How to Delete Time Machine Local Snapshots on a Mac
Time Machine keeps hourly local snapshots on your internal drive; macOS reports them as “purgeable” and usually thins them automatically when it needs space. You can list them with tmutil listlocalsnapshots / and thin them with tmutil, but forcing deletion is rarely necessary — macOS frees them on demand. If your disk looks full from snapshots, that space is reclaimable when you actually need it.
What local snapshots are
Even between backups to an external drive, Time Machine saves hourly local snapshots on your internal disk so you can restore recent versions. They're counted as purgeable space — which is why your free space can look smaller than expected but jumps back when something needs the room.
How to view and thin them
- List them:
tmutil listlocalsnapshots / - Thin them (macOS chooses which):
sudo tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 10000000000 4 - Or just let macOS handle it — it deletes snapshots automatically when free space runs low.
Where it fits in the bigger picture
Snapshots are one slice of System Data. If that bucket looks huge, snapshots plus caches are usually why. MacCleaner shows what's genuinely reclaimable versus what macOS is managing for you, so you clear the caches and build junk and leave the snapshots alone.
Frequently asked questions
How do I delete Time Machine local snapshots?
List them with tmutil listlocalsnapshots / and thin with sudo tmutil thinlocalsnapshots. But macOS usually deletes them automatically when it needs space, so forcing it is rarely necessary.
Are local snapshots safe to delete?
They're your short-term restore safety net. macOS thins them on its own when space is low, so it's best to let it manage them rather than forcing deletion.
Why is Time Machine using space on my internal disk?
It keeps hourly local snapshots between external backups. That space is purgeable — macOS frees it automatically when you need it.
Reclaim the space in two taps
MacCleaner scans read-only, shows every file before anything is touched, marks the safe groups, and lets you choose Trash or permanent. Free for up to 500 MB of cleanup a day.
Download for Mac