`find` finds nfs server?

Question

I had to run find / -name foo > found.txt and stumbled over the following output:

...
find: /Volumes/MobileBackups/Backups.backupdb/mac/2014-12-17-162004/MacRoot/.DocumentRevisions-V100: Permission denied
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: not responding
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: is alive again
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: not responding
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: is alive again
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: not responding
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: is alive again
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: not responding
nfs server localhost:/FjbUHyS_WAWZQyX9SZ1Wx9: is alive again
find: /Volumes/MobileBackups/Backups.backupdb/mac/2014-12-17-162004/MacRoot/System/Library/DirectoryServices/DefaultLocalDB/Default: Permission denied
...

I'm not using NFS nor have I ever mounted a NFS volume. Where is this coming from?

Answer 1

Mac OS is runnning Time Machine backups for you, even if your Time Machine disk is not connected. The backup directory is automatically created and mounted as a network share via NFS at the /Volumes/Mobilebackups directory. This is not a backup in the disaster recovery sense, but it will allow you to restore older versions of your files, if you by accident delete a file or regret an edit you did. Supposedly it will consume a lot of disk space, but only as long as there's at least 20 % free space.

Disable the service with this terminal command if you dont like it:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

To see the NFS path, run the mount command. Optionally "mount -a" to show all volumes.

I believe the physical location of the backups is i /.Mobilebackups but I'm not quite sure.

And according to Apple docs, the find command should take an option "-fstype" with the special value "local" to stay within the same file system, thus avoiding mounted network shares etc. (Not tested - have no access to a Mac system right now).

find / -fstype local -name foo

*)https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/find.1.html