error: snap_metadata_val object (): invalid extentref_tree_oid (0x0)

I have the exact same problem, but I don't have a clean copy to do a clean install and restore after.

Anyone knows how to solve this "Error parsing argument"?

Also happens to me, that my files says a.m. and p.m.

@LittleLebowski

same here on High Sierra 10.13.3

fixed with

tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2017-11-27-194607

where you can verify the date is NOT listed in

tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates /

P.S: sorry, didn't see that there were more answers on page 2

Hey friend, I have been trying this command for a while now, and it doesn't work for me it keeps saying "Error parsing argument". I also want to delete the "time machine backups". because it was taking space from my mac system storage, but the command keeps giving me the same error. Do you know how I can deal with?it. I've got MacBook Pro 13 retina 2015.

They are very different.

localsnapshot is file system snapshots supported by APFS volumes.

it's not a actual physical path where snapshot is stored (cloned change).

see tmutil man page:

delete path ...

Delete one or more snapshots, machine directories, or backup

stores. This verb can delete items from backups that were not

made by, or are not claimed by, the current machine. Requires

root privileges.

deletelocalsnapshots date

Delete all local Time Machine snapshots for the specified date

(formatted YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS).

Hey,

I came across the same problem as well. I cannot delete this bloody localsnapshots.

I removed all TM backups from my external drive and disable the automatic TM backups and I made a manual back up for couple of gigabytes and stopped it. Then I listed the snapshots. I was able to delete the fresh snapshot refering today however something dated back to 2018-03-25-021312 is still not removable. This is the same error I got:

Error parsing argument com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-03-25-021312

There is an update to my High Sierra however I cannot even update it. Whatever I delete form my mac piles up as still used space. My 500Gb SSD shows only 3-5gb free space even if I deleted at least 60-70gb yesterday. It is so frustrating.

Is there any solution for that yet? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Do not copy the full output, only the timestamp portion when you run the deletelocalsnapshots.

Assume the output is com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-03-25-021312 (dataless)

sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-03-25-021312

Output is:

com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-03-25-021312

It does not state (dataless).

And yes I use excatly:

sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-03-25-021312

and I always get this error:

Error parsing argument 2018-03-25-021312

I could delete todays localsnapshot with this command but there is problem with the one above.

My HD space is shrinking to 1.5 GB and cannot even use my macbook pro properly because of this HUGE bug or whatever. I dont know what to do!

I tried that as well:

Buraks-MacBook-Pro:~ Burak$ sudo tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 1000000000 1

Password:

Thinned local snapshots:

Buraks-MacBook-Pro:~ Burak$ sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /

com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-03-25-021312

Buraks-MacBook-Pro:~ Burak$ sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-03-25-021312

Error parsing argument 2018-03-25-021312

Buraks-MacBook-Pro:~ Burak$

Iˋve got a similar problem:

- My MacBook Air doesnˋt boot anymore. Not even into recovery mode.

- fsck -y tells Snapshot metadata tree is invalid

- Sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots / shows a dataless snapshot

- I canˋt delete the entry: sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-01-28-213323 only results in „failed to delete local snapshot ´2018-01-28-213323´. Sudo doesnˋt ask for the adminpassword.

Any hints to delete the entry?

I have this problem too with tmutil - if I try tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / OR tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-04-22-102233, the response is always "failed to thin local snapshots" OR "failed to delete local snapshot ....."

I tried with sudo and also the same issue - it does not prompt for password, just executes the command that fails.

help??

Hi, all -

I have tried the suggestions listed in this thread, but I'm getting a different error. Here's my terminal output (I'm doing this in single-user mode, so I'm retyping from photos I took, so sorry for any typos):

localhost:/ root# sudo fsck -fy

[skipping output to errors]

handle_crypto_mount:814: handling crypto mount (volume /dev/disk1s1)

handle_crypto_mount:996: crypto mount finished w/apfs

dev_init:476: Using /private/var/vm/apfs and /private/var/vm/nx for device-io.

[skipping things again...]

error: snap_metadata_val object (oid 8x7915c): invalid extentref_tree_oid (0x0)

Snapshot metadata tree is invalid.

** The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 could not be verified completely.

apfs_vfsop_unmount:1523: fake mount for going away

apfs: total mem allocalted: 3779403 (4 mb):

localhost:/ root# sudo /sbin/mount -uw /

[...]

apfs_vfsop_sync:3020: failed to finish all transactions in sync()! (err 16)

spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3009: scan took 5.986332 s, trims took 5.420211 s

spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3017: 12991201 blocks free in 276005 extents

spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3025: 12991201 blocks trimmed in 276005 extents (19 us/trim, 50921 trims/s)

spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3028: trim distribution 1:97010 2+:48375 4+:52100 16+:37641 64+:26673 256+:14206

localhost:/ root# tmutil listlocalsnapshots /

com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-04-25-151259 (dataless)

[...others listed that aren't dataless...]

localhost:/ root# sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-04-25-151259

Failed to delete local snapshot '2018-04-25-151259'

localhost:/ root# sudo tmutil delete 2018-04-25-151259

2018-05-14 00:08:17.321 tmutil[16:477] Failed to take user idle sleep power assertion (IOPMAssertionCreateWithName returned -536878199)

2018-04-25-151259: No such file or directory (error 2)

Total deleted: 0B

localhost:/ root#

As you can see, it does not delete the snapshot and doesn't offer any further explanation, at least in the first attempt. It may be possible that the com.apple.[etc] prefix is required with the plain tmutil delete command, so I'll try that and update this post.

In the meantime, does anyone have any idea as to why I can't delete the snapshot, even though I seem to be entering the command correctly? It's bizarre that it says it didn't delete the snapshot but doesn't explain why...

Thanks!

Thank you!!!

That fixed my problem with my E 2011 MacBook Pro/Mac OS High Sierra/APPS. (upgraded to SSD)

After deleting my dateless snapshot in Terminal, Disk Utilities was finally able to verify my volume. :-)

My recent experience was slightly different, posting here in case it helps anyone with similar issue.

After my MBP 2014 didn't wake from sleep I did a hard restart into single-user mode and ran fsck; got the "volume could not be verified completely" error. Unfortunately when I ran the Terminal command # tmutil listlocalsnapshots / it only showed one snapshot and it was NOT listed as dataless.

What I wound up doing was using the app Daisy Disk to find "hidden space" and delete the chunk of space set aside for Time Machine. When I ran # tmutil listlocalsnapshots / again it listed the snapshot as dataless so I ran the command to delete it. In all likelihood I probably could have deleted it without trashing the hidden space first; regardless, my next pass at fsck completed successfully.

Much thanks to oxfrombws for your solution; I had never encountered this before and I was at a loss!

Sorry, I'm out of idea. I suggest you talk to apple support directly.

The only thing I could think of is to restore the Mac from Time Machine backup.

About macOS Recovery - Apple Support

Many thanks