Some days ago, I found one Reddit user’s post telling the “System” taking up a huge space on Mac. It was the first time I met the Mac “System” storage problem. And it was described as follow:
- How To Clean System Storage Mac Mojave
- How To Clean Up System Storage In Mac
- How To Clean System Storage In Mac
- How To Clear System Storage On Macbook Pro
- How To Clean System Storage In Mac Desktop
- How To Clear System Storage On Macbook Air
- Clean Mac Storage
Hi Mac Users, System is taking an incredibly large amount of space. I mistakenly loaded heavy video files to Numbers and the hard disk immediately filled up. Any help accorded will be highly appreciated.
After I checked my computer storage usage and I was surprised to find my “System” is also taking an incredibly huge space – 43GB of the total 120GB on my MacBook Air.
Just like every other leading operating system, Mac also stores temporary and cache data while processing. Ideally, these temp files help us with the processing of certain actions and the overall Mac performance. Nevertheless, they can also accumulate after a while and consume a large chunk of your Mac's storage. This is how to clean up system files on Mac using iBeesoft iCleaner: Step 1: Run iCleaner for Mac Launch the system cleaner Mac program, and the home screen will open up. This wikiHow teaches you how to clear the cache of temporary system files that your Mac stores as you use it, as well as how to clear the Safari browser's cache of temporary Internet files. Keep in mind that clearing the system cache can cause your Mac to freeze or crash unexpectedly; this is a normal response to clearing the cache. How to clean up system storage on Mac with CleanMyMac X: Download CleanMyMac X for free here. Run the app and go to System Junk. Disk Drill is one very popular free Mac cleaner app. Actually, it is a professional data recovery tool for Mac, which carries some disk cleaning functions. It has the capability to analyze Mac storage space, locate unused, large, and duplicate files and so on. In this way, it enables you to free up your Mac storage effortlessly.
As well known, the Mac operating system usually takes up from 8GB to 13GB. So I don’t think my Mac “System” storage could be that huge, so I searched to find how it defines “System” storage for a Mac, and how to free up that storage.
What is in the Mac “System” Storage?
The “System” on your Mac storage bar stands for that space your macOS operating system used, including the system itself and the caches and cookies it generated while driving on your computer hard drive.
Sometimes, your Mac may mistakenly put other sections into the “System” storage. For instance, my mac made the mistake of failing to exclude the “Music creations” and “iOS files” (iOS backups) from the “System” storage, so that I get a huge “System” on the storage bar.
And after I clicked the Manage.. button on the top left of the bar, it showed the real system storage was taking only 29.3 GB. And there were two new categories named “iOS files” and “Music creations” being separated.
And the sum of the storage size of these three parts (System, Music Creation, and iOS Files) is 43.38GB, equal to the size of the huge System storage I showed before on the storage bar.
4 Tips to Quickly Clean Storage on Your Mac
On the storage manager page, you’ll have a detailed view of all data types with the size it used. And you can choose any large category to have a clean. And below are some usual and free methods to free up your Mac storage.
- Delete useless iOS backup files, applications, and documents.
- Transfer media files like photos, video, music, and iBooks to external disk drive or cloud. And then delete them.
- Empty your Trash bin get more free space.
- Remove your iPhone or iPad software updates on your Mac.
Most of these methods aim to remove the larger files on your Mac to quickly free up your Mac storage. And if there is any question, please leave your comment below.
/PowerMyMac /How to Clear System Storage on Mac Effectively
By this time, you might have been experiencing that you are a sort of running out of system storage on your Mac and you may be looking for ways on how to clear system storage on Mac. And one of the first thing that you would do is to check out your disk space for you to see what are the things that are eating up your Mac's system storage.
And once that you check on it, you will then be surprised to see a yellow bar that refers to your System which is like occupying more of your space on your Mac. And the worst case is that you actually have no idea on what are the things that are included in your system storage.
