Help: FULL system storage Mid 2017 MacBookk

[Bluewhistle]

Hi All,

I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)... and yes I was recalled by Apple, for having that year faulty SSD, but they wouldn't fix it under warranty! Due to the fact they found moisture damage inside.

The processor is working fine but when I look at system storage, it looks completely full, but I know it isn't.
Massive yellow bar showing under Storage.

What are options?

1) get it fixed by Apple.
2) find an SSD and try install it myself
3) Use an external SSD and plug it in

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Howard2k]

Can you manually delete files? Are you saying that the SSD won't erase?

 

[internetrando]

First things first, was your laptop water damaged?

 

[Bluewhistle]

Hi there,
YES I can delete files but cannot find the abundance of System files that are taking up my laptop space.
Yes it seems my laptop has been liquid damaged, as when Apple opened it to replace the 2017 recalled SSD, they told me it had some liquid damage...

Thanks for your interest.

 

[Fishrrman]

Do you use Time Machine?
If so, have you tried deleting "local backups"?

 

[BLUEDOG314]

Like mentioned above, it is likely local snapshots from time machine. If not, I have found that a lot of file types like mkv that are not natively recognized by macOS show up as System.

Also worth mentioning that you won't find a replacement SSD for that system unless it came out of another mac. The SSDs in 2016 and onward look more like dimms than traditional nvme ssds.

 

[Bluewhistle]

Yeah... I reads that as an issue but I don't use Time Machine!
[doublepost=1547836543][/doublepost]

Like mentioned above, it is likely local snapshots from time machine. If not, I have found that a lot of file types like mkv that are not natively recognized by macOS show up as System.

Also worth mentioning that you won't find a replacement SSD for that system unless it came out of another mac. The SSDs in 2016 and onward look more like dimms than traditional nvme ssds.

Yes, I noticed that too. I am in a bit of a pickle here!

 

[Howard2k]

Hi there,
YES I can delete files but cannot find the abundance of System files that are taking up my laptop space.
Yes it seems my laptop has been liquid damaged, as when Apple opened it to replace the 2017 recalled SSD, they told me it had some liquid damage...

Thanks for your interest.

So let's say you have a 1GB file, and you delete it, then empty the recycle bin, are you saying that the 1GB of space isn't released?

Or are you saying that your "system" is taking up too much space?

Or do you have both issues? You cannot delete files AND your system us using up all your space?

I sometimes find that that I have both issues, to some degree. Free space sometimes isn't updated, though I DO use Time Machine, and I've had my "system" report high usage.

Sometimes I find it's slower to update the reported free space. What I normally do after deleting a large amount of content and emptying the recycle bin is to ensure that all my Time Machine volumes are up to date (I use multiple volumes so do a backup to each one), then go to About This Mac, Storage, Manage. It can take a few minutes or the OS to tabulate everything. Additionally, my "System" storage just showed up as 65GB but now it's showing as 25GB.

See these two screen shots. Both within a minute of each other.

It showed 65GB, then 53GB, then settled on 25GB. This is from the "Manage" button.

Is that related to what you're seeing?

 

[Bluewhistle]

So let's say you have a 1GB file, and you delete it, then empty the recycle bin, are you saying that the 1GB of space isn't released?

Or are you saying that your "system" is taking up too much space?

Or do you have both issues? You cannot delete files AND your system us using up all your space?

I sometimes find that that I have both issues, to some degree. Free space sometimes isn't updated, though I DO use Time Machine, and I've had my "system" report high usage.

Sometimes I find it's slower to update the reported free space. What I normally do after deleting a large amount of content and emptying the recycle bin is to ensure that all my Time Machine volumes are up to date (I use multiple volumes so do a backup to each one), then go to About This Mac, Storage, Manage. It can take a few minutes or the OS to tabulate everything. Additionally, my "System" storage just showed up as 65GB but now it's showing as 25GB.

See these two screen shots. Both within a minute of each other.

View attachment 816392 View attachment 816393


It showed 65GB, then 53GB, then settled on 25GB. This is from the "Manage" button.

Is that related to what you're seeing?

Hi,
thank you for this...
No, I have a TON of system space taken all the time, months now. Nothing is clearing it.

I can delete all my VISIBLE files...

I'm thinking I may buy a SSD external drive with the latest cable (£120 ish) and then wait until internal parts for my model come down in price.

My screen shot illustrates how much of a yellow band the system is taking up.

Resignation is sometimes better than ignorance.
Thanks you

 

[Howard2k]

What happens if you click Manage and let it sit for 10 minutes?
Grasping at straws, but buying an external SSD seems kinda extreme.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:
Can you boot to internet recovery?
1. Power down (all the way off)
2. Press power on button
3. IMMEDIATELY hold down "command-option-R" and keep holding it down for a while
4. You may need to enter your wifi password

Can you get this far -- get to the Mac OS utilities?

If you can get that far...
... get an EXTERNAL USB3 drive of some kind. It can be an SSD, or a platter-based hard drive, or even a USB flash drive that is at least 32gb in size.
Then, use the OS installer to install a copy of the OS onto the EXTERNAL drive.
When done, create a basic account on it.
NOW you have a way to "externally boot up" the MPB.

You can boot it up that way, and then "work on" the INTERNAL drive.