Table of contents:
- How to find out how much space is used by local backups
- Why does the system create local backups
- OS X tries to automatically delete local backups, but …
- How to disable local snapshots
2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
Time Machine is one of the important features of OS X. With an external hard drive, you can easily set up automatic backups and always keep backups of all your data close at hand. However, Time Machine creates not only backups on external drives, but also local snapshots, which can cause a shortage of free disk space.
How to find out how much space is used by local backups
It is very easy to find out how much space on your internal disk is occupied by the backups at the moment. To do this, click in the menu bar, choose About This Mac, and then click More Info. In the menu that opens, switch to the "Storage" tab and look. The screenshot shows 90 megabytes, but in reality the numbers are most often more impressive - tens of gigabytes, or even more.
Backups cannot be viewed or deleted through the file system, but there is, of course, a way to do this.
Why does the system create local backups
Local snapshots are only created on MacBooks with Time Machine enabled. That is, if you have an iMac or MacBook with Time Machine not configured, local backups will never appear on your disk.
They are created so that you can get back deleted or previous versions of files even when the external drive is not connected to your Mac. The system automatically creates them in the background without showing itself in any way (the Time Machine icon in the menu bar will be "silent"). These backups are stored on the boot disk, along with the rest of your files.
With local backups, you can restore deleted or previous versions of files even without connecting to the external drive you use for Time Machine. All this is done for the convenience of laptop owners.
OS X tries to automatically delete local backups, but …
It is logical to assume that when you connect an external hard drive and create a backup, local copies are deleted. Not really. You can see for yourself by opening the About This Mac menu, there is still a “backups” section and it still takes up disk space.
The principle "while there is room" works here. More precisely, the backups will be stored until the disk is 80% full or there is no 5 gigabytes of free space left. After that, the system will start deleting the oldest backup versions. However, if you are not satisfied with this extravagance, then the creation of local backups can still be turned off.
How to disable local snapshots
Local backups do not interfere for the time being, but situations often arise when you need to free up disk space to install a game, some large software or copy any other data. This is the right time to remember the gigabytes they occupy.
If you turn off Time Machine completely, the system will delete local backups as well, but you don't have to go to such extreme measures. It is easier and faster to use a special Terminal command.
Open the Terminal (from the Applications folder ‣ Utilities or via Spotlight), type in this code, enter your password and press enter:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
In a few seconds, the system will delete all local backups and free up the precious space they were occupying. After that, your Mac will no longer create any backups on the boot drive, all your data will be stored by Time Machine only on an external one.
If you need to enable the local backups feature again, then use this command:
sudo tmutil enablelocal
It's all. I hope you find the information in this post useful. Keep your Macs running smoothly so you never need backups. Neither local nor external.;)
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