How to Clear System Data on Mac

Clearing System Data files on your Mac is difficult when your computer doesn’t tell you what they are or where you’ll find them. Things are particularly frustrating if you’re running low on storage space.

Thankfully, though, you can clear System Data on Mac in many ways. Learn how to remove System Data on Mac and minimize the storage space it consumes below. 

Before we start:

When you’re trying to clear out some disk space, the last thing you want is duplicate files. But finding them manually can be painstaking work. Still, it’s easy to delete hidden duplicates and lower system data on Mac with MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup tool.

Here’s how:

1. Download MacKeeper. Go to Cleaning and select Safe Cleanup.
2. Choose Start Scan and wait for the program to search through your Mac.
3. When the scan is done, select everything you want to delete, and click Clean Junk Files.
4. A pop-up window will appear asking if you want to empty your Trash at the same time. Either choose Skip Trash or Empty Trash.

MacKeeper will delete the caches, files, and folders that you’ve asked it to remove—giving you a leaner, cleaner Mac. When the process has been completed, you can return to whatever you were doing.

What is System Data on Mac?

System Data is a storage category that covers many essential functions on your Mac. The thing is your computer will group almost everything that doesn’t fit the other sections into this one. Before you know it, your macOS System Data is huge.

System Data appears whether you have a MacBook or iMac, and it covers each of the following:

Tip from us:

If you feel like you constantly need more space on your Mac, it’s easy to get more storage by purchasing through iCloud.

How to check system storage on Mac

You can identify system storage on Mac very easily. The process is identical to checking other categories of memory on your computer, such as macOS and Photos. Here are the steps to check your Mac’s system storage:

1. Go to Apple logo in the top left-hand corner and select System Settings.
2. Navigate to General > Storage.
3. Hover your cursor over the different bars within your system storage. System Data is dark gray. As you can see from my example, this category consumes 34.5GB of my overall computer storage.

Note from our experts: 

Depending on what version of macOS you have, you might find System Data has a different name on your Mac. Here’s what it’s called in some of the most recent versions of the operating system:

• Sonoma: System Data / macOS
• Ventura: System Data
• Monterey: macOS
• Big Sur: System / Other

Why does System Data take up so much space on Mac?

If your Mac System Data is large, it might be due to a couple of reasons. These range from bugs to cached files and more.

Below is a list of all the reasons why your System Data might consume lots of space:

• Most of the time, it’s a normal part of how the operating system works. macOS should automatically delete unneeded system files by itself.
• Sometimes, your Mac builds up an unnecessary amount of system files due to a bug, either on macOS or an app.
• Your Mac is full of a growing number of cached files, created by third-party apps.
• When you uninstall apps, they can leave behind files that need to be deleted separately.
• You have a lot of Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.

Ways to delete System Data on Mac

Although macOS includes tools to clear up your storage, it doesn’t come with a function to clean up system files on MacBooks and other Macs. If you want to delete these files, you have two choices. You can do it manually, but you have to know exactly what you’re looking for and what’s safe to remove. Or you can use a specialist third-party solution like MacKeeper, which offers a Safe Cleanup feature that can clean up junk files and other data without risk.

Important: If you’d like to try the manual processes to purge System Data on Mac, be sure to make a backup first.

Below are the steps you can try:

1. Back up your Mac to remove Time Machine snapshots.
2. Use the Optimized Storage feature.
3. Delete application logs and support files.
4. Clear your Downloads folder.
5. Remove old iOS backups.
6. Delete data from the System folder.
7. Update macOS.
8. Delete cache files.
9. Remove browser extensions.

1. Back up your Mac to remove Time Machine snapshots

Normally, Time Machine creates regular backups of your Mac to an external drive. But when your Mac isn’t connected to your backup drive, it can mean snapshots of those backups are stored in your System storage instead.

If you haven’t created a backup in a while, a build-up of Time Machine snapshots could be responsible for a Mac system taking up too much space.  So, you should back up your computer to remove System Data on your Mac and keep everything updated.

Creating a new manual backup could solve your problem:

1. Connect your external backup drive. Then go to System Settings > Time Machine, right-click the drive, and select the option to do a backup now.
2. Alternatively, click the Time Machine icon in your menu bar, then choose the Back Up Now option.

