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Tip: Delete the iPod Photo Cache every so often #1
Michael Ball's picture
by Michael Ball
May 25, 2011 - 3:46pm

Sorry I don't have time right now to make this a full-fledged tip!

If you sync your library with an iDevice, this can save you time syncing and disk space.

Background:
This is something that's somewhat-known, but also worth bringing up every once and a while, but for those who don't know - the iPod Photo Cache is a folder in your Aperture or iPhoto library that holds the images in a special format when you sync them with an iPod, iPad, iPhone, etc.

Every so often, maybe a few months to a year, I think people should delete their iPod Photo Cache(s). It depends on the volume of photos that you sync with your device and how often that changes. If you have a set up where you commonly sync only recent events or lots of faces then you'll likely have tons of photos.

My iPad had about 12,000 photos on it before I deleted them all. (I was having syncing problems, and this was the primary reason to delete my cache file.) I also deleted my entire iPod Photo Cache (in the root level of the Aperture library) to save space, it was about 45GB. After reorganizing the photos on my iPad, I now have about 10,000 photos on it. The size of my iPod Photo Cache? Under 9GB! Holy cow, over the past maybe 12-18 I've synced nearly 35GB of photos and things that are no longer on my iPad. I deleted all the photos from my iPad before re-adding them, but that's not necessary unless you change photos so often and are experiencing slow syncs.

There is a catch: The next time you need to add photos back to a mobile device, iTunes will need to recreate all it's mobile files. This WILL take quite a while, especially if you try and do 10,000 photos at once. However, my iPad now syncs much better and I have 35GB of 'new' drive space. :)

I know that going into iPhoto and Aperture library files seems risky, but the the folder iPod Photo Cache can be deleted with no affects on your library.

How-To:
This is easy, find your Aperture or iPhoto library in the Finder. Right-click and select “Show Package Contents” then find “iPod Photo Cache” and delete it. Don't muck around with anything else too much.

PhotoJoseph's picture
by PhotoJoseph
May 25, 2011 - 11:36pm

This is great Michael. Please do post this in the User Tips area, and I’ll link to it. No need to do anything more than copy and paste it in. I’d do it for you, but then it’d be posted by me, not you ;-)

cheers!
-Joseph @ApertureExpert

@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?

veronana's picture
by veronana
December 21, 2016 - 9:37am

Way to recover iPhone photos,Indeed the recycle bin, and using Windows Explorer to look in folders; the programs you used are not designed to search for files; especially programs like Elements, which uses a catalog is not what you need now. Moving files confuses PS Elements organiser enough to make it seem like you lost files, while they’re actually there. When things go wrong, use the basic tools provided in Windows itself (explorer, search).
For file recovery programs, I’ve use Software for Recovering Deleted Fileson a few occassions; it’s free and it works as good as can be expected. The main thing is to stop using the external hard disk until you use this tool, and avoid writing any files to it.

Indeed the recycle bin, and using Windows Explorer to look in folders; the programs you used are not designed to search for files; especially programs like Elements, which uses a catalog is not what you need now. Moving files confuses PS Elements organiser enough to make it seem like you lost files, while they’re actually there. When things go wrong, use the basic tools provided in Windows itself (explorer, search).
For file recovery programs, I’ve use Software for Recovering Deleted Fileson a few occassions; it’s free and it works as good as can be expected. The main thing is to stop using the external hard disk until you use this tool, and avoid writing any files to it.

Frexxdy's picture
by Frexxdy
December 28, 2016 - 9:08am

You may delete some great photos by mistake. The photos that you did not aim to delete. You may need iOS data recovery to get your photo back, since you did not have a backup. I would recommend you download the free verison to have a try, and follow the user guide: ipod data recovery.

Yansster's picture
by Yansster
April 7, 2017 - 8:47am

If you wan to remove iOS pictures ,you can directly delete them from your iPod easily.the erasephone can scan your iPod deeply and eraser photos from your iPod immanently. 

 

Yansster's picture
by Yansster
April 7, 2017 - 8:49am

If you wan to remove iOS pictures ,you can directly delete them from your iPod easily.the erasephone can scan your iPod deeply and eraser photos from your iPod immanently. 

Bereest68's picture
by Bereest68
May 6, 2019 - 5:08pm

If you delete your photos or videos by accident, you may need an iPhone Data Recovery to help you get back the deleted photos without the help of iTunes or iCloud. 

david_flynn's picture
by david_flynn
August 13, 2019 - 3:02am

In fact, there’s no need to use iTunes because It is uncontrolled and hard to use. You can try to use third software(iOS Data Backup & Restore) to delete, backup, or restore photos which you choose. It is a great alternative to iTunes and has good user experience.

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