Just updated to macOS Monterey and wondering how to clear storage on your Mac? Show
The new Monterey operating system delivered some welcomed new features and updates and some subtle changes to the Mac storage manager, which left many users feeling confused. If your Mac is short on space, and you've been trying to clean up your Mac storage, you might have noticed that the previous "Other Storage" tab has now been replaced with the new "System Data" storage tab. In this article, we'll take a look at what the new "System Data" storage tab means and how you can successfully manage your Mac storage on Monterey. Let's get started. What is System Data on macOS Monterey?Select the Apple Menu > About This Mac > Storage to view your current available storage on your Mac. Once loaded, you'll get a nice visual overview of how much free space is available on your Mac, as well as a breakdown of usage. As I briefly mentioned before, on macOS Monterey, the once named "Other Storage" tab has been replaced with "System Data." System Data contains various system application files like:
If you're wondering how to free up storage on Mac and clean this System Data, we've got 9 easy to follow top tips to get you started. But first, how do you know when it's time to clean up your Mac storage? Why you may need to clear up your MacBook storageAs software and apps get bigger, they generate and store more files on our Macs. If your Mac is becoming slow or sluggish, or you're struggling to download new apps or install new updates, it's time to clean up your Mac storage. 1. Use Mac storage managerMany users overlook the built-in storage manager tool from Apple. Although it won't, of course, solve all of your storage problems, it's worth taking the time to enable its recommendations; every little helps when it comes to storage on a Mac. Here's how:
This is a good starting place when it comes to keeping your Mac’s storage optimized. 2. Remove your system junkCleaning up your system junk, like caches, broken files, temporary files, and user log files, has to be in second place on the list for managing your Mac storage. You can save GBs of storage space by taking the time to clear these unnecessary items. Here's how to clean your system junk manually:
~/Library/Caches/ These folders contain lots of temporary system junk; take some time to go through these files and delete what you don't need. Don't forget to empty your Trash after. If you're not comfortable rummaging around in your Library files, there is an easier and safer way with CleanMyMac X. This Mac cleaning software has a dedicated System Junk module, which clears unnecessary system junk in just a few clicks. This app is notarized by Apple, so you can rest assured, it's trusted and safe to use. How to clear your system junk the easy way:
Done! 3. Remove Time Machine backupsAnother simple way to clean up Mac storage is to remove local Time Machine backups. Unbeknown to many, your macOS keeps a local copy of your backups, just in case your external drive isn't available when restoring files. You can reduce your System Data storage by removing these backups; here's how:
tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates
tmutil deletelocalsnapshots xxxxxxx
4. Remove browser extensionsAnother easy way to free up storage on your Mac is to remove any unneeded browser extensions. App extensions won't take up a large amount of space, but they can occupy storage capacity under the System Data tab. How to remove Chrome extensions:
How to remove Safari plugins:
5. Move your photo libraryDo you have millions of photos stored on your Mac? A really quick way to free up space is by moving all your holiday snaps over to a cloud storage account or, of course, an external hard drive. Photos and videos can consume considerable amounts of space, so if you have a spare external hard drive, transfer them over to give your Mac some extra breathing space. If you're more into the cloud storage options, there are some great options out there like iCloud, DropBox and Google Drive. 6. Remove large or duplicate filesDuplicate files and those large and forgotten ones can seriously eat away at your Mac storage. Check the following locations and send items straight to the Trash.
Repeat the same steps for Desktop and Documents folders. If you don't have the time to search through your Mac, there is a much easier way using the app I mentioned earlier, CleanMyMac X. It actually has a module called Large & Old Files, which runs a search of your Mac, locating all files and folders and categorizing them by type, size and last accessed date. The “access date” filter is amazing; anything I find last opened a year ago goes straight into the Trash. Here's how to remove old files with CleanMyMac X:
That was so easy! 7. Remove unwanted applicationsIt might sound obvious, but it's another good tip for managing your Mac storage. Make sure you remove any apps that you're no longer using. Here's how:
Don't forget to empty the Trash afterwards. 8. Remove application logs and support filesSo you've just deleted some unwanted apps; now, we all know that apps generate lots of temporary support logs and files, but what's surprising is they don't always disappear when you delete an app. These unnecessary files get left behind, taking up precious storage space. Thankfully it's pretty easy to remove them, here's how:
~/Library/Application Support
~/Library/Containers ~/Library/Logs That should have freed up some extra storage. 9. Remove extra languagesDid you know that your Mac supports multiple languages? Over 25! And many of the apps you use will also come with language localization options. Curious which ones you've got installed? Go to System Preferences > Language & Region. Here you can see which languages you're using. The problem with all of these wonderful language options is, they hog storage capacity; here's how to remove them:
The two letters at the beginning of the ipoj file will indicate the language; in the example here, you can see es. That is Spanish, I wish I could speak Spanish, but I can't, so I know I can safely remove that. Well, that didn't take us long to get to the end of this article. Now you know just about everything there is to know when it comes to clearing storage on your Mac. Hopefully, these handy and easy-to-implement tips will help you better manage the storage on your Mac. Until next time! How do you clear system storage on a Mac?Empty Trash. Dragging the files that you don't need into the Trash doesn't mean the complete deletion from you Mac, but emptying the Trash does. ... . Manage Time Machine Backup. ... . Optimize Your Storage. ... . Remove iOS Backups. ... . Delete Cache Files. ... . Update MacOS.. Why is my system data so high on Mac?If you've been using your Mac for a while, the Downloads folder can get pretty large and pile up on your System Data. It's a good idea to regularly clear the folder out. Open Finder and click Download in the sidebar. Sort your files by size and move those you don't need to the Trash.
What is system data on Mac?Since it doesn't fit into specific categories like Photos, Documents, Mail, or Messages, Apple represents it as “Other” or “System Data”. Since most of these files are useless and you may not need them any longer but need to be stored somewhere on your Mac, macOS dumps them all in a separate folder.
What can I delete from system storage on Mac?But there are aspects you can delete including: old Time Machine snapshots, iOS backups, cache files, any downloaded disc images for upgrading apps or macOS, and, if you've enabled the FileVault encryption feature, files associated with that. We also have an article that explains How to delete cache on a Mac.
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