HD Space question

[zjazz]

I have 500Gb RMBP.
I always check how much free space do I have on my HD by right click/get info on Macintosh HD. Currently it shows 403GB available after installing some of my programs. And I'm fine with that.
However, if I go to About this mac/more info/storage, then it shows I have only 265GB available. There is a 137GB of backups!!?? What are those backups? I have time machine on external HD for backup, why do I have another backup for 137GB which is actually way bigger than everything on my HD including OSX? IS there any way to free up this space? I'm really confused about this info, and would appreciate if anyone can comment on it.

 

[GGJstudios]

For Time Machine users on notebooks running Lion or later, space may be consumed by Time Machine local snapshots, which can be disabled.

OS X: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs​

 

[zjazz]

thanks for info! i will try that terminal command and see if that will delete it.

EDIT: It worked! thank you!

 

[Weaselboy]

thanks for info! i will try that terminal command and see if that will delete it.

EDIT: It worked! thank you!

There is no need to disable local backups with that command.

Just ignore it and OS X will manage the space. If you need the space for user files OS X will shrink the local backups automatically. If it is bothering you and you just want to zero out the space now you can just turn Time Machine off then back on and and will erase the current local backup.

It can be a nice feature to access document versions when away from your Time Machine backup source. I would leave it on.

 

[zjazz]

There is no need to disable local backups with that command.

Just ignore it and OS X will manage the space. If you need the space for user files OS X will shrink the local backups automatically. If it is bothering you and you just want to zero out the space now you can just turn Time Machine off then back on and and will erase the current local backup.

It can be a nice feature to access document versions when away from your Time Machine backup source. I would leave it on.

I see what you saying. Yes it is actually great feature if you away from TM HD. But I have an external HD that I'm carrying all the time with me with all the files I need, I don't need anything from local TM backup. So I deleted it to free up the space. Either way it's fine, because like you said it will free it up automatically if you need space, but I prefer clean empty HD rather than having more than 100 gb of used space with something I don't use.