MacBook storage issue

rock08

Joined: Aug 27, 2008

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6:45p, 7/6/24

AG

My MacBook is showing "Applications" is taking up over 200GB of storage but when I open Applications, there's nothing close to that amount being used.

Please help!

SlackerAg

Joined: Feb 28, 2012

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8:04a, 7/7/24

AG

On the Mac app store is a program called Daisy Disk. It shows disk directory usage as a pie chart & you can quickly navigate down to see where the largest files are.

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92_Ag

Joined: Oct 6, 2005

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6:43p, 7/7/24

AG

Daisy disk is good.

Are you using Time Machine for backups? Reason I ask is that there is a sync directory that sometimes needs manual cleanup as well. If you get daisy disk, post the directories with the greatest usage and it will help determine next steps.

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Ag with kids

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4:21p, 7/11/24

AG

I bet it's "System Data" that's actually taking up the space...

Go look up ways to clear that out...

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Philip J Fry

Joined: Oct 4, 2004

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1:04a, 7/16/24

AG

Having the same issue. System data on my 500Gb drive is currently 200Gb. 3rd party software is the only way to get rid of it?

TravelAg2004

Joined: Jun 28, 2004

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11:53a, 7/17/24

AG

I've ended up using Disk Space Analyzer for mine.
https://nektony.com/disk-expert

Technically, it's not an issue. MacOS is saving snapshots of data to your disk to backup and recover from. It's "supposed" to be intelligent enough to remove older snapshots when you need more space. Here's the article from Apple on it.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102154