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Take a look at my screenshot, if you add up all my usage + free space, it comes out to about 11.42GB. Subtract that from Total space of 12.92GB and you have about 1.5GB of space that's not being reported.
Now what made me notice this was, the other day I made a backup in TWRP, which according to TWRP, will use 1.4+GB of storage. Today I wanted to restore this backup, but TWRP shows that I don't have any backups. I booted back into Android and used file explorer to browse the TWRP folder, and it was empty. I made another backup in TWRP just now to make sure it was backing up properly, and everything seems fine.
Does this look normal? How much unreported spaced is being used on your device?
Edit: So it turns out to be an issue with TWRP. For some reason, the first backup ends up in /data/media/TWRP.
You should try a free app in the app store called storage analyser. It gives you a clear picture of where all you data is being stored. I found a few gb of data that where being used up by things I had installed previously and then left data behind when un installed.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
nelomen said:
You should try a free app in the app store called storage analyser. It gives you a clear picture of where all you data is being stored. I found a few gb of data that where being used up by things I had installed previously and then left data behind when un installed.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Storage Analyzer is reporting 7.97GB of free space, while Android is reporting 5.33GB.
shilent said:
Interesting. Storage Analyzer is reporting 7.97GB of free space, while Android is reporting 5.33GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP save backups to the wrong location occasionally.
Using a root explorer. check your mnt/shell/emulated folder. you should find a TWRP folder either in shell or in emulated.
Move it to mnt/shell/emulated/0, or delete it if you need to.
Edit: when the backup folder not in these folder, android system will think it to be "system data"
/sdcard
/data/media/0
mnt/shell/emulated/0
/storage/emulated/0
KyraOfFire said:
TWRP save backups to the wrong location occasionally.
Using a root explorer. check your mnt/shell/emulated folder. you should find a TWRP folder either in shell or in emulated.
Move it to mnt/shell/emulated/0, or delete it if you need to.
Edit: when the backup folder not in these folder, android system will think it to be "system data"
/sdcard
/data/media/0
mnt/shell/emulated/0
/storage/emulated/0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see a TWRP folder in /mnt/shell, and /mnt/shell/emulated does not exist. Anywhere else I should be looking?
shilent said:
Interesting. Storage Analyzer is reporting 7.97GB of free space, while Android is reporting 5.33GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Difference in mine also
Using Tapatalk 2
It never showed correct for me, especially cuz it wouldnt read a lot of files that i just dragged into my phone like a usb storage...
You would think the android team would get these kind of small things fixed...
long shot but If you use linux and delete a file, some put it into a hidden folder .Trash-1000 rather than actually deleting it.
Alright, the same exact thing just happened on my girlfriends phone. She saw my phone and liked how my colors looked, so I flash Franco's kernel onto hers. Before I flashed, I created a back up in TWRP. Again, this backup is no where to be found, and her phone just lost 1.6GB of free space.
Maybe I'll post in the TWRP thread.
So it turns out to be an issue with TWRP. For some reason, the first backup ends up in /data/media/TWRP.
shilent said:
So it turns out to be an issue with TWRP. For some reason, the first backup ends up in /data/media/TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Omg thank u so so much I just got back almost 1gb of storage back. You are da man seriously.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Where should we move the backups to? I'm afraid if I move them, they won't show up in recovery.
I'm using CWM and it looks like backups are saved in /mnt/shell/emulated/clockworkmod/backup
Using SD maid if found where the heck all my storage was going. Under /storage/emulated the folders /legacy and /0 are exactly the same with all the same stuff in it. Is there 2 of everything in my internal SD? Can I delete one of these folders? I attached a screenshot
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
For giggles I deleted one. The folder was still there but empty and the other folder is also empty. I'm thinking they are the same just shown twice with different names. Not actually duplicate.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Hmm okay damn. Trying to figure out where this space is going because all I really have is a couple things in the downloads folder and thats it. Another screenshot of my storage in settings kinda further backs my idea
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Have you done any nandroid backups?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
jpeterson066 said:
Using SD maid if found where the heck all my storage was going. Under /storage/emulated the folders /legacy and /0 are exactly the same with all the same stuff in it. Is there 2 of everything in my internal SD? Can I delete one of these folders? I attached a screenshot
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not duplicate files... The files are only stored in one location, but each folder has a "link" to them...
