What does 'backup' mean in the 'about this mac,' 'storage' window?  Where would I find those files?

I need to delete some files to create space and noticed that 'backup' files are taking up a lot of space.  Where are these backup files located?

Those are local snapshots if you're using Time Machine - how much space are they using? See http://pondini.org/TM/30.html.
Clinton

Similar Messages

  • What does "Backups" mean in the "About this Mac" storage graphic?

    I just migrated the contents of one Mac to a new MacBook Air and discovered something I had never seen before.  I had 37MB of storage taken up with "Backups."  What is that?  What is the best way to reduce or manage it?
    One other question, while I am at it.  What is included in the category of "Other?"

    OS X: What is "other" space in About This Mac? - Apple Support
    About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support
    The local snapshots should take care of themselves if you have a backup drive in place and Time Machine activated. 

  • I don't know what it means "other" in "about this mac -- storage". Someone knows???

    Like i said, when i'm at "about this mac --> more information --> storage" i don't know what it means "others". I want to know this cause i used 27 gb of "others". Thanks,
    Francisco from Argentina

    fran.catena wrote:
    Like i said, when i'm at "about this mac --> more information --> storage" i don't know what it means "others". I want to know this cause i used 27 gb of "others". Thanks,
    Francisco from Argentina
    Hi, have a look at this Discussion...
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16073912

  • How do I find out what "Other" is, in the "About this Mac", storage details bar graph?

    My new Mac Book Pro with 250 GB Flash Storage is already full with only adding a few apps. I purchased the new Final Cut Pro X, but store all video data on an external drive. Whats up? Why is 146 GB used up with "Other"? What is "Other!?" How can I find out the details of what's in other, and get rid of what I don't want or use?

    First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash as well:
    iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
    Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
    According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
    If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the available space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as "Backups." The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself.
    To locate large files, you can use Spotlight. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
    You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
    Deleting files inside an iPhoto or Aperture library will corrupt the library. Any changes to a photo library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
    Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
    Back up all data now.
    Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
    Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
    Launch the Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
    The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the files.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
    When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • HT201402 What is the Content "other" category in the "about this mac" Storage information?

    I have 250 Gig MacBook Pro.  My Audio is 21G, Movie 33G Photo 13G, App 17G Backup 0G, Other 124G.  What is the content of "Other"

    Hi,
    Can anyone help me with this: (see attached picture)
    I suppose there is a (preference) file to reset in order to display correctly the storage information ?
    Thank you for your help.
    Stan.

  • MacAir "About this Mac" storage window makes no sense.

    Hey!
    I've been trying to clean up my tiny hd but it doesnt seem to work and now I cant really figure out where all my space is going! Anyone have an idea of what to make of the picture below? I've tried restarting etc.
    Thanks!  

    From the menu bar, select
     ▹ System Preferences ▹ Spotlight ▹ Privacy
    The list of items excluded from Spotlight indexing is shown (it may be empty.) Click the plus (“+”) icon to add an item to the list. Select your volume (under DEVICES) and add it to the list. Then remove it from the list by selecting it and clicking the minus (“-“) icon.
    Spotlight will rebuild the index. If you try to do a Spotlight search now from the magnifying-glass icon in the top right corner of the display, a pulsing dot will appear in the icon. When the dot disappears, the indexing is complete.

  • About This Mac/Storage/Other - what's the starting point?

    I have a very new MacBook Air.  After a fairly abortive migration (it carried over lots of stuff from my iMac which I didn't want - I only wanted settings, not files) I scoured the discussions and picked up a thread that suggested setting up a new administrator profile and deleting the old one, thereby getting rid of all the files and so on.  (now why didn't I think of that?).
    However, I've made the mistake of checking the "About This Mac"/storage info, and it shows as follows:
    Audio 656.8MB
    Movies 42.3MB
    Photos 112.7MB
    Apps 3.73GB
    Backups zero
    Other 9.45 GB
    Now it's bugging me enough that I can't track down the audio, movies and photos (although I concede that these are very small and may be system related?).
    BUT the "Other" section is really annoying me.  What is it? 
    I'm aware that I might reinstall OS and start again only to discover that I STILL have 9.45GB in Other.
    Can anyone who knows about these things help?
    Does anyone have a brand new MacBook Air on which they haven't yet done anything at all and can check what it says under their "Other"?
    Thanks!
    Margo

