How do I delete Time Machine backups in Big Sur?

Question

How do I delete Time Machine backups in Big Sur?

My Time Machine says it's full and can't complete the backup, and isn't deleting old backups to make room for it. I've tried excluding some folders with big video files that I don't need backed up in time machine, but it's still not backing up. I tried to delete files manually in time machine, but in Big Sur, the gear icon that was in previous versions has been replaced by a circle with 3 dots across it on the inside. When I'm in Time Machine, that dropdown menu no longer has an option to delete backups, and right clicking on a file or folder in Time Machine also doesn't have an option to delete that backup anymore.

Is Big Sur missing this function?

MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11

Posted on May 19, 2021 3:47 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

212,163 points

Jun 9, 2021 3:27 PM in response to MissSuperYellow

MissSuperYellow wrote:

When I'm in Time Machine, that dropdown menu no longer has an option to delete backups, and right clicking on a file or folder in Time Machine also doesn't have an option to delete that backup anymore.

Yes it does. You must be in yesterday or earlier for that option to be visible.

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Answer 2

tbirdvet

Level 6

15,629 points

May 19, 2021 4:09 PM in response to MissSuperYellow

Time machine should delete the old backups if needed. You can no longer delete as before within TM. In your case not sure why it will not make the room. Worse case is to start a new clean TM backup with a new drive and keep your old one if you need the info..

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Answer 3

May 19, 2021 5:01 PM in response to tbirdvet

Yes! It's really confusing why Big Sur is not deleting old backups or giving me any options to delete them. In the past when this has happened it also gave me the option to start a whole new backup. I can't start a clean Time Machine backup with a new drive, because I'm using Apple's AirPort Time Capsule as my wifi and backup. Seems Big Sur is missing an essential user function to be able to manually delete, or at least in the system preferences to request a clean backup. Thanks for responding!

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Answer 4

May 19, 2021 5:17 PM in response to Barney-15E

Definitely frustrating!!! For now I've had to remove the disk in Time Machine preferences because every hour it pops up a notification that it can't complete the backup. Hopefully the next update to Big Sur will address this issue - fingers crossed!

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

118,878 points

May 19, 2021 7:08 PM in response to MissSuperYellow

There is a point when it can no longer delete old backups.

When it says it is deleting "old" backups, it is deleting backups of files that no longer exist on your Mac. It doesn't duplicate files that have not changed, so there isn't any space taken up at each backup if the file has not changed.

If you are at the point that it cannot free space, you might as well erase and start over. Time Machine is not an archival backup in that it keeps a copy of everything you once had on your Mac. It is only designed to provide a copy of the current state of your Mac's drives. If it cannot free any more free space, all historical data should have been deleted already.

If the backup drive is a spinning hard drive, then it must make contiguous space available to make more backups. If the only space available is scatter about the drive, it may not be able to write a backup even though there may be enough space scattered about the drive.

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Answer 6

May 19, 2021 8:19 PM in response to Barney-15E

Makes sense... only problem is Big Sur doesn’t give an option to erase. I can go into disk utility but I really don’t want to have to use that option since it’s partitioned for my other computer. Apple needs to add back the erase option into Big Sur for Time Machine.

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Answer 7

Thealps

Level 1

8 points

Jun 9, 2021 3:21 PM in response to MissSuperYellow

I Have this issue too. I'm using a trashcan 6,1 12 core maxxed and I use it professionally working intimately with many peoples' intellectual property so it very important to me. But TM is just hosed once it decides i don't have enough space on my TM partition, it does not let me continue where to 8500 GB of data left off. Took me 20 minutes to send the 2021-06-09-160510.inProgress file to the trash. But i did, and now its still doing same ishlez le sigh