So, your Mac is running out of storage. 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.
To your surprise, you see a yellow bar representing “System” that seems to occupy way more space than you think it should. In the example above, it only shows 207 GB, but take a look at this Apple discussion — some Mac users report that System Storage takes an astonishing 250 GB.
Use an App to clear Mac RAM As we said above, it shouldn’t be necessary to install a third-party app to manage your RAM as macOS should do a good enough job by itself. May 23, 2012 ClearDisk discovers such files and enables you to remove them in order to clean up space on your Mac. ClearDisk lets you get rid of unnecessary files quickly and efficiently because it searches for them in those places where they congregate.
Worse yet, you have no idea what’s included in “System” storage, because clicking the “Manage” button brings you to this System Information window… and the “System” row is greyed out.
Why does my Mac system require so much space?
What does it contain?
Is it safe to remove some of those system files?
How do I regain more storage space?
Questions like these may easily get to your head. Although my Mac now has a good amount of disk space available, I’m always wary of files that are taking up more space than they should.
I have no idea why “System” is greyed out while “Documents,” “System Junk,” “Trash,” etc. allow you to review the files based on size and type. My hunch is that Apple does this on purpose to prevent users from deleting system files that could lead to serious issues. Disable notifications mac.
What Files Are Included in System Storage on Mac?
During my research, I found many people report that Apple counts iTunes backup files and app caches (e.g. Adobe video cache files) in the System category.
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.
CleanMyMac X is perfect for this kind of analysis. Since I tested the app in our best Mac cleaner review, it immediately came to my head when I saw “System” was greyed out in Storage. 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.
Step 1:Download CleanMyMac and install the app on your Mac. 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 2: Soon it’ll show you a folder/file tree and you can hover your cursor over each block (i.e. a folder). There you can find more details. In this case, I clicked “System” folder to continue.
Step 3: The file breakdown below indicates that some Library and iOS Support files are the culprits.
The interesting part is that the System file size shown in CleanMyMac is much smaller than the size shown in System Information. This puzzles me and makes me believe that Apple definitely has counted some other files (not real system files) in the System category.
What are they? I have no clue, honestly. But as reported by other Mac users who experienced the same issue, they said Apple also considers app caches and iTunes backup files as System files.
Out of curiosity, I ran CleanMyMac again for a quick scan. That app found 13.92 GB in iTunes Junk. Further review revealed that the junk files are old iOS device backups, software updates, broken downloads, etc.
But even after adding this amount to the original system files returned by CleanMyMac X, the total size is still a bit less than what’s returned in System Information.
If cleaning the System Storage is still not enough to bring your Mac available disk space to a normal level (i.e. 20% or more), see below.
What Else Can I Do to Reclaim More Disk Space?
There are tons of ways out there. Here are a few of my favorites that should help you get back a decent amount of space quickly.
1. Sort all files by size and delete old large files.
Open Finder, go to Recents and look at the Size column. Click on it to sort all recent files by file size (from large to small). You’ll have a clear overview of what items are eating up a large amount of space, e.g. From 1 GB to 10 GB, and from 100 MB to 1 GB.
How To Clear Space On Your Mac
On my MacBook Pro, I found a few large videos that could be transferred to an external drive.
Note: If the Size column doesn’t show up, click on the Settings icon and select Arrange By > Size.
2. Remove duplicate files.
Don’t forget those duplicates and similar files! They can stack up without you being aware of it. Finding them is sometimes time-consuming. That’s what Gemini 2 is designed for. Simply select a few frequently used folders (e.g. Documents, Downloads, etc.) in the main zone of Gemini.
It then scans them and returns all the duplicate files that might be worth removing. Of course, it’s always a good practice to review them before doing so. You can also read more from our detailed Gemini review here.
Wrapping It Up
Ever since Apple introduced the Optimized Storage feature, Mac users got the option of saving space by storing content in the cloud. Apple also has several new tools that make it easy to find and remove unneeded files.
That bar under the Storage tab is beautiful. It does allow you to get a quick overview of what’s taking up the most space on our hard drive. However, it still lacks insights into the “System” category as it’s greyed out.
