Reclaim storage/space from System Data in macOS

Рет қаралды 100,891

2 жыл бұрын

macOS is pretty great and bad at the same time, communicating how and what is taking up storage on one's Mac. Most users are probably familiar with Storage in about this Mac. It's a quick, high-level view of all your drives connected to your Mac but it doesn't tell you what System Data is.
My Patreon:
/ dmug
The question comes up very frequently in macOS forums and user groups as macOS does a bad job of explaining what/where/why System Data can vary so wildly. This video walks through the process of how to reclaim lost storage on System data.
I noticed I forgot to really clarify ~/Library (the Library folder located in Users). This is hidden by default under modern macOS and must be unhidden by either hitting get info on the User folder and checking "Show Library" or showing invisible files. Still getting the hang of on-screen presentations with live narration. Also, if anyone noticed the slight hiss, I didn't check the levels of my interfere so I had to do serious gain correction. Live and learn.
I have to warn users, its a tedious process, and I'd take recommendations or tips as well as I'm trying to demystify it as much as possible.
I've made a written version of this guide as well.
blog.greggant.com/posts/2022/...

Пікірлер: 138

@desmondmyers Жыл бұрын

thank you for taking this to a granular level. I have been trying to solve this issue for several years and this approach helped me finally. For anyone else struggling: it turns out my issue was with Mail app. I have a 300gig text file in Logs that was created because in Connection Doctor I had “send logs” enabled in mail’s preferences. I’m so relieved right now! Thank you so much!

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Ouch, that’s a mighty log file.

@josephbenjamin6426 Жыл бұрын

Best video on the topic I’ve ever come across! (And pretty up to date!)

@0michelle2000 Жыл бұрын

Your video has answered my questions. Thank you very much for sharing this method that works for all platforms.

@4444aa Жыл бұрын

I am glad I now know about "Show all sizes" now Also, even if small (5-50MB) files don't seem like a lot of storage, they do add up and I recommend spending a weekend deleting as many as possible. I've cleaned up 30GB of my almost full 256GB hard drive just by spending 1-2 hours deleting them.

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Yep, tedious but it’d what it takes.

@gameplaygold286 Жыл бұрын

A friend of mine has recommended me this tutorial. And i couldn't' be more happier

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Tell your friend, thanks for sending you my way. Glad it helped.

@nonmongolianchicken847 Жыл бұрын

I used the Disk Inventory and legit saved like 40+ gb because it showed me EVERYTHING and where it was. Tsym for the video.

@dorothysins6436 Жыл бұрын

I m so happy to find this tutorial. It's working for me. Thank you for sharing

@pkemn2193 Жыл бұрын

This is super helpful. Hope I can rewatch and apply this information! 🙇‍♂️ thank you so much 🙏

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Yeah, it's not pretty. I'm hoping this video will end up out of date sometime in the future but I've been doing this for _years_ now. I have unearthed random system from 2006 on my main desktop that somehow traveled from using restoring from backups.

@valeriocostilla3232 Жыл бұрын

My Macbook went from 16 GB available to 249 GB available. You are a god. Thanks for this video! 👏🏽

@BREADWITHCHEESE8749 8 ай бұрын

hes not god

@karn3583 Жыл бұрын

This will save you buying a new mac !!, super super helpful video. Keep up the great work.

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Happy to hear you found it useful and I'm glad you didn't have to buy a new computer.

@TrangHuyen-nj8fo 3 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot! I’ve found there were 2 screen videos automatically taken and accounted for 100GB. Hic you really save my life man.

@N0TBR4ND0N Жыл бұрын

THANK YOUUUU I WAS JUST THINKING ABT GETTING A NEW COMPUTER YOU REALLY SAVED MEEE

@YashDeore-lz3hm Ай бұрын

pointed out the issue in a very precise manner, thanks a lot.

@mancababan 20 күн бұрын

I never knew there were hidden files and deleted the single file culprit that took up 78 GB of my system data storage. This video is a saver! Thanks a lot.

@quitasolovely7 10 ай бұрын

This helped me! Great video!

