Why does system data take so much storage?
I have a 256GB Mac mini, and out of the 245GB available system data takes up more than 63%...
Thats 156GB... kind of absurd, anyway to reduce this... dramatically lol
Mac mini 2018 or later
System Data is a potpourri of files which include:
• System temporary files
• macOS system folders
• Archives and disk images (.zip, .iso, etc. - often found in the Downloads folder)
• Personal user data
• Files from the user’s library (Application Support, iCloud files, screensavers, etc.)
• Cache files
• Fonts, plugins, extensions
• Other files that are not recognized by a Spotlight search
• Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package
They can be located anywhere on your hard drive. The files that you have control over are located in the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Movies folders.
Also, if your OS becomes too full your computer will stop functioning. This may be a good time to seriously consider adding an external drive for storage. Then you can move files onto it and then delete them from your HD to clear needed space. Easy to do and problem solved.
That is the issue. My documents, downloads, movies, and pictures are less than 10GB. Also I do also pay for 2TB of iCloud storage, which is hardly full.
So having an external drive won't solve my issue here.
Why does System Data take so much storage?!
