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Want to delete 124.18 GB of system data

Hello, my Macbook Pro has 124.18 GB of system data and it is too much for my 251 GB drive. Now I only have 42 GB available and Xcode won't upgrade because of lack of space. I really need to get rid of so much of system data.


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.1

Posted on Jan 1, 2022 1:48 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 4, 2022 5:00 AM

Hi,


I erased the disk and restarted everything from scratch. I have MacOS Monterey and the system data is now 11.41 GB and Mac data is around 15 GB. I am so happy about this.


I believe it was due to lots of remnant files here and there from many softwares, especially these anti-malware softwares that I used to have (ESET and Kaspersky). Although I used to uninstall them through their uninstaller, but I believe there might be some files lurking.


It took a lot of time though. This thing is very unhelpful for customer. Apple devices was designed to be easy to use, but now it became very hard and irritating to use.

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 4, 2022 5:00 AM in response to amlan.mohapatra

Hi,


I erased the disk and restarted everything from scratch. I have MacOS Monterey and the system data is now 11.41 GB and Mac data is around 15 GB. I am so happy about this.


I believe it was due to lots of remnant files here and there from many softwares, especially these anti-malware softwares that I used to have (ESET and Kaspersky). Although I used to uninstall them through their uninstaller, but I believe there might be some files lurking.


It took a lot of time though. This thing is very unhelpful for customer. Apple devices was designed to be easy to use, but now it became very hard and irritating to use.

Jan 2, 2022 2:57 PM in response to amlan.mohapatra

I'd feel better if you had a backup or clone on an external drive, but...


1. Start up from macOS Recovery

To start up from macOS Recovery, turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold one of the following combinations on your keyboard. Command-R is generally recommended, especially if you never installed macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later… https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904#notupdated

Command (⌘)-R

Install the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.


Option-⌘-R

Upgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac.


Shift-Option-⌘-R

Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.


2. Decide whether to erase (format) your disk

If you need to erase your disk before installing macOS, select Disk Utility from the Utilities window, then click Continue. You probably don't need to erase, unless you're selling or giving away your Mac or have an issue that requires you to erase. Learn more about when and how to erase.

3. Install macOS

After starting up from macOS Recovery, follow these steps to install macOS:

  1. Choose Reinstall macOS (or Reinstall OS X) from the Utilities window.
  2. Click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions to choose your disk and begin installation.
  3. If the installer asks to unlock your disk, enter the password you use to log in to your Mac. If it doesn't see your disk, or it says that it can't install on your computer or volume, you might need to erase your disk


  1. Please allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. During installation, your Mac might restart and show a progress bar several times, and the screen might be empty for minutes at a time.

If your Mac restarts to a setup assistant, but you're selling or giving it away, press Command-Q to quit the assistant without completing setup. Then click Shut Down. When the new owner starts up the Mac, they can use their own information to complete setup.



If you never installed macOS Sierra 10.12.4

If macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later was never installed on your Mac, macOS Recovery works differently:

  • Command-R is still the recommended way to start up from macOS Recovery. This combination makes sure that the installation isn't associated with your Apple ID, which is important if you're selling or giving away your Mac.
  • Option-Command-R installs the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
  • Shift-Option-Command-R isn't available.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904 

Jan 1, 2022 1:52 PM in response to amlan.mohapatra

It's gotten a lot tougher to find where this space is being eaten up, several have had to back, erase & reinstall. :(


Have you emptied the trash lately?


Terminal code to clean DocumentRevisionsfolder…

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/313102/what-will-occur-if-the-documentrevisions-v100-folder-is-deleted

macos - What will occur if the .DocumentRevisions-V100 folder is deleted? - Ask Different (stackexchange.com)


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253231342?answerId=256043117022#256043117022

System Memory OS 10.12.6 Sierra - Apple Community


Look for iOS backups…

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup


OmniDiskSweeper shows you the files on your drive, largest to smallest, and lets you quickly Trash or open them.

https://www.omnigroup.com/more/


Purging local backups

Please note that although this doesn't affect your remote backup from Time Machine, this will get rid of the redundancy (at least until the next Time Machine backup) that a local backup disk will provide. If you need such redundancy or are worried about the recovery of your data then you would be best served to let macOS determine when to purge these files.

Start Terminal from spotlight.

At the terminal type tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates. 

Hit enter.


Here, you'll now see a list of all of the locally stored Time Machine backup snapshots stored on your disk.

Next you can remove the snapshots based on their date. I prefer to delete them one at at time. Once my "System" disk usage is at an acceptable level, I stop deleting but you can delete all of them if you want to reclaim all of the disk space.


Back at the terminal, type tmutil deletelocalsnapshots YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS , where will be one of the dates from your backup. This will be in the form of xxx-yy-zz-abcdef. Try to start with the oldest snapshot.

Hit enter.

Repeat for as many snapshot dates as required


http://www.thagomizer.com/blog/2018/03/27/cleaning-up-time-machine-local-snapshots.html


tmutil deletelocalsnapshots /  # deletes all the snapshots


Also look for huge Log files.

Jan 2, 2022 2:54 PM in response to BDAqua

Trash is empty.


However, I was thinking of restarting and getting in the boot screen and erase the HDD. I have never done that. I have iCloud subscription and all my photos and documents are in there.


This is my primary laptop.


Will erasing the HDD create problems while reinstalling the MacOS in the boot screen? I have never done that, so I won't to be doubly sure. I do not want to end up with a dummy device which can do nothing.

Want to delete 124.18 GB of system data

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