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iPad mini iPad Mini 6 storage problem..

H

Homeyjay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 4, 2018
19
7
I’ve bought a new iPad Mini 6 (64gb) around a week ago and restored from my iPad Pro (64gb) to get them having all the same apps etc. After everything was done, I noticed that the iPad mini had nearly 10gb less storage space left! Same apps, same data etc, just lost 10gb.

On closer examination, I noticed that I had around 5gb of “system data” at the bottom of the iPad storage app list. My iPad Pro is zero.
Photos on my iPad Pro occupy 3.5gb but the same ones on my Mini use over 6.7gb!

Ive reset to factory twice but when everything’s loaded up, I just have 10gb less storage on the Mini.

UPDATE. By this morning, the difference had risen to nearly 14gb and Apple support are telling me this is normal for the Mini 6! System Data (ie cache) is now up to 7.4gb
I added a whole bunch of apps to see what would happen when it filled up. Got to around 59gb and wouldn’t take anymore. Photos still occupying at least twice what they should despite optimise being on and System Data stubbornly sticking at over 7gb.

I don’t want to take this back to the store - really love this little thing but I can’t lose nearly 15gb of storage of little I have!

Do you guys have any thoughts?
 
Unfortunately, we users have little control over iPad's storage gymnastics. Other than having less stuff on it, you may need the 256GB version. A reboot sometimes clears a little bit, but you've already done that with the factory resets.
 
Do you use iCloud and the optimize option for photos? I'm guessing you do, because 3.5GB for photos is not much.
In which case, you may just need to let your iPad do its thing with iCloud.
Storage used on my iPad Mini 6 has gone down by several GB in the last few days, photos are taking up less space and system data has gone down to only a few MB. It is now using less storage than on my previous 32GB iPad mini 2, and now only using 16GB of 64GB. (I know I have at least 30GB of photos alone.)
On my other iPad (with 256GB storage) the photo storage is now only occupying 0.1GB, having been gradually optimized over many months
 
Last edited:
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Realityck said:
I wouldn't doubt its a iPadOS 15 issue. I had 46 GB free on a mini 5 and 40 GB free on a mini 6 after quick start transfer with 11.1 beta 2.
Click to expand...

I did a Quick Start with my Mini 6 from a 2021 12.9, both on 15. The 12.9 showed 3.4GB of System Data used, the Mini 6 still shows zero.
 
Homeyjay said:
I’ve bought a new iPad Mini 6 (64gb) around a week ago and restored from my iPad Pro (64gb) to get them having all the same apps etc. After everything was done, I noticed that the iPad mini had nearly 10gb less storage space left! Same apps, same data etc, just lost 10gb.

On closer examination, I noticed that I had around 5gb of “system data” at the bottom of the iPad storage app list. My iPad Pro is zero.
Photos on my iPad Pro occupy 3.5gb but the same ones on my Mini use over 6.7gb!

Ive reset to factory twice but when everything’s loaded up, I just have 10gb less storage on the Mini.

UPDATE. By this morning, the difference had risen to nearly 14gb and Apple support are telling me this is normal for the Mini 6! System Data (ie cache) is now up to 7.4gb
I added a whole bunch of apps to see what would happen when it filled up. Got to around 59gb and wouldn’t take anymore. Photos still occupying at least twice what they should despite optimise being on and System Data stubbornly sticking at over 7gb.

I don’t want to take this back to the store - really love this little thing but I can’t lose nearly 15gb of storage of little I have!

Do you guys have any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Isn’t the $256gb only $50 more? Save yourself some grief and return it. 64gb should’ve never been an option to start with.
 
sparksd said:
I did a Quick Start with my Mini 6 from a 2021 12.9, both on 15. The 12.9 showed 3.4GB of System Data used, the Mini 6 still shows zero.
Click to expand...
I did too as a FYI. (both on 15)

Presently my system files is 8.12 GB, and other system data is 3.36 GB under b2 just to see if that changed anything. :)
 
Homeyjay said:
I’ve bought a new iPad Mini 6 (64gb) around a week ago and restored from my iPad Pro (64gb) to get them having all the same apps etc. After everything was done, I noticed that the iPad mini had nearly 10gb less storage space left! Same apps, same data etc, just lost 10gb.

On closer examination, I noticed that I had around 5gb of “system data” at the bottom of the iPad storage app list. My iPad Pro is zero.
Photos on my iPad Pro occupy 3.5gb but the same ones on my Mini use over 6.7gb!

Ive reset to factory twice but when everything’s loaded up, I just have 10gb less storage on the Mini.

UPDATE. By this morning, the difference had risen to nearly 14gb and Apple support are telling me this is normal for the Mini 6! System Data (ie cache) is now up to 7.4gb
I added a whole bunch of apps to see what would happen when it filled up. Got to around 59gb and wouldn’t take anymore. Photos still occupying at least twice what they should despite optimise being on and System Data stubbornly sticking at over 7gb.

I don’t want to take this back to the store - really love this little thing but I can’t lose nearly 15gb of storage of little I have!

