Oct 13, 2019 We often use mac until macOS prompts that the Mac disk has run out of the storage space, then we we realize that need to clean up the Mac's storage space. However, when we receive the macOS Catalina update notification, and click the 'Update' button to install. We did not pay attention to the remaining storage space. As a result, the media stored in iTunes is often the single largest consumer of your Mac's precious storage space. If you need to free up space on your Mac, you don't necessarily need to choose between free space and your media, as you can delete certain iTunes files locally while still retaining on-demand access to them via the cloud.
My MacBook Air is running a 120GB SSD drive so I don't want my hard drive full of excess things I don't need. I just noticed after El Capitan that I lost a lot of space. I only had 10GB free. To run well a mac hard disk needs at least 20% free. Here's how I freed up some more space.
I ran Disc Inventory X to see where the excess space was taken.
1. Remove old iPhoto library.
Look at this screenshot from Disk Inventory X: The pink section surrounded by the yellow line is my old ‘iphoto' library. The large turquoise section to the left is the new ‘Photos' library. El Capitan came with a new app called ‘Photos.' The new Photos app imported my old iPhoto library, but it didn't delete it! They are the same photos, the entire library has been duplicated. Deleting my old iPhoto library released almost 7 G of space!
To find the file just right click on the box and select ‘reveal in finder':
This took me to the following folder:
I just dragged this to the trash and saved 6.6GB.
While I was at it I went to my ‘Applications' folder and deleted the old ‘iphoto' app which took up 1.7GB.
I could do this pretty confidently because my macbook air is my second machine, all my photo's are only home computer if anything goes wrong.
2. Gmail ‘All Mail'
This huge multicoloured box turns out to be the Gmail ‘All Mail'
I discovered 15GB of gmail data in Apple Mail. Yes Apple mail now by default seems to download the gmail ‘All Mail' folder which included every email you've ever deleted on gmail. The ‘All mail' folder had over 17,000 emails in it. No wonder my internet usage was high last month – my laptop must have downloaded the entire 15GB of emails from gmail.
Thankfully it was a simple fix.
Here's how to disable the ‘All mail' folder from being downloaded to your Macintosh.
Go into Gmail.com, then go to Settings on the top right menu, then under the ‘Labels' tab I changed ‘All Mail' to ‘Hide'
I still needed to delete the files from the hard disk manually.
I am using OSX El Capitan, and Mail version 9.1. I am not sure what other versions of mail have this problem.
Other items…
The were some other files I found with Disk Inventory X, (Old installers, old apps, some movies) and when I deleted them all in total I recovered 30GB!
So, your Mac is running out of storage. You try to figure out what's taking up your disk space by clicking the Apple logo on the top-left of the screen, selecting About This Mac, and hitting the Storage tab.
To your surprise, you see a yellow bar representing 'System' that seems to occupy way more space than you think it should. In the example above, it only shows 207 GB, but take a look at this Apple discussion — some Mac users report that System Storage takes an astonishing 250 GB.
Worse yet, you have no idea what's included in 'System' storage, because clicking the 'Manage' button brings you to this System Information window… and the 'System' row is greyed out.
Why does my Mac system require so much space?
What does it contain?
Is it safe to remove some of those system files?
How do I regain more storage space?
Questions like these may easily get to your head. Although my Mac now has a good amount of disk space available, I'm always wary of files that are taking up more space than they should.
I have no idea why 'System' is greyed out while 'Documents,' 'System Junk,' 'Trash,' etc. allow you to review the files based on size and type. My hunch is that Apple does this on purpose to prevent users from deleting system files that could lead to serious issues.
What Files Are Included in System Storage on Mac?
During my research, I found many people report that Apple counts iTunes backup files and app caches (e.g. Adobe video cache files) in the System category.
Since it's greyed out and we are unable to click on that category for deeper analysis, we'll have to use a third-party app to assist.
Free Up Disk Space Windows 10
CleanMyMac X is perfect for this kind of analysis. Since I tested the app in our best Mac cleaner review, it immediately came to my head when I saw 'System' was greyed out in Storage. Note that CleanMyMac isn't freeware, but the new 'Space Lens' feature is free to use and it allows you to scan your Macintosh HD, and then show you an in-depth overview of what's taking up disk space on your Mac.
Step 1:Download CleanMyMac and install the app on your Mac. Open it, under 'Space Lens' module, first click the yellow 'Grant Access' button to allow the app to access your Mac files and then select 'Scan' to get started.
Step 2: Soon it'll show you a folder/file tree and you can hover your cursor over each block (i.e. a folder). There you can find more details. In this case, I clicked 'System' folder to continue.
Step 3: The file breakdown below indicates that some Library and iOS Support files are the culprits.
The interesting part is that the System file size shown in CleanMyMac is much smaller than the size shown in System Information. This puzzles me and makes me believe that Apple definitely has counted some other files (not real system files) in the System category.
What are they? I have no clue, honestly. But as reported by other Mac users who experienced the same issue, they said Apple also considers app caches and iTunes backup files as System files.
Out of curiosity, I ran CleanMyMac again for a quick scan. That app found 13.92 GB in iTunes Junk. Further review revealed that the junk files are old iOS device backups, software updates, broken downloads, etc.
But even after adding this amount to the original system files returned by CleanMyMac X, the total size is still a bit less than what's returned in System Information.
If cleaning the System Storage is still not enough to bring your Mac available disk space to a normal level (i.e. 20% or more), see below.
What Else Can I Do to Reclaim More Disk Space?
There are tons of ways out there. Here are a few of my favorites that should help you get back a decent amount of space quickly.
1. Sort all files by size and delete old large files.
Open Finder, go to Recents and look at the Size column. Click on it to sort all recent files by file size (from large to small). You'll have a clear overview of what items are eating up a large amount of space, e.g. From 1 GB to 10 GB, and from 100 MB to 1 GB.
On my MacBook Pro, I found a few large videos that could be transferred to an external drive.
Note: If the Size column doesn't show up, click on the Settings icon and select Arrange By > Size.
2. Remove duplicate files.
Don't forget those duplicates and similar files! They can stack up without you being aware of it. Finding them is sometimes time-consuming. That's what Gemini 2 is designed for. Simply select a few frequently used folders (e.g. Documents, Downloads, etc.) in the main zone of Gemini.
It then scans them and returns all the duplicate files that might be worth removing. Of course, it's always a good practice to review them before doing so. You can also read more from our detailed Gemini review here.
Wrapping It Up
Ever since Apple introduced the Optimized Storage feature, Mac users got the option of saving space by storing content in the cloud. Apple also has several new tools that make it easy to find and remove unneeded files.
How To Free Up Disk Space On Macbook Air
That bar under the Storage tab is beautiful. It does allow you to get a quick overview of what's taking up the most space on our hard drive. However, it still lacks insights into the 'System' category as it's greyed out.
Free Up Disk Space Xp
Hopefully, the guides above have helped you figure out the reasons you've got so much 'System' data, and most importantly you've reclaimed some disk space — especially for new MacBooks pre-installed with flash storage — every gigabyte is precious!
