Deleting "Backups" On Macintosh HD

[apos13]

So I'm trying to clear out some room on my laptop, but it seems like nothing is actually getting deleted. I look at my HD and see that 53gb is dedicated to Backups that I don't really need since I use a Time Machine back up. Is there any way for me to delete this?

Thanks in advance

 

[Macman45]

Time Machine keeps "Local" backups on your HDD as space permits..If you use it as your main backup solution, I'd be inclined to leave it alone....

 

[Jaypi]

If you need space those backups will get removed automatically

 

[docal97]

where is this file located?

 

[krravi]

where is this file located?

If you go to terminal and type "ls" from the root, you should see a volume called "MobileBackups" or something like that. Its hidden in Finder.

 

[halledise]

If you go to terminal and type "ls" from the root, you should see a volume called "MobileBackups" or something like that. Its hidden in Finder.

"Is" is not a Terminal command that does anything apart from getting you an error message.

this command will disable local backups

sudo tmutil disablelocal

 

[mward333]

"Is" is not a Terminal command that does anything apart from getting you an error message.

this command will disable local backups

sudo tmutil disablelocal

The command written above was not "Is" but rather "ls", i.e., ell-ess (12th letter of the alphabet, followed by 19th letter of the alphabet). Hope that helps. "ls" just lists the files in the current directory.

 

[krravi]

The command written above was not "Is" but rather "ls", i.e., ell-ess (12th letter of the alphabet, followed by 19th letter of the alphabet). Hope that helps. "ls" just lists the files in the current directory.

----------

"Is" is not a Terminal command that does anything apart from getting you an error message.

this command will disable local backups

sudo tmutil disablelocal

He wanted to know where the files are located.

 

[MacPat333]

Same problem, thogh I don't remember the break down.

I only have 7 GB left of my 120GB SSD available space. How can I get ride off the stuff that I already save on the external HDD?

Can I move iMovie projects to the external and only keep the once I am currently working on on the SSD for faster speed?

I want to clear everything from the internal SSD and keep only the applications on it.

Thanks!

 

[halledise]

If you go to terminal and type "ls" from the root, you should see a volume called "MobileBackups" or something like that. Its hidden in Finder.

ls still does not reveal anything except

 

[Weaselboy]

where is this file located?

The file is at /.Mobilebackups and if you try to access it in Terminal you will get a message you do not have permission to access it.

If you want to delete the local backups mentioned by the OP, just turn Time Machine off then back on and it will zero out.

 

[EarthSouNZ]

Reformat the last resort?

Having tried the Terminal response and had no luck with "ls" I decided to reformat the backup disk. Disk utility would not let me do this as I had deleted files already and they were in the Trash which was linked to the backup disk, which would not dismount. And the Trash wouldn't empty because of controlled files ( Mackeeper virus removal over lots of backups).

So I created another user on my mac mini and used disk utility to reformat the drive.
Success!
Hope this simple solution is helpful to those who don't mind reformatting their backup disk.

 

[sidaphay]

just turn off time machine and the backup data will go away

 

[luisito]

I didn't know you could backup on the same drive as the OS.

Interesting, but personally a bad choice, hence the lack of space. Try using Time Machine with an external hard drive, it will give you back half of your drive.

 

[jdechko]

I didn't know you could backup on the same drive as the OS.

Interesting, but personally a bad choice, hence the lack of space. Try using Time Machine with an external hard drive, it will give you back half of your drive.

Local time machine backups aren't meant to be a true backup. It's a local backup that's supposed to be a safety net for when you are away from your "true" TM backup.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
http://pondini.org/TM/30.html

If you don't want to use Time Machine at all (external or local), just turn it off. Local TM is enabled by default, and functions even if you've never set up Time Machine.

EDIT: Crap. Didn't realize the thread was 6 month's old.

 

[luisito]

EDIT: Crap. Didn't realize the thread was 6 month's old.

Oh man! I have fallen victim of the same circumstances. Haha. I never check dates of threads that are within the first half page of the thread list..

Thank you, sidaphay

 

[smw2411]

just turn off time machine and the backup data will go away

thank you!