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"Other" file in 6.1.2 Huge

S

sundog925

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 19, 2011
958
1,029
this is friggen annoying.
something is causing my "other" file when i plug in to iTunes to grow at an alarming rate even after countless restores.
the lowest i managed to get it was under 500mb, but even within the day, it's back over a gig. even before i restored it today, it was 1.5 gigs.
ridiculous!

what the eff could this possibly be? it has to be a bug in 6.1.2 cuz its never been this much of a waste of space before.
 
I'm confused. Why does this matter? You really shouldn't be concerned with "Other". It isn't a file, it's everything that doesn't fit into the other categories, including system files, settings. Don't mess with it, don't concern yourself with it, it isn't a problem.
 
The space for the OS and all the system files and settings are already preformatted before you load on any of your personalized things. This is taking away space for me to sync my files, of course I would be worried about it.
 
ELMNT925 said:
The space for the OS and all the system files and settings are already preformatted before you load on any of your personalized things. This is taking away space for me to sync my files, of course I would be worried about it.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but I'm starting to get a little tired of people looking at some random data or statistic and coming up with conclusions based on delusions. I have about the exact same amount of "other" on my device. It isn't a problem, it's part of iOS, and there is no other way for iOS to show you how much space files it can't fit into the other categories take up. Please, just don't worry about it and enjoy your device. It isn't a problem.
 
ConCat said:
I'm sorry, but I'm starting to get a little tired of people looking at some random data or statistic and coming up with conclusions based on delusions. I have about the exact same amount of "other" on my device. It isn't a problem, it's part of iOS, and there is no other way for iOS to show you how much space files it can't fit into the other categories take up. Please, just don't worry about it and enjoy your device. It isn't a problem.
Click to expand...

Dont patronize me. Im not some paranoid newbie or worry wort. Just in these last 10 mins, the size had increased 200 more MB. are you saying the OS just magically decided it needed 200 more MB??? The phone, even after unboxing, doesnt have the whole 16GB free, that I understand. Its less due to the OS itself and blah blah, this OTHER is AFTER THE FACT, hello? AFTER the system settings and OS non-sense. So what are you saying? with this exponentially growing OTHER file that the available space for apps and files is even LOWER than the advertised allotment on the box? get over yourself and admit you dont know the answer.
 
ELMNT925 said:
Dont patronize me. Im not some paranoid newbie or worry wort. Just in these last 10 mins, the size had increased 200 more MB. are you saying the OS just magically decided it needed 200 more MB??? The phone, even after unboxing, doesnt have the whole 16GB free, that I understand. Its less due to the OS itself and blah blah, this OTHER is AFTER THE FACT, hello? AFTER the system settings and OS non-sense. So what are you saying? with this exponentially growing OTHER file that the available space for apps and files is even LOWER than the advertised allotment on the box? get over yourself and admit you dont know the answer.
Click to expand...

Okay, you're on your own. I tried.
 
ConCat said:
Okay, you're on your own. I tried.
Click to expand...

You didnt try anything, I just used logic to dispel your obviously magnanimous reply.
16GB
less the space for the OS and settings, lets say 2GB.
leaves 13GB for everything else, this is what shows in ITUNES as allotted capacity
other file is currently 1.3GB.

now tell me, what is the other if the OS and system files HAVE ALREADY BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR?
 
I had this problem after updating to ios 6.0.1 I understand what your saying. Mine was taking up 4.5GB when before it was only 800MB or so. I restored phone back to factory settings and that did work for me? I set it up as new phone and didn't restore from backup.
 
ELMNT925 said:
You didnt try anything, I just used logic to dispel your obviously magnanimous reply.
16GB
less the space for the OS and settings, lets say 2GB.
leaves 13GB for everything else, this is what shows in ITUNES as allotted capacity
other file is currently 1.3GB.

now tell me, what is the other if the OS and system files HAVE ALREADY BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR?
Click to expand...

Caches, mostly. Although I will say this one more time. It includes the system files in "Other". They are not accounted for as you seem to think. You didn't use logic, you used what's known as "fuzzy logic". My logic is based on known fact, nothing more.
 
