Time machine local snapshots are taking up significant amount of hard drive space.

Hi there, my hard drive had become close to full and I got a warning message so I started a clean up. I have moved my iTunes media folder and my iPhoto picture folder to my Time Capsule external hard drive as well as deleting unnecessary apps and files. I was able to free up quite a bit of space but in looking at the hard drive in "About this Mac" the backups section is taking up 120.53 GB of my 250 GB hard drive. In my internet research it appears the "backups" section represents the Time Machine local snapshots when the designated drive is not available. Is there a way to decrease the space that the snapshots are taking up? 120 GB of my hard drive seems a bit excessive. Any advice is welcome, thanks!

what is confusing is why I would get a warning message that the disc was becoming full if there is 128GB worth of files that should have been automatically deleted?
You didn't get the warning because of that. You got it because of the files that you moved to another volume, and perhaps others. The local snapshots contain some of those files. They're available, for the time being, in case you need to restore them. Eventually they'll be deleted.

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Time Machine Local Snapshots are completely filling my hard drive

I have a MacBook Air and have been receiving errors about my hard drive being full. It turns out that Time Machine's Local Snapshots are filling up my hard drive completely (dangerously so). Obviously there must be something wrong with my machine as Local Snapshots are supposed to only occur if my hard drive is less than 80% full. Does anyone have any idea how I could fix this problem?
Cheers,
Greg

what is confusing is why I would get a warning message that the disc was becoming full if there is 128GB worth of files that should have been automatically deleted?
You didn't get the warning because of that. You got it because of the files that you moved to another volume, and perhaps others. The local snapshots contain some of those files. They're available, for the time being, in case you need to restore them. Eventually they'll be deleted.

Time Machine Local Snapshot - perhaps not enabled?

I've read that there is confusion about the Time Machine Snapshot function, but I am still not convinced mine is working.
Have just purchased my MacBook Pro (& loving it) and am doing my Time Machine backups to a 3rd party external HD via firewire 800. When away from my desk I can not get into Time Machine at all and am presented with the message Your Time Machine backup can't be found and when I look at the Time Machine Setup under System Preferences there is nothing at all there to indicate that local backups are enabled.
As I thought the whole purpose of the local snapshot was that files could be retrieved while on the road, I feel something is not right with my setup. Advice appreciated thanks

Perhaps these Links may be of assistance...
Time Machine Local Snapshots Laptops
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878
Time Machine...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

Time Machine... WILL NOT BACKUP an INCLUDED hard drive but backs up an INCLUDED external drive

I have read Mr Pondini's excellent posts... followed them carefully but still in trouble...
The System preferences for Time Machine.... indicate that a full backup..approx . 760 Gigs is being done ( part from an external drive. and part from the Hard ( approx 450Gigs )drive ( approx 270 gigs )...
The External drive backs up.... With Time machine..... and then Skips the Hard drive although is was NOT EXCLUDED in the TM preferences...
I have deleted the plist several times,.... Formatted the Time machine drive several times.... ( renaming the partition each time.... and am at a loss
Anybody any ideas......PLEASE

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message that corresponds to an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

How can I restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. Using Migrat

I would like to restore files from a time machine back-up of my iMac to an EXTERNAL hard drive connected to MacBook Pro. When I tried using Migration Assistant it only gives me my internal hard drive as an option to restore to. The internal hard drive on my macbook isnt large enough to store the files.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
OS X can only restore data to the drive where Time Machine backed up files from.
If you want to restore files from the Time Machine backup onto an external drive, your only option is to access to the Time Machine drive manually (open a Finder window and choose your Time Machine drive in the Finder sidebar), navigate through its folders and copy the files you want to the external drive

Time machine local snapshots bugs ?

Hi,
I started using time machine to backup select folders to an external HDD hooked up via USB.
I noticed that during preview, the created dates of files for local snapshots are always incorrect. They are all timestamped to the year 2000.
You can see from the screenshots. The first shows the file with the correct timestamp.
In this one, the created date is now incorrect.
In some cases, the file may change into a folder in the local snapshot and you will not be able to preview it anymore.
I cannot replicate the folder problem now, but I have had this happen to regular txt files.
Any ideas?
thanks
Matt

Hi,
I started using time machine to backup select folders to an external HDD hooked up via USB.
I noticed that during preview, the created dates of files for local snapshots are always incorrect. They are all timestamped to the year 2000.
You can see from the screenshots. The first shows the file with the correct timestamp.
In this one, the created date is now incorrect.
In some cases, the file may change into a folder in the local snapshot and you will not be able to preview it anymore.
I cannot replicate the folder problem now, but I have had this happen to regular txt files.
Any ideas?
thanks
Matt

Can't turn on Time machine local snapshots

I just found out about TM local snapshots feature - so I went into TM Prefs - and when I click "on" - it only comes up and says "select disk - other time machine capsule". There is no way to keep TM on, if I don't back it up to an external HD as well?

Local snapshot are enabled using command line.
If you open System Preferences, Time Machine, you'll read beneath the button Select Backup Disk
and when Local snapshot are disabled
Read for more details Pondini's page

Photos. They are on my macBook, backed up on time machine. Copied them (hours and hours) to external hard drive. They are now in alphabetical order (19,000 of them) NOT IN THEIR EVENTS or date order-and have been taken with different cameras- help!!!!!!

