyed because they let you so easily delete it within Finder with no easy solution except erasing the entire volume).

usagora said:

Thanks. I'm not even given a choice for GUID when going to Disk Utility > select the disk in question > Erase. Only the file system type, so I assume it does this automatically. First time the erase process failed, but after rebooting, it worked. Trash is now empty.

Thankfully there was nothing left on the disk I wanted, otherwise I'd be up all night mucking around with Terminal because Apple left a big gaping hole in the way they handle backups (ironic, since the whole principle that caused this mess was supposedly the integrity of your backup data...yet now it's completely destroyed because they let you so easily delete it within Finder with no easy solution except erasing the entire volume).

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You get the GUID option when you select the enclosure, not the drive/partition.

ferrarr said:

You get the GUID option when you select the enclosure, not the drive/partition.

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My bad - first time using Disk Utility on this particular Mac, and I forgot I had to select "Show All Devices" in order to see the enclosures - but GUID is the default anyway, so I was ok. Been a while since I've had to mess with this, so I'm a bit rusty!