I really need to backup my hard drive onto my external with Time machine however I keep getting the message that the backup could not occur because the time machine could not take a local snapshot. I desperately need to free up space on my MacBook and I don’t know what else to do.
MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.15
you can purchase an external HDD or SSD of sufficient capacity and move your larger files (videos, pictures, documents, etc...) to it. once they are on the EHD, you can simply erase the same files from your internal drive. and, if it's just going to be used for storage, you can use an HDD and save a few bucks over the cost of an SSD. FWIW, i personally keep very little on my internal drive.
also, you may want to read these two articles:
you can purchase an external HDD or SSD of sufficient capacity and move your larger files (videos, pictures, documents, etc...) to it. once they are on the EHD, you can simply erase the same files from your internal drive. and, if it's just going to be used for storage, you can use an HDD and save a few bucks over the cost of an SSD. FWIW, i personally keep very little on my internal drive.
also, you may want to read these two articles:
A few more questions. Since I have an external I suspect that the time machine backups are taking up a lot of space. How do I choose the right files to ditch those?
Secondly, I am using iCloud storage which I love because I can access files from my MacBook from my phone and iPad? Can I just delete the files from my MacBook in good conscious they won’t be lost or is there something else I need to do before deleting my important files from the mothership?
It’s spring cleaning time and I would like to put the latest OS on my MacBook. Right now it’s using Catalina. The lack of storage and space is impacting my email searches now though so it is time for an intervention. I am open to of course buying another external drive if needed and right now I have a big usb (128gb) on standby I am sure that’s considered small now since I bought it s few years ago. Thank you for all of your help.
JC1983 wrote:
A few more questions. Since I have an external I suspect that the time machine backups are taking up a lot of space. How do I choose the right files to ditch those?
it's not recommended to delete select files from TM. that's an efficient way to bork your backups.
Secondly, I am using iCloud storage which I love because I can access files from my MacBook from my phone and iPad? Can I just delete the files from my MacBook in good conscious they won’t be lost or is there something else I need to do before deleting my important files from the mothership?
sorry, i don't use iCloud. i don't know how that works.
It’s spring cleaning time and I would like to put the latest OS on my MacBook. Right now it’s using Catalina. The lack of storage and space is impacting my email searches now though so it is time for an intervention. I am open to of course buying another external drive if needed and right now I have a big usb (128gb) on standby I am sure that’s considered small now since I bought it s few years ago. Thank you for all of your help.
obviously, i would buy an EHD with plenty of space. much more than the data you need to move to it so there's room for future data. as cheap as they have become it just makes sense for me.
Thank you! I will work on this.
I do have a external hard drive but I may need to purchase another.
you're welcome. and i'm of the opinion that there is no such thing as too much external storage. :)
Time machine could not take local snapshot
