The “other” on my iPad 2 mini storage is larger than the colored section (apps, media, photos, etc). Above the graph it says I have about 5 GB free. Plugging it in to my computer, iTunes shows I have 10 GB free. Do I believe the iPad or iTunes?
Assuming the iPad is correct (I get full-up warnings) I have tried removing apps and sending photos to the cloud, even did a DFU but no change. Can it be removed?
Thanks.
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Bob Powell
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How Do I Remove the “other” In iPad Storage?
Comments: One Response to “How Do I Remove the “other” In iPad Storage?”
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Basically, the "other" is data, caches, preferences, temporary files and such. There's no direct way to reduce it.
The first thing you have to ask yourself: Is there a problem? Is something not working on your iPad that you have good reason to think that this "other" is causing it. If not, then trying to deal with the "other" is just a good way to waste your time. There's no reason to try to "clean it up" or anything. In the case of cache files, for instance, they help speed up your browsing and other things. So cleaning up caches is often counter-productive.
Now in your case you are getting warnings about storage. Cleaning out apps you don't need is a good start. Switching on iCloud Photos can help, but as long as you have the "optimize" option turned on. Otherwise, it doesn't help at all.
The next step is to look further down the iPad Storage screen in settings. After a time, each app is shown with the amount of space it is using. If you tap them, you can see how much is used by the app itself, and how much by data. For instance, my Netflix app is small but the data it uses is huge because I have downloaded some video. I can fix that by going into Netflix and removing the downloaded video. Each app is a little different.
You can get your "other" storage to reset, but only by resetting your entire iPad. You'd need to back it up to your Mac, wipe the iPad, and then restore the iPad from that backup. This wouldn't include caches and some data, but would include other data. It is a very time-consuming step that could produce no results, great results, or something in between. For instance, it could give you a very small "other" to start, that quickly grows back to its previous size as you use your apps and they re-sync and re-download data.