Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iCloud backup of iPad all of a sudden went from 450MB to 7.1GB

A

acousticbiker

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 28, 2008
983
199
I have a free 5GB account, so the last successful back up was in October (when this jump occurred). I didn't change anything on my end around that time and the timeframe doesn't necessarily line up with an iOS update. The largest single app backup amount is Minecraft at around 100MB. I don't use my iPad as a camera so the Camera Roll is negligible. Based on searching other forums, I've tried the following thus far:

1. Turning off / deleting backup and turning back on
2. Backing up to MacBook then trying iCloud again
3. Turning Camera Roll backup off and then on (strangely, I could not keep it off - it automatically turned back on once I turned it off)

None of these were successful. Any tips?
 
Attachments in both mail and messages will be part of the iCloud backup size. Also, so will safari web history and browser data such as cookies and caches.

Try clearing those to see if it helps.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Attachments in both mail and messages will be part of the iCloud backup size. Also, so will safari web history and browser data such as cookies and caches.

Try clearing those to see if it helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips - but I don't use Mail or Messages on my iPad. I cleared the Safari cache but no change. Here's a screen capture of my Backup detail (all other apps not shown are on the order of KBs)
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    392.5 KB · Views: 670
acousticbiker said:
Thanks for the tips - but I don't use Mail or Messages on my iPad. I cleared the Safari cache but no change. Here's a screen capture of my Backup detail (all other apps not shown are on the order of KBs)
Click to expand...

Is messages completely disabled on your iPad?

Looking over your apps, I don't see any one app that sticks out that would need to backup large files. Maybe Kindle books (If you have any) but thats about it.

Sorry I can't be of greater help! All I do know is that belongs to iOS that is the major culprit.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Is messages completely disabled on your iPad?

Looking over your apps, I don't see any one app that sticks out that would need to backup large files. Maybe Kindle books (If you have any) but thats about it.

Sorry I can't be of greater help! All I do know is that belongs to iOS that is the major culprit.
Click to expand...

No worries, I appreciate your efforts. Yes, iMessage is disabled. And Kindle is only registering 136 KB. I think a word was missing from your last sentence - can you clarify?
 
acousticbiker said:
No worries, I appreciate your efforts. Yes, iMessage is disabled. And Kindle is only registering 136 KB. I think a word was missing from your last sentence - can you clarify?
Click to expand...

Whoops! What I was trying to say: All I do know is that the missing space belongs to iOS. Thats what I have been able to narrow down with my own backups.

This is what is backed up in an iCloud backup: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519?viewlocale=en_US

So based on the information on the website and the fact that app data and iMessages are accounted for, one of the following is causing the issue, but it is hard to imagine any of those are taking up GBs of data.

"Device settings
Home screen and app organization
Ringtones
Visual Voicemail"
 
I've been experiencing the same issue. I was able to fix it by deleting all previous backups, turning off iCloud backup, restarting the phone, turning iCloud backup on, starting a new backup.
 
J.C said:
I've been experiencing the same issue. I was able to fix it by deleting all previous backups, turning off iCloud backup, restarting the phone, turning iCloud backup on, starting a new backup.
Click to expand...

Thanks, will give this a shot. How did you delete all previous backups?
 
acousticbiker said:
Thanks, will give this a shot. How did you delete all previous backups?
Click to expand...

Settings -> iCloud -> Storage -> Manange Storage -> Select Backup -> Scroll To Bottom -> Delete backup. Then go back to:
Settings -> iCloud -> Backup -> Backup Now.

Only reapsn I didn't mention this was I thought you had already done it because that's what #1 was in the opening post.

This should bring your backup size to under 500MB based on your app data already listed.
 
J.C said:
I've been experiencing the same issue. I was able to fix it by deleting all previous backups, turning off iCloud backup, restarting the phone, turning iCloud backup on, starting a new backup.
Click to expand...

Just tried this but still shows 7.1GB needed after deleting / turning off, resetting, and turning back on. Would appreciate any other success stories I can try to replicate!
 
How big is your iTunes backup? You can also use Ibackupbot to access the files in the iTunes backup to see what is taking up space.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
How big is your iTunes backup? You can also use Ibackupbot to access the files in the iTunes backup to see what is taking up space.
Click to expand...

I don't backup to iTunes, but I can try if it might help diagnose. Once I do, how do I check the size of the backup? And any tips on using ibackupbot?
 
acousticbiker said:
I don't backup to iTunes, but I can try if it might help diagnose. Once I do, how do I check the size of the backup? And any tips on using ibackupbot?
Click to expand...

You can locate your backup folder here: http://en.kioskea.net/faq/12901-itunes-where-is-the-backup-folder-stored

Then you can just right-click the folder and find out the details about it.

Ibackupbot is pretty straight forward. Once you open the app, it will populate the iTunes backup on the left side. Click on it and then you can navigate throughout all the files to see what is taking up the most space. You can even edit the backup and go back into iTunes and click 'restore from backup' (this is the backup you just edited and it takes about 5 minutes. You won't lose any data besides what you removed from ibackupbot).

