Why is Sequoia taking 154gb of system data? Need to clear it!

[gpspad]

I have a 2019 iMac running Sequoia 15.3.2 (24D81) with a 512gb SSD drive. When the SSD drive was getting full I took the steps of moving the photo library to the iCloud and using iCloud storage for files. But I am now down to 30gb free storage.

When i check the storage used system data is taking over 154gb of storage. I checked time capsule backups and there are only two snap shots of 8gb each.

Any ideas or suggestion on what is using all that system data. I feel I really need to get that number down.

 

[baconcat_8964]

System Data in Storage Settings isn’t just files and data for macOS, but everything not listed in another category, and even that is only approximate, a rough estimate.[1]

I would recommend to use tools like GrandPerspective to scan your entire disk, and find out which folder uses much more storage than you expected.

 

[gpspad]

I have Daisy Disk and scanned the drive.

Metadata and something called SpotlightKnoledgeEvents is taking up 104gb of space

Any good way to get that down?

 

[Morac]

From what I’ve read it’s safe to delete the contents of the folders, but not the folders themselves.

See https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255903107?sortBy=rank

 

[Fishrrman]

Just an observation (doesn't help the OP)...

All those folks buying "the minimum amount" of RAM and SSD in new Macs (such as the Mini m4 with only 256gb of storage) are going to find themselves getting pushed "up against the wall" of available storage sooner rather than later.

16gb RAM and 512gb storage is just about "the bare minimum" for any new Mac these days.

When I bought my (Apple refurbished) m4 Mini a couple of weeks' back, I chose 32gb RAM and a 1tb SSD.

Yes, it cost more "up front".
But I sense that the RAM/SSD "headroom" will keep it usable for a considerably longer period of time than if it were 16/256.

Who here remembers the 2014 Mini with only 4gb of soldered-in RAM...?

 

[nmt1900]

It looks like Sequoia is unable to calculate the storage amounts with Apple Intelligence in disabled state. System data is not calculated and is therefore marked as purgeable - which might lead to unexpected issues.

Even Finder can hallucinate - I have less than 300 GB of used storage, but Finder indicated once that /System folder has size of 385 GB. Something is fundamentally broken as this problem is quite widespread...

 

[MacCheetah3]

But I am now down to 30gb free storage. [...] I feel I really need to get that number down.

Not necessarily. I reached near that point on my M1 Mac mini, also with 512GB/500GB SSD. Yet, it wasn’t actually a problem.

As a knowledgeable computer user for decades, I know having a low amount of free space (i.e., <25% available) on storage media causes it to perform far less efficiently. I assure you, I have experience with full HDDs. I wasn’t noticing any on the M1 mini. Additionally, I have a license for DriveDX, therefore, I can check up or otherwise monitor drive health. The drive health never declined excessively (due to apparently low free space or otherwise). When I traded in the M1 mini a few months back, the drive health was reported as 97% with (IIRC) upwards of 30 TBW after ~3.5 years. With that said, along the way, I did research on what I could clear out to create more free space.

Which files are purgeable? Look with new versions of Sparsity and Precize

Where are all those purgeable files? Two updated utilities to help you find them: Precize and Sparsity, which will crawl folders checking which files are purgeable, sparse or clones.

eclecticlight.co

It looks like Sequoia is unable to calculate the storage amounts with Apple Intelligence in disabled state. System data is not calculated and is therefore marked as purgeable - which might lead to unexpected issues.

Even Finder can hallucinate - I have less than 300 GB of used storage, but Finder indicated once that /System folder has size of 385 GB. Something is fundamentally broken as this problem is quite widespread...

Where does macOS get its volume free space figures from?

After studying thousand of log entries in less than 2 seconds, this is how macOS updates its values for purgeable and available space. But who uses them?

eclecticlight.co

Ultimately, let the system manage its own resources. If you want more space, spend time reviewing and streamlining documents, media files, messages, etc. If you haven’t in awhile, you’ll probably be surprised how much is irrelevant now. To ease the process, at least temporarily, sort the content of folders by “Date Last Opened” or “Date Modified."

And, yes, if necessary, offload files to external storage:

When the SSD drive was getting full I took the steps of moving the photo library to the iCloud and using iCloud storage for files.

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

To save storage space on your Mac, you can move your Photos library to a different storage device.

support.apple.com

Change Files settings in Music on Mac

In Music on Mac, set options for folder locations, automatic updates, and more.

support.apple.com

How to move your iTunes library to an external hard drive

If your Mac's hard drive is getting full, you can move your entire iTunes library to an external hard drive to free up space.

www.imore.com

Change Files settings in the Apple TV app on Mac

In the Apple TV app on Mac, set options for folder locations, automatic delete options, and more.

support.apple.com

Last though certainly not least, ensure you have at least one backup copy.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

If you have a USB drive or other external storage device, you can use Time Machine to automatically back up your files, including apps, music, photos, email, and documents.

support.apple.com

How to make sure Time Machine backs up external drives

A reader wants to shift his Photos and iTunes libraries to an external drive and ensure they're backed up by Time Machine.

www.macworld.com

 

[Morac]

FYI, if you delete files it takes about 24 hours before that space actually becomes free on the disk. You can check this by using the df Linux command. I believe it also only frees up if plugged in. If MacOS needs more space before that it will start deleted other purgeable space like files downloaded from iCloud drive.

 

[nmt1900]

df shows purgeable space as used space - which is same as third-party file browsers do.

 

[MacCheetah3]

df shows purgeable space as used space - which is same as third-party file browsers do.

I think, that discrepancy — Disk Utility should show the ~199 GB available — was part of why I looked up “Purgeable."

 

[nmt1900]

Disk Utility shows purgeable space in same way as Finder does. Worse problem is that System Settings -> Storage is not able to calculate "System data" when Apple Intelligence is disabled. This case with about 70 GB of purgeable data is from the situation when Apple Intelligence is disabled.

When Apple Intelligence is enabled amount of purgeable data decreases to under 10 GB and System data is able to be calculated under System Settings. When Apple Intelligence is disabled, purgeable space increases back to about 70 GB and Storage menu is unable to show amount of System Data. This has been the case from at least 15.2 if not even earlier...

 

[MacCheetah3]

Disk Utility shows purgeable space in same way as Finder does.

I was referring to this (i.e., one level up):

Versus:

For what it's worth, I have Apple Intelligence enabled. Also, my “System Data” is currently reported as ~20 GB.

 

[nmt1900]

"One level up" is not a volume but "volume group" which is shared by multiple volumes - including "Data". Purgeable data is accounted by volume. Boot volume is a sealed snapshot which does not have purgeable data in it.

It system is unable to calculate "System Data" then it might be wrong in calculating purgeable data as well, which means that we cannot be sure if some some userspace data could be wrongly marked as purgeable.

I once tried to turn Apple Intelligence on for a longer time than "just for testing" - and it finally "went wrong" as system started lagging and was unable to open any of System settings panes (window was empty). Only way out was rebooting - and this is not old machine (M3 Air with 16 GB RAM). I would not be turning Apple Intelligence on before it loses BETA from its' icon...

 

[Morac]

I have Apple Intelligence enabled and my "System Data" shows as 84 GB. System Data includes anything that doesn't fit into the other categories so for example everything in HomeBrew (/opt/homebrew = 8.1 GB) is considered System Data. Same thing with python cache, etc.

As a FYI, Apple Intelligence's size is reported under MacOS. On my machine it takes up 5.69 GB.