117 GB of system files??!?

[Agentgfunk]

Not sure what's going on here, but I realized how quickly my Mac was filling up and I see that there are currently over 117GB of system files on my Mac. I'm running Mojave on my mid-2012 13" Macbook Pro. Is this normal?!!? That seems like way too much. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fishrrman]

Download DiskWave from here:
https://diskwave.barthe.ph
It's small in size and free.

Open DiskWave and go to the preferences.
Put a checkmark in "show invisible files".
Close preferences.

The DiskWave window shows you all your drives in plain English (no ridiculous graphical formats).
Click on any drive.
Now, you'll see what's ON the drive, listed in order of "largest to smallest".
You can easily locate what's eating up your space.

What is it?

 

[MIKX]

MainMenu Pro is also good for finding invisible files and lots of other tasks.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Seeing what hidden files exist does not necessarily answer the question - you'd need to know what those hidden files represent.

When System is that large, it's almost undoubtedly due to cache files. Caches are normally self-managing - they may be allowed to grow larger if you have sufficient disk space to support them, and they should reduce in size if you're running low on storage. Caches may also be temporarily large if you're in the process of adding your Photos library, Desktop and/or Documents folders to iCloud for the first time.

Caches sometimes fail to self-manage. Temporarily booting to Safe Mode will clear cache space - just one of a variety of things Safe Mode does. Right after you boot to Safe Mode you can restart normally. https://support.apple.com/HT201262

I'm pretty sure that caches for third-party cloud services like DropBox also still appear in System. By default, DropBox keeps a copy of your entire cloud archive on your HD - there's a setting that allows you to not store a full copy on your HD.

 

[mikzn]

Check the Library folder - you may have some apps that store files in assorted folders like "Group Containers"

For example my outlook folder is 38g - outlook folder UBF8T346G9.Office

I also have 2 ipads and 2 iphones backed up several times each - so that data is also stored in the library

My system shows 118g very close to yours

Your drive is almost full - good to keep 30% available - IMHO

Maybe get a larger drive or move some of the documents to an external drive?

 

[Hastings101]

I just had the same problem today, turns out some old games and apps were taking up huge chunks (30gb+) of storage in my Library/Application Support/ folder but Storage Manager showed it as System too. I'm sure the apps above work great, but I also can recommend GrandPerspective for anyone else who has this issue at some point and can't reclaim space even after deleting things.

 

[throAU]

It may also be time machine local backups.

plug in an external time machine disk and they will go away. they will also go away as required if you need the space.

 

[DarshanBhokare]

I have deletes this game couple of months ago yet the space is being utilised. Can anyone explain this or state any possible solution?
Thanks

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I have deletes this game couple of months ago yet the space is being utilised. Can anyone explain this or state any possible solution?
Thanks

The file path shows this is buried in Library > Application Support > Steam (?) > steam (?) > common > Counter-Strike Global Offensive, rather than in the top-level Applications folder. So likely the app was not fully uninstalled.

What happens if you click the Delete... button? Do you get an error message? If so, what is it?

 

[Angle Loss]

I think this is some sort of bug. Both my 2013 MBP and my parent's Mac Mini are showing huge System storage (338GB on mine!). I went through my parent's computer with a fine tooth comb and couldn't find what was causing it.