How to delete time machine local backup?

Ivan H wrote

. . .

But if I want, I can use TimeMachineScheduler app to set up a regular backup time. That'll turn TM OFF-On-OFF, but I wonder that'll turn off local backup as well.

Yup. See the pink and yellow boxes in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #13.

Where are you seeing the 6.1 and 54.7 GB figures?

From the Space Gremlin app's generated map.

Sorry, I don't know what that is or what it's showing. The size of your Local Snapshots is shown on the Storage display.

That's quite annoying because the Free Space drops from 80.4 GB to 31.7 GB in a week.

That's shown where, on the Storage display? Or the Finder?

The main reference is from the Activity Monitor > Disk Used, but similar figures from the About my Mac > Storage display.

All the way in 7 days, the Time Machine "Snapshots" occupy only 18.7 MB to 30 MB, as shown from About This Mac > Storage (Backups).

Do you really mean MBs, not GBs? If so, Local Backups aren't the problem; something else is.

Yes, MBs, not GBs. That's why I am guessing a bug of the Time Machine app ver 1.2.

Something doesn't agree. The Finder (and Get Info) don't count Local Snapshots as "used" (since they're expendable); Disk Utility does. The difference between those two should equal the size of your Local Snapshots as shown on the Storage display.

If the Storage display only shows MBs for Backups, then Local Snapshots aren't taking up GBs, and aren't the problem.

It sounds a bit like you may have an app with a memory leak, causing a lot of disk to be used for swap files, or something else taking a lot of space.

See Where did my Disk Space go? for the usual suspects, and ways to find out what's really using the space.

It's not memory leak nor something else. It's Time Machine. The pictures explain:

Before the Time Machine set to OFF:

After the Time Machine set to OFF:

The free space remains after TM set back to ON.

Again, I'm not familiar with that app.

What does the Storage display show for Backups when that app shows 54.7 GB for "Time Machine" (earlier you said it showed MBs, not GBs -- are we talking about the same time)?

If it's considerably different, either:

• That app is showing something wrong or outdated, or,

• The Spotlight index is damaged or outdated (that's what drives the Storage display).

And/or, what's the difference between free space as shown by the Finder or Get Info and Disk Utility?

Pondini,

The Space Gremlin disk usage maps are generated when I responded to your questions. It's not the exact data during my test. So, there will be some small discrepancy.

Finder won't give the free space info. The Availability of Disk as revealed by Disk Utiltiy is the same as that revealed by Space Gremlin app and the same as the free space revealed by About This Mac > Storage. So I know what I am reading.

However, the disk space occupied by Time Machine (and later released to free space) as revealed by Space Gremlin is grouped into "Other" category on About This Mac > Storage.

The "Backups" category as shown at About This Mac > Storage is much smaller than that detected by Space Gremlin.

My guess is:

1. The space occupied, as shown in About This Mac > Storage, is the space occupied by Time Machine Local Backup (Snapshots) and theoretically this space will not grow when the Mac's disk has over 80% occupancy (managed by mtmfs process);

2. The space occupied, as shown by Space Gremlin, is the Time Machine's working area not releasing back as free space until the TM turns OFF. This is the part that I consider a bug, or a programming omission to release unused disk space when not using.

Further information in response to your questions:

The Space Gremlin app is the latest update and it gives correct disk space information on 4 Macs (including the MBA in testing) of different models around me. The disk space information can be reconciled from Finder, Get Info and Disk Utility.

The Sportlight index (as you were doubt about it) has been re-indexed on that MBA. No program.

Conclusion:

Stopping Time Machine Local Backup may not give you back a lot of the free disk space because the working space is not released. To release the Time Machine working space (in my test, about 50 GB), the Time Machine (OS X 10.8.4) ver 1.2 must be turned OFF manually. (Of course, you need to turn TM back to ON to use it.)

Ivan H wrote:

. . .

Finder won't give the free space info.