Hopefully, the guides above have helped you figure out the reasons you’ve got so much “System” data, and most importantly you’ve reclaimed some disk space — especially for new MacBooks pre-installed with flash storage — every gigabyte is precious!
Far too many Macs are full of apps people don't need. Removing apps is not the easy task many would assume. Apps have a way of taking up space all over your Mac, which means simply deleting them won’t always clear up as much memory as you would hope.
With the right app cleaner, you can delete apps in a few clicks and give your Mac some much-needed extra memory. In this article, we are going to cover the best app cleaners for Mac.
Another way to delete apps is to search manually for the component parts, then drag and drop them into trash. But your application folder isn’t the only place that Mac apps hide. You will also find traces in download folders, and often, in browsers. Plugins can be deleted, but make sure they aren't leaving cache files, cookies, and other pieces of junk cluttering up your macOS.
If you don't want to delete apps the manual way and look for an effective app cleaner, here are some other options.
| Rating | Name | Features | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CleanMyMac X | Powerful app remover that is notarized by Apple | Link |
| 2 | AppDelete | Elegant tool for basic level app deletion | Link |
| 3 | AppZapper | Drag & drop software that also removes app leftovers | Link |
Top 5 app cleaners for Mac
Below are 5 great apps for uninstalling software. Choose the one that works best for you.
Mac software for document management. Not all document management software are supported by Mac. If you are looking for Mac document management systems, then there are some Mac document management software that are really good in this regard. These software handle the file management efficiently on Mac.
1. CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X does so much more than just remove unwanted apps and free up valuable space.
With 4 million users worldwide - and counting - we are delighted that over 10.5 million apps have been removed, with millions more files and folders that were taking up disk space and reducing the processing speed of Macs. With the Uninstaller tool, you can clean up old leftovers and delete apps safely.
Plugins and add-ons are also easily removed, with all of the extensions visible in a single dashboard, so you won’t need to open the app they are tied to. System junk, iOS backups, and email downloads are also easily removed with a few clicks, making this one of the most powerful app cleaners around, with hundreds of positive reviews from Mac users, tech bloggers, and experts. Powerful and efficient: CleanMyMac X is the only Mac app cleaner you will ever need.
2. AppDelete
Created by an independent software developer in California, AppDelete is an app uninstaller that deletes apps, widgets, and other related files. Before deleting files, it shows you them for a few seconds to make sure the right apps are going to be deleted — with the option that you can undo a removal, so you don't need to worry about deleting something important accidentally.
Once you are confident the right apps have gone, AppDelete removes the garbage files to free up space. This app remover for Mac serves a useful purpose for users that want to free up space.
3. AppZapper
AppZapper is a ‘drag and drop’ app cleaner that makes it easy to remove unwanted apps.
Deleting an app isn’t as easy as dragging it out of your applications folder into trash. Apps keep files and folders scattered about your Mac; however, finding them is the hard part, which is why so many people hope to find a free app cleaner to remove them without any difficulties. Usually, good app cleaners aren't free, but they will get the job done.
AppZapper locates the files related to the apps you want to delete. Shows you them first, and when you are confident the right files and cache folders have been located, you can Zap them with one click.
4. TuneupMyMac
TuneupMyMac is another Mac app cleaner known for removing unwanted apps quickly. Designed for macOS up to OS 10.7, TuneupMyMac is compatible with the latest version of macOS. You can download it for free to scan your Mac and find the files you need to delete — although there is no information whether it will delete these files, or you need to pay before it will perform that function. This Mac app remover looks like this:
The only potential problem with TuneupMyMac, unlike the others mentioned in this article, is there are dozens of forum discussion posts and web pages urging users to avoid it. Some claim it is potential malware or another form of cyber virus, despite several five-star app cleaner reviews. It might be worth approaching with caution and not downloading until you’ve done your own homework.
5. App Cleaner & Uninstaller
Clearing App Space On Mac Download
A lightweight free app cleaner for those who download, capable of finding unwanted apps and deleting related files, including login items and launch agents. Deleting apps safely to ensure Macs have more space and computing power is the work of App Cleaner & Uninstaller. It comes with several positive reviews from those who've downloaded.