Cache

[Vipersdad]

I currently have 6.2 GB in my "cache" on my N7 12GB tablet. What will I lose if I clear it?

Thanks.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[vannylugo]

Cache is a device history something like browser history its useless and it slowsdown devices

 

[SpookDroid]

Cache is a device history something like browser history its useless and it slowsdown devices

Not exactly. And it's not useless, but yeah, it CAN cause slowdowns if not properly coded/handled.

Cache is a temporary storage of stuff. It's actually meant to speed things up with your apps, but if not handled properly, it can sometimes cause issues and it can start to build up. If you clear it, you lose no important data, just temporary files that were going to get erased anyway, but your apps might take a little longer to start up the first few times. Why? Read on.

Cache is meant to store stuff that the app knows you'll need the next time you fire it up. That way, it's already stored and it doesn't have to re-download/re-draw/re-whatever every time it starts, it can just access the cache and pull up the files it needs, since they're already created and stored. Think of your Gallery on a new phone. At first, there are no image previews. Then you load up an SD Card with 1,000 pictures in it. Your Gallery starts displaying the thumbnails but it's slow at first, with the images appearing one after the other. But once that's done, the Gallery displays the thumbnails much faster and doesn't load them one by one again. Why? Because it's already read the images, created the previews, and stored them in the cache. Should you delete the cache, then the next time you fire it up, it realizes it doesn't have any thumbnail data available and it starts re-building the previews, one by one, thus, taking longer to start up properly the first time.

A real-life example? Think of those CLOSED - WE'LL BE BACK AT 1 signs that a lot of coffee shops use. You have to hang it up every day at lunch, right? But you don't take it out, throw it in the trash, and then make a new one the next day. You store it, put it away for the day, and then take it out of the drawer when you get lunch the next day. Same thing with cache. If the app knows it's gonna need the data later, it creates it in the cache and uses it for later reference.

 

[vannylugo]

Not exactly. And it's not useless, but yeah, it CAN cause slowdowns if not properly coded/handled.

Cache is a temporary storage of stuff. It's actually meant to speed things up with your apps, but if not handled properly, it can sometimes cause issues and it can start to build up. If you clear it, you lose no important data, just temporary files that were going to get erased anyway, but your apps might take a little longer to start up the first few times. Why? Read on.

Cache is meant to store stuff that the app knows you'll need the next time you fire it up. That way, it's already stored and it doesn't have to re-download/re-draw/re-whatever every time it starts, it can just access the cache and pull up the files it needs, since they're already created and stored. Think of your Gallery on a new phone. At first, there are no image previews. Then you load up an SD Card with 1,000 pictures in it. Your Gallery starts displaying the thumbnails but it's slow at first, with the images appearing one after the other. But once that's done, the Gallery displays the thumbnails much faster and doesn't load them one by one again. Why? Because it's already read the images, created the previews, and stored them in the cache. Should you delete the cache, then the next time you fire it up, it realizes it doesn't have any thumbnail data available and it starts re-building the previews, one by one, thus, taking longer to start up properly the first time.

Thanks for the explaining

 

[Vipersdad]

Thanks. Just cleared my cache. Cache went from 6.2GB to a few MB's. 7.92GB now available.

Sweet.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[SpookDroid]

That was one huge cache!!!