Delete Time Machine Sparsebundle from Synology NAS

[gadgetfreak98]

Any suggestions for how to quickly remove a TM sparsebundle from my synology? As often is the case, something went wrong with the existing sparebundle and the OS is trying to start a new one, but there's not enough space... so i need to delete the prior. There are other backups from other machines on the Synology, so just looking to clear out the old one from my specific computer.

I'm in the process of using File Station to delete the folder, but it seems that will take forever. Any faster ways?

thanks!

 

[jeyf]

seems apple file packaged files of any type, copied into a NAS file server environment are an issue.
some how a file's extended attributes get confused
apple.inc should fix this

this is why my company now does not allow employees to use macOS.
use a windows os something
but
on a mac
mount the Synology as smb://myNAS/myfile

I posted (2) items at macRumors.com about having to mass delete files using ios
-look careful at permissions and lock status
-some times commands Move will work in place of Delete
-you can try the Terminal and linux commands, i found this not to work for me
-break down the file package. Use Finder's "View Package" and delete starting bottom up
-Finder alternative "PathFinder". this app could open a Terminal screen direct inside to the file package. Really did not help.


I had some turboTax.exe files that would NOT delete no matter what. I re mounted the accounting department's private QNap NAS box as afp://myNAS/ and did a file package delete using this mount. It was able to delete whole packages in seconds. Fair to say afp: is deprecated and users should normally use the smb: that came with their macOS.


best of luck!!!

 

[Honza1]

Any suggestions for how to quickly remove a TM sparsebundle from my synology? As often is the case, something went wrong with the existing sparebundle and the OS is trying to start a new one, but there's not enough space... so i need to delete the prior. There are other backups from other machines on the Synology, so just looking to clear out the old one from my specific computer.

I'm in the process of using File Station to delete the folder, but it seems that will take forever. Any faster ways?

thanks!

TimeMachine uses linking to save space - it keep just one version of a file and links to it for each "backup". There is huge amount of links in that sparse bundle and depending on how smart the File Station software is, it may take forever to get this deleted. Principally, system should always check if there are any remaining links before deleting any real data.
OSX/macOS may be smarter, especially if mounted as afp. May be.
Personally, I found it easier to reformat TimeMachine disk or replace it with new one and keep the old one with data on it. Of course, not that helpful suggestion for NAS drives...
I also found using NAS for TM disks fragile and inconvenient. Keep in mind, that if you need to recover data from TM it will be very, very slow if it is NAS. It is slow from regular external hard drive. From NAS, it may take days if you have larger amount of data to recover. With the cost of hard disks very low and external docking stations costing ~$25, having dock with suitable size hard drive connected to computer by USB is MUCH better solution.

 

[jeyf]

you might want to create a temporary share point on your Synology. move the sparsebundle onto the new temp share point. Delete the temp share point.

AFP mounting is deprecated and you should use SMB://

consumer NAS boxes have come a long way. They are at least medium speed or better. I just caution Synology's Time Machine interface may or may not be reliable.