iPad Mini 6 storage problem

[Capn.Asshat]

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 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?

 

[twerppoet]

The largest thing that can be in system data is a downloaded update that has not been installed yet. Check and see if that is what it is. If you’ve already updated, or do not intend to install the update, go ahead an delete it. I should go away by itself eventually, but deleting it manually won’t cause problems. Well, inless you decide to do the update after all. Then you’ll have to wait for it to download again.

There are other kinds of data that can be in System data. Most of this is temporary, and should go away by itself eventually. Deleting it, if the option is offered may force the system to do some house cleaning, which may reinstall the data, but it won’t hurt anything.

Or, in short, having different system data on devices is normal. Even if they are identical in every other way (that you can control).

 

[Capn.Asshat]

How do you delete anything in System data? You can see how big it is but can’t do anything else besides look at it!

 

[twerppoet]

How do you delete anything in System data? You can see how big it is but can’t do anything else besides look at it!

Most of the time, you can’t. However, when it shows a downloaded update, there is a delete option. I saw it on my iPad Mini a few days ago, but did not delete it because I wanted to do the install. Just not then. There might be other deleteable options that I don’t know about, so I covered that possibility. The system data does not contain your files, apps, or operating system. That means that the most will happen if it goes away is force you to reboot to recover. Or, at least nothing the iPad gives you a delete option in System Data is going to cause major issues.

But you‘re right that for the most part there is little or nothing you can do to System Data, and there is rarely a need to do anything.