clearing systems data on mac

In macOS 12-15, you can use steps in this article to clear old APFS snapshots:

View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Might help a bit.

Reasons cited in other forums are temp files generated by printers (largely HP and Google Chrome.

The systems data can not be altered, modified, move or deleted since it is part of the Mac’s operating system. Doing so would corrupt the OS and render the OS inoperative requiring a Wipe and Re-Installation.

The systems data is a potpourri of files which include:

• System temporary files

• macOS system folders

• Archives and disk images (.zip, .iso, etc. - often found in the Downloads folder)

• Personal user data

• Files from the user’s library (Application Support, iCloud files, screensavers, etc.)

• Cache files

• Fonts, plugins, extensions

• Other files that are not recognized by a Spotlight search

• Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package

They can be located anywhere on your hard drive. The files that you have control over are located in the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Movies folders.

One thing you can do is launch Disk Utility and see how many local snapshots are stored on your boot drive?

It could save you some space on the boot drive. I always save the last made snapshot.

Been discussed a 1000 times on this forum about system data being large. Try a search. You will find it difficult to reduce significantly.