How to delete System Data on a Mac

If you are struggling with low memory and trying Free up more space on your MacApple helpfully describes ways to save space and shows some of the cryptically named items that take up disk space. On macOS Ventura and later, if you click the Apple logo > About this Mac > Additional information > General > Storage Settings (or on macOS Monterey and earlier: Apple logo > About this Mac > Storage), you’ll see a lot of information about what’s taking up space on your Mac, as well as tips to help you deal with it.

Among some cryptically named items taking up storage space, you may see items like “System”, “System Data”, “macOS” and “Other” and wonder if you can delete them. We appeal how to remove Other storage on Mac in a separate article. Here we will look at the system and system data.

Note. Over the years, Apple has made various changes to the way it displays this information, and it has since become known as System Data. macOS Ventura launched in 2022. It’s certainly a less cryptic name for this kind of data than the “Other” that Apple used to call it.

What is system data on Mac?

First, we’ll look at what’s in system data and whether you should delete it from your Mac. System data is a catch-all name for the various items that are scattered across your Mac’s drive. They’re essentially the same thing: files that don’t fall into other categories, usually data and files used by macOS, caches, temporary files, downloads, backups, plugins, and so on.

Among them are operating system files that you obviously cannot delete. But there are aspects you can delete, including old Time Machine snapshots, iOS backups, cache files, any downloaded app or macOS update disk images, and, if you’ve enabled the FileVault encryption feature, files associated with them. We also have an article that explains how to delete cache on mac.

If your Mac doesn’t have enough storage space, this can cause problems. For example, you might see a message saying that your startup disk is almost full, and if you ignore it, you might find that you can’t even start your Mac. Insufficient memory can also slow down your Mac and cause other problems that prevent it from performing at its best. You may also find that you can’t install update for macOS if you don’t have enough free space. If you don’t know how to find out how much disk space your Mac has read: How to check how much disk space you have.

The question of whether you can reclaim any space allocated to this storage class is somewhat complicated by the fact that Apple appears to be giving it a new name with every version of macOSas you can see in the images below:

System data

System

Another

Regardless of the version of macOS you’re using, these graphs show how much of your storage is dedicated to certain file types on your Mac. As you can see in the image above, in the old days the System used 19.63 GB on our Big Sur Mac and the other used 38 GB. But this figure is a little more alarming in macOS Sequoia, where almost 47GB is dedicated to system data on our Mac. The system size is different for each user, so it is possible that it could be even larger.

Whether it’s called “System”, “System Storage”, “Other” or something else, you can reduce the amount of space this storage partition takes up, but you will need to define what counts as storage (or what Apple called this is your version of MacOS).

Follow these steps to find out what’s on your system or system data to free up space on your Mac.

Should you delete system data on Mac?

Apple offers various ways delete data from your Macwith quick links to Documents, Mail, Messages, Photos, etc. from General > Storage, but Apple doesn’t give you access to system (or macOS) data. All you can see is how much space it takes up. However, you can delete data from system data if you know what you’re looking for.

Of course, Apple has a good reason for not giving you access. If you delete things from the system, system data, and macOS, you are much more likely to damage your Mac. Consequently, there are no Clean System or Uninstall System buttons in macOS. Instead, you’ll have to manage the storage yourself. In the sections below, we will explain how to delete each type of system data file.

Warning. While it is possible to manually delete the various files included in the System Data category, we recommend that you only do so if you are sure that you know what you are doing. It’s easy to accidentally delete an important file and then discover that it’s causing problems. If trouble does happen, use some of the tips given in how to recover deleted files on Mac. Needless to say, before deleting anything at all, we suggest creating a full backup of your Mac’s storage so that you can return it to its previous state if any problems arise. Read how to backup mac And best Mac backup software for more details.

Another option is to use Terminal, but this is an option for more experienced users. We explain the process here: How to delete files and folders using Terminal.

