You know the cliché , “ bigger is better ” ? That almost always go for to a equipment ’s storage capacity . It applies to Apple ’s Macs , which are mostly all set at 256 GB at the lower - price standard configurations . That ’s too pocket-size , even if you ’re not a professional who deal with large files . We recommend acquire at least a 512 GB SSD , and here at Macworld , we were recently remind of how small 256 GB is .
A Macworld editor ( who shall stay nameless , but there are only five of us ) has the unfortunate burden of a 256 GB SSD in their Mac . ( Okay , yeah , “ use what you preach , Macworld . ” I ’ll be sure to tell upper direction . ) And they had problem because an passing large amount of space ( 108 GB ) unexpectedly became consecrate to System Data – that pack up one-half of the 256 GB SSD .
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Now , you ’re probably looking at the screenshot above and conceive , “ Dang , you need to do something about Messages and Photos ” and sure , you ’re correct ( they reassure us that they have substance in iCloud and iCloud Photos set up ) . But when macOS and System Data take up 129 GB of place on a 256 GB SSD , that ’s a set . Something queer come about with System Data . finally , enough blank space was freed to instal the recently released macOS 15.4 update . Installing the update resulted in a little System Data parceling of just 45.75 GB and over 70 GB of newfound detached space .
If you ’ve never hear of “ System Data , ” that ’s because you ’re not really supposed to be preoccupied with what it is . macOS is supposed to manage it for you , and even if you do desire tomanually manage it , it ’s no trivial task and is probably best done with the help of adisk cleanup public utility company . disregardless of whether you handle System Data or not , something happened with the OS that make a 256 GB SSD to operate out of distance temporarily . That could be ruinous if , say , you ’re working on your kid ’s birthday picture in iMovie and you suddenly find out that you ca n’t save anything .
This exceptional situation might not be common , but it exemplify why 256 GB is too pocket-sized for a Mac ’s main storage gadget . Stuff bump with the type O that take away up space , and you could suddenlyfind yourself with a full driving force . you’re able to put in the oeuvre to manage the outer space so you do n’t trap yourself , but aboveboard , do you really need to do that ? There are just too many other factors that amount into gambol , too . To expand on the iMovie instance I mentioned earlier , there ’s an old rule of pollex that say a twist should have25 GB freefor iMovie ( or other movie projects ) . And 25 GB is 10 percent of a 256 GB SSD ’s space . That ’s a lot .
When we polled three other Macworld editor , they had System Data at 55 GB , 68 GB , and 87 GB . Thankfully , those editors have 1 TB SSDs , so there is no proceeds with free place . Nothing to interest about , even if System Data has to inflate up temporarily . The pointedness is , until Apple increases the substructure level to 512 GB , do yourself a favor when you buy a Mac and get an SSD openhanded than 256 GB . It will save you from succeeding headaches . And if you already have a 256 GB cause , moot one of theseways to expand your Mac ’s storage .
