Storage issues

[wayneborean]

Did a search on this, and didn't find anything (of course I could have worded if differently than everyone else...)

A while back I noticed that my fourth gen iPad was low on storage space. I removed a couple of things, and it was still short on storage space. So I removed a couple more... The things removed included apps, pictures (I use it for photography), videos, and music.

About the fifth time I decided things were just a bit ridiculous, made notes about what I had installed that I used, and reinstalled everything. Wow. Tons of space. So I installed everything I was using, still had tons of space.

Another issue which I'd had also went away. Safari had been refusing to load some websites. Anything with OnSwipe as the basis wouldn't load, most of the news sites (Guardian, National Post, Globe and Mail, CBC, BBC) wouldn't load. But anything that was BlogSpot or Wordpress based loaded fine. The reinstall fixed that problem too - I'm not sure at all if it was related to the drive space issues, but since the same solution fixed both problems, it might be.

So, two months on, and once again Safari isn't loading a lot of websites. I looked at the storage numbers, and they seem OK, but I didn't keep records of how much space was free, and I've added some new stuff (games, games, and more games).

1) Has anyone else had similar problems?
2) Has anyone a solution?

Yes, I could just reinstall the OS fresh after deleting all the apps and data, but I would prefer something less messy.

Wayne

 

[Ser Aphim]

What OS version are you running?

Try loading the websites on another tab instead of refreshing it multiple times on one tab, although a temporary solution it may happen again. Must be a bug.

For the storage problem have you tried deleting apps that take up more spade than everything else? You can find those in Settings->General->Usage->Manage Storage

 

[wayneborean]

IOS version 8.3 - I have autoupdates turned on. I've tried loading sites by opening a new tab, still no luck.

As for the storage problem, I did that last time, and did not get the space back. I'm assuming that there's an issue with the file allocation table. The settings app may also be the issue, if it is reporting space free wrong, that could cause this too.

 

[wayneborean]

Of course then the question is why? It is possible that one particular app is messing things up, by not freeing up space. But if that is the case, I'd expect that issue should show up as the app taking up huge amounts of space, since as I understand it, each app is run in it's own little sandbox.

 

[twerppoet]

How long did you wait until you gave up and restored the iPad? It can sometimes take iOS a while to free up storage after an app is deleted. A restart or reset usually hurries things along.

 

[Ser Aphim]

Have you tried clearing history and data for safari?

 

[wayneborean]

How long did you wait until you gave up and restored the iPad? It can sometimes take iOS a while to free up storage after an app is deleted. A restart or reset usually hurries things along.

About five-six months.

 

[wayneborean]

Have you tried clearing history and data for safari?

Yes. No change. It did change after I deleted everything and reinstalled IOS, but that isn't my idea of fun.

I should probably mention that apps which use Safari have the same issue, i.e. I can't view the National Post website from Safari, and I can't view the National Post through their app.

 

[Ser Aphim]

Yes. No change. It did change after I deleted everything and reinstalled IOS, but that isn't my idea of fun.

I should probably mention that apps which use Safari have the same issue, i.e. I can't view the National Post website from Safari, and I can't view the National Post through their app.

Its either there is a problem with your device or its the developrs/website that's the problem. Most likely the latter. Try contacting the website.

Anyways there is a way that you can restore without losing data in your apps. No its not restoring from backup. Whenever you backup your device your apps are saved in iTunes along with the data. You can transfer those saved data and apps the same way you transfer music, videos, books, etc. The section where you can find the apps are in the same place as your media (Music, video, etc.) Well you'll end up transferring all your data but its easier than downloading and setting them up.

 

[twerppoet]

About five-six months.

Well, that certainly should have been long enough.

 

[wayneborean]

Its either there is a problem with your device or its the developrs/website that's the problem. Most likely the latter. Try contacting the website.

Anyways there is a way that you can restore without losing data in your apps. No its not restoring from backup. Whenever you backup your device your apps are saved in iTunes along with the data. You can transfer those saved data and apps the same way you transfer music, videos, books, etc. The section where you can find the apps are in the same place as your media (Music, video, etc.) Well you'll end up transferring all your data but its easier than downloading and setting them up.

I'm not mentioning everything. The websites work fine on my wife's iPad (bought the same day). They also work fine on my son and daughter's first gen iPads, and my other son's second gen iPad. It is only mine which is a problem.

Which is damned annoying.

Another thing I forgot to mention. My Mac won't recognize my iPad. I've tried using different cables, still no luck. It does however recognize my wife's. Her iPad has never had any issues. I have never checked the serial numbers, it is possible hers comes from a different lot.

Or maybe I'm using an app which is messing things up.

I've started learning Swift programming, should look at the memory and file modules...

 

[wayneborean]

Well, that certainly should have been long enough.

During that time the device was rebooted for upgrades more than once.

Now I'll admit that I'm not the easiest user. I run it out of power every day by about 4:00 PM. Of course since I'm disabled, and home all the time that isn't hard.

 

[wayneborean]

Now I am really confused.

3-4 days back, Safari started loading the websites which it hadn't loaded for over a month. Did I do anything? Quite possible, but I have no idea what.

I'm going to keep on playing with it, and see what happens.

 

[twerppoet]

Could have been the website itself, some bit of code or URL redirect that Safari couldn't handle. It does happen.

 

[wayneborean]

This happened on a variety of websites, including

Page3.com
HuffingtonPost.com
Guardian.co.uk
IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com
SLTrib.com
NationalPost.com
CBC.ca
BBC.co.uk
TheGlobeAndMail.com

The problem started on all at the same time (as far as I can remember) and it cleared up on all at the same time (I checked them all during the same browsing session).

Weird.