@elsaman Жыл бұрын

such a life saver mac guide. thanks a lot

@Sora2314 20 күн бұрын

My MacBook was completely full and I managed to clear out almost 30 GB thanks to this video. Kinda crazy how there's just useless files laying around from apps I already uninstalled. You'd think it would get rid of that.

@dmug 20 күн бұрын

I’d be sure great if they made that of a feature in the operating system, right?

@zchovan Жыл бұрын

Amazing video. Thank you!! Subscribed. Channel looks great!

@gurpalsingh5768 Жыл бұрын

Amazing tutorial buddy!

@heatherh3099 Ай бұрын

thank you! I just went from 16GB available to 364 GB available. Found 4 screen recordings that were the culprits! phew. This is a great tutorial. learned so much.

@dmug Ай бұрын

Glad I could help!

@zecaveman1053 Жыл бұрын

I just adore your videos

@csburnitz Жыл бұрын

You did a great job of going through cleaning manually! I found an interesting solution that may be helpful. If you boot your mac into safe boot, then restart, typically it can clear out at least half of the used space in 'System Files'. It is not clear what is being removed, but I have not experienced any issues in doing this.

@dmug Жыл бұрын

I'll have to look into that, my first guess is safe mode likely nukes the freeze states and previous caches as part of the safe boot eliminate any possibility of errors existing in cache/freeze states. Depending on the applications, this could be quite a bit of space or not much. Rebooting always will remove some caches, mostly the virtual memory so a fresh boot will always free up space but will inevitably be reclaimed as you use your computer daily. Safe boot might be a time saver in regards to manually managing freeze states and cache.

@flexxwilliamz514 6 ай бұрын

This definitely worked for me. Thank you man!

@kozluplays Жыл бұрын

My guy thank you so damn much... knew hidden files were there but couldn't find how to show them

@darioaapl 26 күн бұрын

absolute hero. thank you!

@ThePoiky Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much this was driving me crazy

@firecrafter5642 Жыл бұрын

Super fast and easy tutorial

@user-tv6nt3wm1i Жыл бұрын

I cannot believe what I am seeing it with my eyes! LOOL TY SO MUCH!

@omersaitaydn9729 Жыл бұрын

I tried the method and it worked with me

@dorothysins6436 Жыл бұрын

I tried on my Android device and it works. Thanks buddy.

@SandraSantos-jx6gk Жыл бұрын

Great video tutorial it's working on my device iOS

@yanishagen7066 Жыл бұрын

YOU SAVED ME, THANK YOUUUUU!!!

@DarkandTwisted Жыл бұрын

Hope this works for me. My Mac has 500BG of storage, but I did a fresh install last night, and it says I only have 153 GB of space. What the bloody hell. 331.44 is other volume. What is this other volumes?

@BartBacker 2 ай бұрын

THANK YOU SO MUCH

@michaelkphoto8344 2 жыл бұрын

As always, a great video, thanx! Wish there was something similar about the iPhone/iOS.

@user-tv6nt3wm1i Жыл бұрын

Wooow that's that's what I'm talking about .. you're the best !

@Saleh-le2zf 10 ай бұрын

YOU ARE THE BEST!!! thank you so much. I wish you a very good life. 🍻

@vedantchaudhari3191 Жыл бұрын

thank you so much sir u saved me and my Mac thank you so much really.

@georgecav Жыл бұрын

I am sorry but i cannot work out where you went to after outlining the various categories of system data files ie where did you open that winow from

@marklstreet Жыл бұрын

Best video ever, I can’t believe I have over 100gb of free space. I had 5gb yesterday 😂

@krzysztofgrucel9046 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the share

@anthonys.visuals 8 ай бұрын

thank you so much

@nicksigalas4498 Жыл бұрын

My hard drive storage shows 197GB used space but all the subfiles inside (including the hidden ones) add up to under 110GBs and they all appear with a number in size so I just added them. Where are the hidden 80+GBs ???

@nulu-the-great 8 ай бұрын

I cleared 300GB, thanks a bunch!

@hogwardsstudent8422 Жыл бұрын

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, the disk inventory x found a movie that was like 100 GB that i didnt even know existed, if that doesnt deserve a sub idk what does

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Dang, that is one seriously large movie. I’m glad you found this useful.

