What's using up all my Moto G 's internal storage?

[Daniel Clucas]

My Moto G 3rd Generation has 8gb internal storage and is seriously low, so low that I keep getting a notification that some system functions may not work. I'm running Marshmallow 6.0 and have a 32gb SD card installed, on which I keep most of my pictures etc.

Here's the weird thing though, in settings>Storage & USB it reads like this:

Android OS: 3.47gb
Internal storage: 4.12gb used of 4.53gb

And the Internal storage reads like this:

Apps: 1.90gb
Images: 186mb
Videos: 8.00kb
Audio: 192kb
Other: 365mb
Cache: 17.07mb

Even with the mysterious Other, that doesnt add up to even close to 4.12gb!

So can anyone help me work out (and remove) whatever invisible files are eating up all my space?

I have moved every app that I can onto the SD card, clear the cache regularly, and have also cleared the Cache Partition recently.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[GrandGerminator]

Have you formatted the SD card to the new adaptable storage ? When done, you have to click on the miro sd card in the storage settings, then, in the upper right corner clic the 3 small dots and then on "TRANSFERT". It will transfert everything on the sd card, and free up space on from the internal storage. Keep me in touch

 

[Daniel Clucas]

Hi Grandgerminator, thanks for the reply. Do I need to "format as internal" in the SD card settings, and if so, will this delete all my current data on it?

 

[acejavelin]

Hi Grandgerminator, thanks for the reply. Do I need to "format as internal" in the SD card settings, and if so, will this delete all my current data on it?

Yes, and yes.

Marshmallow does not support having apps installed on the SD card if it setup as external (portable) storage.

 

[acejavelin]

I would install ES File Explorer or a similar tool. ES has the ability to analyze the storage independently of the OS and tell you what files are taking up space.

 

[Daniel Clucas]

Thanks Acejavelin. I've installed it and analysed the internal storage, but it still comes up with this:

Pictures 184mb
Audio 2.91mb
Video 102.92mb
Other 3.59gb

What is could "other" be?? Nothing that big is listed anywhere below..

 

[acejavelin]

Thanks Acejavelin. I've installed it and analysed the internal storage, but it still comes up with this:

Pictures 184mb
Audio 2.91mb
Video 102.92mb
Other 3.59gb

What is could "other" be?? Nothing that big is listed anywhere below..

Sorry... it appears ES has changed how the analyzer works... But if you scroll down to the 'All Files' section and tap Details, It will show you the folders and how much space they take up, just keep tapping into them, each directory is sorted by size, largest file/directory at the top. `0` is your internal storage, XXXX-XXXX is your SD card

 

[Daniel Clucas]

Thats the problem - the "all files" section is only 363.98mb! It doesn't account for the mystery 3 gb - I really can't find where all that space is being used

 

[erchiappa]

Empty your Google photo trash bin

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Winterseeker]

I have the exact same problem as you Daniel! To clarify, going back to your original post, which I found the most clear, you have a additional amount of approximately 1.5GB that is unaccounted for (not 3GB like you stated later).

Here's mine:

Total storage: 8GB
Android OS (6.0): 3.47GB
Internal Storage: 3.63 used of 4.53GB
-Apps: 2.21GB
-Images: 0KB
-Videos: 0KB
-Audio: 124KB
-Other: 29.86MB
-Cached: 5.34MB

Internal visible: ~2.25GB
Unaccounted for: ~1.4GB

Note: I'm aware of linking my SD card for more space, have already tried cleaning files using several apps, file manager apps to see all files, showing hidden files, clearing cache, removing SD card (back in, or formatted and back in), and trying everything again after a restart - the only thing I haven't done I think is developer mode (is there anything there?) or a factory reset (prefer not to...). I really just want to figure out where this extra space is going, and greatly appreciate any tips!

 

[paininthenuts]

I have the exact same problem as you Daniel! To clarify, going back to your original post, which I found the most clear, you have a additional amount of approximately 1.5GB that is unaccounted for (not 3GB like you stated later).

