Press ‘return’ on your Mac’s keyboard ( Note: You’ll see a list of Time Machine backups by date populate in Terminal after step three.).Launch the Terminal app on your MacWhen Terminal appears, type this command: tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates.Here’s how you can delete Time Machine backups yourself on the Mac: If you really want to delete them yourself, you’ll have to dig into Terminal. While Time Machine backups are meant to be deleted automatically, your Mac doesn’t always do a great job of this.

This is a safety feature meant to enable backups in almost any circumstance.

We know, you think Time MAchine backups are stored on an external drive – and you’re right! Yor Mac also keeps a copy of some backups on your machine in case your external drive isn’t available, or is corrupted. Now that you know what system storage is, you’re likely still asking yourself “how do I clear my system storage?” We’ve got you covered. So, Apple tucks them in a partition named ‘system’ that prevents you from directly accessing system storage on your Mac so you don’t mistakenly delete important files.

Let’s be honest: if you took a look at these files, you likely wouldn’t know what many of them were, and would be compelled to delete them. Simply put, these are files your Mac deems necessary, and wants to keep you from accessing and deleting. Why does this storage take up huge disk space on a Mac? These files are often necessary, and deleting them can wreak havoc elsewhere in your system if you don’t know what you’re doing. Mac system taking up space, when put into context, is totally understandable. There are drivers for apps and services, fonts, desktop pictures – all kinds of things. In system storage Mac saves a lot of seemingly random things. The “system” listed is system storage – but what is it? Select “About This Mac” from the drop down menuĪt the bottom of the window you’ll see two storage options you can’t touch: Other, and System.On your Mac, click the Apple logo on the top left corner of the menu bar.Your Mac or MacBook system storage can be found here, too: Let’s first examine your Mac’s overall storage.

How to free up other space on mac