My mid 2015 MacBook Pro Retina running OS 10.13.8 has ~ 250Gb of backup volumes on the SSD as per the screenshot shown below. I regularly back up to a time capsule.
I've been getting "low disk space" warnings. Can I safely remove the backups from my SSD? If yes, how?
Thanks.
MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), 512 Gb SSD, 16 mg ram, mid 2015 15;
I found the solution to this problem.
My Time Machine was backing up to my internal SSD, probably because of a faulty network cable connecting my MacBook Pro to my Time Capsule. This meant that half of my 500 GB SSD was true backup files, not snapshots. Disk Repair could not remove them since these backups were on the same partition as my data and OS.
I could see they were backup files by looking at the drive using OmniDiskSweeper. It showed that the backup files were in volumes.
After ensuring my backups were working properly to my Time Capsule, I used Finder to remove the backup files. I used Finder/Go/Go to folder/Volumes. From there I could see the unwanted backups, and deleted them.
I now have 270 GB of space on my drive, and Time Machine is backing up to my Time Capsule over my network.
I found the solution to this problem.
My Time Machine was backing up to my internal SSD, probably because of a faulty network cable connecting my MacBook Pro to my Time Capsule. This meant that half of my 500 GB SSD was true backup files, not snapshots. Disk Repair could not remove them since these backups were on the same partition as my data and OS.
I could see they were backup files by looking at the drive using OmniDiskSweeper. It showed that the backup files were in volumes.
After ensuring my backups were working properly to my Time Capsule, I used Finder to remove the backup files. I used Finder/Go/Go to folder/Volumes. From there I could see the unwanted backups, and deleted them.
I now have 270 GB of space on my drive, and Time Machine is backing up to my Time Capsule over my network.
If you don't actually need them, then you can remove them.
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 enable
To turn them OFF: sudo tmutil disable
Note that turning them OFF will also delete all existing snapshots. For more about snapshots see About Time Machine local snapshots.
It looks as though they're still there.
I did as you suggested but right clicking the SSD and clicking on "get info" shows my SSD is nearly full. Using Omni Disk Sweeper, I still see two backup volumes, totalling 256 Gb.
Sorry, I should have separated those separate issues.
What I meant was, after doing as you suggested, I wanted to see if it worked. Right clicking the SSD in the Finder shows the backups are still there. And OmniDiskSweeper shows they're still there.
They aren't on external disks. They're on the main SSD in the MacBook Pro.
Thanks for all your help. It's not your fault that I don't know these things. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to use Disk Utility to erase these files because they don't show up in Disk Utility. There is other content on the disks, and I can't see how to delete only part of a "volume" with Disk Utility.
I'm confused. These files are on the INTERNAL SSD in my computer. They are not on separate disks, and as far as I know, are not on partitions on the SSD.
Am I missing something here?
Here's a screenshot of what Disk Utility shows.
I don't mean to sound ungrateful for your free help, but much of what you've posted is unhelpful because you haven't actually read my posts. From my first post on this thread - "I regularly back up to a time capsule".
I've already deleted all the time machine snapshots. What's remaining appears not to be snapshots.
I have to admit I'm wary of taking your advice because you clearly don't understand the situation.
I'm sorry that I haven't been of more help, but clearly, you don't seem to know what you are doing. Or, rather, I don't know what you are doing. I've tried to help based on what you have posted. I thought I understood you, but apparently, I didn't. I'll stop responding. You should repost your problem.
Disk Utility erases whole disks. Here's what to do:
Drive Partition and Format - El Capitan or Later
Turn off Time Machine until you get an external backup drive. You should not be backing up to your main drive.
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac | Macworld
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 enable
To turn them OFF: sudo tmutil disable
Note that turning them OFF will also delete all existing snapshots. For more about snapshots see OS X Mountain Lion- About local snapshots.
Time Machine deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source when it needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.
How long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before you deleted it, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room. By default, Time Machine backs up hourly. That cannot be changed in Time Machine. There are third-party utilities that will modify the backup interval such as Time Machine Editor.
The Time Capsule sparse bundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's viewpoint of the Time Capsule, it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparse bundle.
Once Time Machine finds it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start over or get a larger drive.
Are they two external disks? If so then use Disk Utility to erase them. Deleting that much data any other way would take weeks.
I don't recall suggesting that you Get Info.
OK. Then if you don't have anything on them use Disk Utility to erase them. That is the simplest and fastest solution.
Removing backups from MacBook Pro