@paramasivamchidambaram5953 Жыл бұрын

this hack worked 100%!!! it's amazing

@NikosKatsikanis Жыл бұрын

why my size column says -- for each folder

@biancacarandang-ze8bi Жыл бұрын

thank you so much 😻😻 i owe you my life /hj

@drakev. Жыл бұрын

I’m not that tech savvy and I have a storage issue with my MacBook Pro. How do I resolve this if the “Macintosh HD” location isn’t present on the finder side tab? I can’t get access to the clutter files

@drakev. Жыл бұрын

Nevermind, the location was hidden in my side bar preferences. Excellent video by the way, it helps out a lot.

@Brigitte_Cantin Жыл бұрын

Here's a stupid question for you, where do the deleted clips from imovie go? My hard drive fills up so fast I never know what to delete 😢

@mac8827 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!!

@redmatrice4709 Жыл бұрын

i just want to add this command for xcode user "xcrun simctl delete unavailable" in terminal, it helped me clean up more than 30gb by deleting unavailable simulators, but i think it will a smart move to know what this command do before running it

@thechampionslounge5640 Жыл бұрын

It wasn’t my cache is was unreal engine but with ur help I was able to find it!

@nickarcabascio9774 Жыл бұрын

Disk Inventory X is only showing 67.8GB of my 256GB hard drive. It's a great visual layout but I think most of the system data I'm trying to address has been missed. Has anyone else encountered this?

@essare108 Жыл бұрын

thanks a lot. helpful. subscribed. could you guide how o delete nused developer tools, xcode junk etc also?.

@dmug Жыл бұрын

I used a guide similar to this when I had to nuke a borked Xcode a few years back: dzone.com/articles/how-to-completely-uninstall-xcode-from-mac

@davejohnsonmusic 2 жыл бұрын

I recently did a Mojave upgrade over an existing High Sierra install and I somehow gained back almost 100GB? I'm still baffled. Everything has been working fine thus far. Any ideas what got deleted? I mean I'm not complaining, I was about to pull the plug on a new boot SSD because I previously only had about 25% free disk space.

@dmug 2 жыл бұрын

Without knowing much details, I'd guess some it was caches and containers as those get cleared out at install and perhaps desyncing from iCloud? Hard to say.

@pkemn2193 Жыл бұрын

Starting to absolutely hate my new iMac because of this systemdata mess. Even when I restore to factory settings, doesn’t take long before it starts again..systemdata taking all my space

@user-ib9ej1dw9c Жыл бұрын

thxs for your answer... i am trying to cleanup my laptop to create more space , when i go to about this mac and then storage and then manage and then documents and i start deleting docs that are pdfs the OSStatus error-5000 comes out thank u

@dmug Жыл бұрын

You may need to try and delete the few files that are giving you problems via the terminal but first I’d run the disk utility repair on your boot drive to make sure there aren’t any issues.

@Jaroma_Official 2 жыл бұрын

Hi! so this system data just appeared right after trying to backup my phone and it saying "not enough storage to backup". Im assuming there's an invisible file or something concerning the backup. Any idea how to remove?

@dmug 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like more so to do with not having enough free space on your computer for your phone backup, you’ll likely need to free up more space from various places (downloads, docs, apps) as well

@Jaroma_Official 2 жыл бұрын

@@dmug really weird as I have 200Gb free storage, but now since I tried and it failed... I have "System Data" Taking 100GB of storage

@dmug 2 жыл бұрын

@@Jaroma_Official In that case, you'll need to show invisible files and sort your libraries by size to see if you have any easy offenders to track down. Unfortunately, there isn't a short cut other than the annoying process of sifting through data.

@noemitessacunden1735 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much🙏

@thbadmin7751 Жыл бұрын

How do I reclaim the "other" space?

@miguimau 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the guide. I use DaisyDisk.

@dmug 2 жыл бұрын

I’ll have to check out that one. There’s some legit tools out there that might do this much more easily, but this is how I’ve done it for like 2 decades.