    Hi Margo:
    Ultimately, you may want to perform a complete do over--which given your circumstances might require you to perform a clean install. More on that later if you want to do so eventually.
    I am assuming you transferred your data, etc., from your iMac using either Firewire Target Disk Mode for over a network. It doesn't matter much, but which did you do.
    Regardless, for now, I would do a repair install of Lion and see how things look after doing so. A repair install should leave installed apps, files, and settings alone. And, such an install very well sort out any issues of how much of what you have where. There are several ways of doing so. first, if your Lion Recovery HD partition is present or you have set up a Lion Recovery Disk Assistant, then either will work. Let's see if you can do either of these before going any other route.
    Try starting up holding down the option key. Once done, see if there is a "recovery" option. If yes, then I would choose it and ultimately choose to reinstall Lion from the Apple site. If you have unbacked up files, etc., then be sure and back them up to your iMac before doing any kind of install.
    If you want to read more about what I am talking about, then go here (read from the top).

  • Using OS10.7, my hard disc is full. When I go to "About this Mac - Storage" almost all of the HD is occupied by "Other".  Does anyone know what "Other" is so that I can remove some of it?

    Using OS10.7, my hard disc is full.  When I go to "About this Mac - Storage", it shows that it is entirely filled with "Other".  Does anyone know what "Other" is so that I can delete some of it?

    First, reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB free for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data.
    Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space.
    Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To really see everything, you have to run it as root.
    First, back up all data if you haven't already done so. No matter what happens, you should be able to restore your system to the state it was in at the time of that backup.
    Launch the Terminal 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.
    ☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
    After installing ODS in the Applications folder, drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
    sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
    You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. When you're done with it, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • HT201299 what does it mean when you get this message on the Iphone? "online maps consume data traffic"

    what does it mean when you get this message on the Iphone? "online maps consume data traffic"

    That means that if you use online maps, it will consume data. If you're on WiFi, no worries. If you are on cellular data, then it will eat into your cellular data plan.

  • Where are the files for the Backups that show up in About This Mac - Storage?

    Where are the files for the Backups that show up in About This Mac - Storage?
    My new Macbook Pro 13 retina has 1TB flash drive. But despite my TimeMachine being in a TimeCapsule my Macintosh HD shows 277 Gb of space has Backups. What is this for? How can I delete it?

    OS X Lion and newer Mac OS X versions create local snapshots in portable Macs if Time Machine is enabled. See > http://pondini.org/TM/30.html
    You don't have to worry about. They are stored in a kind of volume named "MobileBackups", but they appear as stored in your hard drive. To delete them, open System Preferences > Time Machine, and turn off Time Machine. Then, turn it on. However, you don't need to delete them, as they will be deleted when your hard drive gets full

  • What does "other" mean at the bottom of the sync page? It is taking up a large amount of space on my phone.

    What does "other" mean at the bottom of the sync page? It is taking up a large amount of space on my phone.

    The other section contains temporary files, such as text messages, iMessages, voicemail, and other storage that is meant for small short term use.  If the other section of your phone has grown quite large and you can't account for what it could be then you may have experienced a syncing error to iTunes.
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    Lo and behold your have trimmed the mystery meat.

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  • What does backup mean? i want my previous data which i have been backed up. i lost my previous data from phone and my back up too.i want my previous data now.apple should make a system where backup keeps all history from 1st to last.

    what does backup mean? i want my previous data which i have been backed up. i lost my previous data from my phone and my back up too.i want my previous data now.apple should make a system where backup can keeps all history from 1st to last.when new back up done, new back up should keep previous back up or old backup with it. by which when i restore my phone i can have my data from 1st to last.
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  • What does radio mean in the contact selection instead of mobile or home, and why is it the default?

    What does radio mean in the contact selection instead of mobile or home, and why is it the default?
    When adding a new contact, the number shows up as "radio" instead of "mobile" or "home" and I have to change it every time. What does "radio" mean and why is it the default? can that be changed?

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    What does GET mean in the app store, is there a charge or is it free?

    I think bob is right. That may be the problem. You can always contact iTunes Support to see if they can provide a certain answer:
    iTunes Support WorldWide
    Cheers,
    GB

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