How to Delete Time Machine Snapshots on Mac (And Reclaim Space)

I thought I was going crazy. I just deleted 40GB of old video files, but when I checked my Mac's storage, the free space hadn't budged an inch.

Where did the space go?

Turns out, my Mac was hoarding it. If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, macOS secretly creates "Local Snapshots" on your hard drive when your external backup drive isn't connected.

It’s a safety feature. But it can easily eat 50GB to 100GB of your storage without you noticing. Here is how to kill those hidden snapshots and get your space back.

Method 1: The "Just Wait" Approach

Technically, macOS is supposed to delete these local snapshots automatically when your disk gets over 80% full.

Does it always work? No.

Sometimes the system miscalculates, or an app tries to download a massive file before macOS can clear the snapshots, and you get hit with a "Disk Almost Full" error.

Method 2: The Terminal Nuke (For power users)

If you're comfortable using the command line, you can force-delete them.

1. Open Terminal (search via Spotlight).
2. Type exactly this: tmutil listlocalsnapshots / and hit Enter.
3. You'll see a list of dates (like com.apple.TimeMachine.2026-04-01-123456).
4. To delete one, type: sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2026-04-01-123456 (use the date from your list).
5. Press Enter, type your Mac password, and repeat for every snapshot.

Yeah, it’s tedious. Type out 20 snapshots and you’ll be at it for a while.

Method 3: The 1-Click Purge

I don’t have time to mess around in Terminal every time my Mac’s storage acts up.

If you want the space back immediately without typing out complex commands, use a tool like CleanDiskGo.

We built it to find the junk macOS hides from you.

• It instantly locates all Time Machine local snapshots.
• It finds gigabytes of hidden System Data.
• You click "Clean", and the space is instantly returned to your hard drive.

Hidden backups might be hogging your storage. Get rid of them today.