@rooseveltbrown3854 Жыл бұрын

Hi, My Mac won't let me delete my files because it's too full. Error message says, "The operation can't be complete because the disk is full." Can you please share any info you have to helpe fix this? Thank you in advance.

@dmug Жыл бұрын

I've actually encountered this. You'll probably need to identify at least one or several large files and use the terminal to remove them using the rm command. Unfortunately this is a lot to explain in a youtube comment. You'd type rm (with a space) and drag that file onto the terminal window to create a path to that file, then hit return. This will remove said file. If you have any major apps that have caches, you can try dumping those. Lastly, you could try downloading Onyx onto an external drive and using it to dump all the logs / caches to hopefully free up enough space to delete files.

@FormulaTechie Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@lorencbami Жыл бұрын

is there a setting Called Program*, its default is set to *Agressive TEwNice tutorialch is making that sNice tutorialtty static soft, change that one, once to

@GlorifiedPizza Жыл бұрын

Will wiping my Mac and restoring from backup fix this problem? Or will the orphaned files still be in the backup?

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Y’know I’m not sure if Time Machine backup. My guess is Time Machine isn’t that smart and would bring back the orphans.

@sherrym9264 11 ай бұрын

Thank you! This was so helpful to find out why I’m almost out of storage. Under Outlook, the Message Attachment folder is 895.6 GB. That’s not a typo! Are these files safe to delete?

@dmug 11 ай бұрын

Yes if you don’t need them, you’ll lose old email attachments

@sherrym9264 11 ай бұрын

@@dmug im looking at those files. It’s showing dozens dated today. I haven’t sent or received email attachments today. Hundreds show from the last 7 days, and that’s not the case either. Im a typical email user, I send/receive attachments occasionally but not thousands in the last month or two. Any idea what’s going on?

@sherrym9264 11 ай бұрын

@dmug 11 ай бұрын

@@sherrym9264 not a clue since I’m not an outlook user, might put it to user group

@daveangeloobico7028 Жыл бұрын

HOLY SHIT THANK GOD SOME NON BULLSHIT VIDEO THANK YOU AND I DONT HAVE TO FACTORY RESET MY MAC

@user-ib9ej1dw9c Жыл бұрын

what do i do when get this icon saying the operation couldn't be completed (OSStatus error-5000.)

@dmug Жыл бұрын

The macOS error "OSStatus error-5000" is a generic error code that can occur for various reasons. It usually indicates a problem with the operating system or with an application that is running on the system. Unfortunately, without more context, it's difficult to determine the exact cause of the error. However, some common reasons for this error code are: Permissions issues: The error may occur if a user does not have the required permissions to perform an action. Corrupted files or system settings: The error can also occur if a file or system setting is corrupted, preventing the system from completing a task. Network or connectivity issues: If an application or system component relies on network connectivity, an error can occur if there are issues with the network or connection.

@Okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk9 9 ай бұрын

i saved over 150gb thanks

@ManontheMoon225 9 ай бұрын

But what if you dont have anything on your computer? Or very little and it randomly shows 937 gb of system data making it full. Theres nothing to delete....

@ManontheMoon225 7 ай бұрын

Update: my computer guy put some program on that broke down the system data into what it actually was.. large 4k video files, etc that I had forgotten were still taking up space! Easy fix

@thenickname6234 Жыл бұрын

The thing with most space taking up is “Other” how do I find out what other is and how to delete it?

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Other if I’m remembering correctly is pre Mojave, before they listed it as system data, which is basically the same thing

@holidayturnpike 2 ай бұрын

I am on os monterey and it's a lost cause. There are no folders in Library that expose the useless disk sizes shown in these videos

@jakeyounglol Жыл бұрын

why isnt anyone talking about the appleinternal folder at 0:56

@SD-ff1je 8 ай бұрын

Won't the CleanMyMacX app help here?

