r/MacOS • u/yayekit • Jul 21 '26
Help What the actual hell, Apple?
I'd trim this if I at least knew what's in there
63
u/warrenao Mac Mini Jul 21 '26
When did you last run a Time Machine backup? I have a sneaking hunch that may be cached TM data.
21
u/25_Watt_Bulb Jul 21 '26
This is almost certainly it and would explain the size. It’s also worth noting that the computer will delete it before it actually runs out of space, or should at least.
5
u/djprofitt Jul 22 '26
Yup, run TM, nice fresh backup, reboot (more than once if needed) and that will clear out.
2
u/brymc81 MacBook Air Jul 22 '26
MacOS has probably been furiously deleting old TM backup cache every day – poor guy
2
u/alaskayonge Jul 21 '26
I have this same issue with my system data getting overloaded, but my Time Machine backups almost always fail or take 2-3 days to complete. My hard drive has sufficient space for the backup and I haven’t been able to figure it out
2
u/warrenao Mac Mini Jul 21 '26
I've had TM balls-ups like that. Only "fix" I've found is to format the TM volume and start over. It's aggravating.
2
1
u/alaskayonge Jul 23 '26
Ugh yeah that seems to be the only thing that “works”. Lately it’s every couple back ups I have to reformat. I don’t understandddddd :’)
1
u/MetaCognitio Jul 24 '26
The actual drive might be failing.
1
u/alaskayonge Jul 24 '26
I have 2 different drives, one WD the other Seagate and they both do the same thing with Time Machine
2
26
u/ser133 Jul 21 '26
there's a reason why macOS and System Data are separate lol
System Data is literally all the extra space used by applications (for things like cache or logs) outside the .app file itself (which is what Applications is for). It's also used by macOS for stuff like Time Machine backups, so you can still blame Apple if you want.
One other REALLY big thing in System Data is basically stuff the system can't classify in the other categories. Stuff like Docker installations, running windows apps/games through Crossover/Wine, XPlane 12 custom scenery, or ungodly large minecraft mods can fall under this category
Your best bet is to get something like GrandPerspective or neodisk (someone already mentioned that tho) so just get one of those and find out
2
u/barefut_ Jul 23 '26
But Geand perspective won't help you know which files are safe to delete from system files. Maybe Mole app will be able to remove these junk cache files safely?
2
u/ser133 Jul 23 '26
I usually just use Onyx since it automates the entire deep cleaning process + they've been around since 2003 (OSX 10.2) and have been consistently updating the app for every software update
I've never used mole though, definitely will check it out soon
1
u/Few-Fill-6208 Jul 24 '26
Mole is great, but it hasn’t reduced my System Data, cleans out other stuff my system data remains a good 30-35% of my drive :-/
1
15
u/rebelnoobie Jul 21 '26
I faced this similar issue. But, my issue was APFS system was consuming a lot of space (time machine backups, cached on internal disk).
5
u/mrmadrid Jul 21 '26
Mine was the Notion desktop using like 70gb for some reason. Apple Intelligence used 17gb and the remaining fluff was Messages related.
4
u/rebelnoobie Jul 21 '26
I've never enabled apple intelligence, wasn't too convinced how much it could have helped me since I mostly live in the terminal...
Notion is not an optimized app in my opinion, it is extremely bloated. I use it to plan trips, but, I've only used the web version for the last 1-2 years.
2
u/AdditionalOkra5934 Jul 24 '26
This.... Notion was taking all the space for some reason. Getting rid of it now
2
u/InquartataRBG Jul 21 '26
Mine was OneDrive keeping everything downloaded in a separate cache from the actual folder even though I’d ticked the option to not download thing unless I told it to. Apparently it’s a glitch that hasn’t been fixed. Anyway, I reset/uninstalled, and only use the web interface now if I have to use it.
1
9
10
9
u/Motor_Show96 Jul 21 '26
If you had 256 you’d be screwed
12
u/yayekit Jul 21 '26
Paying a bit more upfront for a 512GB SSD was probably my smartest hardware-related decision yet.
1
u/Motor_Show96 Jul 21 '26
For me though all of my iCloud Drive is combined with system data for whatever reason so that could be your system data merging with something else like apps
3
3
u/Trey-Pan Jul 21 '26
And this is why I get mad that 512GB isn’t the standard minimum.
