Why does iTunes use an iPod Photo Cache at all?

Hi,
When iTunes is used to synchronize photos to a device, it creates an "iPod Photo Cache" folder. Why does this folder even exist?
For users that have multiple devices with multiple resolutions (e.g., iPad 3rd Generation, iPad Mini, iPhone 4S, iPhone 3G), the iPod Photo Cache is grow to approximately four times the original size of the photo. If I have 15 GBs of photos and a 250 GB hard drive, then the combined usage of 75 GBs (15 GB photos + 60 GB cache) is extremely unreasonble.
Device resolutions change often enough (these days) such that having multiple devices is probably more common than having more than one of a single product. iTunes should be designed to do the real-time conversion (which it already does), but not save it to the hard drive.
Also allowing the ability to change the location of the "iPod Photo Cache" folder would help many users, but not myself since I do not have an external drive.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

Thank you for your response. I should have clarified. When trying to delete from the library, it gives me the option to delete them from the computer or just from the library. I choose not to delete them from the computer, just the library. As a result, I would not expect the deletions to free up room on the hard drive, but I don't see how it actually increases the space used up on the hard drive. If I delete a song from the library, but not the computer, does iTunes save the song again someplace else (such that there are now two copies of the song somewhere on the system)? That seems to be the only explanation for why the free space on my hard drive would decrease after deleting a song from the library.
Windows XP Pro

Similar Messages

Why does itunes say my ipod is using less space than what is being used.

When my ipod is plugged in my pc while running itunes, I click the ipod icon in the source menu. Near the bottom of the itunes window it says how much free space and used space there is availiable on the ipod. Well, mine reads that I have 24.70 gigs free space but the used space is only 3.12 gigs and there is a little lock near where it say's free space. I dunno why it say's that or how to change it. Please help.

If talking about 30 GB
Advertised GBs are calculated as 100010001000
A computer counts a GB as 102410241024 instead
There is also space used by iPod itself (file system etc.)

Why does iTunes use 100% CPU all the time, hogging my Macbook Air?

Decided to post this here instead of the iTunes forum, since it might be related to hardware too.
New owner of a 2011 13" Macbook Air, core i5 based.
My problem started about 1 week ago, after it had run out of power completely one day. At the first boot after that it was incredibly sluggish, totally unusable. After waiting for 5 minutes and still being unresponsive, I turned it off and then back on. Then it booted fine. HOWEVER, ever since that time I noticed the following behavior:
- iTunes stays at 100% + CPU all the time, mostly between 100-120%. Even if it's not playing. Even when I deleted the entire library and left it empty.
- iStats reports CPU idle between 50-65%. However, CPU temperature is still about 55 degrees C (which, I think, is far less than what it should have been with 50% idle cpu). I can confirm the low temperature by touching the chasis.
- the cursor freezes and jumps every few seconds, making the mac kind of unusable with iTunes open.
This has been going on for 2 weeks now. The problem goes away every now and then (iTunes sometimes goes back to regular CPU usage of 3-5%), but most of the time it's there.
Help!
P.S.
Mac OX X 10.7.2
iTunes 10.5.2

Cee Pee You, is a OS modification. Apple recommends that you un-install these prior to a OS update because Apple makes changes to the OS all the time which breaks programs like these.
I avoid Unsanity LLC products like the plague. Notice the company is a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), which makes it difficult to sue the company in case of a defective or malicious product. So the risk using their products is all yours. Their APE framework modules have been used for malicious purposes because anyone can write a module that uses the APE framework.
I also avoid installing anything that requires a administrative password unless I completely trust the source, like Apple mostly. That admin password is the key to the security of our machines, not to be given out lightly or carelessly.
You'll have to contact Unsanity's [email protected] because what I'm reading online is it's very difficult to remove as it doesn't "exist".
http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-3616.html

Why does iTunes report 1GB of photos when there are none?

My iPhone was running out of space so I imported all photos to Aperture and deleted them from the phone after the import.
If I now go to the photos app I see that it is empty, but iTunes reports 1010 pictures occupying 984,9 MB of space on the phone.
I've tried factory resetting the phone and restoring a backup, but that didn't help.

