How to stop imac from collecting more than 500GB of system data

carloi wrote:

I have a 2021 imac M1 running on OSX Ventura 13.6. I haven't updated it because I usually wait for the current OS to stabilize first before doing so. The unit is used primarily for photoshop and no video editing. About a week ago I was surprised to get a scratch disk warning as I usually save everything on an external hard drive and work edits are saved in the cloud. I proceeded to do the normal route of deleting time machine screenshots (ended up deleting the whole thing just to get more space), deleting apps I seldom use (installed from my previous job), and transferring most files and documents on to separate external drives. I now have less than 200GB worth of actual files (documents and apps combined) but my system data is still showing 600GBs. Can anyone help with clearing out the System Data files?

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/5f643e31-ab07-442d-9902-0a98323d4e1b

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.

There are areas of the Operating System which we users have control over and that is the User Account Folder ( Home Folder )

All other areas are not accessible

As the computer has already Alerted the User that it is running out of Empty Space.

You have done a lot of work to clear out un-needed files and applications.

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

GrandPerspective 

View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support (CA)

See used and available storage space on your Mac

Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

If there a Suite of Adobe Applications  used on this computer ?

They may create some very large cache files that can be removed. Though, the Adobe cache files will be recreated as the Applications needs them.

https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/premiere-pro/kb/clear-cache.html

The same clearing of System Cache files can be achieved by booting into Safe Mode

They will be recreated as the System Requires 

You should have a lot more categories of storage than just Documents, Apps, and Trash and Others. That display is generated by Spotlight and anything it cannot categorize falls into System Data.

Reindex Spotlight and check your storage again.

Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

An effective way is to clean the system and app cache.

1. Open Finder and select "Go" from the menu.
2. Choose "Go to Folder" and type ~/Library/Caches/.
3. Delete files and folders within the Caches folder that are taking up a lot of space.
4. Repeat the process for /Library/Caches/ (you might need administrator access).
5. Similarly, check ~/Library/Logs/ and /Library/Logs/ for large log files.

If you're looking to regain some free space on your boot drive and use Time Machine regularly do the following:

1 - open Disk Utility.

2 - select the volume with the same name as the drive icon on your Desktop.

3 - look in the APFS Snapshots on "XXXXX - Data"

4 - the rest is described in this screenshot:

Also check your Downloads folder and delete any unneeded installer dimgs. Some users have reported up to 2-3 GB in there that could be deleted.

P.S. I just checked and removed 8-10 snapshots from my boot drive and regained 6 GB of space.

Your are welcome

Safe Mode for Apple Silicon computer is different than for Intel Computers

To assist in that effort this link and close the Apple Silicon Method >>  Safe Mode.

Cleaning caches is of use in a single scenario: if you have a corrupted cache file. Otherwise removing them slows your Mac down, and is utterly pointless, as the OS will recreate them.