i have an ipad mini 16 gig...why does the os take up nearly half of the memory

Question

i have an ipad mini 16 gig...why does the os take up nearly half of the memory

Why does the OS on my mini take up so much memory???

is there a way to either boost the memory or reset the OS to factory??

Posted on Oct 11, 2019 9:24 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MichelPM

Level 10

81,334 points

Oct 14, 2019 9:08 AM in response to Frogiegirl2105

It will not erase IOS, but erases everything else off of your iPad stored in flash memory storage.

iOS is written into the iPad's low level firmware chip. It cannot be erased, like user data can.

If you have important data on that iPad that you did not backup and you do an Erase All Settings and Data, you permanently erase everything that is stored on your iPad.

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Answer 2

MichelPM

Level 10

81,334 points

Oct 13, 2019 4:34 PM in response to Frogiegirl2105

I do not know what is going on with your iPad Min,i but at less than 1 GB of data left on yiur iPad Mini3, your iPad internal storage is nearly full.

A 16 GBs iPad after drive formating and installation of iOS starts out at approx between 13-14 GBs.

In addition, iOS needs to maintain, at least between 2-3 GBs of free internal data storage for iOS to work/function at an acceptable/nominal level of performance.

So, your 16 GBs iPad ONLY has a practical, usable 10-11 GB of actual free internal data storage space.

You need to free up free data storage space on your iPad starting by backing up your iPad to either Apple's iCloud or by connecting your iDevice to a computer running the latest iTunes or some other offsite, “cloud” data storage service, like Google Drive/Photos, DropBox, BOX, Flickr ( for images ), etc.

Then, delete any installed apps that you no longer use or use infrequently enough that they aren't missed ( you can always reinstalled any purchased or free apps at some time later, as you need themm).

Thin out/delete any music/videos/movies/TV shows/images/eBooks/eMagazine/iBooks/audio books/Documents/PDFs, etc.

If you use a POP email account on your iPad, delete/thin out any old saved emails that maybe saved to your iPad.

To permanently delete photos/images off of your iDevice go into the Photos app and find the Recently Deleted folder/album and permanently delete any photos/images stored in that folder/album.

Also, you can check to see what stuff is eating up all your valuable data storage space by going into the Settings App,,General Settings Panel, in the right hand column, tap Storage & iCloud usage panel ( in iOS 11, it’s iPad Storage ), in the top Storage Panel, tap the Manage Storage panel, wait for a list of apps to generate that will tell you how much space each app is taking up on your iDevice.

Then, do a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then, release the buttons.

iDevices need to maintain, at the very least, a minimum of between 2-3 GBs of free data storage space, at all times, to insure normal/nominal functionalities/operation and general overall performance of any iDevice.

iPad Min 3 can be upgraded ONLY to the last version of iOS 12, which is iOS 12.4.2.

Good Luck to You!

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