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Hi all,
I've done everything the book tells me to do.. backed up using time machine, reviewed my file folders, but I still get a system files hard drive usage of 166 GB, when my operating system files are only 16 GB. This is consistent before and after reinstalling Mac OS and time machine. How can I reduce the enormous amount of room taken up by system files? Sincerely Paul
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
EDITED
What Bug ?
Apple Clearly States
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other " Category
Other: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
Unless there is some other Agenda in play ?
EDITED
What Bug ?
Apple Clearly States
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other " Category
Other: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
Unless there is some other Agenda in play ?
Has there been a Failed or Aborted installation of an Operating System previous to this installation ?
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?
Free up storage space on your Mac
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other " Category
Other: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
Hi, no failed Mac OS installations. The reason why I reinstalled the OS is because I removed time machine and that process failed in boot camp assistant. The resizing of the partition in recovery mode also failed, so therefore I had to reinstall
Ah - new information disclosed BootCamp.
Attempting to resize a Bootcamp partition without using Bootcamp Assist is dangerous and not suggested.
The computer may be experience the after effects of this action
Suggest using Terminal and this command without quotation marks " diskutil list "
Provide a screen shot of the output.
Hi,
Thank you for the command line info, but it's done and over now...the reinstall is complete on the full disk capacity. Wish I knew that info before!! In my case the boot camp uninstall completed successfully, but the partition resizing failed..all in boot camp assistant.
I'm looking at the second problem to my quest for more hard drive space ,( I am using photo editing software that used huge amounts of space)....that is the 166 GB that is in the system files category...it's incredible that Apple would let a bug like this go unfixed!
Hi, did I say bug? No, I did not mean that. I am just keen to learn why there is 166gb reported as system files. If there is a solution, I'd like to act on it and recover the space!!!!
Thanks Paul
PS The boot. camp partition resize failure is a bug. The new computer works great, but boot camp assistant AND disk utility under recovery mode both failed to resize partition.
Then follow the advise rendered from you other posting in Bootcamp
Boot camp assistant failure - Apple Community
You are welcome and thank you too.
Do come back to the Apple Support Communities ( ASC ) in the future, if / or when additional question may arise
Yes . Thank you.I also missed your answer that the system files are here to stay.
System Files too big
