System Data Section Huge

amacman001 wrote:

Hi! I've been using a 256GB MacBook Pro M1 on Ventura 13.0.

I have 89GB of System Data. Is this normal for macOS? Can I clean the data up?

Thanks!

What Apple used to label "Other" is now labeled "System Data".

How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

if you are still at a loss—

Try something like OmniDiskSweeper for a GUI to get a good look at itemized file size and location:

OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more

Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac This will give a more accurate representation of empt space on the drive.

Or Force a Reindex via Terminal Command “ sudo tmutil -E / “ without Quotation Marks 

What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?

GrandPerspective 

How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac

See used and available storage space on your Mac

Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Notation - If the user is using a cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner - suggest tweaking the Safety Net Feature in this software. It may be making additional Snap Shots that are not being Cloned to the Eternal Drive. If this should be the case, these Snap Shot could be using additional space on the drive 

The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category

Other / System Data: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.