Missing ~40GB of storage space after 8.3

[Blaine]

I haven't seen anyone have my issue on the forums, but basically after I updated to iOS 8.3, 40 GB of space disappeared.

I'm not sure if I can somehow see in the diagnostic logs where this space went, or what's going on.

Has anyone experienced anything similar with 8.3?

I guess I feel this is getting really childish that we have to keep restoring our devices to fix Apple's bugs. I don't want to lose my text messages and everything. If the bug lies in my backups, then restoring will only put it back on my phone.

They need to open up access to the file system somehow so that we can just manually fix their problems when space issues occur.

This is on a 128GB iPhone 6

 

[simon lefisch]

I updated to 8.3 last night on my 64GB 6+ and have no space missing. Made a backup first then updated OTA. No probs here.

 

[Blaine]

Missing ~40GB of storage space after 8.3

Yeah :/ I haven't seen anyone else post anything about it. I was hoping if it was a known issue, that I could hold out for 8.4, but it looks like it's only me that has it.

 

[LostEchoes]

It's probably the "other" section that is suddenly too huge.

Sometimes it has to do with Music and/or apps

Try removing all songs and apps (via iTunes). Sync. Then add the songs and apps and re-sync (always via iTunes).

 

[swordfish5736]

Did you check settings -> general -> usage to see if anything is visibly hogging the space?

Reset?(hold home and power till the apple logo pops up)

Have you synced to iTunes since the update?

 

[Zo6]

Its probably in the "other" mine went to 37gb of "other" after 8.3 update, haven't figured out how to fix it yet. If someone knows how to fix it let me know. iPhone 6 64gb

----------

Also I updated thru iTunes.

 

[Woochifer]

Sounds like an operation got hung up during the installation or downloading process. That kind of garbage data gets dumped straight into the "Other" directory, and unfortunately the only surefire way to get rid of it is to restore your device as new.

First thing you should do is backup your device. If you have SMS texts or game progress or other app data that you want to keep, you should do the backup using a wired connection to iTunes, since iCloud will not restore texts and some app data. Garbage data and caches will not get backed up, so restoring will actually clean things up quite a bit.

Then you restore your device as new. Once you verify that the device works and the free space is back to normal, then you restore your apps and data using a backup. (again, I prefer to use iTunes, because iCloud requires you to redownload all your apps and data, which can take a very long time, depending on your connection speed)

 

[TITNTUFF]

9 gb of other

I updated my 6 plus 64 gb thru iTunes. My other went to 9 gb, up from3gb. Several syncs later it's still 9 gb. It's also been cycled off, and restarted.

 

[Woochifer]

Its probably in the "other" mine went to 37gb of "other" after 8.3 update, haven't figured out how to fix it yet. If someone knows how to fix it let me know. iPhone 6 64gb

----------

Also I updated thru iTunes.

See above.

Any botched download or installation will get dumped into the "Other" directory, where it will sit until it gets purged. Over time it can really build up, especially if you use iTunes Match or have an unreliable network connection.

As I said, the only sure way to get the "Other" directory back to normal is to restore your device as new. Because I use iTunes Match, I will restore my device and then reload the apps and data from a local iTunes backup, about once every other month or whenever I install a major interval iOS update.

----------

I updated my 6 plus 64 gb thru iTunes. My other went to 9 gb, up from3gb. Several syncs later it's still 9 gb. It's also been cycled off, and restarted.

That's definitely garbage data. Restarting and syncing won't help.

You likely need to restore device as new, and then restore the apps and data from a backup.

 

[TITNTUFF]

Thank you

See above.

Any botched download or installation will get dumped into the "Other" directory, where it will sit until it gets purged. Over time it can really build up, especially if you use iTunes Match or have an unreliable network connection.

As I said, the only sure way to get the "Other" directory back to normal is to restore your device as new. Because I use iTunes Match, I will restore my device and then reload the apps and data from a local iTunes backup, about once every other month or whenever I install a major interval iOS update.

----------



That's definitely garbage data. Restarting and syncing won't help.

You likely need to restore device as new, and then restore the apps and data from a backup.

Thank you. Looks like a restore as new is in my near future..

 

[Blaine]

Thanks guys, now I see what I need to do. My "other" must be full after the update. I don't understand why apple doesn't allow us to fix these issues without doing a restore.

 

[luke lau]

What does usage say? Is it in other? Also have you tried checking the specific sections like photos and third party apps for any suspicious culprits?

 

[Zo6]

I tried the restore to new, then restore the backup idea, did gain some space, but didn't help the "other" data. "Other" went from 28.86 to 28.06 any other ideas on how to get it gone without losing any info on phone???

 

[CTHarrryH]

some of Other space is legitimate data - what are you running on your device - do you have a lot of apps that have settings or data - seems like a tremendous amount in your case but some of it is really data.

 

[Woochifer]

I tried the restore to new, then restore the backup idea, did gain some space, but didn't help the "other" data. "Other" went from 28.86 to 28.06 any other ideas on how to get it gone without losing any info on phone???

Did you check your free space after restoring as new?

As long as you have backed up your phone locally using iTunes, you could also try restoring from an iCloud backup. If you haven't yet created an iCloud backup, try doing that first. If you go over your 5 GB limit, then that could be a clue that one of your apps or something with the media files is taking up a lot of space.

Restoring your phone via iCloud after restoring as a new device will redownload all of your apps. But, it won't restore all of the text messages and some app data. If you find that the phone operates fine restoring via iCloud, then you can either stick with that, or attempt the restore from a local backup again and see how that affects the storage.

Might take some sleuthing around to find what's gobbling up your storage space. The restoring process should purge most of the normal junk that builds up.

 

[Woochifer]

Thanks guys, now I see what I need to do. My "other" must be full after the update. I don't understand why apple doesn't allow us to fix these issues without doing a restore.

This has been an iOS issue since the beginning. The system is designed to keep your phone operational even if something goes awry during an update or download. But, that leaves a lot of junk data that doesn't go away unless you start over. I suspect that this is a byproduct of Apple's paranoia about security and not letting end users tinker around with the system directories unless they jailbreak their phones.

A lot of things can cause the "Other" data to balloon out of control. Some things you can solve without having to restore as new (like deleting text messages with attachments, clearing the "Recently Deleted" photos and videos, etc.). Others require taking the extra step.

As mentioned, I do this restore as new/restore from backup procedure about every other month as routine maintenance. Takes some time, but it has worked fine every time so far.

 

[TITNTUFF]

Restored as new

Restored as a new iPhone thru iTunes , and reloaded apps thru iTunes. Still have over 9 gb of other. I think I will just leave things alone.
Thanks for the advise. I'm thinking maybe photos or other data I have is being lumped into other.