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How to Disable and Enable Local Backup of Time Machine in Mac OS X

Time Machine in Mac OS X Lion initiates local backups called snapshots, OS X Lion keeping additional backup locally on the Macs primary hard drive but this can be a real pain if you are trying to conserve disk space. Time Machine local backups are only stored if you have Time Machine enabled in general.

Below is the instructions to turn off local backups:
1. Launch Terminal from /Applications/Utilities

2. Enter the following command:
sudo tmutil disablelocal

3. Enter admin password when requested to disable local backups

To re-Enable Local Time Machine Backups, perform same steps as above except with following command entered into Terminal instead:
sudo tmutil enablelocal

After perform above steps, you will not have local backups anymore. It’s important to have regular backups of data and so if you’re going to disable this be sure to still use Time Machine, perhaps even initiating manual backup before disconnect the drive in order to preserve recent copy of data.

You can refer below link for more detail information about Time Machine.
Mac 101: Time Machine – Get to know the ins and outs of Time Machine.
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues – If you are having issues with Time Machine backups, learn how to troubleshoot them.
Software Update – Get the latest updates for Time Machine.

Alex Lim is a certified IT Technical Support Architect with over 15 years of experience in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting complex IT systems and networks. He has worked for leading IT companies, such as Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco, providing technical support and solutions to clients across various industries and sectors. Alex has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore and a master’s degree in information security from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the author of several best-selling books on IT technical support, such as The IT Technical Support Handbook and Troubleshooting IT Systems and Networks. Alex lives in Bandar, Johore, Malaysia with his wife and two chilrdren. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Website | Twitter | Facebook

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