Huh? It's the bottom of every Finder window, if you have View > Show Status Bar enabled; you'll get the same figures via Get Info.

However, the disk space occupied by Time Machine (and later released to free space) as revealed by Space Gremlin is grouped into "Other" category on About This Mac > Storage.

The "Backups" category as shown at About This Mac > Storage is much smaller than that detected by Space Gremlin.

Then one of them is either wrong or not up to date. Local snapshots are shown in the Backups category.

1. The space occupied, as shown in About This Mac > Storage, is the space occupied by Time Machine Local Backup (Snapshots) and theoretically this space will not grow when the Mac's disk has over 80% occupancy (managed by mtmfs process);

Correct.

2. The space occupied, as shown by Space Gremlin, is the Time Machine's working area

What "working area" is that? I know of no such thing, and have seen no other such threads.

Plus, I find nothing on that app's website that explains what's included in its "Time Machine" category. Time Machine backups and local snapshots are difficult to deal with -- some apps report very odd figures.

It costs $13, but try the WhatSize app (from the developer, not the AppStore), per the green box inWhere did my Disk Space go?

Thank you Pondini. A programmer may give you a better idea what a working area is for a program / app. They may use different name.

I don't find adequate technical documentation about Time Machine from Apple. If you know any source available, you're welcome to tell.

I am very satisfy with Space Gremlin for its accuracy, convenience and speed. I don't see I have the need to try the WhatSize app at this stage. But thank you.

I'll stop following this thread because I already shared my experience to get back free disk space from the Time Machine (which is effective and fast and do not need to use Console) and no further supplement.

Ivan H wrote:

. . .

I am very satisfy with Space Gremlin for its accuracy

It doesn't seem accurate in this case. 😟

Hi Pondini,

I respect your long term experience in Time Capsule. So, there could be something I didn't make clear to you or confused you, so it didn't seem accurate to you.

The result is adequately clear to me and the data is adequately accurate to me in an uncontrolled testing environment. If my test and later revisiting the process giving data not exactly matching the original test, I am sorry to say that It is the limitation of a by-trial-and-error simple test in an uncontrolled testing environment under limited resources and time that I cannot help to improve.

However, I revealed a simple technique to recover about 50 GB of disk space for a 256 GB SSD Hard Disk MacBook Air. Just turn the Time Machine OFF and back ON. 5 seconds, and a quantified and traceable 50 GB of disk space recovered. I am happy, and I am happy to share in this thread.

P.s. I opted out email notification of this thread but not sure why I'm still receiving email.

All I'm saying is, there is no additional space for backups.

The next time your app shows a large amount for "Time Machine," before turning TM off, look at the Storage display. If it's substantially the same, then yes, all that space is taken up by Local Snapshots.

And/or, compare what the Finder/Get Info show vs. what Disk Utility shows; the difference should be Local Snapshots.

If not, something else is going on -- something we haven't seen elsewhere. If that's the case, you/we really should dig a big deeper.

excuse my ignorance here as i am a new mac user so i still learning, but i'm trying to remove locla snapshots as it's been using too much space 😐 So i have done a time machine back up and you recommend to restore from this last back up. So will i need to completely wipe my macbook and restore to factory settings first before i do this?

I have a Macbook Air 11" which is the latest one so I have only had it since June this year and just installed Mavericks whichis OS X 10.9.

I will try the restore and hopefully this works 🙂 thanks for the detailed explenation on how to do this as i'm still learning how to use this little wonder 🙂

I installed it yesterday and sadly it dodn't delete anything 😟 I am going to try the restore and hopefully that works in the meantime I have switched off the Time Machine form auto updating on my hard drive and will only do a back up on the external drive... Thanks for the advise 🙂

Cool. Okay let me know how it goes.

Have done a restore and sadly Other is still showing up as using 69.29GB of my hard drive 😟

Weird just worked for me the other day on my MacBook Pro. Is doing a fresh install an option?