@zichi9570 5 ай бұрын

how do i find my user directory which is termed as ''emerge" in this video..?? please help

@dmug 5 ай бұрын

That’s just the user name on the laptop

@zichi9570 5 ай бұрын

@@dmug i got it. thank you

@shavkatibragimov1732 Жыл бұрын

" Dont worry that much , its neva gonna be too much " keep up the good job 🤣

@I_dunnoabouthtis 5 ай бұрын

BROOOO IVE BEEN TRYNNA FIND A SOLUTION TO SMTH IN STORAGE CALLED MACOS HOW DO I REMOVE ITTTTT IT HAS 15 GB

@miteixeira192 Ай бұрын

How can I make the "emerge" window appear?

@dmug Ай бұрын

That is the user name

@miteixeira192 Ай бұрын

@@dmug Oh, I see. Thanks!

@epicmaster27 Жыл бұрын

thank you bro I had 150 gb of system data and only 250 of total data i could hold. I realized an epic games folder had 98gb in its.

@shbk7338 Жыл бұрын

How do you get to the first screen that says Macintosh?

@dmug Жыл бұрын

It varies by macOS version, Ventura totally changes it.... for the worse. Go to system preferences and then go to storage to get the overview.

@shbk7338 Жыл бұрын

@@dmug thank you!

@Pqffy Жыл бұрын

onyx literally saved everyting

@ScottRoofwalker Ай бұрын

Ugh. Mine is using 1.4 terabytes

@Zninjagaming522 Жыл бұрын

my mac was worce it was using 700gb

@akashkallumkal Жыл бұрын

wish apple made the optimize button do this automatically

@dmug Жыл бұрын

I’d be happy with the system info just giving you a break down of what’s in your system data. People should not have to watch a tedious video by me just do something so basic.

@ZygiBoos 6 ай бұрын

938 GB system files on 499 GB ssd?

@Sarah-vi4cx Жыл бұрын

why can't anything be user friendly its 2022 guys come on

@gr93cjs Жыл бұрын

Storage shouldn't be an issue in such expensive machines :(

@dmug Жыл бұрын

Oh I agree that every Mac should start at 512 GB at the price point Apple charges but storage is always finite thus you’re punting the problem further down the field. My boot drive in my Mac Pro is 2TB and I still do this nonsense to it every year and I’ll probably do the same soon on my M1 Max as it has a 2 TB drive as well. I’d like to see Apple make it much more clear what’s using space in system data.

@smsmsmsnsne Жыл бұрын

M guy was recording the vid at 1 am I’m the 69 comment

@radenmulyadi2589 Жыл бұрын

Glad you didn't install Android Studio

@NOT_A_TOP_FAN Жыл бұрын

They confuse you in hopes people don’t attempt to manually clear it, and buy another device…. Shady.

@PhotoBob 2 жыл бұрын

I just recently moved to Mac. I regret it. The hardware is incredible but MacOS absolutely sucks compared to Windows.

@dmug 2 жыл бұрын

Can't help you there. I'd say my opinion about the PC is totally the opposite as Windows not being a native *nix and still lacking basics like tabbed explorer windows in the OS really a huge hindrance but I'm a developer by trade. I don't hate Windows but those times you have to registry edit makes you makes you miss having a good ol' terminal to nano a few config files or being able to grep your entire drive or write quick automator scripts to do something like batch resize images, rename them and copy them to an external drive. Perhaps if you went to reddit and listed things that are driving you crazy, r/mac could help you out.

@TornadoTrick Жыл бұрын

I found a stupid named ChunkStoreDatabase and it was taking up *my entire computer*

@andrec7246 2 жыл бұрын

I prefer windows man! Apple is too different, it’s too alien imo

@miguimau 2 жыл бұрын

LOL?

@dmug 2 жыл бұрын

Dunno what to say to that, it has a lot more in common with *nix OSes than Windows, so a lot of its mannerisms, especially under-the-hood are more translatable. Windows Registry is mind boggling to me as mostly not a windows user but is the largest market share, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.

@MiharuHiramu Жыл бұрын

Windows does some things better such as install/remove programs. Like in your example, removing NBA still left a 4gb file. Not sure if it's the developers or apple's fault, as it's from the App store. Normal users don't know about Library/Application support (just like they wouldn't know anything about registry)

@NikosKatsikanis Жыл бұрын

cause apple is stupid