Why don't I have any storage!?

[AC Question]

I have the Samsung galaxy s5, which is running on Lollipop. I have a 16 GB phone, with a 16 GB SD card, and I still have no room! Out of the phones 16 GB, I only have 474 MB left. I've deleted pictures, videos, music, apps, etc. I only have 11 downloaded apps, the rest are apps that come with the phone, and that cant be disables. According to my storage setting, 7.31 GB of my memory is being taken up by "Miscellaneous Files". Can I delete these files? I've also found it very difficult to move things over to my SD card. PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! How big are those 11 apps? Are any of them very large games? Some games can be as large as 1-2 GB when they're finally installed and have downloaded any additional files.

Misc files can represent the OS (but not on all devices). In your Settings>Storage menu, is there anything that's specifically labeled as System?

 

[LindseyClark11]

The only game I have on my phone is Peggle Blast, which I was able to move over to my SD card. Now for miscellaneous files I do see one file titled Samsung which is 2.76MB, and theres some that have the names of the few apps I have downloaded. The rest I don't recognize. Also, if I go into the "My Files" app, and click on 'Documents' there must be hundreds of these files that are a bunch of numbers followed by ".txt"

EDIT: (I'm the person who submitted the question, I just made an account now)
EDIT 2: I found a file in my Miscellaneous that is named "System" and is 36.00KB

 

[B. Diddy]

It might be useful to see a screenshot of your Settings>Storage menu: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html

 

[LindseyClark11]

I couldn't fit all the info in one screenshot, so i just put it in this grid...

 

[B. Diddy]

What does the full bar represent? 16 GB? If so, then the 7.31 GB of Misc Files most likely is from the OS and other preinstalled bloatware (see this article: A 16GB Samsung Galaxy S5 will only give you half as available storage). It may be that it's not explicitly showing the OS files, because you're not meant to mess with them.

 

[LindseyClark11]

First off, yes, the full bar does represent 16GB. Secondly, I just read the article, and I have to say that this is very disappointing. Only getting about 8 GB from a 16 GB phone is purely false advertising. I love my Galaxy S5 phone, but with that information, I would gladly give up my galaxy phone. I have a 16 GB SD in my phone right now, but I've found it is very difficult to put any kind of data on it. Do you have any recommendations of what I can do to move some things onto my memory card, while I start the search for a new phone?

 

[B. Diddy]

It's standard industry practice to describe the phone as having a total amount of internal storage, but not explicitly advertise how much internal storage is actually available to you. It should always be understood that the OS will take up some chunk of that total internal storage (for Android, usually around 3-4 GB), and then there's a variable amount of space taken up by preinstalled bloatware, which can depend both on the manufacturer and the carrier. Everyone does this--yes, even Apple. Unfortunately, some manufacturers tend to be worse than others when it comes to bloat, and Samsung is usually at the top of this list.

Here are some tips on how to maximize your internal storage: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...roid-memory-how-deal-low-memory-warnings.html

The only way to get rid of bloatware is to root the phone, which will allow you to uninstall it. But you have to be careful, because if that piece of software was important for some other system function, then you can cause significant problems by deleting it. The whole bloatware issue is one of the main reasons I much prefer Nexus devices and/or carrier-unlocked devices.

 

[LindseyClark11]

I will definitely read that article. Thank you so much for all your help! I really appreciate it!