Sorta like your computer and creating "shortcuts"
That's all well and good, but...
UberSlackr said:
They are not duplicate files... The files are only stored in one location, but each folder has a "link" to them...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...even Android's storage manager can't get it right:
Phone:
mako 16GB
rev_11
MAKOZ10o
M9615A-CEFWMAZM-2.0.1700.48
Secure Boot - enabled
Lock State - unlocked
Rooted with (an otherwise) stock ROM (4.2.2 OTA) and Clockwork Mod Touch 6.0.2.3.
I have found four places seeming to be my SD storage:
/sdcard
/storage/sdcard0
/storage/emulated/0
/storage/emulated/legacy
I've attached other screenshots showing how File Expert HD and DiskView treat my storage. CWM 6.0.2.3 also "misinterprets" my storage situation so I can't make more than 2 backups, and if I have 2 then I struggle for space for downloads and apps. I really wouldn't care about this if apps understood it - it makes you wonder how it managed to get released when not only do no apps support it, but Android's own system gets confused!
I've seen posts talk about merging all SD data with /data/media/0 but on my phone (using both File Expert and the new File Expert HD) that's showing up as a file not a folder. Seriously, how do I sort this out? Which is the real folder, why are the other three there, how do I disable this silly "shortcut" thing that's destroying my phone's storage?
Did you guys make any nandroid backup on the SD cards?
andyli1985 said:
Did you guys make any nandroid backup on the SD cards?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, what originally alerted me to the space issue was when I went to make my second nandroid since installing the 4.2.2 OTA. I made one before and one after the update, then went to make a third in order to have a recent backup before trying to flash the Ubuntu Touch Dev preview but the nandroid failed due to insufficient storage space.
Ultrabenosaurus said:
Yeah, what originally alerted me to the space issue was when I went to make my second nandroid since installing the 4.2.2 OTA. I made one before and one after the update, then went to make a third in order to have a recent backup before trying to flash the Ubuntu Touch Dev preview but the nandroid failed due to insufficient storage space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should explain the "missing" storage. Since you made two nandroid backups and you have quite a lot of apps installed (2.89GB), this will take at least 6 GB of space.
Edit: Nandroid backups don't show on the android storage view.
andyli1985 said:
This should explain the "missing" storage. Since you made two nandroid backups and you have quite a lot of apps installed (2.89GB), this will take at least 6 GB of space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the time of taking the screenshots in my first post, I only have one nandroid in order to keep a decent amount of free space. The fact that CWM is also misinterpreting the storage makes me think it's backing up all 4 locations, which means that my nandroid is stupidly big. That coupled with all apps mistaking the 3 mirror locations as actual files results in a huge loss of potential storage space as apps think the device is full when it really isn't.
I should probably also mention that Windows reports the same free/used space numbers as File Expert HD.
All your internal data lies within /data/media/
The contents within that is usually what is visible to the user on a TW ROM. Once you switch to an AOSP ROM a second partition is created in /storage/emulated/0. This is your actual internal memory. Any previous downloads or backups made before installing an AOSP ROM will be located in /data/media/ since that was it's original directory. You can still view the "0" folder in /data/media/ but all your downloads, backups, etc, will be directed to /storage/emulated/0/ by default.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
LuigiBull23 said:
All your internal data lies within /data/media/
The contents within that is usually what is visible to the user on a TW ROM. Once you switch to an AOSP ROM a second partition is created in /storage/emulated/0. This is your actual internal memory. Any previous downloads or backups made before installing an AOSP ROM will be located in /data/media/ since that was it's original directory. You can still view the "0" folder in /data/media/ but all your downloads, backups, etc, will be directed to /storage/emulated/0/ by default.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand what you mean by a "TW ROM" but I haven't changed ROM. I unlocked the bootloader and rooted, but other than a few quick plays with Ubuntu Touch I'm still using the stock ROM (which I return to from Ubuntu via restoring a CWM nandroid). I haven't flashed any Android ROMs at all.