Have you rebooted your iPad? Hold down the sleep and home keys until you see the silver apple and it reboots. See if that helps.
I know with my hotmail it downloaded a bunch of old mail and I had to go through and 'read' it all to get it to be unread.

Why does iTunes say that I have to delete all my applications?

I'm trying to create photo albums for my iPhone 4. I'm doing this by connecting my phone to my computer (I use Windows XP), selecting My iPhone, clicking the Photos tab and selecting the folder that I want to sync to my phone. When I do this, I get a pop up that says "Are you sure you want to remove 26 applications? This will delete these applications and their data from the iPhone." and I do NOT understand why I'm getting this. HELP PLEASE

Your apps were installed from a different computer than the one your photos are on. The iPhone can sync with only one computer.

HT1386 Why does iTunes reinstall all my photos every time I sync with my iDevice?

I store over 10000 photos on my ipad and iphone.
It doesn't usually happen, but lately, when I sync with my device via iTunes, it deletes all my photos and resync them back in.
Which dramatically increase my sync time from a few minutes to half an hour.
Does anyone know what might be the cause of it? And most important, how to fix this?
Thanks

Hello clarkkent0117,
You may need to delete the relevant iPod Photo Cache.
iTunes: Understanding the iPod Photo Cache folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1314
Cheers,
Allen

Why do I use my ipod as a camera when I lose precious photos even when I try to back up before an update! Selling my ipod at the first chance I get

Why do I use my Ipod tiuch as a camera when lose precious photos of my granddaughter every time there is an operating system update? Even when I try to back up the ipod, I can't find the pics etc on my pc. It is very annoying and I am seriously considering selling my ipod because of this. No warning is given that photos will be lost. So very disappointed in aple, lost all my music last time, as well as my pics.

Yes, using the windows photo capture application is how you get photos taken with the iPod onto your pc. You should store them there, and organize them in folders.
Create one main photo folder. Inside that folder create additional folders to hold photos. Each folder will become an album on an iPod, iPad, or iPhone. Do not next any other folders inside the first album folder.
Then start iTunes on your pc and connect your iPod. Select your iPod in itunes and select the Photos tab that will be ps enter. You will most likely have first find your main photos folder. Ten select to sync all photos from your pc or select only those albums you want to have on your iPod. The click on Apply or Sync. That will copy the photos to your iPod.
If you should do something later to cause these albums to disappear from your iPod you can quickly copy them back by doing another sync.

My husband recently tried to sync my ipod to itunes and in the process he managed to loose all the photos I had stored on the ipod. When I go to my pictures folder on my (Dell) laptop there is now a folder called ipod photo cache. How do I view?

My husband recently tried to sync my ipod to itunes and in the process he managed to loose all the photos I had stored on the ipod. When I go to my pictures folder on my (Dell) laptop there is now a folder called ipod photo cache. How do I view these files? They are now show as ITHMB files!

Those photos taken or bumped photos should bi in the iPod's Camera Roll album
- If they are in an iPod backup then restore from that backup. Note however, that the the backup that had the photos may have been overwritten by a subsequent backup that did hot have the photos on the iPod.See the restore topic of:
iOS: How to back up
- If you used PhotoStream then try getting them from your PhotoStream. See that topic of:
iOS: Importing personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer
- Have you looked on the computer? Maybe they were imported to the computer and then deleted from the iPod. Since the photos were not synced to the iPod they are not in the iPod Photo Cache folder .

Does iPod Photo Cache clean itself?

I typically shoot 400 photos and keep 100. I don't always delete the extras right away, and a few syncs may occur in between.
I'm wondering -- will the iPod Photo Cache get cluttered up with photos I later deleted... or does the photo sync software know how to "tidy up" as it goes?
I'm wondering if it's worth deleting the iPod Photo Cache periodically and letting it rebuild. I say "worth" because it takes the computer many hours of high CPU to do this job for each of my devices, so I don't want to do it if it's not definitely useful.

In general it's not necessary to delete or "clean" any cache on your mac unless you're having a specific cache related problem. The OS (or the individual) apps do this.
Regards
TD

Why does iTunes/iPhone 4S insist it can't find a song on my PC or my phone when it is on both? This is resulting in me being unable to use the ringtones I created from these songs, but I can still play the songs.

