System Data jumps to more than 100GB whenever there is a new macOS update! Downloading data that should be in iCloud?

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Level 1

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System Data jumps to more than 100GB whenever there is a new macOS update! Downloading data that should be in iCloud?

iCloud Desktop & Downloads seems to be downloading to my Mac and filling System Data whenever there is a new macOS update.

Take the macOS 16.4 update. As soon as this became available my System Data jumped to 108GB. Following the update my System Data was back to 45GB.

I think somehow a macOS update is triggering my Mac to download content that is synced in iCloud to my Mac.

Anyone else?

Mac mini, macOS 15.4

Posted on Apr 7, 2025 3:07 AM

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Answer 1

karenhmw Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 8, 2025 12:54 AM in response to muguy

That's what I thought the first time, because it had downloaded the 16.3 update already - but this time it hadn't downloaded 16.4 yet, I was actually worried it wouldn't have space to do so at the time I was trying! I have turned off automatically download updates to see if that changes things next time there is an update.

But also, macOS 18.4 isn't about 60GB big! It was definitely downloading stuff that was in iCloud and putting it on my Mac.

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Answer 2

muguy

Level 10

93,534 points

Apr 7, 2025 5:36 AM in response to karenhmw

That's probably a result of the new update downloading to your Mac.

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System Data jumps to more than 100GB whenever there is a new macOS update! Downloading data that should be in iCloud?

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