I didn't have the phone long before I got the 4.2.2 OTA update and I didn't check the folder structure before then, but I didn't notice any suspiciously fast drops in free space until after said update.
Ultrabenosaurus said:
At the time of taking the screenshots in my first post, I only have one nandroid in order to keep a decent amount of free space. The fact that CWM is also misinterpreting the storage makes me think it's backing up all 4 locations, which means that my nandroid is stupidly big. That coupled with all apps mistaking the 3 mirror locations as actual files results in a huge loss of potential storage space as apps think the device is full when it really isn't.
I should probably also mention that Windows reports the same free/used space numbers as File Expert HD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you use a file explorer with root access and check how big is this folder? /data/media/clockworkmod/backup
File Expert and File Expert HD both see it as a file... What app should I use?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Install ES File Explorer, then follow the instructions on this post
Going to have to count up the folder size manually, will do it later and report back because I need to get ready for work now.
Sent from my Nexus 4
you know that the "Real" folders are in "mnt/shell/emulated"?^^
There you also see the clockworkmod folder and check it's size.
I'm having a heck of a time with the internal storage on my S4. What I have done so far: Rooted -> Flashed with Xousos v1.0 (no problem) -> Backup to SD card with CWM -> Flashed with Xousos v2.0 -> Flashed Theme Reverepats ICS (MF9) -> Flashed ComaDose = No Space
I moved all my apps to my SD card and even deleted dropbox and all documents sync to free up space. Before I do a rom flash I clear data/cache/davilik cache and format system. I know the S4's 16GB is really an 8GB - but to only have a few hundred megs left after a fresh flash and TiBackup restore of a handful of apps is not right.
I figure I must have copies of the previous installs somewhere on the internal storage, I just dont know where to look. So if anyone could point me in the right direction as to what directories I can delete or any steps to help free up some space, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance
SS attached
Check the "MISC" folder and check to see what are the folders that take up the most space. I have a feeling you are going to have a nandroid on there that is taking up about 3-4gbs
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Wipe system/and factory reset then flash ROM will fix it. Make sure the ROM and everything else you need is on your external SD first.
Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2
daniel4653 said:
Check the "MISC" folder and check to see what are the folders that take up the most space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^^ that.
daniel4653 said:
Check the "MISC" folder and check to see what are the folders that take up the most space. I have a feeling you are going to have a nandroid on there that is taking up about 3-4gbs
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize for the dumb question in advance, but do you know the location of that folder?
I went to storage/emulated/0 in root explorer and the file structure looks the same as the phone folder explorer but no large files - screen shot attached (largest file first)
GiantJay said:
Wipe system/and factory reset then flash ROM will fix it. Make sure the ROM and everything else you need is on your external SD first.
Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will be my last resort, I just did the wipe/flash and would like to try and solution the problem before I do the wipe
Get disk usage app and poke around the filesystem. It will graphically show you what folders are storing large amounts of data. It will be a lot faster using that tool with finding large files than going through each folder with a file browser app.
g420funk said:
I apologize for the dumb question in advance, but do you know the location of that folder?
I went to storage/emulated/0 in root explorer and the file structure looks the same as the phone folder explorer but no large files - screen shot attached (largest file first)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the storage screen (from your original post, where it showed the breakdown), just tap on miscellaneous and it should show you the folders that make up that 7.52GB
oscarthegrouch said:
Get disk usage app and poke around the filesystem. It will graphically show you what folders are storing large amounts of data. It will be a lot faster using that tool with finding large files than going through each folder with a file browser app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this is a handy little app, especially with root access.
