How do I go about deleting cached data?

Nick_1020

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Deleting cached data

My Note 4 has been running low on device storage for a little while now so I've been moving some apps to SD, uninstalling others plus clearing up some other files.

When I look in Settings -> Storage, I can see 5.34GB of cached data that can be deleted. This would certainly make life a lot easier but I don't want to lose any app and game data/progress that isn't backed up to the cloud.

If I look at app/game entries in the Application Manager, the cache is usually a small amount. I find it hard to believe that this adds up to over 5GBs of data on my phone. However, 'Data' can be hundreds or MBs for many apps so it seems this is what is referred to as 'Cached data' in storage.

What exactly is 'Cached data' please and would deleting it leave me having to start games from level 1 again and lose all my progress in the process?

Thanks for any help :)
 

Kjthomas0724

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Re: Deleting cached data

Just cleared mine and it did not wipe out all of my apps info. Games are still starting up where I left off.

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Crashdamage

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Re: Deleting cached data

Cache files are there for a reason, to speed up system operation. Very basically, it's data that has been stashed away so it doesn't have to be fetched again. Normally, best performance is achieved by just leaving cache files alone to do their job.

The hot new trendy thing lately is clearing the cache partition, supposedly to increase performance. This is not so. It does not increase performance in the vast majority of instances. If anything, it decreases performance, wasting CPU cycles and power needlessly rebuilding caches. Many people are clearing the cache partition often, even daily, treating it as regular maintenance. This is totally unnecessary and counterproductive.

In all the years and all the Android devices I've had, I can count the times I've needed to mess with cache files on one hand, with fingers left over. But there are rare exceptions. If an app is struggling it might help to clear the cache for that app only. Or another exception is after a major system like Lollipop if the device is acting funky. Clearing all caches so they can rebuild with correct files for the new OS can sometimes straighten it out.

Otherwise, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 

muzzy996

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Re: Deleting cached data

Thanks for the reply but so you sync your game data/progress to your Google account?
Game progress isn't cache, it's data. Clearing cache won't affect that. Clearing data will.

Agree with crash... Clearing cache has its place as a troubleshooting tool but it's there for a reason and once you fire up the applications that used the various cache files that were cleared they will return.

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Nick_1020

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Re: Deleting cached data

There are different apps that can create big cache files (browsers, apps heavy on media files, wallpaper apps, etc).

Take a look here to read about the cached data.

[GUIDE] A bit of cache clearing - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com
[GUIDE] A bit of cache clearing

Very helpful. Thank you.

So it looks like clearing the cache will only provide temporary relief for my storage issues then?

I may just do it as I've never done it before and have updated the system a little while ago. Gonna need to think about more drastic options in the long run though.

Thanks again to everyone for the replies.
 

muzzy996

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Re: Deleting cached data

A better bet is to go on an app diet. Moving applications to SD can lead to a performance hit as well as potential stability issues. If I had to do it, is likely only move large applications that I don't need to use often and when I do their performance aren't important to me.

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Javier P

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Re: Deleting cached data

Sorry for the delay Nick.

Very helpful. Thank you.

So it looks like clearing the cache will only provide temporary relief for my storage issues then?

I may just do it as I've never done it before and have updated the system a little while ago. Gonna need to think about more drastic options in the long run though.

Thanks again to everyone for the replies.

Yeah, pretty much, but remember the size of your cache files will always depend on your use. You could try something, tap on misc files in your storage settings and tell us what things are on top of that list, or even better, post a screenshot. The misc files is a good place to find big cache files.

I think it could be more helpful for other people with similar questions if you post in that other thread I linked before. I'd really appreciate that.
 

savuth

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Re: Deleting cached data

I have a similar problem with the internal storage, recently I bought one micro SD card (External Card) with 32 GB, the problem is after I inserting the SD Card, I want to copy all my photos, Videos to SD Card, but the Galaxy NOTE does not have an option to make a copy from internal storage to the SD card, this is a problem I have face.

Lately, I decided to delete all photos, videos from internal storage, because I have upload all those photo to Google photo, but the point is I am not so sure that the quality of those photos, videos are still maintain the same as when they were in the internal storage.