A while ago on iOS 6 there was an iMessage bug that deleted the messages and not the attachments. Well it turns out that those attachments were getting stuck in my iCloud backup. At one point it was up to 1GB and then I used Ibackupbot to remove the attachment files from the iTunes backup. Then I restored that backup and magically got 1GB back on my phone and iCloud backup.

Here are the steps for ibackupbot with the iMessage bug: http://www.project107.net/blog/reclaiming-imessage-storage-in-ios-7-on-iphone-4/

You can pretty much use this as a guide to guide yourself through Ibackupbot and hopefully figure out whats causing the problem!

Good luck!
 
Mlrollin91 said:
You can locate your backup folder here: http://en.kioskea.net/faq/12901-itunes-where-is-the-backup-folder-stored

Then you can just right-click the folder and find out the details about it.

Ibackupbot is pretty straight forward. Once you open the app, it will populate the iTunes backup on the left side. Click on it and then you can navigate throughout all the files to see what is taking up the most space. You can even edit the backup and go back into iTunes and click 'restore from backup' (this is the backup you just edited and it takes about 5 minutes. You won't lose any data besides what you removed from ibackupbot).

A while ago on iOS 6 there was an iMessage bug that deleted the messages and not the attachments. Well it turns out that those attachments were getting stuck in my iCloud backup. At one point it was up to 1GB and then I used Ibackupbot to remove the attachment files from the iTunes backup. Then I restored that backup and magically got 1GB back on my phone and iCloud backup.

Here are the steps for ibackupbot with the iMessage bug: http://www.project107.net/blog/reclaiming-imessage-storage-in-ios-7-on-iphone-4/

You can pretty much use this as a guide to guide yourself through Ibackupbot and hopefully figure out whats causing the problem!

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help! Through Finder, the backup shows as 2.15GB (size of only folder - with gibberish as name - in the Backup folder). I also ran ibackupbot and have attached with screenshot here. I'm not seeing any obvious cause of why my back up is requiring 7.1GB!
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2014-12-01 at 2.11.08 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2014-12-01 at 2.11.08 PM.png
    460.4 KB · Views: 325
I am at an absolute lost. Normally the iTunes backup is substantially larger than the iCloud backup because it backs up more files and "junk". You might be able to send iCloud support an email but I'm not sure what else can be done.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
I am at an absolute lost. Normally the iTunes backup is substantially larger than the iCloud backup because it backs up more files and "junk". You might be able to send iCloud support an email but I'm not sure what else can be done.
Click to expand...

Appreciate your help - I'll check to see if Apple support can crack this
 
I hope Apple Support can help, but I'm a bit afraid they'll just tell you to do a clean install of iOS to clear the issue up.

Can you screenshot Settings > General > Usage for me?
 
Hmmm.. Reading
all the comments and all..try this again .. Should possibly help.. Will take a some time though..
But before this , make sure any successful backup of this device is removed from icloud.. For safety ,backup on iTunes first and then delete any backup of this device from iCloud and then do the following steps ...

1. Go into iCloud storage manage where u see the amount of backup app to app(as u posted your screenshot earlier)

2. Manually turn off all the backup of all apps except photos..
3. Wait for the backup size to change..from your screenshot earlier, it should be 12.3 mb or so

4. Backup this device on icloud .. So all thst will backup is your 12.3 my since others are turned off..

5. Come back to app to app backup management, and toggle on a few other apps which are close to 1 mb or are more... And see the backup size change..

6. Toggle all other apps on, and see the backup size change..

All this needs to be done after u have deleted any previous successfull backup of this device from iCloud..
 
Apple blogger said:
Hmmm.. Reading
all the comments and all..try this again .. Should possibly help.. Will take a some time though..
But before this , make sure any successful backup of this device is removed from icloud.. For safety ,backup on iTunes first and then delete any backup of this device from iCloud and then do the following steps ...

1. Go into iCloud storage manage where u see the amount of backup app to app(as u posted your screenshot earlier)

2. Manually turn off all the backup of all apps except photos..
3. Wait for the backup size to change..from your screenshot earlier, it should be 12.3 mb or so

4. Backup this device on icloud .. So all thst will backup is your 12.3 my since others are turned off..

5. Come back to app to app backup management, and toggle on a few other apps which are close to 1 mb or are more... And see the backup size change..

6. Toggle all other apps on, and see the backup size change..

All this needs to be done after u have deleted any previous successfull backup of this device from iCloud..
Click to expand...

Interesting idea - gave it a shot. Strangely, the 'Next Backup Size' did not change as I switched off app by app (all the way to switching all apps off). In other words, even with no apps selected, the Next Backup Size is 7GB! This is unchanged even after I turn backup off / delete the backup and reset the iPad.
 
Can you provide a "Settings/General/Usage/Manage Storage" screen shot?
Have you rented or purchased any movies or TV shows?
I remember some having trouble with these sometimes remaining in memory and causing trouble.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back