I had over 120 gbs of backups on my new SSD that I had installed in. I tried to delete them but I did something wrong where I threw the backup file into the trash which ony chaned the 'backup' storage into 'other' storage, so now I have 211.93 gb of 'other' which is mostly this backup stuff that I don't know how to get rid of. I tried turning time machine back on but now it doesn't show my hard drive under available backup disks anymore. Thanks!
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How to successfuly delete backup files off Mac?
- Thread starter BBloxham1
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Can the following help?
What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating up my space? by theSeb
What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating up my space? by theSeb
You could just ignore the space that is used as "backup." The OS would make that space available to you should you need it. Read the full description here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
Consider this similar to the "free RAM" discussion. Some people are upset when they double their RAM, and then notice certain programs using more RAM, so they don't end up with more "free RAM." The thing is that "free RAM" does nothing good for you, it is unused potential, while allowing programs to use more RAM when more is available is actually beneficial to the system.
In the same way, free storage does nothing (*) good for you, while the automated backups that use some of this free storage provide some added value (i.e. if you accidentally modify or copy over a file, you can restore it using this backup, even if you don't have an external backup).
(*) Some amount of free storage is good for the system - I believe Time Machine takes this into account.
(**) I believe that the possible "damage" to SSDs due to additional write cycles is completely negligible.
Consider this similar to the "free RAM" discussion. Some people are upset when they double their RAM, and then notice certain programs using more RAM, so they don't end up with more "free RAM." The thing is that "free RAM" does nothing good for you, it is unused potential, while allowing programs to use more RAM when more is available is actually beneficial to the system.
In the same way, free storage does nothing (*) good for you, while the automated backups that use some of this free storage provide some added value (i.e. if you accidentally modify or copy over a file, you can restore it using this backup, even if you don't have an external backup).
(*) Some amount of free storage is good for the system - I believe Time Machine takes this into account.
(**) I believe that the possible "damage" to SSDs due to additional write cycles is completely negligible.