How to reduce System Data memory usage on macOS Tahoe?

"System Data" comprises your data, but they are files that Spotlight cannot assign to a specific category like Documents or Applications. Examples include Outlook attachments, Cloud storage caches, and Time Machine snapshots.

See this User Tip:

How to free up ‘System Data’ and other st… - Apple Community

It's important to note that System Data will always consume storage space on your Mac.

To free up only significantly high System Data:

1. Start up your Mac in Safe Mode. This automatically clears system caches, and usually resolves this issue without any additional steps needed. Once you start up in Safe Mode, you don't necessarily have to do anything. Just restart your Mac.
2. After restarting, check your Storage in System Settings. If System Data is still extremely high, you can delete the contents in your Cache folder to free up storage space that Safe Mode did not clear automatically.

To delete contents within the Cache folder, follow the steps below, in order. It is imperative that you do not delete or otherwise mess with anything else in your Library folder.

1. Open Finder from the Dock. This will open a new Finder window.
2. In the menu bar of Finder, click on Go. As you click on Go, press and hold the option key on your keyboard. You should see the Library folder appear in the list of menu items under Go. Click on Library and then release the option key.
3. This will open your Library folder, which is hidden by default. To confirm you are in the correct folder, check the file path in Finder. In the menu bar click View > Show Path Bar. The correct file path for the Library folder is Macintosh HD > users > your user account/name > Library.
4. In the Library folder, you will see subfolders. Look for the Caches folder. Open it, and then press Command A on your keyboard. This will select everything within this folder. Move the selected content to the trash. You can do this by dragging to trash on the Dock, or by right-clicking and then selecting 'Move to Trash'. Please note that you will NOT delete the Caches folder, only the files within this folder.
5. Once you have deleted the files in the Caches folder, it is normal to see a few files automatically reappear. Ignore it. Restart your Mac.
6. After your Mac restarts, empty the trash.
7. Check Storage settings again in System Settings; this should have removed any additional files that were not removed automatically by Safe Mode.

If you are still unsure of how to complete these steps, or if you need more help, contact Apple Support.

walexng wrote:

System Data is taking up so much space, 33% of the system's memory. How can this be resolved or deleted?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: MacOS System Memory Problem

OP wrote " System Data is taking so much space, 33 % of the system's memory. "

Why is this an problem / issue ?

By your calculation, this would mean the computer still has 64 % as Free Space

The general rule is sometimes recommended to keep between 15 % and 20 % of the Total Capacity of the drive as Free Space

So, 64 % as Free and Usable Space would be fantastic - No ?

walexng wrote:

@Owl-53,

Thank you for your response. To your question, YES, it is a huge problem because this '33%' is unusable, that is, lost. Applications, files and other important documents will have less space.

I see

So 64%of the entire drive capacity as Usable Space is Not Enough Space for documents and other files ?

Respectfully, what would the User (You ) accept as being a reasonable figure ?

Give us a specific percentage ?

If you have no to little impact after doing what others have suggested then you can erase the drive and reinstall all. from your backup. That has shown to drop the system storage number for many users.

There's one method that will help (depending on how much you use Time Machine) and that's opening Disk Utility and removing all but the last local snapshot: