Efficiently Delete Time Machine Backups on a Mac

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It is safe to say that Time Machine stands out as a reliable Mac backup system when it comes to guardianing your precious data. Even so, you must understand how to delete Time Machine backups on your Mac as soon as you need to, as soon as your storage space diminishes or as you need to remove outdated backups from your Mac.

Our comprehensive guide to securing your Mac will walk you through every step of the process, ensuring that your valuable files are secure while at the same time optimizing the storage space on your Mac.

Delete Time Machine Backups on a Mac

Introduction

A great thing about Time Machine is that it automatically backs up your Mac so that you can recover lost files or your entire system in case of a disaster.

Even so, you need to keep backups organized, especially when space is limited. Deleting older Time Machine backups will free up space and keep your system running.

Before You Begin

A few key points must be considered before we proceed with deleting Time Machine backups:

1. Check Your Backup Drive

Verify that Time Machine is recognizing your backup drive in “System Preferences” > “Time Machine.”

2. Ensure Data Safety

Maintain data integrity while optimizing storage by double-checking that any data you plan to delete from your backups is no longer needed.

3. Disable the Time Machine (if necessary)

Consider temporarily turning off Time Machine while deleting backups if Time Machine is actively backing up your data.

Delete Time Machine Backups on a Mac

Let’s get to the heart of the matter: deleting Time Machine backups. Follow these steps carefully:

Via Finder

[UPDATE: This does not work with Ventura onwards]

Time Machine backup drives formatted in HFS+ will work with the below process, but APFS drives might not.

  1. Ensure the external backup drive is connected to your Mac [if necessary].

  2. Navigate to the backup date you want to delete in the Time Machine app.

  3. The Finder window can also be used to navigate to the file or folder you want to delete.

  4. Click the Action (…) button and select Delete Backup after selecting the date or file you want to delete.

APFS formatted Time Machine backup drives should work with the following process

  1. If necessary, connect the external backup drive to your Mac.

  2. Open Finder and select your backup drive. Your backup files should appear there.

  3. Click the Action (…) button next to the backup you want to delete.

  4. In the prompt, select Delete Immediately > Delete.

By terminal

It should work with all Time Machine backup drives, including APFS drives.

  1. If necessary, connect the external backup drive to your Mac.

  2. Open the Terminal window and type the following command

    tmutil listbackups

  3. The following command will bring up a list of all the backups.

    tmutil delete -d /path/to/backup/drive -t timestamp

  4. Replace /path/to/backup/drive with the location where the backup is stored.

  5. In the same way, the timestamp is the name of the backup before the .backup extension.

  6. When the backup is named 2023-10-27-145361.backup, the timestamp will be 2023-10-27-145361.

  7. The above command will delete the backup if you enter these values.

  8. Using the below command, you can verify that the deleted backup has been removed.

    tmutil listbackups

This is how you can delete the Time Machine backup from your Mac. If you have any questions about these steps, please let us know in the comments. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

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