Time Machine says it could not complete a backup (onto an external hard drive) because it "could not create a local snapshot to back up from because there was insufficient free space on the source volume."
How much space is required to use Time Machine?
Do I need to empty stuff off my computer in order to back it up? (Like applications that take up a lot of room?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14
After I posted my question, I took all large apps, like Google Chrome, Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Dropbox...basically anything not installed on the Mac originally...and copied it to the external drive, then deleted them off my Mac. That opened up the space so I could run Time Machine.
Really appreciate your response, Eau Rouge. Good practical suggestions as I go forward with my back up project.
After I posted my question, I took all large apps, like Google Chrome, Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Dropbox...basically anything not installed on the Mac originally...and copied it to the external drive, then deleted them off my Mac. That opened up the space so I could run Time Machine.
Really appreciate your response, Eau Rouge. Good practical suggestions as I go forward with my back up project.
How much free space do you have on your macs internal drive.
It is recommended to keep at least 20GBs of free space on your internal drive
so the mac can do its housekeeping.
If you run very low on free space you run the risk of the mac locking up and
becoming unusable.
Copy files that you do not need on a daily basis to an external drive.
Movies, images and music tend to take up the most space.
Once you have confirmed they have copied over successfully you
can then delete them from your mac.
(Those Microsoft products were installed by an outside tech consultant after it was in for servicing. No real need for that on my Mac, really, since I have Pages, Numbers, etc. The Microsoft products just cause problems sometimes, so off the went, but I still have them if need be.)
Time Machine
