I'm running out of memory on my MacBook Pro (2017) running Ventura (13.2.1) I've trashed (and emptied) what I can, but don't know what to do about the "System Data" that is using 135GB out of the 500GB in the machine. Is all that System Data necessary?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13
Memory is defined as Random Access Memory or RAM for short.
Drive Capacity is defined but the Size and Capacity of the Internal Drive.
The two are not one and the same
Some aspects in the below have already been covered in the above suggestion from @Randall_2023 👍 and some new suggestions are now available
Manage Storage
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 15% to 20% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space.
Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac
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.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Notation - If the user is using a cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner - and https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/automated-maintenance-ccc-safetynet-folder suggest tweaking the Safety Net Feature in this software. It may be making additional Snap Shots that are not being Cloned to the Eternal Drive. If this should be the case, these Snap Shot could be using additional space on the drive
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: 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.
Memory is defined as Random Access Memory or RAM for short.
Drive Capacity is defined but the Size and Capacity of the Internal Drive.
The two are not one and the same
Some aspects in the below have already been covered in the above suggestion from @Randall_2023 👍 and some new suggestions are now available
Manage Storage
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 15% to 20% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space.
Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac
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.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Notation - If the user is using a cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner - and https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/automated-maintenance-ccc-safetynet-folder suggest tweaking the Safety Net Feature in this software. It may be making additional Snap Shots that are not being Cloned to the Eternal Drive. If this should be the case, these Snap Shot could be using additional space on the drive
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: 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.
Freeing up Drive Space
It is recommended to NOT use 3rd party utilities to clean your Mac or to use Antivirus software as they end up causing more problems than they are worth.
Here is a rundown on cleaning up the drive space:
It is considered optimal to alway keep at least 15% to 20% of the Total Drives’ Capacity to be kept as Empty Space, to allow the system to do general housekeeping tasks. Allowing the computer to drop below these levels will eventually cause reduced or poor system performance.
The following links can assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is using excessive amounts of drive space.
➡️ Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac
➡️ 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
Thanks very much to you and to P Phillips. I have been working on your suggestions, especially the one involving the /library. I am cautiously going thru it and deleting the larger files that I’m confident won’t get me in trouble. There are quite a few of them so I should be able to get my hard drive storage back to where it should be. Thanks also for the “lesson” on RAM……. Yes, I know the difference and was just sloppy in my description of the problem. (I was reminded of when I “cracked the case” on my Macintosh SE20 some decades ago in order to double my RAM from 40 to 80 MB, or whatever it was, a huge improvement that was expected to last my whole life!). Anyway, I will continue to clean house on my hard drive. Thank you both very much!
Thank you! Please see the message I posted to Randall. I really appreciate the guidance you both gave me
Welcome
"system data" using 1/3 of my memory
