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256gb of System Data!
- Thread starter scouser75
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Have you selected that large file and “freed up space”? I mention OneDrive because I was puzzled why mine was so large, and it turned out to be all my OneDrive files (not in documents) Safe Mode can sometimes resolve problems, so it’s worth a shot.
It sounds like that file is still taking up space on your computer somewhere. Have you searched for it by name? Look in /Users/currentuser/Documents/OneDrive/Documents Sync/
and in
/Users/currentuser/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive/Documents Sync and see if you find it.
I went through the same issue a while back and there were files I though I’d deleted in the Containers folder.
Embarrassing question - where do I enter those commands?
I found the iTunes folder that went to OneDrive and was then deleted from my Mac. It's sitting in the One Drive folder, but as this is in the cloud, it shouldn't take up storage on my Mac, should it?
I found the iTunes folder that went to OneDrive and was then deleted from my Mac. It's sitting in the One Drive folder, but as this is in the cloud, it shouldn't take up storage on my Mac, should it?
@GLTirebiter show's the path to the location.
Select 'Go' from desktop and hold alt to show Library option.
Gotta ask…do you have OneDrive Files on Demand working, so you can choose which files and folders to sync to your Mac?
Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Mac - Microsoft Support
Learn how to set up OneDrive Files On-Demand on a Mac, so you can access all your files without having to download all of them and use storage space on your Mac.
Thanks GLTrebiter. I found the music library in both these locations. Does this mean that's what's showing in my system data? If so, if I delete these files, will the file also disappear from OneDrive?
Took me a while to figure out how to do this but got there in the end 😂
Gotta ask…do you have OneDrive Files on Demand working, so you can choose which files and folders to sync to your Mac?
Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Mac - Microsoft Support
Learn how to set up OneDrive Files On-Demand on a Mac, so you can access all your files without having to download all of them and use storage space on your Mac.support.microsoft.com
I'll have a look at this tomorrow as think I may need a bit of time to do this 😁
I’m not a OneDrive expert, just a user who had a similar problem. it’s strange the files show in those folders and not in your OneDrive folder, correct? I would try to copy those files to a usb drive or something before you delete.
If you have Files on Demand, you should be able to right click on the big folder or file and select “Free Up Space” which takes it off your drive but keeps the files in OneDrive.
The file also shows in my One Drive folder on Finder, and then the 2 folders mentioned above.
I had Files on Demand for the large file in /Users/currentuser/Documents/OneDrive/Documents Sync/ and have asked to Free Up Space. It's going through a sync, which I suspect at 260gb will take some time. I'll feedback once it's synced, which probably be in 2 days!
Files on Demand wasn't available in /Users/currentuser/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive/Documents Sync
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Right, I I freed up space from /Users/currentuser/Documents/OneDrive/Documents Sync/ and the system storage went down from 256gb to 58gb.
So it seems only some of the original One Drive file of 260gb counted towards the 256gb of system data.
Also, that file in One Drive will now need to be re-downloaded should I need it (which is fine with me as it's only a back up of my music library).
I have no idea what the 56gb of system data is now, but that's OK as I have more than enough storage space now. And one day soon, I'll get DaisyDisk or Grand Perspective to see what this data is.
In the meantime, than you lads for all the help in this. It's very much appreciated. I've been so out of the loop with all things Mac for a few years and this has helped me to get back into it a bit. A helluva lot more to know, research and learn.
Glad we have a happy ending here! I was in the same boat, lost track of Macs for about a decade until I recently got a M1 Mini. enjoy your Mac!
I have a 2TB SSD in my 2017 iMac. I recently noticed my System Data is taking up 1.72TB... I updated to the latest available version of the OS to Ventura 13.6.7 this morning, but that didn't change anything. Any idea what could be taking up so much space and how I can delete it if it's not needed?
As mentioned earlier, DaisyDisk is the tool for seeing what's eating up your disk space. There's a fully functional demo.
As a general point, I've learned something about cloud storage lately that might point you in the right direction. I have noticed, with both iCloud and GoogleDrive that they use your accountname/Library/CloudStorage to store copies of whatever you copy to their clouds. So as to let you have access to the data even without a online connection. If you delete files or folders from this location, they will disappear from disk and cloud. If you right-click and select "Remove download" (or similar wording) it will be deleted from disk, but remain in the cloud. Files only in the cloud will also have a cloud-with-arrow symbol on it, and lets you download from cloud to disk with a click.
I find Apple's icloud confusing, especially when using it for Documents and Desktop. Very unintuitive. But I do use googledrive for some special sharing stuff, and when I upload to it, it gets copied to the CloudStorage folder also. I can then delete the local copy if I want. I also have the CloudStorage folder excluded from my backups.
As a general point, I've learned something about cloud storage lately that might point you in the right direction. I have noticed, with both iCloud and GoogleDrive that they use your accountname/Library/CloudStorage to store copies of whatever you copy to their clouds. So as to let you have access to the data even without a online connection. If you delete files or folders from this location, they will disappear from disk and cloud. If you right-click and select "Remove download" (or similar wording) it will be deleted from disk, but remain in the cloud. Files only in the cloud will also have a cloud-with-arrow symbol on it, and lets you download from cloud to disk with a click.
I find Apple's icloud confusing, especially when using it for Documents and Desktop. Very unintuitive. But I do use googledrive for some special sharing stuff, and when I upload to it, it gets copied to the CloudStorage folder also. I can then delete the local copy if I want. I also have the CloudStorage folder excluded from my backups.
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I do use iCloud - so I imagine that could be contributing to this issue. Correct?
I've been seeing DaisyDisk mentioned and I've downloaded the trial. $9.99, I'll just buy it. I'm testing it out now. It's showing 1.6TB of snapshots (and 1.6T still hidden). If I delete the snapshots, won't they just be back tomorrow anyway? I believe they only exist for 24 hours...
edit: I went to delete the snapshots but it says it needs to be done in Carbon Copy Cloner... When I go there the snapshots appear to be taking 0gb. I just don't know......
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A couple of important points:
Snapshots are a function introduced with the APSF filsystem. A snapshot is basically a list of files needed to restore a disk to a previous point in time. If a file is on any snapshot's 'list', it will be prevented from being deleted from the disk, even though it's not visible on the disk in Finder. So snapshots don't contain files at all, they just prevent files from being lost that are needed to restore a disk to a certain state, or point in time.
So if you delete a snapshot, it deletes this 'list' of files that are needed for a restore, and therefore any file in this snapshot that is not in any other snapshot, is then considered free space, and can be overwritten.
Snapshots will not 'just come back'. They're a basic fuction of the maOS, but they have to be created. Enabling Time Machine enables snapshots. CCC creates snapshots, but you can ask it not to.
Best way to manage snapshots is using Disk Utilities.
Select a disk in the left sidebar.
Select 'view snapshots' in the view menu.
Select an old snapshot, and click the little minus sign to delete it.
Chances are that you'll find hourly snapshots for weeks and months.
You might start by deleting snapshots up to a month ago f.ex.
Then, it might not be instant, but you will probably see free space increasing. And check with Daisydisk agan.
CCC can manage snapshots too.
Thank you. I needed to wait but those snapshots eventually showed file sizes. I went ahead and deleted one last night, and this morning I now seem to have all that space back. The file I deleted was about 150GB, but somehow that must have triggered something to free up the remaining space.
