What does "Backups" entail on my About this Mac?

What are all these back up files on my machine? I am trying to clear up some space on my Macbook Air, and I have 40 GB of backups even though I have a time machine. This is taking up a third of my hard drive space and I don't even know what it entails or how I can get rid of the useless material. Assistance appreciated.

MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Aug 11, 2015 5:15 PM

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2 replies

Aug 11, 2015 5:24 PM in response to Mr. Perry3

About Time Machine local snapshots

Time Machine Snapshots

Open the Terminal in the Utilities folder and enter or paste the appropriate command line. Press RETURN and enter your admin password when prompted. It will not be echoed. Press RETURN again.


To turn them ON: sudo tmutil enablelocal

To turn them OFF: sudo tmutil disablelocal


Note that turning them OFF will also delete all existing snapshots.


Since the backups will be deleted automatically should space be required, there is no mandatory need to turn off SnapShots.

Aug 11, 2015 5:24 PM in response to Mr. Perry3

They are local snapshots…

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support


You can disable them via tmutil


sudo tmutil disablelocal

or to re-enable them

sudo tmutil enablelocal

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/ man8/tmutil.8.html


They seem to be purged after a short period, so check the disk size in a few hours or so.

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What does "Backups" entail on my About this Mac?

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