via openSSH or DISKAID did not clear/delete/refresh your iPhone other memory, then one can possibly try this path too, go to

Root/private/var/mobile/library/applicationsupport  Delete the folders in it. 

This folder is likely/surely will be filled with all video/audio files that is being played using VLC player.  This happens when video/audio files in one app (not VLC) is played using VLC player through open with VLC player option.

I had 10.5 GB of other memory out of 14 GB. It was all Video/audio files that got stored in the path given above when I played them in VLC(video) & Media player(audio) from DOWNLOAD LITE  APP.   After deleting all, you gotta do is just one sync of your phone with iTunes.  Music box checked/unchecked does not matter. Just sync. You will get back your memory. I hope this helps. 

If not here too, then for sure files that’s occupying the memory would be in  

Root/private/var/mobile/…. 

do a folder by folder search and remove the files when you find them.

I did it using DISKAID app Free version. This app is easy and is really cool.

another way to reduce these “other” file is to reinstall your previous app as this will take those backed up save files and in app purchases for your app from the safeharbor folder and put it in your apps folder thus reducing your “other” file sizes

I had about 3gb free when I started syncing my jailbroken iphone 3gs using itunes 10. I had to interupt the sync bc I ran out of space on my netbook HD. Subsequently, I had none of the free space and about 3 gb of “other”. In addition, I had a message pop up telling me the iphone was out of space and I need to delete files.

This is what worked for my jailbroken 3GS. I unclicked auto sync, then connected the iphone back to laptop and clicked transfer purchases. As I was watching, the other space was converted to free space. Very easy.

Understanding what “other” files is crucial to fixing this problem, especially when the space designated for them doubles in a sync. Question: did you sync music or videos when the space doubled? Question: was the sync process interrupted or did iTunes freeze? Your problem is an “orphaned” file. When iTunes gets interrupted the file that it is syncing during the interruption gets saved onto the iPhone but without the right designators to put it in the correct area so you can remove and sync it properly.

Here’s how to fix the “Other” files issue, step by step.

Step 1: No interruptions Put your iPhone into Airplane mode. A simple phone call or text message while you’re syncing can disrupt the process and cause files to become “orphaned” and send them into the void known as “other”.

Step 2: Download Disk Aid. Simple as that, download the appropriate version of DiskAid for your computer. Here are the links to the website:

Step 3: Remove all media from your iPhone In order to find the files that are taking up space you need to remove all media from your iPhone. When you go to look in the file system using DiskAid, anything left over is what is causing problems. Go into iTunes and uncheck the “Sync Music”, “Sync Photos”, “Sync Video”, and “Sync TV Shows”. Then Sync your iPhone to remove the files. Your “Other” files will remain the same, even though you have removed all media.

Step 4: The Search begins. With your iPhone connected to your computer via USB, launch DiskAid. Under the navigation panel on the left hand side of the window, click on “Places”. Then, go to “Media Folder”. In “Media Folder”, select, “iTunes Control”. Now, select the “Music” folder. Note: Music, Music Videos, Movies, and TV Shows are all saved in this directory. Once you’ve selected the “Music” folder, a series of folders with the designation “Fxx” will appear. Using your keyboard’s arrow keys and the middle navigation directory, move down one at a time to verify that the folders are empty. If a folder has a file in it, delete it. Remember, you have already removed all media from your device.

Step 5: Restart iPhone Now, once you have gone through all of the files and deleted the ones that are left over from the earlier sync, using iTunes, disconnect your iPhone. Once disconnected, power it down and restart it. Once restarted, re-connect it to iTunes and click on your iPhone in the left navigation plane. Look under “other” files. If done correctly, your “other” files should be around .30gb to .60gb.

Now you are free to simply re-sync your media, but I recommend taking time with this process. Sync a movie at a time, a tv season at a time and so on and so forth. Music you can do all at once, as well as photos.

Hope this works for you as well as it worked for me.

I too have the same problem. But, restoring iphone is a very inelegant way to go around this problem. Could you please suggest any other solution. Also, my worry is that would the data esp. the to-dos and app related would be deleted.

deleted everything in that folder using ifile, or whatever method you use to delete folders/files.

After 2 days of going nuts thx all

but thanks for the suggestions, and glad to share my experience.

This did it for me. I unsynced my iPhone, ran this program, deleted all the unindexed music files, rebooted, resynced the phone.. and all my “other data” was removed and my space was reclaimed.

