169 GIGABYTES of "System data"??? Seriously??? And, I can't even access it? Why do they eve bother with selling 128GB storage?
I know. I'm sure I've offended sensibilities and apple will delete this shortly. We're even.
Mac mini, macOS 13.4
Could you check in Activity Monitor if some Spotlight processes like mds_stores or corespotlightd are writing lots of data to the disk? There seems to be a bug which has been present since Sonoma or Ventura which in some cases is especially active in Sequoia, perhaps when external USB drives are connected.
If the large amount of system data comes from Spotlight, it is written in the hidden .Spotlight-V100 folder at the root of the indexed volume.
Thanks, seaandnature, I checked. That doesn't seem to be causing it. I guess, even though the size of System Data, is exorbitant, the system takes care of making it fit on the available storage (which just seems weird to me). Maybe that is a big part of virtual memory. I don't know. I guess I am much less worried now with the release of 15.0.1, since most of my troubles that made me go seek answers have disappeared.
They should really hire me to scrutinize releases before the release. I'm a master at finding problems.
Thanks, again.
Thanks, Etresoft.
The only reason I went searching for unusual aspects of the system is because of the many other problems I encountered with 15.0 release. 15.0.1 seems to have fixed all of them except for one remnant left because of Safari not working. I made the mistake of downloading Chrome (ended up using DuckDuckGo (for the interim), which is pretty fine indeed). Chrome, though, left some remnants when I deleted it that I find in "Login items and Extensions". Google LLC and Google Updater remain in the "Allow in the background". I have them both turned off. I am beginning to think that Google LLC and Google Updater may not even exist any longer. I can't find a trace of them. But, I really wish I had never downloaded chrome. I'd love to assure myself they are really gone.
There are a couple of other quirks that are new and won't go away. Nothing that I'm too concerned about, but still...
You're right. I should have written 256 GB.
The thing is that System Data seems to adjust to the size of storage available. I wish they would just say that.
If you read the info on System Data, the way Apple explains it is that System Data is not available to the end user. I appreciate the insights and, if I really hit a wall, I will check into it.
Are you sure that it is just 'other data'? I am beginning to think that may be where virtual memory resides. That would make a lot of sense.
Whickwithy wrote:
... I made the mistake of downloading Chrome (ended up using DuckDuckGo (for the interim), which is pretty fine indeed). Chrome, though, left some remnants when I deleted it that I find in "Login items and Extensions". Google LLC and Google Updater remain in the "Allow in the background". I have them both turned off. I am beginning to think that Google LLC and Google Updater may not even exist any longer. I can't find a trace of them. But, I really wish I had never downloaded chrome. I'd love to assure myself they are really gone.
An EtreCheck report will resolve that uncertainty.
Personally I don't believe merely inactivating or "turning off" Google's system modifications will prove sufficient. Brave is an alternative that does not require surrendering control of your Mac to Google for the mere desire to use another browser. I mention this primarily due to the fact an astonishing number of people (including an overwhelming majority of Mac users) really have no idea of the implications of installing it.
John Galt wrote:
... I was backing up the iPhone periodically as usual.
It just occurred to me that I might have compared the sizes of archived iPhone backups to determine if they also grew commensurately in size. I seem to recall they did.
John Galt wrote:
You can even have less storage available, at least temporarily.
I forgot to add the punch line. They get frustrated and walk away. The next day, it has miraculously fixed itself.
I think I experienced that when I filled my iPad. But since I was aware of how it worked, I knew to set it aside for a bit and come back later.
I saw that post. EtreCheck revealed a multitude of contributing factors the OP brought on himself, and could probably have resolved easily enough. I was about to suggest posting a new EtreCheck report to point out the differences, but it the OP is satisfied with the result, fine.
Sometimes you want to take the win and walk away. 😄
As long as it keeps working, I'm fine. But, let's take it to the limit. If I have no files, apps, etc on the ssd and it has filled it so full with 'System Data' that I can't download the latest operating system then either they shouldn't be selling that size drive or something is broken.
Just saying. I have not experienced that. As I wrote elsewhere in here, since Sequoia 15.0 seemed to be causing so many problems, I started investigating and ran across this anomaly.
Believe me, I had no desire to use anything but Safari. I'll keep Brave in mind, but DuckDuckGo worked fine.
The problem is that the files just don't seem to exist. I was toying with the idea of reloading the OS but last time I did that things go weird afterwards.
Whickwithy wrote:
"All it needed was an erase and reinstall and its running like new."
When you say 'erase', you mean the OS? Or, all files?
The entire hard drive. That was a unique situation. The OP knew exactly what the storage was used for.
But, let's take it to the limit. If I have no files, apps, etc on the ssd and it has filled it so full with 'System Data' that I can't download the latest operating system then either they shouldn't be selling that size drive or something is broken.
Just saying. I have not experienced that.
So what are you saying? Going through the list of hypothetical things that could go wrong? One down, 10^38372988373 to go!
As I wrote elsewhere in here, since Sequoia 15.0 seemed to be causing so many problems, I started investigating and ran across this anomaly.
What problems? Please be specific. Sequoia has been one of the most trouble free operating system releases that I can remember. A few unfortunate people have succumbed to internet misinformation and made their lives far more complicated than they should have.
That is significant because of how insanely complicated the operating system is internally. It's easy the most complicated operating system ever made. If you go looking for problems, I guarantee you'll find them. And not by the ones or two, or even by the dozens, I'm talking thousands upon thousands of bugs.
If you are having a specific problem, please describe the problem. Describe what you were attempting, what you expected to happen, and what happened differently. Please be specific. A screenshot never hurts. But if you're just looking for problems, you can spend the rest of your life doing that. You'll be long dead before you find them all.
"reaches a high water mark" I'll try to watch for that but 169GB seems like a lot to me and it is staying steady.
Like you said, it is not causing problems so it is only of esoteric/eclectic interest.
I forgot to mention the other problem that is annoying. It's actually a change to how macos operates, I think, so I guess I just have to get used to it. I used to click on the desktop to get to finder from any other app. That no longer works. That also predated Sequoia, I'm pretty sure. Still. Annoying.
Whickwithy wrote:
Safari would only access the apple.com page. Nothing else. It wouldn't even go to communities on apple or anything else.
It would be better to focus on that specific problem. I've seen other people mention this problem. But there's a long list of potential causes. So far, the people that I've seen reporting this problem have been unwilling to attempt suggested fixes. And then other people chime in with related, but different problems and it all gets confusing.
I forgot to mention the other problem that is annoying. It's actually a change to how macos operates, I think, so I guess I just have to get used to it. I used to click on the desktop to get to finder from any other app. That no longer works. That also predated Sequoia, I'm pretty sure. Still. Annoying.
That might be a good topic for a new question. This thread is getting increasingly confusing. I'm really not sure what you are saying here. I can still click on the Desktop to get to the Finder from any other app.
I was going to try to delete a post (or, at least, a comment within a post) but I am unable to do so.
I will clarify instead. I misrepresented something that John Galt said. It was entirely wrong.
I am not sure how to address this further. I don't think it would be a good idea to replicate the comment. I expect the comment has been reported anyways, so I guess it will be deleted shortly, if not the whole chain of posts.
In my case, on one computer, the 'System Data' is staying pretty steadily at 169 GB. On my M1 Mac, it is even more disturbing, since it just says "calculating" without end.
"All it needed was an erase and reinstall and its running like new."
When you say 'erase', you mean the OS? Or, all files?
169 GIGABYTES of "System data"???