Do you guys have any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Honestly, I kinda feel it's the iPad Pro that's not reporting storage properly. System Data cannot be 0GB. I think the normal range for that is 6-8GB depending on the iOS version and model.

I've had similar storage reporting issues happen with an iPad 7th gen (0GB used, 35GB free on 32GB capacity) after updating to iOS 15.

Edit:
Looks like 15 reports things differently from 14. System = iPadOS and Other = System Data.

Still, it's usually not 0GB unless you just took it fresh out of the box. 7GB of Other/System Data seems normal.
 
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VineRider said:
I'm seeing zero system data on all my iOS devices (iPhone and iPad). iOS 15 is having some issues with proper space reporting.
Click to expand...

Lol, my iPad mini 6 (256GB) is reporting 55GB System Data. Granted, I think 40GB of that is just miscategorized and should be attributed to my comics app.
 
rui no onna said:
Lol, my iPad mini 6 (256GB) is reporting 55GB System Data. Granted, I think 40GB of that is just miscategorized and should be attributed to my comics app.
Click to expand...
Yep - I'm seeing the exact opposite. Under reporting used space. I generally run about 70-80gb used on my 256gb devices. Since iOS 15, showing around 30-40gb used. Clearly not right. 15.1 beta 2 thread suggests that this is fixed in 15.1
 
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Isn’t the $256gb only $50 more? Save yourself some grief and return it. 64gb should’ve never been an option to start with.

The 256gb Mini 6 is the equivalent of $200 more in the UK ☹️
 
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Nothing is fixed in 15.1
I updated it yesterday and the Mini 6 is still behaving drunk!
BTW, what’s a “quick start”?
 
rui no onna said:
Honestly, I kinda feel it's the iPad Pro that's not reporting storage properly. System Data cannot be 0GB. I think the normal range for that is 6-8GB depending on the iOS version and model.

I've had similar storage reporting issues happen with an iPad 7th gen (0GB used, 35GB free on 32GB capacity) after updating to iOS 15.

Edit:
Looks like 15 reports things differently from 14. System = iPadOS and Other = System Data.

Still, it's usually not 0GB unless you just took it fresh out of the box. 7GB of Other/System Data seems normal.
Click to expand...

The System Data varies on the iPad Pro. Sometimes it’s zero, sometimes it’s 800mb etc. The point is that SD on my Mini 6 seems to be nailed to around the 7gb mark and not vary by mire than 1gb either way. I understood that the SD was a general system cache and was supposed to be variable depending on the task at hand, but I could be wrong!
 
VineRider said:
Yep - I'm seeing the exact opposite. Under reporting used space. I generally run about 70-80gb used on my 256gb devices. Since iOS 15, showing around 30-40gb used. Clearly not right. 15.1 beta 2 thread suggests that this is fixed in 15.1
Click to expand...

I fully expect my mini 6 is reporting the correct used storage overall. It's just the categorization that's off.

I did see the under reporting issue on my iPad 7. Kinda impossible to have 0GB used, 35GB free on a 32GB iPad. Erase and restore fixed it. Now shows 18GB used.
 
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Homeyjay said:
Nothing is fixed in 15.1
I updated it yesterday and the Mini 6 is still behaving drunk!
BTW, what’s a “quick start”?
Click to expand...
Quick Start is under general settings (Transfer iPad) where you pair two iPads using bluetooth for the initial transfer of ID/settings/apps/data from old iPad to new iPad in this example.
 
Homeyjay said:
The System Data varies on the iPad Pro. Sometimes it’s zero, sometimes it’s 800mb etc. The point is that SD on my Mini 6 seems to be nailed to around the 7gb mark and not vary by mire than 1gb either way. I understood that the SD was a general system cache and was supposed to be variable depending on the task at hand, but I could be wrong!
Click to expand...

Yes, it's a general cache but 0-700MB is unusually low. On iPadOS 14, it's normally 6-12GB on my devices. It's rare that Other/System Data goes below that and I've never once seen it drop below 1GB.
 
rui no onna said:
I fully expect my mini 6 is reporting the correct used storage overall. It's just the categorization that's off.

I did see the under reporting issue on my iPad 7. Kinda impossible to have 0GB used, 35GB free on a 32GB iPad. Erase and restore fixed it. Now shows 18GB used.
Click to expand...
The best that I can tell, space under "other" and "system" is in part used to transfer files between apps or the Files.app.
 
I’ve just realised that all the other iPads in the family (and there are many!) are working with no issue and reporting everything normally. The only difference is that these have been updated from ios14 in the usual way but my Mini 6 arrived with 15 installed. Anyway, only a passing thought..
 
We also don't get the $200 off if you activate a cellular plan in the UK. Cellular and storage upgrades are now the same price too, £619 for one or the other.

256 is just too overkill for me to justify paying for it. I might wish I had 128GB on occasions when I'm downloading content for travel, but I'm on about 52 used with about 10 of videos for an upcoming trip and 13ish of podcasts I haven't got around to listening to yet.

My Mini 6 seems to be showing less used than my 5, but I have been trying to have a clear out of the clutter so I'm not certain of the effect.
 
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