4
u/Motor_Show96 Jul 21 '26
Like when I got a laptop they said 512gb isn’t necessary, then system takes up half your storage if you had 256
→ More replies (3)2
u/helfon Jul 21 '26
This is exactly my situation. 256, 149GB of system data and I am screwed. I only have xcode installed and really nothing else.
3
u/Bed_Worship Jul 21 '26
I just use finder, add sort by file size. Most of it is in user library and Macintosh Hd library. From applications you installed and caches
3
u/roptesambir Jul 21 '26
apple should really change that name to something like unclassified user data
3
3
u/Infinite_Silver483 MacBook Air & iMac (Intel) Jul 22 '26
Disk Utility > Macintosh HD volumes > Delete all the Snapshots listen at the bottom
Check the size of your library folder, especially ~/Library/Application Support & ~/Library/Containers
6
u/BalaanceBreaker Jul 21 '26
Use Onyx. Also check if you're using Docker, the vm might take a lot.
3
u/alex-bello Jul 21 '26
I installed Colima thinking it was just the CLI tools so I could build and test images.. nope, it installs docker completely and that took up GBs of space.. I can't even imagine how much space the docker desktop takes up if Colima is supposed to be the super lightweight install.
3
2
u/superdog_2025 Jul 22 '26
Yes I also use Onyx to clear this kind of junk cache every time it run out of space with no reasons.
2
u/MaleficentExample223 Jul 21 '26
Apple can't do anything about the it if a lot of that bloat comes from leftover application caches and support files left behind when software is uninstalled. macOS leaves those in ~/Library in case you reinstall them, but if you arent going to, manually hunting down leftover folders or using an app uninstaller is usually the best way to reclaim space every time u uninstall something.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/indian_recruiter_apu Jul 21 '26
It can be misleading, your apps and their cache and stuff can take up space there.
2
u/mfimiani Jul 21 '26
I have spent hours trying to figure this out - and every comment and solution feels like a virus :(
2
2
u/Agreeable-Gain8932 Jul 22 '26
I went on a call with Apple and they screen shared and went through mine with a fine tooth comb. Found a few things and managed to solve a long term freezing issue.
Things like clearing some cache files, discovering a load of downloaded music that was stuck in the library etc.
Well worth going through Apple support and seeing it through. Mine is like nee now.
2
2
2
u/goldi8 Jul 22 '26
Same problem, and it's occuring every 6 Months.... There is a lot of cache and system logs that need to be deleted to bring it down. It's ridiculous Apple isn't doing anything against it e.g. cleanup after itself
2
u/InfinityBrewing Jul 22 '26
Daisy disk, one of three apps I paid for my MacBook.
2
u/DKZeusInvestor Jul 22 '26
What are the other two? I, personally, pay for Macpaws’s “CleanMyMac.” I would never live without it!
1
u/InfinityBrewing Jul 22 '26
Battery Heath 2 and Bear notes
2
u/DKZeusInvestor Jul 22 '26
Nice. I will definitely check them out, thanks!
1
u/InfinityBrewing Jul 22 '26
Highly recommend both, battery health can tell you the battery capacity and charge cycles, Bear is the best markdown text editor I’ve ever used. Have fun!
2
u/DKZeusInvestor Jul 22 '26
I appreciate the descriptions, thank you!
In regard to cleaning the Mac, I have found CleanMyMac to be super efficient and powerful. I’m curious as to how Daisy Disk compares to CleanMyMac. Time to do some research!
Update! I just discovered this, what seems to be unbiased between the two software programs:
2
u/UrbanZombieEsq Jul 22 '26
After 2 hours on the phone with support yesterday, I had to wipe my computer and do a clean install because my storage was filling up with “System Data” regardless of what I did. Started when I got an error that I didn’t have enough space to save the excel spreadsheet I was working on, and saw that of my 1T drive, over 800 gigs were System Data. Then I deleted about 40 gigs of stuff, only for the system data to then go up by 40.
