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Yellow "other" bar when syncing

I have seen this yellow bar that says "other" when I sync and it's taking up too much room! I've tried to restore but when I do it wipes everything out then comes right back when I start to sync again. Any suggestions?

Windows 7

Posted on Dec 21, 2010 7:46 AM

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17 replies

Dec 21, 2010 12:03 PM in response to Bravesgirl83

"Other" is the measure of used space on the iPod not taken up by Audio, Video & Photos. This includes the iPod's library and artwork plus any files you may have copied to your iPod in disk mode. The overhead for the library & artwork data is typically 1-2% of the size of the media, e.g. for 100Gb of Audio & Video expect to have around 1.5Gb of "Other". This information is needed for the iPod's operation and cannot be removed.

If you have significantly larger amounts of "Other", not related to files you've intentionally placed on the iPod, then these are probably disconnected copies of your media files or iPod libraries left over from failed sync operations. The only way to recover the space is to do a full restore.

If you have copies of all your media in your iTunes library this isn't a problem, but if you've been manually managing the content then you might need to try to recover the files from it first. See this post by Zevoneer on transferring files from the iPod to your computer. Some of the tools rely on the iPod having a healthy library however the manual method mentioned towards the end of the post should work regardless.

How much other? How much media? How big is the device? Whether it is "too much" room depends on other factors...

tt2

Dec 21, 2010 4:44 PM in response to Bravesgirl83

I've never really had an opportunity to test it but I'm not sure restore always cleans all exisitng files from the iPod before putting on the new content.

In Windows Explorer, use *Tools > Folder Options* to *Display hidden files & folders*. Stick your iPod in disk mode and manually delete everything from it, empty your recycle bin, then try restoring. If that still doesn't work try a quick format of the iPod's hard drive followed by a restore.

tt2

Dec 21, 2010 6:12 PM in response to Bravesgirl83

My older nano was showing way too much "Other" last night. I had restored it to wipe everything out and fill it with holiday music. I was syncing only one smart music playlist, one I named "Holiday". Nothing on the tabs for podcasts, books, photos, or info.




I noticed that as soon as I check marked one artist to sync that was already in the smart playlist, the "Other" shrank to .01 GB. I unchecked it, and it stayed at .01GB.
Seems like some kind of bug, to me.

Dec 27, 2010 11:43 AM in response to Bravesgirl83

I really don't think that support document applies. Formating the iPod's hard drive should clean everything out. Then try putting on just one or two albums and see how "other" behaves. As I mentioned earlier the iPod's library and artwork are included in "other" so unless the iPod has just been formated there will always be some, but it should be much less than 4gb as a rule...

The only other thought that occurs is how iTunes/iPod accounts for bad sectors that are reallocated by S.M.A.R.T. or otherwise removed from use. I suppose it is just possible that these are flagged as "Other" since the "capacity" is assumed to be its original value. See this post for tips on how to check the health of the drive and also how to repopulate it in stages.

tt2

Dec 28, 2010 10:50 AM in response to Bravesgirl83

I don't think that reinstalling everything applies, either.


4GB other is WAY too much. Like I said, my old nano (which is 2GB) was showing a big chunk of yellow until I clicked on something in the Artist pane. Then it magically went down to .01GB.
I've plugged it in again today, added 5 holiday songs and one WAV file, and the other is now sitting at .02GB.

Dec 28, 2010 3:50 PM in response to freelynn

You might want to check each ipod settings tabs after a restore. It certainly doesn't keep the settings you had before the restore. I wonder if it's different between different generations of ipods. Mine is a 2ng gen nano, 2GB. I just restored my that nano, and I had to rename it and uncheck the "automatically sync" checkbox. It decided to make these changes



*SUMMARY TAB*
- set the option to "open itunes when this ipod is connected"
- uncheck the "sync only checked songs"
- set it to manually manage & enable disk use



*MUSIC TAB*
- sync entire library, which of course caused the warning message
- over the limit, exceeds capacity



*PODCAST TAB*
- nothing checked


*BOOKS TAB*
- sync all books



*PHOTO TAB*
- nothing checked



*INFO TAB*
- nothing checked


I restored it again and it made different changes. It's not consistent.

Yellow "other" bar when syncing

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