

Open it, under “Space Lens” module, first click the yellow “Grant Access” button to allow the app to access your Mac files and then select “Scan” to get started. Step 1: Download CleanMyMac and install the app on your Mac. Note that CleanMyMac isn’t freeware, but the new “Space Lens” feature is free to use and it allows you to scan your Macintosh HD, and then show you an in-depth overview of what’s taking up disk space on your Mac. Since I tested the app in our best Mac cleaner review, it immediately came to my head when I saw “System Data” was greyed out in Storage. Since it’s greyed out and we are unable to click on that category for deeper analysis, we’ll have to use a third-party app to assist.ĬleanMyMac X is perfect for this kind of analysis.

Adobe video cache files), disk images, plugins & extensions in the System Data category. Clean Trash and other unnecessary files.ĭuring my research, I found many people report that Apple counts application leftovers (e.g. Sort all files by size and delete old large files.

Why does my Mac system require so much space? What does it contain? Is it safe to remove some of those system data files? How do I regain more storage space? Worse yet, you have no idea what’s included in “System Data” storage, because clicking the “Manage” button brings you to this System Information window… and the “System Data” row is greyed out. In the example above, the System Data takes an astonishing 232 GB of precious storage. To your surprise, you see a grey bar “System Data” that seems to occupy way more space than you think it should.

My MacBook Pro “System Data” is taking a large amount of disk space You try to figure out what’s taking up your disk space by clicking the Apple logo on the top-left of the screen, selecting About This Mac, and hitting the Storage tab.
