---
id: backups.does-storage-studio-delete-my-time-machine-backups
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/backups/does-storage-studio-delete-my-time-machine-backups
category: "Backups & restore points"
subcategory: "Time Machine and backup strategy"
question: "Does Storage Studio delete my Time Machine backups?"
alt_questions:
  - "Will reclaiming snapshots touch Time Machine?"
  - "Storage Studio and Time Machine safe"
  - "Does Local Snapshots delete backups?"
  - "Time Machine history Storage Studio"
short_answer: "No. Your Time Machine backups are never touched. Storage Studio can clear macOS's local snapshots on your Mac when you ask, and it prefers ones already backed up to Time Machine."
tags: ["time machine", "snapshots", "safety"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/backups/is-data-backup-a-replacement-for-time-machine"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# Does Storage Studio delete my Time Machine backups?

No. Storage Studio never touches the Time Machine backups on your backup drive. What it can clear — only when you ask — are macOS's **local snapshots** on your Mac's own disk, which hold space while they wait to be backed up.

Even there it's careful: the Local Snapshots window marks which snapshots are already safely on Time Machine, **Delete all backed-up** skips anything that's only on this Mac, and snapshots macOS needs for a system update are never removed. See [Local Snapshots](https://storagestudio.us/manual/local-snapshots).