Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How to disable to Local snapshots and version

J

jnozsc

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
19
0
:( I have to say those amazing new features really devour my Disk space.
It has been taken about 30G space from my Disk.

How to delete them or set them disable or just limit the size?

Best Regard

－－－－－－－update－－－－－－－－－－

I find how to disable the local snapshot:

1.click the time machine menubar icon
2.open TM preference...
3.Option...
4.uncheck the ’create local snapshot‘


well, how to delete exist local snapshot?
 
Last edited:
update

I find a way to disable the local snapshots.

but I don't know how to delete the exist local snapshots.

They are placed at /MobileBackups

still need help
 
I think this is your TimeMachine Backup folder. It may be a bug in Lion but it's not mainly for your snapshots, it includes everything you need to backup and that's why it is big.

Snapshots doesn't take up that much room, it only stores the diff information. Which means that if you only changed 1KB in 100GB file, it'll only saved 1KB in a version ("diff").
 
Last edited:
MikhailT said:
I think this is your TimeMachine Backup folder. It may be a bug in Lion but it's not mainly for your snapshots, it includes everything you need to backup and that's why it is big.

Snapshots doesn't take up that much room, it only stores the diff information. Which means that if you only changed 1KB in 100GB file, it'll only saved 1KB in a version ("diff").
Click to expand...


thanks for you reply, in face I don't have an TimeMachine Backup before.
And after I uncheck the ‘create local snapshot’ and login again. My 30G disk space comes back.

I cannot figure out whether it is the problem with local snapshots or some bugs.
 
Out of curiosity how much space is Local Snapshots eating up? Is it significant that you'd stop using it, even when Lion goes gold?
 
jnozsc said:
thanks for you reply, in face I don't have an TimeMachine Backup before.
And after I uncheck the ‘create local snapshot’ and login again. My 30G disk space comes back.

I cannot figure out whether it is the problem with local snapshots or some bugs.
Click to expand...

How do you know it is taking up 30GB? Do you actually see your main drive reduced by 30GB in Finder when you turn it back on?

I tried to do this but it only changed around 100MB when i turn it off and on for the main drive in Finder. The MobileBackups folder is 40GB here as well but it doesn't disappear like that.

Remember that it's 40GB that links to your current existing files in addition to diffs, not 40GB of extra files.
 
jnozsc said:
:( I have to say those amazing new features really devour my Disk space.
It has been taken about 30G space from my Disk.

How to delete them or set them disable or just limit the size?

Best Regard

－－－－－－－update－－－－－－－－－－

I find how to disable the local snapshot:

1.click the time machine menubar icon
2.open TM preference...
3.Option...
4.uncheck the ’create local snapshot‘


well, how to delete exist local snapshot?
Click to expand...

The above directions don't seem to work in the released version of Lion. I don't see the item you describe in step number 4.
 
basher said:
The above directions don't seem to work in the released version of Lion. I don't see the item you describe in step number 4.
Click to expand...

The GUI ability to shut it off was taken out in DP4.
They really did fix the bug that caused excessive local snapshots, but if you want to turn off local snapshots open terminal and type sudo tmutil disablelocal
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Can someone explain to me what exactly local time machine is? Does it just apply to Versions? Or is it a system wide thing that could be used to restore a deleted file etc?
 
Tom8 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Can someone explain to me what exactly local time machine is? Does it just apply to Versions? Or is it a system wide thing that could be used to restore a deleted file etc?
Click to expand...

Here is info from the TM help section. Local snapshots are mainly used on laptops. They do not have anything to do with versions.

Time Machine overview
When you connect your computer to a new disk, a message appears asking if you’d like to use the disk to back up your files. Use this information to respond to the message.

Use as Backup Disk: Time Machine will use this disk for backups. Initially, Time Machine makes a complete backup, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, documents—everything you keep on your computer, except for a few temporary files (such as web browser caches).
Depending on how many items you’re backing up, your initial backup could take a while. Subsequent backups take less time because only items that have changed are backed up. You can use your computer during backups.

Time Machine works best if you use your backup disk only for backups. If you keep files on your backup disk, Time Machine won’t back up those files, and the space available for Time Machine backups is reduced.

