Hi I have a M1 Mac mini with a 251GB Hard Drive. I noticed that sometimes a message pops up saying your hard drive is low on space. It says system data is using more than half the space on the hard drive. When I restart the computer it's back to normal. . What's going on?
Mac mini, macOS 12.4
coaklnic000,
And before the restart, what do you see there in Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage? Are there any optimization tips?
Have you had a chance to boot to safe mode and test there as well? How to use safe mode on your Mac
Apple silicon
1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window.
3. Select your startup disk, then press and hold the Shift key while clicking “Continue in Safe Mode.”
4. Log in to your Mac. You might be asked to log in again.
Thanks.
Greetings coaklnic000,
Let’s see if we can further isolate. When this occurs, are you able to launch Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage and further explore the situation? Also, then after a restart if go back to Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage, what has changed?
Thanks.
When I go back to about this Mac after a restart. The Storage is fine. Like normal
Gosh! A Mac mini with only 250 GB drive!?
For your info, my Mac mini which has a 1 TB SSD uses 247 GB for "System Data"...
How much free storage space does the Finder report on the SSD when you receive this message? You need to always keep at least 20GB of free storage space available at all times for the normal operation of macOS. Even if you just keep the bare minimum of 20GB free, macOS and the apps will tend to use that space up rather quickly due to temporary & cache file depending on your workload (some workloads will require keeping more than 20GB free). Rebooting the Mac clears out these temp & cache files until you start using your computer and those apps.
System data glitch