OK, so I'm clearly a newb. I thought if I asked a question, it would post, and now I'm being told to post a comment, so I'm asking the same question again. Sorry I sound like an idiot. I'm new to this apple/mac stuff.
Why does iTunes/iPhone 4S insist it can't find a song on my PC or my phone when it is on both? This is resulting in me being unable to use the ringtones I created from these songs, but I can still play the songs.

If you have added the ringtone file correctly to iTunes, it will appear under iTunes 'Tones' library.
If you don't find Tones library in iTunes, go to iTunes menu EDIT/PRFERENCES under GENERAL tab, check the Tones Box under Library source to display Tones library in iTunes.
iTunes accepts only m4r file as ringtone and has to be less than 40secs.

Does any one know of a way to sync movies from my itunes to old Ipod Photo

I have a 60GB Ipod Photo (the old brick type) and I want to use it to view movies that I have on my itunes. I tried to get my movies to sync to ipod photo but it just is not visible on my ipod although there is a playlist called movies in my Ipod Photo. When I connect my Ipod Photo to Itunes, the itunes shows the list of movies I have in my movies folder in my library, but I am unable to neither create a new playlist in ipod photo and copy all my movies nor can I copy all the movies I have in my library to ipod photo. Any simple to comples suggestions are welcome. Is it possible at all to make my ipod Photo store and play movies?

Is it possible at all to make my ipod Photo store and play movies?
No. Even though it has a Movies playlist, it isn't capable of playing video content.
(45526)

Why does iTunes no longer sync all of my songs? It only syncs 125/600, despite plenty of room on my iPod Touch

Why does iTunes no longer sync all of my songs? It only syncs 125/600, despite plenty of room on my iPod Touch.

Yes I've done a reset but it made no difference.

HT1245 Why does my caller I.D. photos show as a small thumbnail in the upper right corner and not full screen? I have used both photos I have synced and photos I have taken, yet others have full screen photo I.D.'s.

Why does my caller I.D. photos show as a small thumbnail in the upper right corner and not full screen? I have used both photos I have synced and photos I have taken, yet others have full screen photo I.D.'s. I have looked onlime at several threads and there are no real answers as to what I need to do or am doing wrong.

I am also having this issue.
I've just spoken to someone in the Apple Support Centre who advised me that since the product is in beta, he is unable to assist. I wanted to find out whether someone was able to delete the data for me, or 'reset' the photos app somehow. This apparently cannot be done. He suggested I provide feedback via the feedback page, which I will do, but to be honest doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence in the issue being fixed.
I also deactivated the service and waited the 30 days for the pictures to be deleted - this should have been completed in mid-January. Instead, my iCloud.com Photos page is now showing the photos that should have been deleted as grey squares, just as you described. I am also unable to delete these photos; every time I try, I get the same message about a server error.
I am also unable to disable the service by enabling and then disabling it on my iPhone. Each time I have tried this it hangs on uploading for several hours, with the progress bar not moving at all. When I disable it on my iPhone, the web app remains unchanged.
If anyone has had this issue and has managed to fix it, PLEASE share your wisdom. I am out of patience!

Why does itunes delete all my existing photo gallery on my ipad when i import new photos from my PC ?

Why does itunes delete all my existing photo gallery folders when I try to import (sync) new folders from my pc ?

you nees to make sure you are selecting everythin that you want on the iPad even things that are already on the iPad, if not it will remove anything not checked in iTunes.
Click HERE for more information on Syncing

HT204478 Photos for Mac and iTunes create significantly larger "iPod Photo Cache" folder compared to iPhoto and iTunes combo

When I used iPhoto, my iPod Photo Cache folder was like 4-5 GBs. After cleaning my library once upgrading to Photos (deleting about 1200 pics, yes I should have done this before..) my new iPod Photos Cache folder was 13 GBs!!! I am already low on disk space as it is and I haven't synced videos or anything. Any ideas? Bug?
I am going to try deleting the folder and resyncing.
Some info:
iPhoto 9.6.1
Photos 1.0 on 10.10.3

This is not okay... I've never had the iPod Photo Cache folder go over 5 GBs with iPhoto.

Why does iTunes use an iPod Photo Cache at all?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for