System Data is growing unchecked, macOS 12.3.1, Darwin Kernel 21.4.0, 2021 MBP M1

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Level 1

9 points

System Data is growing unchecked, macOS 12.3.1, Darwin Kernel 21.4.0, 2021 MBP M1

System data on this M1 system continues to grow, despite no (non system) user programs running. Over the course of an hour, the system data grew 10GB without any user programs running. (I'd show a ps aux, but that's huge.)

Below is a screenshot of the storage use. The gray bar represents "System Data" -- which comes in at a whopping 1.47 TB of storage! :(

Rebooted, ran Disk Utility First Aid, DaisyDisk, none showed any issue. And yes, I'm fully aware of all the usual steps to free up space. As you can see from the screenshot below, the issue isn't user space, but the "hidden" space used by macOS.

Any support issue before the SSD maxes out completely?

Thanks!

Posted on Apr 30, 2022 11:14 AM

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Answer 1

Gena_D

Community Specialist

May 1, 2022 11:18 AM in response to rprimmer

Hello, rprimmer.

It sounds like you've taken some great steps to clear this space already. Thanks for doing that. Let's try a few other things:

Delete unneeded media, such as music or movies or podcasts, which can use a lot of storage space.
Delete unneeded files in the Downloads folder. You can open the Downloads folder from the Dock or by choosing Go > Downloads from the menu bar in the Finder.
Delete unneeded email in the Mail app. To delete junk mail, open Mail and choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. To delete mail that you've moved to the Trash, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.
If your Mac is set up for multiple users, remove users that you no longer want to have access to your Mac, or ask them to follow the steps in this article after logging in to their user account. Also check the Users folder on Macintosh HD for any undeleted data belonging to previously removed users.
Check the Users folder on Macintosh HD for any shared files that you no longer need to share.
Move some of your files to external storage, such as iCloud Drive or an external drive connected to your Mac.
Uninstall apps that you no longer use.
Compress files that you use infrequently.
Remember that when you move a file to the Trash, its storage space doesn't become available until you empty the Trash.

Let us know if we can help with anything else at all or if this doesn't settle your issue. Thanks and have a fabulous day!

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Answer 2

rprimmer Author

Level 1

9 points

May 1, 2022 3:45 PM in response to Gena_D

Thank you. I'll contact support or submit a bug report.

FWIW, I've located the bug. The issue is with the bird daemon filling up the cache directory with many many files. So many files that standard terminal commands such as ls(1) and du(1) fail. Specifically, when I tried to delete the files in the specific cache directory, such as ls -l * or du -sh *, these error out with the error return: Argument list too long

I was able to delete the files by going into the superior directory and doing and rm -rf *

This deleted over 1.6TB of bird cache files -- wow! For others with the problem, the directory is: $HOME/Library/caches/CloudKit/com.apple.bird -- under this dir will be many subdirs that hold the actual cache files, but you can just delete everything in com.apple.bird (rm -rf *) and that will clear the disk use.

I located some advice on the web that suggested if you go into System Preferences-->Apple ID and turn off iCloud Drive that this will clear the cache. It didn't work for me, so I had to do the manual rm(1).

I'm going to scratch the disk and do a fresh install. Thanks for the help. I appreciate the URL to the support team.

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Answer 3

rprimmer Author

Level 1

9 points

May 1, 2022 1:45 PM in response to Gena_D

Yes, I've already done all the typical steps.

It's not user space that's the issue; *combined* these take up < 500GiB. "System Data" takes up 1.6TB, and it grows unchecked with an idle system.

This feels like a memory leak that is being persisted to disk, assigned to the murky area of System Data.

From what I've seen online, it doesn't seem to happen with Intel macs, only the M1 ARM variety. Given the speed at which System Data grows, I'd assume this only started to happen with macOS 12.3.1, else it would have used up all available space a long time ago.

This isn't a feature, it's a bug. I can keep that system on 12.3.1 for a little longer, but will then have to scratch the SDD and do a fresh install. So if you'd like to get some systems logs off it, please let me know.

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Answer 4

Gena_D

Community Specialist

May 1, 2022 1:59 PM in response to rprimmer

Thanks for getting back to us about this, rprimmer.

If the issue persists after everything you've done and what we've suggested above, further assistance may be needed. We want to make sure you reach the right team for help with your Mac, so we recommend that you contact Apple Support directly. Depending on your region, you may be able to reach them here: Get Support.

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities and have a wonderful day.

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System Data is growing unchecked, macOS 12.3.1, Darwin Kernel 21.4.0, 2021 MBP M1

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