Alternatively, a safer option would be to use a system cleaner app like our top pick, MacPaw’s. ClearMyMacor Software Ambience Daisy Disc or Nektoni McCleaner Pro. You can find reviews of these tools, as well as some others, in our review best Mac cleaning software and optimization utilities. These apps can safely delete junk files, so you don’t have to worry about finding and identifying files that can be safely deleted.

How to Clear System Data on Mac

Follow these steps to remove the various items that make up your system data.

Step 1: Deleting Time Machine Snapshots

One of the biggest culprits for space is the local snapshots that Time Machine creates every day. You might think that Time Machine backups are only saved to an external drive, but Apple also creates local snapshots on your boot volume. The company says these snaps will only be saved if there is enough free space on them, and old snaps will be automatically deleted when new ones are taken.

This is great if you accidentally saved the right changes to a document or deleted something you didn’t mean to, but it can take up space on your Mac that you might prefer to have access to.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to remove local snapshots from your storage. You can simply disable the Time Machine feature itself, which will delete all local snapshots stored on your Mac. There is also a slightly more complex method using the Terminal. We’ll explain both in our step-by-step guide to removing these space-stealing artifacts, so read on how to delete Time Machine backups on Mac to find an easy way to remove them.

Step 2: Delete Old iOS Backups

Another system space grab is old backups of your iPhone or iPad if you saved them on your Mac rather than iCloud. They can take up unnecessary space on your Mac, so it’s a good idea to clean them out from time to time. Depending on which version of macOS you’re using, here’s how to quickly ditch them.

If you have iPhone backups on your Mac (and you’re using a later version of macOS Catalina), you’ll find them in the Finder (older versions of macOS used iTunes).

1. Open Finder
2. Click on your iPhone in the menu on the left.
3. Choose Backup management
4. Select the ones you no longer need
5. Click Delete backup then confirm your choice

If you don’t see your iPhone here, it’s possible your Mac doesn’t have backups and you’d probably prefer backup your iPhone via iCloud instead of.

If you’re using macOS Mojave or earlier, you’ll need the now-defunct iTunes for this:

1. Open iTunes
2. Choose iTunes (top left corner), then Preferences
3. Select Devices tab in the window that appears
4. Select backups you no longer need
5. Click Delete backup

Step 3: Delete data from the system folder.

That’s taken care of the two largest system storage users on the Mac, but what about everything else?

Everything else you might want to remove from your system data is hidden away in your Library folders. Apple prefers to hide Library folders, presumably to prevent users from accidentally moving or deleting important files. But if you want to access this part of your storage, it’s possible through a menu item in the Finder.

The important thing is that you know what you’re doing and don’t delete something willy-nilly.

There are actually several ways to make a hidden library folder visible, read how to show hidden files on Mac for more information about finding hidden files.

To give yourself temporary access to the Library folder, follow these steps:

1. Open a new Finder window
2. Go to your home folder (press Command + Shift + H)
3. Right click and select Show viewing options from the menu
4. Turn on the feature Show library folder

Now that you have access to your Library folder, you can open your Library folder and look for the files that you suspect are taking up space on your drive.

At this stage it is very important to be careful and only remove things that you think are unnecessary. If you’re not sure you should delete something, don’t do it. Our advice: if you are not comfortable doing this yourself, you should use a special application that will do it for you.

Best apps to remove system files

In our opinion, the best option is to use a dedicated optimization utility, so check out our optimization guide. best Mac cleaning software and optimization utilities as this is the easiest way to keep your Mac in top condition.

When we wanted to recover storage space while trying to install macOS Big Sur, we relied on CleanMyMac, which has a cleaning tool. System junk. CleanMyMac costs $29.95/£29.95 if you buy the single Mac plan. There is also a free trial. Download from developer MacPaw here.

Our best Mac cleaning solutions include, but are not limited to, the following:

You can also reduce the amount of unused memory on your device by following the tips in how to free up space on Mac. For more tips, read our tips for cleaning your Mac to make it work faster.