Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: bwilliamb
bwilliamb Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Hardrive Full: space creation?

My MacBook Pro has 251 GB of hardrive, with only 4 and a bit still available. The Storage bar shows over 90 GB of System; is this normal? I've seen in other online discussions that part of this may be Time Machine snapshots. If that's correct, is there a way to dismantle this process?

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Nov 12, 2017 7:43 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
148,453 points

Posted on Nov 12, 2017 9:14 PM

Not without disabling Time Machine. In theory, Time Machine will create local snapshots when a Time Machine destination drive is not available. Also, again in theory, Time Machine will delete the oldest of these backups when there is limited disk space on your notebook.


Ref: Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support


However, you can delete these backups manually ... but be aware that this can sometimes cause problems.


  • Option #1: Disable Time Machine. This should purge any local backups.
  • Option #2: Use a Terminal command: sudo tmutil disablelocal
    • This command will disable local snapshots. It will also purge any local snapshots from your startup disk.
    • Your notebook will not create local snapshots again unless you use the following command: sudo tmutil enablelocal
View in context
6 replies

There are no replies.

Hardrive Full: space creation?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.
Learn more Sign up