Cannot figure out how to free up storage

[rm5]

Hey, I am not quite sure what to do here. I have an M1 MacBook Air, and I noticed I am running low (relatively, compared to where I used to be) on storage. I also noticed that "System Data" is taking up an enormous amount of space.

Here's what I have tried so far to free up some space--none of these things have worked:

1. Ran Onyx
2. Deleted SEVERAL unused apps
3. Went through and examined the ENTIRE structure of the disk to find large files. Even enabled "Show Hidden Files" using Shift + Cmd + . which didn't help.
   1. Went through the Caches folder, couldn't free up anything
   2. Went through the other folders in both /Library and ~/Library, couldn't clear up anything, either.

Any suggestions as to how to get this back?

 

[Apple_Robert]

I highly recommend installing Daisy Disk. It will give you an excellent view of what exactly is taking up space thus allowing you to take action, without fear of deleting files you don't really know what they are.

If you have been using TimeMachine, a lot of times it will store purgeable files thus taking up more room. TimeMachine is supposed to purge the files when needed but, that doesn't always happen.

 

[chown33]

Do you use Time Machine? If so, you may have some snapshots you can delete.

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

Time Machine lets you restore files from local snapshots of the files on your Mac, even when your Time Machine backup disk isn't available.

support.apple.com

There are other ways to delete local TM snapshots.
Search terms: delete time machine snapshots

Also, please identify your OS version.

 

[Clix Pix]

You also might want to consider transferring some of your files to an external drive; do you need to keep all your podcasts, movies and music on your computer? A lot of people put their iTunes library on an external drive, which frees up space on the machine's internal drive. Others put their photo collection on an external drive, or if they have a lot of documents which they don't need to see and use every day, they stash those on an external.

 

[gilby101]

Hey, I am not quite sure what to do here. I have an M1 MacBook Air, and I noticed I am running low (relatively, compared to where I used to be) on storage. I also noticed that "System Data" is taking up an enormous amount of space.

My System Data is 119 GB. It doesn't bother me. So I am not sure why 49 GB would worry you.

Adding up the numbers in your screenshot I get to about 120GB. How big is your disk?

If you are low on space, use Daisy Disk to discover what is using the disk.

And do remember that if you delete stuff and empty the Bin/Trash, it will remain in TimeMachine snapshots for 24 hours.