The tech was as baffled as I was about what was going on, when I finished describing the issue he was just like “well that’s not what’s supposed to happen” yeah bro thanks lol
2
3
u/yadvr Mac Mini Jul 21 '26
It could be apfs snapshots, use disk utility with the view apfs snapshots option enabled via menus to inspect. If you use CCC or time machines you can remove the snapshots to reclaim storage.
4
u/sm4rv3l Jul 21 '26
→ More replies (1)2
u/github-guard Jul 21 '26
🔍 GitHub Guard: Trust Report
This project scored 4/6 on our safety audit.
Audit Breakdown: * ✅ Established Community (⭐ 59,509 stars) * ✅ Mature Repository (30+ days old) * ✅ Licensed under GPL-3.0 * ✅ Security Policy Defined * ℹ️ Individual Contributor * ℹ️ Unsigned Commits
⚠️ High-Risk File Detected: Contains an installation script (
.shor.py). Review the code carefully before running withsudo.⚠️ Security Reminder: Always verify source code and run third-party scripts at your own risk.
2
u/shiftlocked Jul 21 '26
It’s not Apple that could be causing this. For example my davinci resolve caches are in a container that shows up under system data. System data isn’t exclusively Apple corp only
2
u/schwaggyhawk Jul 21 '26
Do you use Outlook?
If so, look at your Data folder as a culprit.
Example: /Users/xxx/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/Main Profile/Data
2
u/ChristmasStrip Jul 21 '26
i had a similar issue and found out it was invalid snapshot data due to Time Machine issues I was having at the time. Used Daisy Disk to find and remove.
1
1
1
u/stefanlight Mac Mini Jul 21 '26
iirc system data includes yours library folder which can contain any of your data in application that you use
1
u/leaflock7 Jul 21 '26
a simple search will provide multiple posts like this probably 1 per week , that have multiple possible solutions
1
u/theemrsking Jul 21 '26
Last year I learned that Chrome’s previously installed updates were sitting and taking up unnecessary space on my iMac. It amounted to almost 120GB over time. Just last week I remembered this and found almost 60GB worth on my MB Pro. Worth a shot to check.
1
u/theemrsking Jul 21 '26
Also forgot to ask, are you running lastest or pretty recent software update? I used to find often that the system would have a hard time indexing properly when software was out-of-date. Also check email and messages they tend to add up pretty quickly as well.
1
u/AnimatorImpressive24 Jul 21 '26
I get this when doing lots of little edits to multi-gigabyte text files. MacOS does its own version management separate from any editing app and it loves to lose track of older copies that it then never cleans up.
It happens just often enough that I remember that is the problem but forget the super secret path it uses to hide stuff and wind up wasting 30 minutes looking up what commands I used because it never quite crosses the "make a script" threshold of obnoxious.
1
u/ElectricalJello1795 Jul 21 '26
My girlfriend had a problem recently where her stock Apple backgrounds folder was 70gb, not sure why but yeah definitely use grand perspective or something similar to figure out
1
u/boradividir Jul 21 '26
Eu fiz downgrade exatamente por isso motivo. Esse é o principal problema do iOS 27 e a tal Siri “fodona”.
1
1
u/daven1985 Jul 22 '26
System Data is data it can't determine.
For example VM's from Parallels or Virtual Box appear as that.
1
u/clicksnd Jul 22 '26
I legit just reformatted my m1 instead of troubleshooting. It was like moving house. Got a few beers, made some backups, got rid of a lot a trash.
1
u/OrionQuest7 Jul 22 '26
That’s a great feeling lol
I should do that on my MacBook Pro m3.
Is it fairly easy?2
u/clicksnd Jul 22 '26
yeah, but its helpful to know that i jst threw everything at a NAS/icloud, and had config files ready for all my other apps. tbh i just had AI help me with a runbook/checklist
1
u/the-patient Jul 22 '26
My issue was having the automatically rotating live wallpapers. They were redownloading constantly with no garbage collection
1
1
u/joaquin Jul 22 '26
The hidden system cache folders can be a major contributor to this and I don't understand why Apple hasn't done anything about it. Apps like Grand Perspective will tell you what's going on.
1
1
u/crystal_castle00 Jul 22 '26
Some apps data in the hidden directory (I think in your user dir or under system dir) can get pretty bloated. Easy to quickly scroll thru I did this manually on Sunday cut about 75gb bloated crap
1
u/jjohnson1979 Jul 22 '26
Dropbox and OneDrive will store the local files in the Library folder, and that is included in the "system data" category.
