System Files taking up 984 GB of space on 1 TB external SSD

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Level 1

4 points

System Files taking up 984 GB of space on 1 TB external SSD

I use a 1 TB external SSD to store images (mostly RAW & JPEGs, few TIFF files). Strictly images only and absolutely nothing else.

I use it on my 2022 MacBook Air M2.

Crazy enough I’ve run out of space on the external disk because my images take up 16 GB, and about 980 GB is used up by something called system files.

This is absurd.

I’m not tech savvy. Please give me a fast and simple solution to get rid of the nuisance system files without harming any of the existing images on the external SSD.

would greatly appreciate it if someone would guide me on this!

Thanks in advance

MacBook Air, macOS 14.6

Posted on Nov 14, 2024 10:28 PM

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Answer 1

TheLittles

Level 10

195,789 points

Nov 14, 2024 10:37 PM in response to ob97raji

ob97raji Said:

"System Files taking up 984 GB of space on 1 TB external SSD"

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Ridding of System Data on a Mac:

There is no direct way to do delete Sytem Data (formerly called "Other") 100% on a Mac. So, try the following: How to Clear System Data on Mac - Apple Community. Note that System Data is typically caches, which make you apps run or sufficiently.

For note...

Ridding of System Data on an iPhone:

As clearing of System Data on an iPhone, there is a strait forward way to rid of this. By Using my User Tip: How to Clear "Other" in your iPhone's Storage - Use Backup - Apple Community

Reply

Answer 2

TheLittles

Level 10

195,789 points

Nov 15, 2024 6:01 AM in response to ob97raji

ob97raji Said:

"System Files taking up 984 GB of space on 1 TB external SSD: Also I don’t even understand how System Data can take up 85% of the space on my external drive which I only use to store images! Its incredibly frustrating and even borderlining on making me pretty angry to just think about”

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Troubleshooting System Data on an External Drive:

So, what’s in the External Drive?

Is it Time Machine Backups? Or is it just for backing up data? On an external drive, System Data is likely part of the caches for Time Machine Backups. So, if it’s just data, you should export what you see to another external drive, and then format this one to APFS, using Disk Utility.

If it is Time Machine Backups, then one or is creating this —as for which one I anybody’s guess. Note that Apple requires formatting of external drives to APFS, in order for them to be used for Time Machine Backups. See here: Add, Delete, or Erase APFS Volumes in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support