Help needed: 20 GB of "Other"

[IronWaffle]

Not sure how this happened or how to fix it. I set up my 64gb iPhone 6 with about 6,000 songs. During a sync this morning, for no discernible reason it removed all but about 600 of them. This alone is frustrating enough but with every attempted sync I get stuck in "Waiting for changes to be applied" loops.

Since then, the iTunes break down of Audio, Apps, etc. still shows the same total amount of space used but it has allocated 21.35 GB to "Other" and none of my attempts to fix it have worked. Note: in Usage, I see 3.1 gb in Music (some has been re-added in a new sync) and 1.7 gb in photos. Every other app has much less data listed.

What I've tried:

In Settings I tried to remove all music. It crashed Settings each time, even after a reboot.
I manually removed all music, artist by artist, until empty then in iTunes unchecked Music and any related options then synced. It removed all the Music but Other was unaffected.

Next I tried to restore a backup, but my encrypted Cloud backup doesn't show. Not knowing what to do about that, I backed up to my Mac expecting it wouldn't fix the issue because the problem would probably be backed up. I was right. The restore didn't fix it.

Best I can think of now is doing a complete reset but getting the whole device set up from scratch is a daunting waste of time. I could restore my iPod's backup, which is how I originally set it up the other day, but that too will require many changes.

I'm hoping someone else has a better, less draconian measure.

 

[lyleberman]

Same thing happened to me. I think because the initial iTunes sync was interrupted. Annoying!

I downloaded iFunbox for the Mac and deleted the iTunes_control folder. Then rebooted my phone. Then I launched iTunes and connected the phone. Oddly it asked me if I wanted to restore from backup or setup a new iPhone. I guessed the latter. Had to redo my iTunes sync settings but it worked.

But if you try this, please be careful. Buyer beware! YMMV, don't blame me if it all goes south, etc.

 

[IronWaffle]

Same thing happened to me. I think because the initial iTunes sync was interrupted. Annoying!

I downloaded iFunbox for the Mac and deleted the iTunes_control folder. Then rebooted my phone. Then I launched iTunes and connected the phone. Oddly it asked me if I wanted to restore from backup or setup a new iPhone. I guessed the latter. Had to redo my iTunes sync settings but it worked.

But if you try this, please be careful. Buyer beware! YMMV, don't blame me if it all goes south, etc.

Thanks! I don't trust myself that much so that'll be another fall back.

I have the bloated backup saved, so I'm doing a factory reset and loading my iPod Touch's rock solid backup. I'm going to have to rearrange a lot of folders and go back through and update a TON of settings but there are worse things.

Thankfully, I've only lost one day's worth of data (some pics, some pedometer stuff but not much else). As soon as it's done (probably in a few days) I'll back it up straight to my Mac this time before going to the cloud.

 

[Woochifer]

Restoring the phone to the factory settings is the only way you can fully wipe the "Other" files from storage. Especially when you use iTunes Match to download music to your device, any botched downloads will stay on your device and occupy storage space until you purge them.

After you restore the phone to factory settings, then you restore your backup. Yeah, it takes time (mostly to reload your apps), but the process is relatively simple. You just need to reenter your passcode, and rescan your fingerprints for Touch ID.

Generally, I don't keep music files on my phone. If you're trying to download a huge music library, any interruption will leave you in a loop and the entire size of the collection you're trying to download will be recorded as used storage, even if you cannot access or use those files. That's why I'll just let iTunes Match download stuff as I listen to them. Otherwise, I just setup playlists and use those to sync any files I want stored on my phone.

I would suggest restoring your phone and loading up your apps, and then download your music in smaller chunks. The possibility of interruptions and garbage data getting left behind is why I prefer to do any restoration with a wired connection to iTunes rather than iCloud.

 

[whyyou]

This happened to me today. Not sure when. I think when it was syncing over wireless it was incomplete. For some reason it deleted 90% of my songs and then created a 20gb other section. I am no trying to restore my iphone to get it fixed. I blame this on iOS 8.0. Hopefully iOS 8.0.2 doesn't do the same thing. Never had a problem with iOS 7