I’m sure they wouldn’t/couldn’t tell you to do an SSH session?

my guess is that the app in the newer installation folder is not granted access to the previous installation folders, but the folders themselves are not necessary ‘invisible’ from a bit ‘higher’ point of view.

For easier life as an iphone user, i recommend spending a few bucks for an app like diskaid (tell us if there is a cheaper alt), if you don’t want to JB it.

I have a JB’d iphone and i’m using SSH via USB cable with iphone tunnel suite.

IMO, Apple just wants to ease your life most of the time, and to do that, certainly they’ve chosen to make it difficult for you on (many) occassions…

Thanks! My iphone is now syncing. 2000+ songs to go, but the big orange bar is gone!

1.Install diskaid and connect your iPhone (always good to back it up first) 2.Change the view to media folder 3.Go into the iTunes control folder then music 4.Delete each of the subdirectories 5.Go back into into iTunes and unselect “sync music” 6.Sync your iPhone 7.Unplug your iPhone and reboot it. 8.Reconnect your iPhone and recheck “sync music” 9.Apply the changes and voila!

email me at tryin2layadime at hotmail dot com. thanks

I have found the 5.90 GB! I use Finder on iPhone frequently for quickly delete files and set permissions. I just found that it uses a Trash folder, and there were some files there (approx. 2,2 GB), and when I deleted them permanently, the Other files in iTunes became 990 MB, and free space is 5.9 GB!

first of all i wanna thank to gosforth because hıs idea save my i phone ) but at my cop. disk aid didnt worked. i write this comment for somebody who cant work disk aid. That time i use total commander for connecting iphone. here is the guide for connecting..

First get t-pot. The most recent version at the time of this writing is at: http://code.google.com/p/t-pot/downloads/list Home page: http://code.google.com/p/t-pot/

t-pod is a plugin for an application called total commander.

Download and install Total Commander from: http://www.ghisler.com/download.htm

After Total Commander is installed, unzip t-pot to a folder. Run Total Commander and goto “Configuration/Options” in the file menu. Goto “Plugins” and then click the “WFX” menu button. “ADD” the t-pot’s .wfx file that you unzipped. After adding it to Total Commander, close Total Commander, and load it again. T-pot should now be installed.

To use: Connect the iPhone/iTouch via USB. At the top of the two window panes is a drop down menu usually labeled [-c-]. Select Network Neighborhood [--] from it. Choose t-pot from the window pane. You should now be looking at the file system of your iPhone/iTouch. Now you can drag over files from the other window pane to it.

then further stages are same after connecting

This solved my problem.

Also, it doesn’t look like the restart is necessary & it looks like you can delete the entire music & artwork folders instead of the individual subfolders. They will be recreated during the next sync.

Now if you jailbreak the phone, can Apple brick it by some changes in Itunes? Does it make sense to wait till iphone 3.0 and jailbreak for that release?

Thanks in advance for suggestions. I am an expert in IT and Unix field and I never expected that small little iphone was close to winning the war with me. Thanks again for saving my day.

My next phone will be Android. Apple would need to create a miracle to change my opinion about those empty heads who only think about preventing access to device you bought. Edwin

Thanks for the help – it worked like a dream!!

Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Install diskaid and connect your iPhone (always good to back it up first)
2. Change the view to media folder
3. Go into the iTunes control folder then music
4. Delete each of the subdirectories
5. Go back into into iTunes and unselect “sync music”
6. Sync your iPhone
7. Unplug your iPhone and reboot it.
8. Reconnect your iPhone and recheck “sync music”
9. Apply the changes and voila!

The “other” category is eliminated right after iPhone reboot, so as soon as you reconnect your iPhone the “other” category will no longer be there. If you still see it you’ve done something wrong.

Thanks for the info – this whole process took me a total of 30 minutes rather than the countless hours doing a full restore! (and 90% of the time was the resync of the music!)

Thank you thank you!

http://www.digidna.net/diskaid/

after installing it open it at the bottom change the scroll thing to media folder…and you should see the ituen control folder

and wow all of my music that was unregconised on my iphone is there…even the video in the music folders

now you can delete them and restart or else…i don’t know I’m trying it out too

good luck

Don’t I then lose all my music in my iTunes? How would I get my gigs and gigs of music back???

And what/where is the iTunes “control” folder?

If anyone would be willing to break down the steps for his process into a simplified bullet point format I would be eternally grateful!