Encrypt backup disk: For security, select this checkbox. If you back up to an external disk and do not encrypt the backup disk, any person who gains possession of the disk can read the information on it.
Decide Later: Time Machine will display the message again each time you connect to the disk.
Don’t Use: Time Machine will not ask again if you want to use this disk for backups.
If your computer is in sleep or your backup disk isn’t available when it’s time for a scheduled backup, the backup is not performed. Backups resume after the computer and backup disk are available again.

If you have a portable computer, in addition to saving backups on your backup disk, Time Machine saves hourly snapshots of files and stores the snapshots on your computer’s internal drive. If your backup disk isn’t connected, Time Machine continues saving snapshots on your internal drive, and then resumes backing up to your backup disk when you reconnect it.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Thanks for that. So the local snapshots basically just builds up a memory bank that is transferred to my external drive when I plug it in?
 
Tom8 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Thanks for that. So the local snapshots basically just builds up a memory bank that is transferred to my external drive when I plug it in?
Click to expand...

Yes, if your laptop is not connected to your external drive it stores changes locally. Once connected again it backs up any changes it missed while not connected to the drive.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Thanks a lot
 
Best option is to open Terminal and type in...

sudo tmutil disablelocal

This will keep normal (remote) Time Machine back ups on, but disable local ones. It will also delete the current local cache automatically.
 
maverick808 said:
Best option is to open Terminal and type in...

sudo tmutil disablelocal

This will keep normal (remote) Time Machine back ups on, but disable local ones. It will also delete the current local cache automatically.
Click to expand...

Yes, I said that a few min ago, but this org post was back in Feb. That nasty bug was fixed a long time ago. No need to disable it if you don't have the problem.
 
Crosbie said:
Retail Lion would appear to have local snapshots disabled by default.

Anyone know why?
Click to expand...

Local snapshots are disabled if any of the following are true:
- you have a desktop system
- you do not have a traditional time machine destination selected
- you have automatic backups disabled (the big switch in the Time Machine preference pane is off)
 
I'm on a MacBook;

I had a problem with my NAS not supporting Lion for TM backups, so switched to a USB portable HD, figuring I'd be able to keep regular local snapshots and then connect and backup fully about as frequently as I do with my iOS devices;

Switch is most definitely on - just finished by first backup to the new USB HD - but local backups weren't enabled. I nosed into the Terminal and tested as much.

I've enabled them now, but wondered whether this was a feature Apple didn't consider ready for Prime Time?
 
Crosbie said:
I'm on a MacBook;

I had a problem with my NAS not supporting Lion for TM backups, so switched to a USB portable HD, figuring I'd be able to keep regular local snapshots and then connect and backup fully about as frequently as I do with my iOS devices;

Switch is most definitely on - just finished by first backup to the new USB HD - but local backups weren't enabled. I nosed into the Terminal and tested as much.

I've enabled them now, but wondered whether this was a feature Apple didn't consider ready for Prime Time?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure, perhaps just a bug. Is this a clean install or upgrade? I can't really be sure why it did not work. If it is working now that is good.
 
mrapplegate said:
I'm not sure, perhaps just a bug. Is this a clean install or upgrade? I can't really be sure why it did not work. If it is working now that is good.
Click to expand...

It was an upgrade as-per-expectations from the App Store download. It works now because I did some Googling and figured out the terminal commands to get it going... I'm guessing that everyone's standard installations have it disabled by default.

To test, try:

Code: 
tmutil snapshot

In the terminal. If this gives an error, snapshots aren't enabled. For a more GUI-oriented test, try going into TM when the TM disk is disconnected; if you've got snapshots enabled, this works; otherwise it'll prompt for a TM disk.
 
Crosbie said:
It was an upgrade as-per-expectations from the App Store download. It works now because I did some Googling and figured out the terminal commands to get it going... I'm guessing that everyone's standard installations have it disabled by default.

To test, try:

Code: 
tmutil snapshot

In the terminal. If this gives an error, snapshots aren't enabled. For a more GUI-oriented test, try going into TM when the TM disk is disconnected; if you've got snapshots enabled, this works; otherwise it'll prompt for a TM disk.
Click to expand...

According to the man page your command will just Create new local Time Machine snapshot. The man page describes in detail the commands.
 
mrapplegate said:
According to the man page your command will just Create new local Time Machine snapshot. The man page describes in detail the commands.
Click to expand...

Yep. So if they aren't enabled, this command gives an error. (Error 255.)

Anyone else looking in here care to report whether they have snapshots? Is it just me for some reason? Perhaps because of problems connecting to the NAS with my usual TM backups on?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back