Delete Time Machine snapshots using Terminal

If you can’t connect an external drive to complete a new Time Machine backup, you can manually delete them and lessen system storage on your Mac by using Terminal instead. To do this, follow our brief instructions:

1. Open Terminal on your Mac by typing Terminal into Spotlight.
2. Enter the following command: tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates.
3. Now, you should see a list of all the dates your Mac saved Time Machine snapshots for. To delete one, enter the date into the following command: tmutil deletelocalsnapshots [snapshot date].

2. Use the Optimized Storage feature

If you’re running out of space because System files are using all your storage, the Optimized Storage feature on macOS might help. Introduced in macOS Ventura, this feature automatically removes unnecessary files, like HD TV shows, movies, and email attachments, to make space for new ones.

To enable Optimized Storage on macOS:

1. Go to System Settings > General > Storage. Under Recommendations, where it says Optimize Storage, select Optimize.
2. Confirm that you want to turn on Optimized Storage when you see the pop-up window.

3. Delete application logs and support files

Another way to remove system data on Mac is by clearing application logs and support files. Application logs are mostly reports that you submit to Apple when a problem occurs, such as Safari quitting unexpectedly. Support files contain useful information like your in-app settings. So, unlike application logs, you should only delete support files when you no longer use the app. Otherwise, you could cause the program to malfunction.

Here’s how to clean out increasing application logs and support files:

1. Open Finder and pick Go > Go to Folder. Write ~/Library/Logs and hit the Enter key.
2. Delete any files you no longer feel like you need by sending them to your Trash.
3. Do the same with:
   • ~/Library/Application Support
   • /Library/Application Support
   • ~/Library/Containers
   • ~/Library/Cookies

4. Clear your Downloads folder

Your Downloads folder contains images from the web, along with installation packages, documents, and more. Most of the time, you don’t need what’s in your Downloads—so deleting everything in this folder is an excellent way to minimize system storage on Mac.

Follow these steps to clean up your Downloads folder:

1. Type Downloads into Spotlight and open the folder.
2. Highlight everything in your folder. Drag and drop all the content into your Trash.

Hint from our team: 

If you’re wondering why your Mac is so slow, you can perform numerous steps to speed up your device. For example, you can get more random access memory (RAM) and scan your Mac for malware.

5. Remove old iOS backups

If you’re an iPhone or iPad user, you can back up your device to iCloud or to your computer. These backups can occupy a lot of storage. So, if your Mac system data is large, consider removing the oldest versions.

If your Mac is running Catalina or later, do as follows to delete iOS backups:

1. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac via the USB cable.
2. Select your device from the sidebar in Finder.
3. Press Manage Backups to bring up a list of backups.
4. To delete a backup, select it, and click the Delete Backup button.

For macOS Mojave or earlier, you’ll need to use iTunes to delete iOS backups:

1. Open iTunes, then select iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar.
2. Select the Devices tab and then choose the backups you don’t need.
3. Click Delete.

6. Delete data from the System folder

One of the most underused ways to erase System Data on Mac is removing information from the System folder. This is a risky process, though, so make absolutely sure you know what you’re doing before you delete anything. Remove the wrong thing, and it could prevent your Mac from functioning properly.

Here’s how to delete data from your Mac’s System folder:

1. Open Spotlight and type System. Click on the System folder when it appears; it’ll be in the Folders section.
2. Open Library and remove the folders you deem unnecessary.

Be careful about deleting files from your System folder as they might be necessary for functions within different apps on your device.

7. Update macOS

If your Mac downloaded a new macOS update but didn’t install it yet, it could be taking up a lot of system storage on your hard disk. The simplest solution is to update your Mac to the latest operating system, which clears out any updates you already downloaded. It’s also possible that System files are taking up too much space on your Mac because of a macOS bug. Updating your Mac is likely to fix this issue as well.

Follow these steps to update your macOS software:

1. Go to System Settings > General > Software Update.
2. If you see a software update ready to install, select Update Now. Agree to Apple’s licensing agreement and wait for the software to update.

8. Delete cache files

Application caches store login details and a directory of other information, but they also consume significant space. To clean up System Data on Mac, the Caches folder is our next destination.

To clear system cache on your Mac:

1. Open Finder.
2. From your menu bar, select Go > Go to Folder.
3. Type ~/Library/Caches/ and hit the Enter key.
4. You'll see your Mac's Caches folder. Delete anything you no longer want.