TIPS:
That is why in this post, we are going to show you how to clear system storage on Mac and what are the things that contain your system storage on your Mac so that you will have better knowledge on what are the things that you should be removed from your Mac.
How To Clean System Storage Mac Mojave
Article GuidePart 1. What Dose System Storage Mean on Mac?Part 2. How Do I Free up System Storage on My Mac Automatically?Part 3. How to Clear System Storage on Mac Manually?Part 4. In Conclusion
Part 1. What Dose System Storage Mean on Mac?
What Is System Storage on Mac?
The files that actually your system storage of your Mac contains are all of those junks that you actually do not need on your Mac. This can be your System Cache, Application Cache, System Logs, User Logs, and more.
Why is my Mac system storage so big? These files are stored on your Mac every time that you are making a download, or saving new files on your Mac. This can be your email attachments, iTunes movie, and more. Some of these files are saving large files that is why it can take up your system storage quickly.
Now you know what is system storage, but how to clear system storage on Mac so that you can free up more space to save other files you desired?
Part 2. How Do I Free up System Storage on My Mac Automatically?
There are methods to clear system storage manually we will talk about in the next part, but they surely take more time and effort as you will be needing to go through your Mac one by one.
However, there is a better way for you to free up system storage Mac. You will be able to clear your Mac’s system storage in no time.
All the methods on how to clear system storage on Mac that we have included in the next part can all be done just by one program – the iMyMac PowerMyMac. This program is considered to be a Mac system storage cleanup tool that you can use to reduce system storage on Mac.
This tool will surely help you in removing all of the junks that you have on your Mac allowing you to have more space and speed up the performance of your Mac.
Using the iMyMac PowerMyMac will allow you to choose all the junks or files that you no longer need on your Mac and clean them.
It does not only give you the cleaning functionality but it will also help you to decide on which of your files would you want to remove or not. So you will be assured that none of your important files will be deleted without you knowing it. So how to get rid of system storage on Mac with PowerMyMac?
Here is how to clear system storage on Mac with PowerMyMac.
- Download and Install iMyMac PowerMyMac
- Launch the iMyMac Program
- Select A Module
- Choose the Option for Cleaning
- Scan for System Junk
- View the Result
- Choose the Files to Delete
- Cleaning Process
Let's discuss the detailed steps below:
Step 1. Download and Install iMyMac PowerMyMac
First is that you have to download the iMyMac PowerMyMac on your Mac. You can have the program downloaded from the official website at www. imymac.com. Once that you have downloaded the program, go ahead and install it on your Mac.
Step 2. Launch the iMyMac Program
Go ahead and launch the program. On the main interface of the program, you will be able to see your Mac’s system status. You will see your Disk usage, Memory usage, and your RAM usage. With that, you will have an idea of what is happening on your Mac.
Step 3. Select A Module
In the same interface, you will be able to see different modules at the left side that allow you to clean up system storage on Mac. They're Master Scan, Large and Old Files, Duplicate Finder, Uninstaller, Privacy, and Toolkit.
Step 4. Choose the Option for Cleaning
From that list, go ahead and choose “Master Scan”. This is one of the options that you can use for you to be able to clear your Mac’s system storage. This is where you will be able to clear out your System Cache, Application Cache, System Logs, User Logs, and Localization.
Step 5. Scan for System Junk
After that, PowerMyMac will then ask you to scan all of the junks that you have on your Mac. You can do this by clicking on the scan button. From there, wait until the program is done with the scanning process.
Step 6. View the Result
Once that the scanning process is complete, you can now view the result.
Step 7. Choose the Files to Delete
From there, PowerMyMac will then show you all the files that it was able to scan. All you have to do from here is to mark all the files that you would want to clean.
Step 8. Cleaning Process
After choosing all the files that you would want to clean, go ahead and click on the “Clean” button. This will then start to remove all of your system junks from your Mac. PowerMyMac will then start to clean up all the files that you have selected earlier. From here, all you have to do is to wait until the program is done with the cleaning process.