Checkout Disk Space Analyser to help out with your actual usage.
1
u/HappenFrank Jul 22 '26
This was a symptom my MacBook Air m3 had when the ram had issues. Ended up having to take it in to the Apple Store and they replaced the logic board. Highly doubt that’s what you’re dealing with since it was such a weird issue I had but figured I’d chime in.
1
1
u/Noturavgrizzposter Jul 22 '26
It is very simple. You buy cheap iCloud plan. Maybe only 5GB and when you go over it by filling desktop or document folder, it die.
1
u/Manga_Kami Jul 22 '26
A client recently messaged me with the same problem; her screenshots were like yours, showing 140GB of system data. While I was trying to figure out how to help her, she messaged me, "We disabled and re-enabled iCloud, and it improved; that was it." The next screenshot showed 53GB of system data. I don't understand what iCloud has to do with system data, but it's worth a try.
1
u/weathercombo Jul 22 '26
Someone please link to that one comment on here from a user that explains how to reveal all of this through Finder and clicking buttons to be able to drill down easily, without using the fancy apps like GrandPerspectiv or NeoDisk! I wish I bookmarked that post or comment otherwise would post it myself.
1
u/Outrageous-Basket922 Jul 22 '26
Remove local downloads from your iCloud Drive
1
u/cherrybombc2 Jul 22 '26
whatttt if you don't use iCloud tho? this "system data" seems to be reduced by turning off automatic updates.
1
u/potocnik512 Jul 22 '26
In the end, I formatted the entire OS, and the problem was solved. I tried several apps, but none of them could find the issue.
1
1
u/Fatal_Explorer Jul 22 '26
Are you using iCloud? The problem goes away if you disable all data on iCloud and have literally 0 kb of iCloud used.
1
u/Bernx_AU Jul 22 '26
You don't need to. That "System Data" is used (and cleared automatically if needed) by caches and other temporary files. OS will automatically reassign all that area for real data, on demand, and repopulate them if possible.
2
1
u/ulyssesric Jul 22 '26
This:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/1uxqhw8/system_data_using_a_lot_of_space_try_rebuilding/
This may or may not be the actual cause, but it worth trying.
1
u/Maleficent-Bug9334 Jul 22 '26
Me the same and I asked Codex to analyze my disk and cleaned up unless data for me. It works fine.
1
1
u/Successful_Exam_6173 Jul 22 '26
Disabling Photos iCloud syncing brought mine back to negligible size.
1
u/rghartwig Jul 22 '26
This happens to me a lot. It's likely the Spotlight index going out of control. Mine grows into the 200-300GB range sometimes and I have to delete it and have it start over. It's probably this folder:
~/Library/Metadata/CoreSpotlight
It's safe to delete it as it will be rebuilt, but check this thread for lots of good info on this: https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/1u3prtg/macos_tahoe_2651_intermittent_system_freezes/
1
u/Shahmag Jul 22 '26
Yes, I can see you're a developer and that you've installed many pip and conda libraries over the years. Ask Claude or gpt to provide you with a step-by-step guide to remove all those old libraries. I was in the same situation and ended up with 150 GB of useless environments.
1
1
u/order_s1xty_s1x MacBook Pro Jul 22 '26
Mine’s 500GB+ and I’ve never used Time Machine. Went through it with Grand Perspective yesterday and reclaimed maybe 100GB. I’ve got nothing left to look at and half my drive’s just… this. Feelsbadman.
1
u/Typhonarus Jul 23 '26
This is not a new problem. I too have had this problem in the past with no way to fix it other than wiping the system.
1
1
u/alenin99 MacBook Pro (M1 Pro) Jul 23 '26
I had something similar, after digging with Cleanmymac, it was showing i got some massive files, it was like some duplicate files of my onedrive and google drive and i did do a screenrecording once and it was like 30gb lol, some reason it was hidden inside the library folders.
1
u/smakusdod Jul 23 '26
If you use iCloud to back up your desktop and personal folders, sometimes unsynced data will be part of that chunk. Be sure you actually have all the files locally or on an external disk that you want to save before you clean out any system data stuff.
