Mac Pro13 System is using 513 GB of memory!

[tsinsf]

I have a 2013 Mac Pro with 32 RAM, a 1 TB SSD drive, 3.5 GHz 6 core Intel Xeon E5, AMD FirePro D500 3 GB Graphics card, running OS 10.13.3. I have four external drives hooked up to it: 2 via a Lacie Thunderbolt 2big enclosure (in a JBOD Raid), and 2 spinning drives hooked up via USB 3.0. I'm running out of hard drive space and a checkin About this Mac shows that my System is using 513 GB of memory (see attached screen shot). This seems like a lot. Is this a typical amount, or is something else going on? Thanks!

[Tedd]

You are actually talking about disk space, not memory but my similar spec MacBook pro is using about 47Gb for the system.  I don't really know what would be taking up your extra space.  Maybe temp files or local Time Machine backups?

[tonysiciliano1]

Yes, I didn't mean memory and in fact meant hard drive space.

[BobShaw]

I don't know where that shot came from, but the easiest way to check storage is to open the MacintoshHD in the Finder and in View menu / Show View Option / tick Calculate All Sizes.
Then when you find a space hugger you open that folder and do the same. Don't forget to untick Show all sizes at each step because it uses resources.

[DougDolde]

I have the same computer. My system folder size is 8,662,082,394 bytes (6.06 GB on disk) for 164,911 items

[tsinsf]

I've been busy answering my own question! Google is amazing.

If you use Time Machine and check "Back up Automatically", High Sierra (OS 13.3.3) takes "Snapshots" of your Boot Drive and sometimes rather than storing the data on the external drive you have chosen to be your backup drive, it stores them in hidden files on the boot drive that it is supposedly backing up. The system is supposed to delete these snapshots in a timely fashion, but there is a bug in the system (my bug!) and this doesn't happen and these snapshots fill up your hardrive. They are hidden and not accessible to the user, and in Disk Daisy (where I found out about this) appear as "hidden space". If you want to read more about this:

https://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2017/20171127_2116-TimeMachine-LocalBackups.html

https://daisydiskapp.com/manual/4/en/Topics/HiddenSpace.html?subtopic=StillHiddenSpace

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015

Pray for an update with a fix!

[kers]

Pray for an update with a fix!

and by the time it is fixed they invented a new system 14 with new bugs...