iPod "Other" in iPod Usage Percentage Graph

[swwack91]

So in iTunes when syncing an iPod there's that colored bar on the lower side of the screen. Audio, Video, Photos, Etc....

but what does the "Other" comprise of?

 

[JackRipper]

I've wondered this myself.

I don't know for sure, but I think it's the downloaded album art (not embedded, like you get when you tell iTunes to get your album art), iCal events, and iPod games.

 

[swwack91]

yeah i was thinking art, software, thumbnails, menu items...

little things like that but i'm noticing that it's growing as i add more media to my iPod.

 

[fabianjj]

yeah what is that? It's probably just album covers and stuff, because I've got 250+ albums that i've grabbed cover art myself, and when i tell iTunes to display album cover on my iPod, the "other" graph gets a lot bigger

 

[Chundles]

The "Other" part of the capacity chart comprises of software, games, album artwork, podcasts (I think) and basically anything that's not music, videos or photos.

 

[iDAG]

The "Other" part of the capacity chart comprises of software, games, album artwork, podcasts (I think) and basically anything that's not music, videos or photos.

Podcasts go under audio or video depending on what kind it is.

 

[swwack91]

interesting, interesting - well then

thanks guys/gals/whomevers

 

[watcher2001]

What is other????

Well just for fun I unchecked the "Display album artwork on your iPod" and synched it up. Made no difference to the "Other" section of the display. The part that worries me is that it is currently at 4.53GB on a 60GB 4th gen ipod photo. I have no pictures, no games, no contacts... Just music. I am half tempted to format and resynch and see if that makes a difference. Any one else have ideas?

 

[Gundampilotspaz]

It's for data that itunes can't read. If you use your ipod as harddrive and load data onto it, for example, that shows up in other. I have a back up (or had) of all my drafts and notes (I'm a writer), and the fact that the iphone can't do that is something that upsets me greatly,.

 

[watcher2001]

It's for data that itunes can't read. If you use your ipod as harddrive and load data onto it, for example, that shows up in other. I have a back up (or had) of all my drafts and notes (I'm a writer), and the fact that the iphone can't do that is something that upsets me greatly,.

I don't use mine as data storage tho. The funny thing is this. I had 4.53 GB of other showing on my iPod. I removed the artwork and it did not change. Now however when I add the artwork back it is now up to 4.74GB. I am at a total loss. As soon as this sync finishes I am going to wipe it and start all over.

 

[xkRoWx]

The "Others" might also included the iPod system files. Without these configuration files, the iPod is just a piece of hardware, hence you can never have exactly XX GB of storage as advertised.

 

[kainjow]

This thread has more info.

 

[watcher2001]

This thread has more info.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. When looking at it in explorer I discovered that there were still 4GB worth of thumbnails from when I did sync pics. For some reason they never went away.

 

[whyrichard]

ahhhh.... i just realized the "other" was files that I added through the finder... "enable disk use"...

30 gigs explained!

r.

 

[Peterson8765]

Probably like when you store notes on the iPod touch and things like that.

 

[MncM]

help

okay so i just resynced my ipod completely..
so i got a new computer, and just downloaded itunes and imported all my songs from an ext. harddrive..
so ive got 20,5 GB of songs ... and 24,2 GB (!!!!!!) of 'other' ..

so like.. i doubt restoring will help, seen as i just resynced it 10mins ago..

 

[gloosniffur]

So today I had to restore my 160GB iPod. Before this, my "other" was nowhere near as large as it is now. I went into Terminal and checked things and came up with this:

Artwork: 372M
Notes: 16K
Calendars: 160K
Contacts: 1.0M

And I only have the original 3 games on there. There are some music videos but no books. Photos are less than 1GB

My question is, if that is all the space being used up by these things, why is my "other" at 40.35GB and my music at 39.16GB? Seems a bit ridiculous to me

Update: Previous sync crashed and I think the files were not trashed correctly. Re-restored and things are going, seemingly, okay. Still a large amount of "other" but I do have a lot of music on there. Looks t be around 500-600MB this time.

 

[gloosniffur]

So apparently there is actually a problem. If anyone knows of a thread with the answer in it please help. After the iPod syncs up, when it is unplugged, all music and videos go away and turn orange. Claiming that there is no music on there at all. No wonder there seemed to be so much "other"

 

[mackatee]

Might help....

First time forum-er guys, so sorry if I break the etiquette.

I had the exact same problem, and previously I had used my iPod as an external drive storage. Of course, I've since deleted all those files, so there weren't any.

However, I do find that with any external drive, deleting the files (ie moving to trash - I'm a mac user), doesn't actually clear up any space. I have to have the external drive physically plugged in when I choose "Empty Trash".

Tried that, and viola, my "other" category has returned from the menacing 6GB to nothing.

Thanks for your help, hope this helps out someone else.

 

[macingman]

I find the other part comprises of both the OS and my podcasts mostly it's possible there is album art and other system files in their too. I think overtime a lot of junk can build up in the other section so it may be worth restoring once in a while to clean it up.

 

[jameslthrp]

Nonsense.

How about this. My 32gb iPod video.