180 GB of System Data

[NewToMacs]

In the last week or so I noticed that my new 2022 Macbook Air (I bought it a few months ago, and it wasn't used before that) got rather slow. It can take several seconds to load a song, and other programs are slow to load as well).

Today I took a look at my storage allotments on my hard drive: 256 GB of capacity, with 180 GB of that being used for "system data". I'm new to Apple products but... isn't that a tad high?

What is going on here?

 

[NewToMacs]

Edit: I see the issue is that Proton Drive is taking up too much space. I have about 35 GB of stuff that I want backed up and somehow it has balooned to 180 GB of space that it is using...

 

[MacsBug]

Don't forget that whenever you are using a cloud based sync service like Proton Drive, DropBox or iCloud that unless you specify things, it keeps copies of all of the files that you have in those drives on your computer.

 

[NewToMacs]

Don't forget that whenever you are using a cloud based sync service like Proton Drive, DropBox or iCloud that unless you specify things, it keeps copies of all of the files that you have in those drives on your computer.

Thanks MacsBug. Unfortunately I don't think that's the issue. I've got 35 GB of stuff in the "Proton Drive" folder, which is as it should be. It's the other maybe 140 GB that's the problem.

I think I have found the issue, though. If Proton Drive fails to upload part of a file, sometimes that file portion doesn't get cleaned up properly. They said to contact Proton support, so hopefully they'll be able to fix it.

 

[Macsaviour]

In the last week or so I noticed that my new 2022 Macbook Air (I bought it a few months ago, and it wasn't used before that) got rather slow. It can take several seconds to load a song, and other programs are slow to load as well).

Today I took a look at my storage allotments on my hard drive: 256 GB of capacity, with 180 GB of that being used for "system data". I'm new to Apple products but... isn't that a tad high?

What is going on here?

Start by restarting your Mac.

It sounds simple, but a restart can clear temporary files and fix minor software glitches that might be causing the issue.
Next, use a disk analysis tool like DaisyDisk (paid) or OmniDiskSweeper (free). These tools give you a clear view of your storage and help identify what’s taking up space in "System Data." Without this, it’s just guesswork.

High "System Data" usage can also slow down your Mac because a full drive leaves little room for temporary files or virtual memory. Addressing this issue will not only free up space but also improve your Mac’s performance

Let me know how it goes.

 

[NewToMacs]

Thanks @Macsaviour . Alas, restarting did not help--though I hear it's always a good thing to try. I did use the finder to look for folders with huge amounts of storage, and it really does seem to have been a bug with proton drive. They provided a script that wiped it all, and now I've got that 180 GB back!