So there you have the easy way on how to clear system storage on Mac with just a few clicks using PowerMyMac. You can also try the other seven options that the program has under the Cleaner module for you to be able to clean up other things like duplicate photos on your Mac. This will then boost the performance of your Mac and at the same time, you will be able to gain more of your system storage back.
Part 3. How to Clear System Storage on Mac Manually?
Method #1. Clean Up Your Mac's Cache
Caches are one of the biggest culprits as to why your Mac’s system storage is getting full. So for you to be able to delete the system storage on Mac, go ahead and clean up your Mac’s cache:
- Launch Finder on your Mac.
- Then go ahead and click on “Go to folder”.
- From there, go ahead and type in ~/Library/Caches then remove all the files that are taking up most space.
- After that, go ahead and click on “Go to folder”.
- Then type in /Library/Cache and then once more, go ahead and remove all the files that are taking up most space.
How To Clean Up System Storage In Mac
Method #2. Remove Your Old iTunes Library Backups
Whenever you make a backup on your iTunes, the more backup file is stored on your Mac. And with that, these backups that you no longer use will be piled up on your Mac and this can cause your system storage to get full as well.
So, for you to remove system storage on Mac, go ahead and remove all those old iTunes Backup that you no longer need:
How To Clean System Storage In Mac
- Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
- Then go ahead and click on the “Go” button located at the menu bar.
- Then choose “Go to Folder”.
- Then go ahead and enter the following: ~/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries
- Once done, you will be able to see all of your iTunes back-ups. The date they were made is also indicated so you can go ahead and choose your old backups and delete them.
Method #3. Take Out All Unused Applications
This method is one of the most common ways on how to clear system storage on Mac. All you have to do is to go through all of the applications that you have on your Mac and sort out which are the ones that you no longer use and uninstall them. You just have to make sure that you are removing them correctly and not just by merely dragging them over to your Trash bin.
You have to make sure that when you uninstall any application on your Mac that you no longer need, you should also find all the files or folders that are associated with that application. If not, then you are still leaving data behind and that will still eat up space on your Mac.
Method #4. Clean Up Your Photo Library
How To Clear System Storage On Macbook Pro
Photos are one of the most common data that we have on our Mac. And keeping them is keeping memories. However, these photos actually take up more space on your Mac’s system storage. So you have to make sure that you sort things out.
So how to clear space on Mac system? You can delete all the photos that you think you no longer need and as well as those photos that have more than one copy. You also have the option to transfer them over to another hard drive or USB drive for you to free up space on your Mac.
Method #5. Delete Any Old iOS Backup
How To Clean System Storage In Mac Desktop
Just like your iTunes backup, the old iOS backup that you have on your Mac is also one of the reasons as to why your Mac’s system storage is getting full. That is why it is a good idea that you should also remove your old iOS backup from your Mac. Let's check the steps on how to clear system storage on Mac below:
- Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
- After that, go ahead and click on the “Go” button located at the menu bar.
- From there, go ahead and choose “Go to folder”.
- Then once that you are in, go ahead and type the following: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
Once that you have opened the window, go ahead and choose all the old iOS backup that you have on your Mac. Dates of the backup are already indicated so that you will be able to know which of them are the old ones.
Part 4. In Conclusion
As you can see, it is an easy thing to do on how to clear system storage on Mac. Though doing this manually will take more time and effort. But all thanks to the iMyMac PowerMyMac, you will be saving more of your time and effort as it will only need a few clicks to do the cleaning process.
Make it a habit of cleaning up your Mac every now and then so that you will not be able to experience having full storage and a slow Mac. Remember, cleaning up all the files and other things that you no longer need will sure be a great help for the performance of your Mac.
Last Tip: If you want to reduce the “system” storage size on your iPhone or iPad, just turn to the provided link to check how to free up system storage on iPhone.
How To Clear System Storage On Macbook Air
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