Can't clear memory from Kindle Touch

[LovesMacs]

Hello,

I have a Kindle Touch 3G that is now a few years old, running the 5.3.7.2 software. I tried to wirelessly remove a graphic novel from the device today. The graphic novel is in my Amazon cloud and, according to the home screen, no longer present on the device. Despite that, the available memory indicates that space on the Kindle hasn't been freed up.

I'm certain that I removed the book from the device and not just from a collection. I've tried restarting a few times, as well as holding down the power button for 10+ seconds.

Short of resetting or deregistering/reregistering the Kindle, does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks for any help.

[Dexmaster]

First of all if it's windows and you deleted it without shift pressed, it probably could be in system folder "$RECYCLE.BIN".
For this one the simplest solution is connect the device, then empty the Recyle Bin. Or show hidden files and folders on your device and remove "$RECYCLE.BIN" with Shift+Delete.

Second of all it could be something small you have forgotten about so just use some Disk Space Analyzer of your choice. And remove files you see are taking space and define as useless (but only remove files you understand and look only into documents folder, other folders may be present, but if you haven't put anything there don't remove it)

[shalym]

What do you see when you connect the Kindle to the computer using USB? Is the book still in the documents directory on the Kindle?

Shari

[susan_cassidy]

You can't wirelessly remove a file from a Kindle, if by wirelessly, you mean remotely. Removing a book from MYCD does not remove it from the Kindle. A true restart means holding the switch down for 30 seconds.

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

You can't wirelessly remove a file from a Kindle, if by wirelessly, you mean remotely. Removing a book from MYCD does not remove it from the Kindle. A true restart means holding the switch down for 30 seconds.

What I meant is that I took my Kindle Touch 3G with active wireless connection, held my finger over the title in question, and waited for the pop-up menu to come up. The pop-up menu did come up, listing a number of options, including "Remove item from Device". I selected that option with the expectation that it would indeed clear the memory taken up by the title and not just make the title inaccessible.

I tried the restart method you suggested (thanks, karma will be coming shortly) as well as connecting via USB as suggested by another person. The amount of memory remains the same but I did notice a LOT of titles in the documents folder that I thought had been archived/deleted from the Kindle.

At this point, I think I'll just reset the device and download the items I want to read most.

[pidgeon92]

When you delete a book from the Kindle, it will delete the ebook file, but will leave behind all other data associated with the ebook, such as highlights, annotations and most recent page read, and this data will be in a file folder with the same name as the ebook (with a .sdr extension). These files don't take up a lot of space, but they do take up space.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

When you delete a book from the Kindle, it will delete the ebook file, but will leave behind all other data associated with the ebook, such as highlights, annotations and most recent page read, and this data will be in a file folder with the same name as the ebook (with a .sdr extension). These files don't take up a lot of space, but they do take up space.

So how does one delete all these extra files that are no longer needed once the book is gone?

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So how does one delete all these extra files that are no longer needed once the book is gone?

I attach my Kindle to my iMac via USB and delete the folders individually. Mind you, I only do this when I'm reminded to by posts like this on MR. Could be that there is something wrong with the comic that LovesMacs is trying to remove from their Kindle.

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I attach my Kindle to my iMac via USB and delete the folders individually. Mind you, I only do this when I'm reminded to by posts like this on MR. Could be that there is something wrong with the comic that LovesMacs is trying to remove from their Kindle.

So in other words, I should occasionally connect my Kindle via USB and clean out the document folder?

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

So in other words, I should occasionally connect my Kindle via USB and clean out the document folder?

It's what I do, manually delete the folders for ebooks I've removed from the device. If you don't mind reloading your ebooks, a factory reset would clear out everything for you.

[susan_cassidy]

If you are just seeing numbers in megabytes, removing one book might not lower the number. Most ebooks are quite small.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

If you are just seeing numbers in megabytes, removing one book might not lower the number. Most ebooks are quite small.

The OP said it was a graphic novel. They tend to be much larger in size than text only novels.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

When you delete a book from the Kindle, it will delete the ebook file, but will leave behind all other data associated with the ebook, such as highlights, annotations and most recent page read, and this data will be in a file folder with the same name as the ebook (with a .sdr extension). These files don't take up a lot of space, but they do take up space.

Those files only get left behind when using "Delete This Book" -- if the book is not in your Kindle Cloud.

A book that is in your Kindle Cloud will say "Remove from Device" and the *.sdr folder will be removed, since it is useless -- all that data is synced to the cloud.

And the space is not just "not a lot", it is miniscule.