Photos.
They are on my macBook, backed up on time machine. There are 19,000+ of them, some rescued from a pc crash- which I used the nifty iPhoto to put back into date order.
I want to take them all off my laptop, now............as I need to use it for WORK!!
Copied them (hours and hours) to another external hard drive.
They are now in alphabetical order (all 19,000+ of them) NOT IN THEIR EVENTS or date order. (-They have also been taken with different cameras over the years and some of the generic camera numbering remains.)
I have tried to copy them (only a few as an experiment) one event at a time, but that again "opens up" the Event "folder" and tips them out as individuals and therefore just lists image letters and numbers alphabetically.
How can I copy
the whole library still in "Events" to an external hard drive?
the folders/albums I have already made on to this hard drive?
and how can I add to this back up monthly, again keeping events and folders separate and updated?
Mac is so user friendly - there must be a way.........
Thanks

UPDATE : I have re-installed from disk, various apps that were no longer functioning such as iLife, iWork etc. So, I now can access my photos again.
Also, I had to re-install all the software for my printer ( Stylus Pro 4880 ) and reset it so the printer is working again.
Photoshop CS4 won't open. I think I will have to get in touch with Adobe as basically, I guess they have a built-in "blocker" which prevents me from opening the app as the license is for only 1 user and having re-installed the OS, there are now, in effect, 2 users ( Me and Me 1, I think ).
So, having added on a new external HD, Time Machine has made a copy of most of the files, folders, apps etc onto the external HD. The internal HD is still nearly full ( 220 GBs out of 232 GBs ).
I am guessing the way to go now in order to free up space on the internal HD is to delete/trash older photos from my iPhoto library and hope that if needed, I will be able to access them on the external HD.
Am I correct ? Please advise before I do something I will regret.
Thanks, Sean.

Time machine local snapshot

I tried to use finder to browse /volumes/mobilebackups/Backups.pdb/Mabbook Pro.... and I found an empty folder.
Using terminal, I can see hourly backups
These backups doesn't appear in Time line
I have a MBP early-2011 running Lion with one user
How can I fix it?

Well, you can re-set the local backup (i.e. delete all of it and start over) by Turning Off Time Machine in System Preferences, wait a little while, then turn it back on again.

Time machine local snapshot restoring hangs

Interested in others experiances with restoring form a local snapshot. Mine fail. They cause finder to stall at "preparing to copy". I have tested by clearing the local snapshot and then letting my Macbook pro create a new one. Then tried to restore from the new one and it still stalls at "preparing to copy". I am hoping someone might have an idea as to why?
Ran all the standard basic repairs like PRam reset, boot to recovery partition and ran Disk Permissions and repair disk. All passed and fine.
Thanks

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Time machine local snapshot broken?

Hello everyone,
I've done a clean install by going into restore mode and wiping my HDD and installing mavericks. I can confirm that localsnapshot is broken on my Macbook Pro retina 15" and MacBook Pro 13". I have this exact same problem : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5424793
I am just curious if localsnapshot functionality works for you all. Could you post your test case by trying to enter time machine when your external drive is disconnected on any macbook or macbook pro.
Thank you.

Thanks for the input. I really hope apple figures it out at some point and provide a fix for everyone.

Time Machine will not delete the oldest backup when external hard drive is full

I may not understand this timemachine thing, but....
I have macbook pro, 15", mid 2011, mountain lion......I have a WD Passport Studio I have ben using to back up with time machine periodically. I tried to back up today and it says i do not have enough room on my external drive. I tought the time machine automatically deletes the oldest back up?

I agree with Linc's response but you also have to realize that it will keep the oldest backup and start removing snapshots if it can.
It is my undestanding that time machine does what is called a full backup the first time and then the snapshots done after that are changes since the first backup. I'm not sure if time machine then does periodic backups or just snapshots.

Time Machine won't let me back up an external hard drive

Hello,
I am running time machine to backup onto a 500GB USB drive and keep my iTunes library on a firewire 250gb drive. When I looked in time machine options in system preferences I found that my firewire disk is already listed as 'do not back up'. I want it backed up and don't seem to be able to remove it from that list. Anyone have an ideas why?
Cheers
Steve
PS First ever post!

Are you referring to the drive used for backups, or the drive I want to back up? When I first used Time Machine, my external drive (used to house my itunes library) was on the exclude list. I easily removed it and the TM window reflected the additional contents (indicating a backup of about 75G (27 on internal drive, remainder on external). But backups are being done only on the contents of the internal drive.
I too have re-included the external drive on the exclude list, then removed it. No help. Do I have to reformat my external drive and lose all of my itunes music?
thanks

How do a clean install from Time Machine Backup which is in other partition of internal hard drive

I have 2 partitions in my internal hard drive they are
1. Mac OS (Sysem Files)
2. HDD (Other Personal Documents).
I did Time Machine Backup in HDD partition. So now i want to do clean install from the Time Machine Backup without format the whole drive since my system not booting meant that system crashed and cant boot in anyway (Just consider ). Also I have MAC bootable USB stick.
Thanks in advance .

Having never seen a setup like that, I'm not sure how it will work.
In theory, just erase the Mac OS volume, then install, choosing to recover from a Time Machine backup.
When you boot into Recovery, open Disk Utility and select the Mac OS volume, not the whole disk. Erase it, then quit DU and restore from the Time Machine backup. However, this is the part I'm not certain of. I would imagine the partition with TM backup will be mounted, but I don't know.
If you can't see the Time Machine backup from the Recovery HD on the drive, try it from the USB Recovery stick (it is a Recovery USB and not the old Lion install USB, correct?)
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718
If you don't have a "built-in" recovery HD because of your partitioning, then you would have to boot from that USB Recovery disk.
Your setup is severely flawed. A backup on the same drive as the data is not a backup. You will lose everything with a disk failure.
Also, partitioning off your OS on a Mac is not necessary and is probably counterproductive. OS X is not Windows.

Time machine local snapshots are taking up significant amount of hard drive space.

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