macOS Monterey System Data keeps growing

Question

macOS Monterey System Data keeps growing

I have a MacBook Pro 16" 2019 with a 2TB SSD. Recently I was looking at my available disk space and saw that it had shrunk by at least 850GB. I had about 850GB of data, photos, music, etc. But the System Data keeps growing. I can open Finder and watch my available disk space shrink by the minute. I checked the System Data and it is sitting at 856.49GB. I deleted a big file, 13.59GB and it didn't even show up. Not sure what is happening.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jun 17, 2022 11:03 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

PRP_53

Level 10

85,963 points

Jun 18, 2022 4:24 AM in response to Robert Sigillito1

May what to start by " Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac "

This can Take some time and depends on the amount of Data on the drive.

In some cases, it can take a day or more so be patient.

1 - Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

3 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

6 - If after performing each of the above steps is the order that have been presents and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

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Answer 2

Jun 18, 2022 8:30 PM in response to PRP_53

Thanks for the information on Etrecheck. I downloaded and ran it. I read through the report and nothing stuck out. I was going to paste it in, but got to looking around on this site and found a posting about "Other" data (the old name for System Data). The poster was talking about some utilities to scan the drive(s) and see where files, data, applications resided. I downloaded OmniDiskSweeper and ran it. As soon as I did "System Data" shrunk to 326GB down from 856GB. Nothing else was done. Not sure if the tool caused some bit to reset or what, but the issue appears to be resolved. Very odd. I would still like to understand why it would resolve like this. I do know that I first started noticing the disk space shrinking a week after updating to 12.4. Don't know if it was related to that or what.

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Answer 3

PRP_53

Level 10

85,963 points

Jun 19, 2022 2:26 AM in response to Robert Sigillito1

Using OmniDiskSweeper Safe to use or GrandPerspective will basically only identify large files on the computer.

In so doing pointing the user to files, under your direct control, meaning in your Home Folder.

Then the user can action those files as in remove them.

However it appears, for the time being, you are satisfied with the results.

Should the Issue reappear, do not hesitant to run the Recheck Application and post back the full report.

We can have a look this time.

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Answer 4

Jun 18, 2022 12:22 PM in response to PRP_53

Rebuilt Spotlight Index. No affect. Problem persists

Started in Safe Mode. Saw that the problem was still ongoing. Rebooted. Same. Powered off for a few minutes, restarted, System Data still growing.
Created a "test user" account. Logged in. Watched the file size still shrink.
At this point I am out of ideas. I delete files, even large ones, and I see no "gain". Every minute System Data is growing. Total size of SD is now 856.87GB.
Really don't know what to do next.

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Answer 5

PRP_53

Level 10

85,963 points

Jun 18, 2022 2:14 PM in response to Robert Sigillito1

Understand, we are all working Remotely from all around the world.

Therefore, we do not have the On-Hands experience the User ( you ) has with this computer.

The next best thing for us to having an actual On-Hand experience with this computer is to follow the steps below

Download the Application Etrecheck directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor. And Safe to use.

Regarding this Application, there are known reports that even Apple Support has, from time to time, used this application to Trouble Shoot Computer issues.

The application is free or paid from added features.

Run the application with Full Disc Access ( Security & Privacy - Full Disc Access ).

It will take a Snap Shot - both the hardware and software.

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information.

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last )

We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.

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Answer 6

Jun 18, 2022 5:32 AM in response to PRP_53

Thanks. I have started rebuilding Spotlight. I used the instructions and am having it rebuild the entire disk as I don't know where the data is being stored. I had logged out last night and logged in with an "admin" account I created a number of years ago and it was doing the same thing. I'll follow the rest of the steps after Spotlight rebuilds. Is there a way to know when the rebuild has completed?

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Answer 7

Jun 19, 2022 6:58 AM in response to PRP_53

Understand DiskSweeper is just for information, but it appears that even the query “fixed” (using the word very loosely) what was being reported. I have a guess that the 500GB of space I “recovered” was already free but not reported correctly. And this was resolved during the query. Never saw a problem like this till upgrading to 12.4.

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Answer 8

PRP_53

Level 10

85,963 points

Jun 19, 2022 7:04 AM in response to Robert Sigillito1

Thank you for the update

In Theory - the Reindexing by Spotlight should have resolved this issue without the help of OmniDiskSweeper.

But then again, without a Full Disclosure that EtreCheck would have provided, what has already occurred could be only coincidence only to return again ( Lack of Space Issue )

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Answer 9

Jun 19, 2022 7:49 PM in response to PRP_53

Understand. The Spotlight reindexing completed a few hours earlier. I rebooted and the problem was still there. I'm happy it resolved but I would like to know why. Oh well, thanks for your help. Now I have EtreCheck in my toolbox.

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