Here's mine:

Total storage: 8GB
Android OS (6.0): 3.47GB
Internal Storage: 3.63 used of 4.53GB
-Apps: 2.21GB
-Images: 0KB
-Videos: 0KB
-Audio: 124KB
-Other: 29.86MB
-Cached: 5.34MB

Internal visible: ~2.25GB
Unaccounted for: ~1.4GB

Note: I'm aware of linking my SD card for more space, have already tried cleaning files using several apps, file manager apps to see all files, showing hidden files, clearing cache, removing SD card (back in, or formatted and back in), and trying everything again after a restart - the only thing I haven't done I think is developer mode (is there anything there?) or a factory reset (prefer not to...). I really just want to figure out where this extra space is going, and greatly appreciate any tips!

I had to look into this myself when I first got mine, and in fact I contacted Motorola. Apparently it has something to do with the way android 6.0 deals with apps. Their answer was far to technical for me to understand fully, but that's the gist of it. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it. This means you have to be very sparing about what apps/games you put on the phone, and try and use software that can go on the card. Android 6.0 really is a heap of crap, and no phone manufacturer should now be making a phone with less than 16gb storage. My tip is to format the SD card as adoptable/internal storage and migrate what you can to the card. All your photos and music from thereon in will automatically go on to the card

 

[Spartypants]

I had to look into this myself when I first got mine, and in fact I contacted Motorola. Apparently it has something to do with the way android 6.0 deals with apps. Their answer was far to technical for me to understand fully, but that's the gist of it. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it. This means you have to be very sparing about what apps/games you put on the phone, and try and use software that can go on the card. Android 6.0 really is a heap of crap, and no phone manufacturer should now be making a phone with less than 16gb storage. My tip is to format the SD card as adoptable/internal storage and migrate what you can to the card. All your photos and music from thereon in will automatically go on to the card

Yes I have the very same issue I'm using the 4 gig moto G which is somewhat redonkulous for someone like me that mostly uses his phone for gaming the actual phone is its secondary purpose lol. Out of sheer frustration what I have begun to do is I noticed that my game info is all stored in Google the app itself was what took up the space so what I will do is I have games that are in and out games and then there's a main game so I will do my drop in games then uninstall them so it clears up space and makes my main game and phone overall run smoother then just do a quick reinstall and do it all over again it's a pain in the *** but work with what you've got right! Anyway not sure if that will help your situation at all but it's another option to fend off raging and destroying my phone or shelling out more money than a new ps4 to play phone app games

 

[paininthenuts]

Yes I have the very same issue I'm using the 4 gig moto G which is somewhat redonkulous for someone like me that mostly uses his phone for gaming the actual phone is its secondary purpose lol. Out of sheer frustration what I have begun to do is I noticed that my game info is all stored in Google the app itself was what took up the space so what I will do is I have games that are in and out games and then there's a main game so I will do my drop in games then uninstall them so it clears up space and makes my main game and phone overall run smoother then just do a quick reinstall and do it all over again it's a pain in the *** but work with what you've got right! Anyway not sure if that will help your situation at all but it's another option to fend off raging and destroying my phone or shelling out more money than a new ps4 to play phone app games

Can I suggest uninstalling all your games, and going outside and kicking a ball about or something. I play golf (albeit badly) and that gives me fresh air and exercise. If you take my advice you won't have to worry about the storage issue

 

[fastback65]

How I understand it the problem is twofold:

First is the way Android apparently partitions storage on the device; a certain amount of internal storage is used by the OS and won't show up in any memory statistic. On my Moto G3 have 4.5G available of 8G Internal storage of which ~ 1.2Gb is unaccounted for under Internal Storage/Apps. I need to keep clearing cached data because Android will not update anything after I cross the 4.1Gb threshold in Internal Storage (<500Mb left)This situation will never improve and IMHO cell phones should not be sold with less than 16Gb of Internal storage leading me to my second point ......