I attached a screen shot - it looks like the system data folder is dominating the space - is it possible there is still an old rom on there or possible a backup (like was mentioned earlier) and if so, how do I get to it?
jj14 said:
In the storage screen (from your original post, where it showed the breakdown), just tap on miscellaneous and it should show you the folders that make up that 7.52GB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my last screen shot - when I tap miscellaneous the biggest folder in there is 3.69 MB - which is why I am so confused
I'd probably just make a nandroid backup, move any files from internal to external that I wanted to keep, turn off phone, remove SD card, boot phone back up, go into SD card in menu settings, format the card then go into accounts and do a full factory reset. I would think that would get rid of any unknown bloat from the internal storage. Yes you'll have to set the phone up again but it might fix your running out of space problem. A nandroid restore might throw the crap back in there. I don't know.
GiantJay said:
Wipe system/and factory reset then flash ROM will fix it. Make sure the ROM and everything else you need is on your external SD first.
Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oscarthegrouch said:
I'd probably just make a nandroid backup, move any files from internal to external that I wanted to keep, turn off phone, remove SD card, boot phone back up, go into SD card in menu settings, format the card then go into accounts and do a full factory reset. I would think that would get rid of any unknown bloat from the internal storage. Yes you'll have to set the phone up again but it might fix your running out of space problem. A nandroid restore might throw the crap back in there. I don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wiping the internal sdcard did the trick. Reloading everything was not what I wanted but it did solve the problem
Thanks to everyone who helped in this thread, I appreciate it :good:
Mine started giving me the low storage space warning once the MF9 update downloaded. I had to wipe the internal sd card completely. What a PITA.
mich0020 said:
Mine started giving me the low storage space warning once the MF9 update downloaded. I had to wipe the internal sd card completely. What a PITA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that makes a lot of sense because mine did the same and the update notification wouldnt go away until I flashed the update. I guess next time I need to format the internal sd before I flash
hi,
i have a storage issue that i'll like to ask the gurus.. I've just moved from PSX's v8.5 (4.3) to PSX v3 (4.4) and along the way, I've made numerous backups just in case. after flashing v3 and hellscore b43, i ran into a storage space issue where my N4 told me i had insufficient space to install more apps, to work system functions, anything. Ive attached a screenshot of my storage, but it seems to be there is a good 5-6gb of space unaccounted for? i have v little songs in my phone, no movies, little apps as well. its rooted. can anyone point to as to how i can solve this?
thanks!
to add on, I've used storage analyser to better understand by storage, and it says i have 9.87gb available, whilte the stock storage details shows the number at 611mb.
help pls?
thejiajielee said:
hi,
i have a storage issue that i'll like to ask the gurus.. I've just moved from PSX's v8.5 (4.3) to PSX v3 (4.4) and along the way, I've made numerous backups just in case. after flashing v3 and hellscore b43, i ran into a storage space issue where my N4 told me i had insufficient space to install more apps, to work system functions, anything. Ive attached a screenshot of my storage, but it seems to be there is a good 5-6gb of space unaccounted for? i have v little songs in my phone, no movies, little apps as well. its rooted. can anyone point to as to how i can solve this?
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try flashing SuperSU via the recovery.
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
hi, I've tried that, but to no avail..
ive also realised that system data takes up a huge chunk, more than 6gb. which is where most of the missing storage is. help, anyone?
thejiajielee said:
ive also realised that system data takes up a huge chunk, more than 6gb. which is where most of the missing storage is. help, anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you downgraded to the rom where you don't have this problem?