Do you use iTunes match? I discovered that somehow my music library database got corrupted...and my "other" size blew up. I turned off match, did a restore, and now it's "normal" size.
 
ericg301 said:
Do you use iTunes match? I discovered that somehow my music library database got corrupted...and my "other" size blew up. I turned off match, did a restore, and now it's "normal" size.
Click to expand...

The "other" file will always start out small when you complete a restore. Trouble is as you use the device, add content to it, jailbreak and add Cydia content, it keeps growing and growing and ...
 
I have no jailbreaks and iTunes Match is in the cloud. I understand it caches the song on your phone but not over a GB WORTH! This is a bug
 
ELMNT925 said:
I have no jailbreaks and iTunes Match is in the cloud. I understand it caches the song on your phone but not over a GB WORTH! This is a bug
Click to expand...

System files as well as texts, etc. get stored in Other.

It is impossible to have 0GB of Other, even after a fresh restore. There will always be Other, and it will always grow.
 
Remember, if you've had a version of iOS install prior to 6.1, SMS attachments you *thought* you deleted are still on the device.

This can add hundreds of megabytes of "Other" to the device. Possible several gigabytes of "Other".

iOS 6.1+ fixes the bug (SMS attachments are now properly deleted), but SMS attachments deleted before 6.1 was installed are still on the device.

Restoring and setting up as a new device or jailbreaking are the only ways (currently) to clear out the deleted SMS attachments.
 
Xenomorph said:
Remember, if you've had a version of iOS install prior to 6.1, SMS attachments you *thought* you deleted are still on the device.

This can add hundreds of megabytes of "Other" to the device. Possible several gigabytes of "Other".

iOS 6.1+ fixes the bug (SMS attachments are now properly deleted), but SMS attachments deleted before 6.1 was installed are still on the device.

Restoring and setting up as a new device or jailbreaking are the only ways (currently) to clear out the deleted SMS attachments.
Click to expand...

i have been restoring like crazy and still the file grows to over 1GB in half an hour or so.
 
Silvereel said:
If it's out of control, have you tried contacting Apple? They should know more than anyone here. Worst comes to worst, you could try a factory reset.
Click to expand...

I haven't but I know they'll have me do a factory reset. I did do one but I restored from backup so that's probably why it didn't work. I don't want to lose all my settings and texts and such.
 
ELMNT925 said:
i have been restoring like crazy and still the file grows to over 1GB in half an hour or so.
Click to expand...

try restoring as new, and don't restore a backup/
after a fresh restore, the OTHER should not exceed 1GB. mine was just 400MB at least.
try installing PhoneClean as well to remove cache and other files.
also, check if the OTHER data increases if you Sync your music. (usually it does).
use DiskAid to remove the excess MUSIC data.
this worked for me, i hope it will for you.
 
Can it be that you have mail setup? That mailbox is synced and stored somewhere. Maybe also podcasts or any other stuff (pages, numbers, keynote, twitter) that is in the cloud.

Every OS has caches, libraries and stuff that grows on usage. So it is normal that close after a restore it is small and grows on usage. Note that mail and stuff will synchronize in background, so you do not need to open your mail app for it to download stuff from the mail server.
 
Can't "Other" include things like downloaded Kindle books, podcasts or synced Spotify music? I wouldn't really worry about it, unless it was huge and you had no downloaded content in your apps that would explain it.

I remember I once put loads of CBRs on my iPad for a comic reader I'd bought and 'Other' showed 15GBs of data.
 
I remmebr back in the ipod touch 2g days, sometimes it would randomly change all music apps and data to this 'other' entity in itunes, to get it to reformat itself properly i would have to resync everything.

Could be something like that happening again?
 
Ste Nova said:
i wasn't a cheapskate and bought a phone which easily had more than enough space than i needed
Click to expand...

i87YRVpBkA8.jpg


As to the original question.

Like overs have already said, the 'other' is usually cached files, text attachments and so for, but I read somewhere that iTunes is not doing a good job of deleting those files and is why the file is growing.

One trick that works for me, though not as quick, is to delete old messages, old emails, delete apps that I no longer use, clear Safari cache and history. Once you have done all that, plug in your device to iTunes and create a new backup. then restore your iDevice and restore from the last saved.

Usually once it has been restored, the 'other' file is usually significantly smaller.

Others have suggested using programs to delete old files, I've tried them and they work half the time.

its not really iOS 6 as much as it is iTunes not doing its job.
 
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