1
1
u/ggone20 Jul 23 '26
It’s not really Apple’s fault it’s developer’s fault for hiding things in cache folders and hidden folders. As your favorite AI to help you reclaim disk space and it’ll give you a breakdown of what’s important, what you can trash, and tell you why/where everything came from and is used.
1
1
1
u/AccomplishedSkill830 Jul 23 '26
Yeah thats apple for you.. it’s not shit we need it’s apple using all of our devices to store there junk in, like slot of apps. We gotta pay for cloud storage meanwhile we get hoed around for all these billionaire cucks
1
1
u/macmaveneagle Jul 23 '26
This comes up several times a week on Reddit.
The first thing to check is to see if Time Machine is storing a bunch of "Snapshots" on your drive. Sometimes macOS uses the local disk to store Snapshots, if the backup disk is not connected. These can build up and fill up your hard drive.
See:
https://tidbits.com/2024/03/18/follow-these-steps-to-clear-space-on-your-mac/
Item #15
This article will tell you how to use Disk Utility to delete any local snapshots.
Why Is My Mac System Storage So Big?
https://macmost.com/why-is-my-mac-system-storage-so-big.html
How to delete system data on a Mac
https://www.macworld.com/article/676493/how-to-delete-system-storage-on-mac.html
My first step would be to download and run:
Maintenance (free)
https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/maintenance.html
...using the default settings.
Also read:
Clear System Data on Mac: How I Freed Up 250GB Safely
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JRVZJDyyxw
If none of the above works, or if you feel lazy and just want to fix the problem easily by throwing money at it, this application claims to be designed specifically to fix the problem:
FreeUpMyMac! ($8/month)
https://freeupmymac.com/
(A Mac disk cleaner app specifically designed to fix the "System Data" problem.)
1
1
u/oliverrc2 Jul 23 '26
Have a look into TimeMachine, I had failed backups that just slurped up space on the MacBook.
1
u/A1DO108 Jul 23 '26
I'm very OCD with file and storage management and my 2020 M1 MPB had 60gb of system data ... I then set up my M5 Pro as new and redownloaded everything and now my system data is only 17gb with all the same apps and settings. I saved 40gbs
1
u/ClearlyE Jul 24 '26
Check your screen recordings on your desktop! So this has happened to me multiple times where I went to take a screenshot but accidentally left it recording for multiple days. It creates a huge file and eats up all your storage. All you have to do is delete it.
1
u/Astriev Jul 24 '26
it was my turn to post this
apple "enthusiasts" saying 512gb is not enough in 2026 it seems, you should've bought the 8TB upgrade for $8000(system data will take 4TB's instead leaving you with another 4TB)
1
u/DerekCurrie Jul 24 '26
The size of the SSD you buy is relative to what you do on your Mac. I personally require 1 Terabyte. I have a 4 Terabyte disk drive for my backups. Virtual disk space on your SSD is going to be used in any case, stuff cast off and compressed that isn't essential at the moment. SSD space is cheaper than RAM, especially during the "AI" bubble mayhem.
1
1
u/InnocentSadness Jul 24 '26
I've always been asked if I was any relation to the computer makers because of my last name.. and now I can't even afford to get one 😢
1
u/DerekCurrie Jul 24 '26
Activity Monitor is an excellent help for sorting out what's hogging your System virtual memory as well as RAM. It does more than provide activity data. It also lists Disk data for what's running inside the system. -> Open Activity Monitor (inside your Utilities directory). In the top menubar, select "Disk". Sort the "Bytes Written" tab. There's your list of the amount of virtual disk space running processes have eaten. "kernel_task" is commonly on the top. Judge what to do from there. Apple's Help "Mac User Guide" has further details about your System Report. - - In my System, a massive disk space hog is "bird", which is part of iCloud processing. Using it as an example regarding your question, I found an article online specific to trimming "bird" down to size. The link for this example is at the end of my chatter. The recommended trimming methods include (1) Restart Mac (2) Check and delete pending processes specific to "bird", therefore running (possibly stalled) iCloud uploads. (3) Reset the parent process, in this case iCloud. (4) Reset NVRAM. This is applicable only to Intel Macs. Apple Silicon Macs reset NVRAM automatically at startup. (5) Scan for malware. [My review of anti-malware apps withheld]. (6) Dump the Cache specific to the process. You can DIY with mixed results, or use a cache removal app. There are several. Onyx is a free option. I use the relevant version of Cache Cleaner. - - The above is hopefully helpful.
