I noticed after my update to MAC OS 12 Monterey that my System Data Folder swelled to an incredible 320 GB, which is 1/3 of the FULL HD. Before the update (was running BIG Sur), the Folder was called Other and was only about 40-50 GB. Any suggestions? It eats disk space unnecessarily. Now also the backups etc are huge. Would appreciate any input. Best, Dino
iMac 24″, macOS 12.0
It turned out to have nothing to do with the system for me. Fortnite was hiding its content in the system folder. I went into Terminal and drilled down. I started with
du -hcd2 /System/Volumes 2> /dev/null
which looks in the given folder (/System/Volumes) and lists all the folders under it and the folders those contain, and the amount of data in each. I found the biggest of those and iterated.
du -hcd2 /System/Volumes/Data/Users 2> /dev/null
Until the culprit was revealed. So, I deleted the old, old version of Fortnite that runs on Apple. Ironically, this is one of our kids' macbooks, and they just wanted space to install xcode to get ready for Fortnite Creative 3.0, but I don't think they'll miss 2-year-old Fortnite.
Just to be pedantic, I'll explain the command. 'du' shows how much disk is used. '-' means options, h means use 'human readable' notation (GB, MB, KB), c means print a summary amount and d2 means go two levels deep. That's just so I don't get too much data to navigate. The '2>/dev/null' bit at the end discards error messages.
I hope this helps!
In my case I Found a folder called "Mobile Data" in User->MyUser->Library->MobileData. That had an amount of 150Gb and now syste data is...about 25 Gb's
Hope this helps!
Finally, it turns out that in my case (for whatever reason), Monterey pulled a backup at the end of the upgrade from my time capsule. Not sure why, neither can Apple answer this question. The back pulled was moved to the System Folder, swelling it up to 320 GB. I manually removed the files from this upgrade, since I had all of this under the User Folder.
Result: System Data folder is now 35 GB (320GB before). Available Disk space is now 700GB again.
I am back on track with Backups on TimeCapsule...all runs well.
Why Monterrey would pull this, no idea.....Apple had no answer as well.
I had the exact same problem and my [unintentional] fix may have been coincidence.
For an entirely different reason, I installed the paid version of DaisyDisk. That fixed my immediate problem, but I noticed DD had the capability to release "Purgeable Space". When I followed the instructions to reduce Purgeable Space, my "Other" problem went away too.
But, like I said, maybe a coincidence as Apple states the Purgeable space will be released when needed. I've seen that happen numerous times too. Particularly after moving very large segments of user data to external drives.
Are you using any antivirus/Security software? There was recently a case when Kaspersky Internet Security was creating logs that were using 100's of GB.
I finally had to make a backup on Carbon Copy Cloner, erase the drive and and reinstall the OS. All OK since.
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.
Could you please take a screenshot of what you are seeing, Take a screenshot on your Mac - Apple Support, and upload it to Apple Support Communities?
I'd also recommend reading Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support.
Cheers,
Jack
I just noticed this issue today as well. My problem is on a MacBook Pro 14 inch 2021 that I just bought on Tuesday, November 16th. I updated the MacBook to the latest public release of Monterey. Then I manually copied over the data I needed from my old MacBook; Therefore, I didn't load a backup of my previous MacBook Pro. I am showing 280.92 GB of System Data on a 500 GB drive. I just closed all the apps on my laptop, restarted the laptop, and now it shows just 120.9 GB of System Data. That is an improvement, but this is 24.2% of the hard drive wasted on System Data.
My system data was taking up 108GB of my 250GB disk. I opened finder. With command +Shift +. was able to see hidden files in my home folder. Under hidden folder called Library, saw a subfolder Group Containers which was about 107GB+. Deleted everything under that folder. Emptied recycle bin and rebooted.
System Data is now at 8.5 GB !!
Hi, everyone-- I also had this problem on a newer iMac running Big Sur. After trying to use Apple's software to remove my own large files, nothing changed--as fast as my files were removed, the "Other" files grew to fill the space. I found and used software called Disk Drill data recovery software to see into the files hidden within the "Other" category on the internal hard drive, which had completely filled it up. Disk Drill found dozens of files that were many terabytes in size but only full of zeros. I was unable to find any explanation for the files or any way to delete them, so I ended up wiping the internal hard drive and restoring it from a bootable copy I had made with Carbon Copy Cloner on an external hard drive. Now the Mac is running normally again, but I would still like to understand what happened. PS now upgraded OS to Monterey, in case the problem was with Big Sur.
I think the problem for me is Time Machine snapshots being stored on my local Hard Drive.
See this article on Daisy Disk
Cheers
R
What do you get when you Control (right) - click on the boot drive and select "Get Info" from the contextual menu?
Let us know what it shows. Then Control (right) - click on the System folder and do the same.
Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, alter, modify, remove or delete or attempt to do so is an invitation for disaster and may require a Reinstallation of the OS.
This includes AntiVirus, Disk Cleaners, Disk Optimizes, UnInstaller etc.
Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions
This will include CleanMyMac , Would suggest take a moment to read the first 600 posting specific to this Application and the reconsider the value of it
This will included Norton Antivirus , Sophos Av Software
Intego AntiVirus, McAfee, MacKeeper, Avast AntiVirus
The The Built in Security is all that is required.
check my solution.
I was successful in recovering maximum possible data.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253315811?answerId=256515772022#256515772022
Very disappointing to reach the end of this thread with no answer from Apple. I'm in the same boat. Storage Manager is reporting 392 GB used by "System Data".
I purchased CleanMyMac in an effort to fix it, but it seems to see everything except the 392 GB of system data files. I have opened a ticket with them to see what ideas they have.
I also run a status bar tool called iStat menus. It provides some in-depth drive information. Interestingly, it breaks down my 500GB drive usage into 3 categories.
Used: 442 GB
Free: 357 GB
Purgeable: 299 GB
Purgeable. Does that mean this space can be purged? Could that be the bulk of the wasted space stored as "System Data"? The iStat menus website gives a definition of Purgeable space:
“Purgeable space” contains files that macOS can and might delete if additional space is needed. Those files can include files stored in iCloud, certain large fonts, and other items.
Ok, so maybe there is some way to force MacOS to purge these files. I tried starting a huge download (XCode) but that didn't do it. MacOS refuses to release this space. Thoughts?
No, absolutely not. There are far better alternatives that either of those. Search this forum for opinion;, what you'll find is almost universal agreement they either do harm or no good.
Having one user "get lucky" with them and thus saying they're good for all is a logical fallacy. Just because it works for one does not mean it works for all. And there are real life experiences related here where they interfered with the delicate balance of Mac components.
Me, I'd judicially move user data to external storage, delete the moved data off the internal drive and get on with using a "rehabbed" Mac. In fact I've done exactly that.
After MAC OS 12 Monterey update that System Data Folder swelled to incredible 320 GB