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
I only just realised I was having the same issue when I got an insufficient storage available message while trying to update some apps. To solve it reboot into recovery then go on backup and restore and delete any unnecessary backups you have, if the ROM's working now then you could do with deleting all of the old backups and making one fresh one with the new ROM. Also do the 'free unused space' thing in CWM, I had no backups but somehow there was almost 3 gigs of space being wasted by CWM. There's probably something similar in TWRP if you use that
thejiajielee said:
ive also realised that system data takes up a huge chunk, more than 6gb. which is where most of the missing storage is. help, anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've got the right app. check your /data directory to see what's chewing up space. I bet it's TWRP or other stuff stored by your recovery manager.
Use this great app to check whats taking up space: Storage analyzer
When u make full backups they won't show up in the system storage scan. Go to the file directly n try deleting an old backup. I guarantee u will see more space available after u do. Each backup is usually about 400-500mb depending on how many apps n other data u have
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Or maybe you got shrinkage problem which is pretty normal when upgrading (seeing that you flashed 4.4.2 rom over 4.3 rom). Your 16gb nexus was shrinked to 8gb. The easiest way to fix it is by formatting your internal in recovery (or flash stock recovery and do factory reset). Do make backup of your things though cause you'll lose them.
So I've been looking around and trying to fix this problem myself but I've had no luck. I've almost completely run out of internal memory. I'm not sure if its a memory leak or what but its starting to affect my phone's ability to update apps. Currently, of the 16gb I have <800mb left but it used to be as low as ~50mb.
At first I tried just moving every app I could to my SD card, and I already transfer and delete every picture and video I have on my phone asap. So afterwards I wiped cache a few times. Finally I completely wiped and reset my phone to stock and still only freed up 1gb of space. I then flashed the negalite ROM. With this new rom and the core set of apps I use, all moved to the SD card, I have 829mb of internal memory free.
I understand that I really only have 8gb to play around with, but this screencap shows that I have 7gb being taken up by miscellaneous files, yet when I check what's in there it does not add up to 7gb (nothing below those files goes above a few hundred kb tops). Is there any way to free up more memory without deleting literally every app I have? I don't think I even have that many frivolous apps.
So to summarize, my phone is a sprint s4 SPH-L720 with 4.4.2 running the Negalite rom, with only 800mb/16gb internal free, trying to free up more. Not sure if its a memory leak or what.
Do you have any nandroid backups with either philz,cwm, or twrp recovery? If so those are about 3-5gbs each.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Using a file manager that can show hidden files (ES can) look around and see if you see any folder named something like lost.dir or lost+found it might be that some deleted items were sent or left their instead of going into oblivion. I have had it occur before, after deleting the contents it freed up several 100s of MB to GB of memory.
It's possible it could be this.
daniel4653 said:
Do you have any nandroid backups with either philz,cwm, or twrp recovery? If so those are about 3-5gbs each.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm I just went through the CWM folder and deleted some old backups supposedly but those were only like 9mb big... The mysteries keep mounting!
And catfood I tried looking through the files with file explorer but I couldn't find a lost or a variation of it.
Thanks for the replies though every little bit helps!
pinoysw1mmer said:
Hm I just went through the CWM folder and deleted some old backups supposedly but those were only like 9mb big... The mysteries keep mounting!
And catfood I tried looking through the files with file explorer but I couldn't find a lost or a variation of it.
Thanks for the replies though every little bit helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any cloud apps like Google Drive or something of the like? Try checking sync options, or the programs settings, something might be downloading data to cache offline.
Backup your data!
Install philz_touch_6.19.6-jflte recovery
then go to Mount and Storage Menu
do a format for{ system, cache, date and(( /data and /data/media ( /sdcard)))
jam97 said:
Backup your data!
Install philz_touch_6.19.6-jflte recovery
then go to Mount and Storage Menu
do a format for{ system, cache, date and(( /data and /data/media ( /sdcard)))
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do I have to install that one or can I just use CWM?
And catfood I will check my cloud settings.
pinoysw1mmer said:
Do I have to install that one or can I just use CWM?
And catfood I will check my cloud settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know but I used that recovery and it works for me.