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Q: Time Machine temp files

Got some issues with temp files from Time Machine which is filling up my boot disk with over 400GB of files.

 

I have tried the command "sudo tmutil disable local", restarting the mac and then the command "sudo tmutil enablelocal" but nothing happened.

 

Then after trying more than ones I have lost the folder ".MobileBackups" which I cannot see anymore from the finder through Go -> Go to Folder -> ".MobileBackups" and neither through terminal.

 

I have launched also the Disk and Permission repairs without success.

 

How can I delete those files now?

Posted on Feb 16, 2016 3:39 AM

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Q: Time Machine temp files

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  • Helpful answers

  • by norm123,

    norm123 norm123 Feb 17, 2016 9:55 AM in response to NowApple
    Community Specialists
    Feb 17, 2016 9:55 AM in response to NowApple

    Hello NowApple,

    I understand that you are having issues with removing the Local Snapshot that is part of your Time Machine back up. That is something you can get rid of by turning off Time Machine. When you turn that off, this disabled the Local Snapshot feature and it is removed from your Mac. When you enable Time Machine again, the feature is activated again. Take a look at the information below for more details. 

    About Time Machine local snapshots
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015


    Let me know if this helps. 

    Take care

  • by NowApple,

    NowApple NowApple Feb 19, 2016 8:25 AM in response to norm123
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2016 8:25 AM in response to norm123

    Thanks Norm123!

     

    Actually I did all the steps you mentioned, although my problem is that the directory .MobileBackups is disappeared and the disk still almost full.

     

    This is the status of my disk now:

     

    sudo du -smx /* /.* | sort -n | tail -4
    26473 /Applications
    164833 /Users
    209589 /.
    209589 /..

    df -m /
    Filesystem    1M-blocks    Used  Available Capacity Mounted on
    /dev/disk0s2     476120  417400      58469      88%   /

    Disk usage details:
    Audio    12.24 GB
    Movies   18.45 GB
    Photos   18.45 GB
    Apps      8.93 GB
    Backups   Zero KB
    Other   421.94 GB

  • by norm123,

    norm123 norm123 Feb 19, 2016 8:55 AM in response to NowApple
    Community Specialists
    Feb 19, 2016 8:55 AM in response to NowApple

    Hey NowApple,

    At that point it would be best to contact Apple Support to see what is taking up that space. You can start that conversation by following the steps in the link below. 

    Contact Apple Support
    https://www.apple.com/support/contact/


    Take it easy

  • by Klaus1,Solvedanswer

    Klaus1 Klaus1 Feb 25, 2016 2:34 AM in response to NowApple
    Level 8 (48,821 points)
    Feb 25, 2016 2:34 AM in response to NowApple

    Hard drive space and ‘Other’:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202867

     

    Also, try to rebuild the Spotlight index: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716

  • by NowApple,

    NowApple NowApple Feb 22, 2016 10:00 AM in response to Klaus1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2016 10:00 AM in response to Klaus1

    Thanks Klaus!

     

    I did the Spotlight re-index for the entire Macintosh HD, although nothing changed, only slightly the disk space usage as per the Mac info:

     

    Disk usage details:

    Audio     13.60 GB

    Movies    15.49 GB

    Photos     3.03 GB

    Apps       8.51 GB

    Backups    Zero KB

    Other    397.50 GB


    But still not clear what is using my disk space..!?

  • by Klaus1,Helpful

    Klaus1 Klaus1 Feb 25, 2016 2:34 AM in response to NowApple
    Level 8 (48,821 points)
    Feb 25, 2016 2:34 AM in response to NowApple

    Did you read the first link in my post about 'other'?

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Feb 22, 2016 4:01 PM in response to NowApple
    Level 9 (52,101 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 22, 2016 4:01 PM in response to NowApple

    Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective (both free) and open them. They will show all of your files and the respective sizes and give you an accurate picture of what you have on your Mac . This should allow you to determine what files to delete or off load to an external HDD, if any.

     

    Do not forget to empty trash. Only then is space allocated for new data.

     

    Ciao.

  • by NowApple,

    NowApple NowApple Feb 25, 2016 2:38 AM in response to Klaus1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 25, 2016 2:38 AM in response to Klaus1

    WOW and double WOW!!!! ….it worked!!!!!

     

    THANKS SO MUCH KLAUS! …and sorry if I didn't care you full advise from the beginning :-) Actually I went there at the first time although I thought it was generic tips for using better the disk space.

     

    I went there again… and from the advise I started up the Mac in "safe mode"… and surprising the disk appeared with 278 GB free space !!!!!!

     

    Then I rebooted the Mac (no safe mode) and the disk kept the 278 GB free space …now my disk appears like this:

     

    Disk usage details:

    Audio     13.60 GB

    Movies    15.49 GB

    Photos     3.03 GB

    Apps       8.51 GB

    Backups    Zero KB

    Other    180.24 GB


    Free     278.38 GB !!!!

     

    Still unclear to me what "other 180.24 GB" are used for… though not big deal.

     

    A this point I will reactive the local snap shots with "sudo tmutil enablelocal" and will keep working as usual!

     

    THANKS AGAIN KLAUS…. VERY WELL DONE!!!!

     

    TIP: when I was in "safe mode" I kept the Mac in that mode for a couple hours as I saw from Activity Monitor that Mac was accessing to the disk in writing mode… so I left it to do its work until I saw no more activities on disk access.

  • by NowApple,

    NowApple NowApple Feb 29, 2016 2:44 AM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 2:44 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

    Thanks Ogel!

     

    I have downloaded the Grand Perspective, very useful to see what and how is used the disk space…