Auto-upload to Skydrive saves 3 copies of your photos in temp/other!

[chancooluk]

We all know that there are issues with WP8 saving a copy of each photo it uploads to Skydrive as an un-deletable "temporary" file on the phone. I could never understand how 'Other' storage grows so much faster than my photos folder...

I recently purchased a Lumia 520 to use as a backup/work phone, and decided to test how much space the auto-photo-upload actually wastes. I took taking about 120 photos in quick succession, and let them auto-upload in best quality.

The results from the Nokia 'Storage Check' application show that "Photos" increased by 183MB (81MB > 264MB).
"Temporary files" (within 'Other' in WP storage) increased by 551MB!!! (25MB > 576MB) Exactly 3X the amount of space the photos use up! The problem with these "Temporary files" is that the 'Clear' button does not work to actually clear them. The only way to remove them is to hard reset, or attempt the Skydrive folder deletion method (which seems to work randomly rather than 100% of the time).



This means that the bug in Skydrive upload doesn't just save 1 extra copy of the photos, but 3, which means 4X space is used with every photo that is auto-uploaded.

Is there anybody out there who can test if the bug still exists in GDR2, and if it does still exist, does the 'Clear' button now actually clear these files, instead of just removing old XAPs?

 

[GoodThings2Life]

If we assume for the moment that your results aren't anecdotal and are absolutely the bug in question, then I'm pleased to tell you that on my Lumia 1020 the issue IS DEFINITELY fixed. Using the criteria you have documented, I have 2.7GB of other storage (same as immediately after adding my accounts and install/updating all apps), and I have 418MB of pics and 27MB of "Temporary Files" which hasn't changed since yesterday either.

Now sadly, I have no way of knowing what's really in the Other and Temp category, but whatever it is, it's definitely not SkyDrive images on the 1020... again, assuming that the details you've provided are factual details of the issue.

 

[chancooluk]

The phone was not used other than to take the photos and wait for the 25ish minutes it took to upload them. Screenshots were taken directly before and after i started the "experiment".

It seems quite coincidental that the increase was exactly 3x the size of the increase to the photo storage, no? Maybe its just me.

I did this test initially for myself, so that i could sleep easy at night without the constant "other storage anxiety" as my psychologist calls it. ;-)

I thought that the results were worth sharing, but feel free not to believe them.

 

[GoodThings2Life]

Sorry, I should have been a bit less rude in the initial post... I've never had the issue on the 920, and so far I don't seem to have it on the 1020 either, so I've always been a bit skeptical of the bug in the first place. I've also read so much conflicting information about the bug and people with pseudo-solutions and symptoms that it's hard to believe what the reality of the bug is.

So that said, I think your methodology is very sound and very likely to be part of the issue that people have had. If anything, I think it's odd that I've never had the issue given the number of photos I take, but again, based on your testing method, my storage situation doesn't reflect the same thing... so either the bug is truly fixed as Joe Belfiore claims (he'd know, after all) in GDR2, or there's some other issue at play for your experience. I do hope that after updating to GDR2 the issue goes away for you.

 

[chancooluk]

Im looking forward to getting GDR2 on both of my Lumia's. If only so i can re-test it.

My old 8X needed a reset every couple of months just to get my space back. It's less of an issue for me these days, since switching off auto-upload and Nokia creating 'Storage Check', but i do miss the convenience of not manually uploading my photos to skydrive.