Our heads-up: 

Finding and removing cache files manually from macOS and OS X systems is slow and risky. Save yourself time and lots of potential headaches by using MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup feature, which can automatically locate and delete unneeded files for you. See how to do it in the how to automatically clear system storage on Mac section.

9. Remove browser extensions

Extensions can add a lot of useful functionality to your web browser, but they also take up space. It’s a good idea to remove any that you aren’t using. So, to delete extensions in Safari:

1. Select Safari > Settings in your menu bar.
2. Open Extensions and look through the list of extensions.
3. Pick an extension and click Uninstall.
4. Tap Show in Finder before deleting the extension.

Deleting extensions in Chrome looks like this:

1. Click the three dots in the top right.
2. Select Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Choose the extension you wish to delete and press Remove; confirm your choice when prompted. 

Erase extensions in Firefox like so:

1. Click the Extensions button, and select Manage Extensions.
2. If you see any suspicious extensions, hit the three dots next to them, and click Remove.

To uninstall extensions in Opera:

1. In the top right, select the Extensions icon, and click Manage Extensions.
2. Click the Remove button on an extension you want to delete.

How to automatically clear system storage on Mac

While the methods we’ve shown you so far can help you shrink the size of System Data on your Mac, there’s a better option. With MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup tool, you can quickly find and remove unwanted files. All it takes is a few simple steps:

1. Download, install, and open MacKeeper on your computer.
2. Go to Cleaning > Safe Cleanup in the MacKeeper app. Select Start Scan.
3. When the scan is done, look at the description for each item MacKeeper finds. Choose the files, programs, and folders you want to delete.
4. Click Clean Junk Files and confirm your decision.

Should you delete System Data on Mac?

The answer to deleting System Data or not really depends on the data itself. You’ll find each of the following in your device’s System Data:

• Cached files and folders: Information for files and folders that you’ve cached from apps on your device will appear in your System Data.
• Time Machine backups: Each time you back up Time Machine on your Mac, bits of information appear in your device’s System Data. You can often access these via Terminal.
• Settings for your iPhone: If you sync your iOS device with your Mac, information related to this may show up in System Data. This is particularly true if you’ve backed up your smartphone in Finder.
• FileVault encryption: FileVault is a crucial security function, and its settings might consume more of your System Data. However, this will largely depend on how much storage you’ve used on your computer in general.
• Downloads: All content you’ve downloaded from the internet will appear in System Data; this is usually the easiest thing to remove. I recommend doing so if you’re low on storage space, especially if you haven’t accessed files in months.
• macOS System Files: Files used within your operating system may form part of your System Data. This includes the software when you download a new macOS update.

You can view your total System Data consumption by going to System Settings > Storage and hovering your cursor over the storage bar at the top of the next window.

Our friendly recommendation is that you should never, under any circumstances, try to delete programs that are necessary for your device to function properly. While deleting downloads is fine, for example, removing anything related to your operating system would cause damage only fixable by a Factory Reset.

It’s also a good idea to be careful when removing files that are optional but could contain information about customized settings. For example, it might have information about your computer’s display settings.

Nonetheless, you should certainly delete anything that you no longer need. Clearing files from apps you no longer use is a good idea, for example. It’s also worth looking through your System Data to ensure that there aren’t any duplicates.

How much System Data is normal on Mac?

System Data includes your annual major macOS updates, each of which takes up over 10GB of space. But considering the other programs, caches, and so on that the category includes, you can expect anywhere between 12GB and 40GB to be a relatively normal amount of System Data on Mac. Ideally, though, you’ll stay closer to the smaller end of that scale.

Our final advice: 

Whether you have an iMac, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, you should try to minimize system storage on your Mac if your data approaches or exceeds 100GB. If you’re unsure where all your storage is disappearing, check out our guide on How to tell what's taking up space on Mac.

Proven ways to reduce System Data on Mac

The best way to clean up your Mac’s System storage depends on the type of files that are using up all your disk space. Most of the time, those are likely to be Time Machine snapshots, but since your Macintosh machine doesn’t show you a breakdown of this storage, you might also need to look for duplicate files, install macOS updates, and even look for unused System files.

Of course, the easiest method is to use MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup tool to automatically scan for excess caches, files, and more—meaning you never need to worry about doing those things yourself.