I carry out periodic backups of my MacBook Pro (Big Sur 11.7.10) HD to a WD 1TB external drive which is fine. However, I can see what also appears to be full backup on Time Machine on the MacBook. As I'm having storage problems on the MacBook should I remove these files?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.7
Modern Macs COMPUTE the backup on your Mac, on the boot drive, in a Time Machine snapshot. Then when you connect the backup drive, Time Machine uses the links in that snapshot to actually CREATE the new backup instance on your Time Machine backup drive.
Do not believe ANYTHING about the size of a snapshot file, it is all done with Links to files. Apple File system (APFS) never literally duplicates files on the same drive unless there is NO other way to proceed. Don't try to remove snapshot files, they are extreme-locked, and Trashing them will make a mess, and they will NOT delete.
Leaving it too long before re-connecting your Time Machine drive WILL fill your disk with what some consider 'junk'. 'Junk' in this context is perfectly good, but does not seem usefull to them at this moment, and is taking up space.
Connect your backup drive more often, and snapshots will be far fewer.
Post back to discuss further, there is always more to the story.
Modern Macs COMPUTE the backup on your Mac, on the boot drive, in a Time Machine snapshot. Then when you connect the backup drive, Time Machine uses the links in that snapshot to actually CREATE the new backup instance on your Time Machine backup drive.
Do not believe ANYTHING about the size of a snapshot file, it is all done with Links to files. Apple File system (APFS) never literally duplicates files on the same drive unless there is NO other way to proceed. Don't try to remove snapshot files, they are extreme-locked, and Trashing them will make a mess, and they will NOT delete.
Leaving it too long before re-connecting your Time Machine drive WILL fill your disk with what some consider 'junk'. 'Junk' in this context is perfectly good, but does not seem usefull to them at this moment, and is taking up space.
Connect your backup drive more often, and snapshots will be far fewer.
Post back to discuss further, there is always more to the story.
Never attempt to alter or remove files on a Time Machine backup drive.
Ignore the Finder's file size calculations. They cannot be applied to a Time Machine backup drive.
Duplicate (?) backups