Secondly, "adoptable storage" as advertised to the uninitiated does not work as one would expect. The reason is that Android actually uses an emulated SD card slot as part of internal storage at the /storage/emulated location when there is no SD card installed. Once an SD card is "mounted" as adoptable storage Android creates another physical location where all user data is encrypted and moved to the /storage/emulated that is now pointing to the SD card so that all private data is in one place...seems reasonable. However, things get a bit sticky from here on out - Android's guarantee of app privacy (a good thing) means that user data is now moved to the encrypted SD card to I believe a /data/media file location so that private data is no longer shared between internal and adopted storage on the SD card. The bottom line is that developers still need to grant permissions for their apps to be moved to "adopted storage" and any updates are targeted there instead of the /data/app folder in internal storage. This is the simple explanation as to why adopted storage capacity does not show up as part of Internal storage... they cannot be shared. It is in actuality more complicated and convoluted than this and we can all hope that Google works out the kinks in the file system.

As a side note: there have been quite a bit of problems with the Marshmallow version of Android recognizing SD cards or should I say maintaining a nice working relationship with the cards (sarcasm rears it's ugly head!). Personally, I have had these problems with my phone in that my Sandisk 32Gb SD card that I chose to mount as "adoptable storage" installed successfully and functioned for approx. 1 month and since then I have had to reboot or re-install the card for it to work for a few days. After much research on the matter it does appear to be the Marshmallow version of Android when the problem started. But hey, it's Google and just maybe they'll get around to fixing that issue......stay tuned!

 

[mohit9206]

I had to look into this myself when I first got mine, and in fact I contacted Motorola. Apparently it has something to do with the way android 6.0 deals with apps. Their answer was far to technical for me to understand fully, but that's the gist of it. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it. This means you have to be very sparing about what apps/games you put on the phone, and try and use software that can go on the card. Android 6.0 really is a heap of crap, and no phone manufacturer should now be making a phone with less than 16gb storage. My tip is to format the SD card as adoptable/internal storage and migrate what you can to the card. All your photos and music from thereon in will automatically go on to the card

I had the same problem on my Windows Phone 8 OS on Nokia Lumia where a certain amount of storage would show up as other and could not be deleted and it only got bigger overtime. Didn't know such an issue is present in Android 6.0.
Good thing even the cheapest phones today have 16gb internal.

 

[paininthenuts]

I had the same problem on my Windows Phone 8 OS on Nokia Lumia where a certain amount of storage would show up as other and could not be deleted and it only got bigger overtime. Didn't know such an issue is present in Android 6.0.
Good thing even the cheapest phones today have 16gb internal.

But they don't. The vast majority of G3 phones have 8gb storage, and this is why the thread was started. I have had mine a few months. I have formatted the SD card to internal storage, I have no more than a dozen apps (half of which are on my SD card), and NO games, yet after the updates I now have only 1gb left. This is absolutely crazy. Within a year the updates will render my phone useless.

 

[mohit9206]

But they don't. The vast majority of G3 phones have 8gb storage, and this is why the thread was started. I have had mine a few months. I have formatted the SD card to internal storage, I have no more than a dozen apps (half of which are on my SD card), and NO games, yet after the updates I now have only 1gb left. This is absolutely crazy. Within a year the updates will render my phone useless.

This is precisely why I decided to not update my Moto E from kitkat to Lollipop because after a bit of research i realized that after updating, the internal memory would be completely gone.
The con of not having any memory to download apps, auto sync no longer working, etc was too much to sacrifice.
Adoptable storage was a much hyped feature but its completely disappointing how much limitations it has.

 

[blackhawk77#WN]

I'm dealing with this same problem. They made adoptable storage sound so great but when it comes down to it almost none of my apps support being moved to it. Anyone know a away around this? I may have to get my wife a new phone because she can't install anything.

 

[gurx]

Whats about Whatsapp media?
I mean pics/videos/audio, received and set? All of them is stored in internal memory, and stole a lot of space....

 

[NK_Sella]

Hi Daniel,
I'm facing similar issues and have only very minimal apps and no games. Still not able to find those unaccounted space.
Did you find any solution?

Regards,
NK