Iphone syncing and growing memory usage for "other"

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Level 1

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Iphone syncing and growing memory usage for "other"

I've not added any movies, other video, audio or anything to my sync process for some time. Yet, over the past weeks, when I select my device in Itunes I see the growing yellow bar (in Summary) for "Other" that's just eating up the memory. I've double checked all of my sync standards and even deleted two movies, yet the Yellow bar of "other" keeps marching larger. Thinking that it might be my email, I even drastically reduced email messages, did archiving, etc., yet there is no affect on the Yellow bar of "other".

Suggestions??

Dell, Windows XP

Posted on Nov 24, 2010 1:29 AM

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Answer 1

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Nov 24, 2010 1:58 AM in response to olyfisher

The "normal" amount for other is 200~600MB's or so. Anything much larger than that(say 1GB or more) would be corrupt data on your phone. First try restoring from your most recent backup, followed by syncing your iTunes content back to your phone. If that doesn't fix things then your next step would be to restore as a new device in iTunes.

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Answer 2

olyfisher Author

Level 1

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Nov 24, 2010 12:16 PM in response to wjosten

Thanks - and I was fearing an answer like that. BTW, the consumption is now up to 3.1 GB, so whatever it is, it's a monster. I'm guessing a full re-set is in order.

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Answer 3

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Nov 24, 2010 12:19 PM in response to olyfisher

You likely do not have to reset all setting.

As provided, just do a restore.

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Answer 4

Dec 4, 2010 10:42 AM in response to roaminggnome

Did a "Restore" and ten minutes later my 3.6 GB of "Other" memory turned into 0.38 GB.

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Answer 5

Dec 16, 2010 11:33 PM in response to roaminggnome

hi roaminggnome.....i've also got the exact problem bout the memory usage.i've also make the restore but it still the same.that mean i need to do a full restore to my iphone 4 to a new one?

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Answer 6

Jan 7, 2011 5:52 AM in response to olyfisher

Is there any way to isolate what may be causing this kind of problem? I did the whole restore a couple of weeks ago, but now the "Other" memory is edging up again - "just" 1.1GB now, but it was 700MB a week ago.

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Answer 7

Jan 8, 2011 5:26 AM in response to Lost in Asia

Note on this: the "Restore" button, featured prominently on the iTunes page, led into a 1-2 hour long process that did solve the problem - for a while. (It also resulted in a lot of trouble re-syncing my apps.)

However, the "Restore from Backup" process, done by right-clicking on the iPhone line in iTunes, didn't solve the problem - the "Other" memory remains at 1.1GB, and growing by around 100MB each time I sync.

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Answer 8

Maikeer

Level 1

0 points

Jan 8, 2011 9:35 AM in response to Lost in Asia

I am having the "Other" problem with my 8GB iPhone 3G. I did a Restore from iTunes about one week ago, and the mysterious memory usage pretty much disappeared, but this seems to have been a temporary fix. The "Other" has gotten pretty big again, currently 1.73 GB. As far as I can tell, it isn't increasing with every synch, though. Rather, it was a sudden increase in my case.

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Answer 9

Jan 9, 2011 6:09 AM in response to olyfisher

My Other category has grown to 5.2 GB. I want to get this back in line but nothing I've tried has worked.

I've updated to 4.2.1, sync'ed with all categories unchecked, restored from backup, re-installed ios 4.2.1 and restored again. All that happens is the Other space grows bigger. Started the process yesterday and Other was 3.1 GB

Any ideas?

Appreciate any help.

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Answer 10

Jan 9, 2011 8:52 PM in response to renaissanceman

I found the solution!!

I installed open SSH on the iPhone and Cyberduck on the Mac. Connected the two wirelessly and found I had 4.89 GB of recorded audio. I copied the audio from the iPhone to the Mac, then deleated the recorded files from the iPhone. Now Other is 400 MB and Syncing is working as it should. Took a lot of digging to find the solution so I thought it worthwhile to share it here.

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Answer 11

jrollans

Level 1

0 points

Jan 11, 2011 4:47 PM in response to olyfisher

Both my iPad and my iPhone 3GS do the same thing. Though the iPad seems to grow faster.. I have done the restore 3 times now since iOS 4 update, it works each time, but it does start filling up again right away.

I dont have any solutions, just wanted to throw my hat in the ring here.

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Answer 12

Maikeer

Level 1

0 points

Jan 17, 2011 7:57 AM in response to olyfisher

Followup: After my "Other" grew to 2.3GB, I was able to reclaim my space without restoring, by downloading the trial version of DiskAid and following each of the seven steps described here:

http://www.ipodrepublic.com/iphone/fixing-issue-other-files-iphone-memory/2010/0 3/31/

I will be very interested to see if the resolution is permanent, or if DiskAid (or other explorer program) will be needed on an ongoing basis to clean up the subfolders beginning with "F."

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Answer 13

Jan 17, 2011 6:32 PM in response to Maikeer

Thanks - the solution at iPod Republic seems to have worked for me. The slowly-increasing "Other" went down from 1.31GB to 0.16GB, just like it did after the lengthier full restore a couple of weeks back.

Note that this process still took a while, since I had to take all my music off the iPhone, and then sync it back on.

I'll repost in a couple of weeks with whether or not this problem has gone away, or if this will have to become regular maintenance.

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Answer 14

Jan 17, 2011 10:46 PM in response to Lost in Asia

Oops - or maybe it didn't work. The iPhone is definitely behaving oddly now: podcasts and audiobooks aren't playing properly (they'll appear, then go back to the menu without playing anything). Music seems to play OK. iTunes is telling me the total memory of the iPhone is 37GB, which is 7GB off. When I sync with iTunes, the "Other", at 0.16GB, appears and then disappears again. I have no idea what's going on, and I think I may be heading for the full restore again.

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Answer 15

Jan 10, 2013 9:54 PM in response to olyfisher

I SO wish apple would fix this. Until iOS 6 I was always able to just delete my text messages and it cleared up most of the "other" space. But now it has no effect. I'm up to 8 GB and about to have to do a factory restore for the third time since the update. I love my phone but I'm so over this process!!!

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