"System Data" Storage Issue when Restoring iPhone

I just had to get a new iPhone 18 Pro Max on 10/17 because my previous iPhone's battery expanded and damaged the motherboard. I transferred from my iCloud account to restore my data on my new iPhone. After the transfer was almost complete, 200 gigabytes filled up my storage with "System Data" storage and I could not complete my transfer. I had "Optimize Photos" for iCloud turned on but it has not started working (it seems to only buffer when checking on it in the iCloud settings). I decided to go to the apple store today to see if they could help. They had me restart the process and now I have 200 gigabytes filled up my storage with "System Data" storage again. I was told having "Optimize Photos" turned on would help but it didn't work either time I tried setting up my phone.

I cannot send or receive text messages because of this. What can I do to fix this? Do you think that optimize photos will work over time and fix this? Please help if you can.

Thanks,

Posted on Oct 18, 2026 5:20 PM

1 reply

lobsterghost1

Level 10 (233,174 points)

Oct 18, 2026 5:51 PM in response to Roatra

Clearly something went really wrong when setting up the new iPhone. You managed to bring something corrupt to System Data and Optimize Photos is not likely going to resolve this.

Since your previous phone failed and you don't know what happened with the iCloud backup, it would be advisable to start the set up process all over again and NOT from iCloud backup. Take the phone back to the Hello Page, sign into Wifi and your Apple Account, then sync everything you were syncing with iCloud to the new iPhone at Settings > Tap your name at the top > iCloud > See All and turn the switch on for everything you had already synced with iCloud. Then you go to the App Store and bring your apps over to your new iPhone again.

Not elegant and somewhat time consuming, but this should get you out of the mess you're currently in. And yes, this will test your patience, but will not bring any corrupt Systems Data over to the new phone. What you're really doing is setting up the phone manually as opposed to setting it up from backup.

This link will help and note the last bullet which is set up manually --> Turn on and set up iPhone - Apple Support (CA)