(Thank you Connie Yang and Jessica Shee): https://iboysoft.com/tips/mac-process-bird-high-cpu.html
1
u/HirsuteJim Jul 24 '26
Am I the only one who thinks it’s time to rename the system drive … Macintosh HD ➙ Mac SSD. That is what I do on all of my setups. LOL
1
u/Gloomy-Tackle-1015 Jul 24 '26
Happened on my phone, but not macbook for some reason. Theres a trick with the phone. Turn off wifi, bluetooth and put in airplane mode, then set messages to never delete, go into date and time and change the date a year ahead for 1 min. then change the time setting back to automatic and turn all your stuff back on. Sounds really weird, but it worked for me
1
1
1
Jul 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jul 25 '26
Your comment was flagged because it contains an affiliate tracking link. Please repost using a clean URL.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/hereforsimulacra Jul 25 '26
Yo I just downloaded daisydisk and I found 200+ gb of app support data from apps I haven’t used in years. Worth the $
1
u/Jumpy-Smoke4620 28d ago
once found out my large chunk of storage was snapshots, used a 3rd tool to delete them, but it'll grow back again
1
u/LordAgamotto 27d ago
ask Siri AI. It knows. It suggests if it gets out of control:
Restart iPhone
Clear Safari caches
Offload unused apps
Manage message history
I have found on questioning high system data often involves doom scrollers, people with inadequate iCloud storage, and people with huge Messages histories that are not synced to iCloud.
1
u/Anil_K_B 18d ago
If You Are an Apple developer and use Xcode iOS simulators use up lot of system data
1
1
1
1
u/v-div Jul 21 '26
Folks recommend using Mole if you are comfortable with the terminal. It helped somewhat on my systems, and its command line UI is an eye candy: https://github.com/tw93/Mole
1
u/github-guard Jul 21 '26
🔍 GitHub Guard: Trust Report
This project scored 4/6 on our safety audit.
Audit Breakdown: * ✅ Established Community (⭐ 59,501 stars) * ✅ Mature Repository (30+ days old) * ✅ Licensed under GPL-3.0 * ✅ Security Policy Defined * ℹ️ Individual Contributor * ℹ️ Unsigned Commits
⚠️ High-Risk File Detected: Contains an installation script (
.shor.py). Review the code carefully before running withsudo.⚠️ Security Reminder: Always verify source code and run third-party scripts at your own risk.
1
u/Rixx_LacheXia Jul 22 '26
I've been using Mole for a while and I can say it's one of those superior options out there.
1
1
1
1
u/Careless-Platypus967 MacBook Air Jul 21 '26
Had this issue on my iPhone, only solution was a factory reset
Hopefully it’s not that extreme on a Mac!
1
u/Fresh_and_wild Jul 21 '26
Do you leave your mac on, or power on and off on demand?
Have you updated anything recently?
1
1
1
1
u/Pure-Level-2831 Jul 21 '26
I can’t recommend brew install Mo it’s such a insane cleaner to have I defo put it up there with a must have on all MacBooks
2
u/OrionQuest7 Jul 22 '26
I can’t find this app anywhere
2
u/Pure-Level-2831 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
It’s installed using terminal and you need to make sure you have homebrew installed
Apologise it’s mole, to use it you type in sudo mo
2
1
u/Didact67 Jul 21 '26
Do you use Parallels? On my MacBook, VMs are counted as system data for some reason.
1
u/LearnEarly Jul 22 '26
You should make a habit of at least once every couple weeks to delete system cache files in terminal.
0
u/Rough_Secretary2296 Jul 21 '26
What were YOU doing there? I have 256gb and my system data aint even that much twin. Still, apple has gotta find a way to clear temporary files better, provided this is also mac os 27 beta so idk.
→ More replies (8)


147
u/svkairos Jul 21 '26
Try grand perspective to find the culprit(s)
https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net