free up internal memory on Galaxy Tab S 10.5 SM-T800

[tonyvr4]

Is there a way that I can track down what is using the internal memory so that I can free up some space?

I may root at some point to remove unneeded built-in apps but I don't want to take a chance at the moment.

I did add a 64GB microsd card for extra storage

 

[nahoku]

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...d=com.google.android.diskusage&token=GGKYuKjO

 

[B. Diddy]

Go to the App Manager and Disable any preinstalled app you never use (if the option is available). This will uninstall any updates, and then prevent the app from opening or updating in the future. Since apps often grow larger as they get updated, this can save you a bit of space.

 

[tonyvr4]

That app looks good. But it seems to require a file manager to see the detail.
Plus it is confusing to tell what can be safely deleted.

It loaded Solid Explorer which seems good but it has annoying ads and keeps pestering me to load the paid version.

Is there another file manager that I can use that does not have ads?

 

[tonyvr4]

This should help. I would like to get rid of the apps I never use, but this is a good start
Thanks

 

[nahoku]

You should already have a file manager on your Tab... it's called My Files... you'll find it in your app drawer. If you want to try another, they ES File explorer. From what I heard though, its serving more ads now, so turn off wifi and data when using 3rd party explorers.

Disk Usage is only used to display what's on your phone. It's not there to tell you what's safe to delete... it's just an investigative tool. Use it to find out what where excessive memory might be stored. Each large rectangle on the left encompasses everything to the right of it, so say for instance, one of the left boxes says 2 gb, then the boxes to the right will show what the 2 gb is made up of. If you click on one of the right boxes, it too may expand to give more detail of what's there. The app may not break down system apps, so it's not perfect, but it may help identify if you have storage elsewhere being used that is overly large that you didn't know about or suspect you had. One person had gigs of downloaded podcasts she didn't realize she had eating up her memory. DU helped her find that.

 

[tonyvr4]

I found the built-in file explorer. Thanks for pointing it out
However the DiskUsage app will not recognize it. I like the graphical display of DiskUsage. When I saw an area that needs investigation, you press the "show" menu and it is supposed to open the file explorer so you can look deeper. But, as I previously mentioned, DiskUsage will only recognize the one file explorer and it is loaded with ads.

I did try ES File Explorer and it is loaded with ads. Plus it keeps pestering me to upgrade to the paid version which is expensive

Will the tablet OS prevent me from deleting important Apps or system data files?

The Settings/General/Storage Out of the box the internal memory usage is as follows (11.49GB used out of 16GB Total)
system memory 4.51GB
used space 3.35GB
Other 3.58GB
Cached data 56.58MB

 

[nahoku]

DU will not use the Samsung file manager. Why?... I have no idea, so it will pull up 3rd party apps when you press show. Like I mentioned, make sure you disable wifi and data when trying to use the 3rd party explorers. And if you're still seeing ads, then it's probably cached ads, so clear data on the explorer apps and try again... with no wifi and data.

Will the tablet OS prevent me from deleting important Apps or system data files?

You cannot delete system apps on an unrooted device. On some system apps you can't even delete all the data, even if you force stop and turn off the app. This is also true with any pre-installed bloatware that came with the OS. Unless a particular system app is storing excessive data, which is mostly never the case, even if you delete the app's data and turn it off, it won't save you much space. If every little bit helps, then by all means delete the app data when you turn off the app. The OS doesn't really have a checks and balance, so no, you can actually disable something and it can break a function. When disabling stuff, you have to be careful. So search and read all you can about what these system apps do before you do stuff.

There's an app called Package Disabler Pro on playstore which was developed for Samsung devices. What it does is show a list of apps that can be disabled and/or turned off. Worth the cost if you wish to easily disable bloateware and some system apps. Just be careful what you disable.... and never disable the system app Keychain as this handles passwords and security. If you disable Keychain, there's a good chance you can get locked out of the device and end up factory resetting just to get back in. While we're here, always religiously back up your data to either the cloud or to your PC. There are a ton of posts here in the forum with people asking how to recover data because they have no backup. I refuse to answer these posts because it's pitiful they didn't have the foresight to do it before something happened! Back up your stuff!

There is also Debloater, a free program run from the PC that does the same thing (it was developed before Package Disabler Pro, and I think PDP got the idea from Debloater). It too allows you to turn off system apps and bloatware. Unless you're rooted, the app can't really get rid of the system apps, but will disable them from starting up. As a note, any app you disable won't stop running, so you need to go into settings and force stop and turn them off. For apps that aren't able to be turned off, they will still be disabled and won't start up on the next restart. Read the "entire" thread to get a good grip on what Debloater does.

Note that using the above two apps mentioned, you can break other apps that depend on what you've disabled, so you have to experiment and watch what you do so you can undo the changes if something breaks. I won't help you use the two apps as there's just too much to explain about them. Read about both of them from searching Google.

As a last comment, and this is just my opinion... Never buy a device with less than 32gb of internal storage or this is what you'll have to deal with in the future. Spend a little more so you get less headaches.

 

[B. Diddy]

Not much more to say after nahoku's excellent dissertation!

For a file manager, I like Total Commander -- free and ad-free.

 

[tonyvr4]

Wow that is a lot of useful information. Thanks
Couple of questions though.

What do you recommend for backing up the tablet?
I have Helium backup but it has serious issues and the publisher does not respond to support. I can backup/restore to the same device. But when I tried to backup the apps from my phone and restore them to the tablet, helium crashes. I have checked the apps I attempted to restore and they are compatible with both devices.

I do agree about the minimum storage 16GB vs 32GB. However, I have not been able to find a Galaxy Tab S 10.5 in 32GB that is affordable.
Plus I couldn't argue with the price I paid $150 and the tablet is mint. Not a scratch and everything works perfectly.

I may get a 32GB model at some point if I could find one that is affordable. But for now, this one works great and with all the tips you gave, I am sure it will work great.
Thanks

 

[tonyvr4]

I just checked total commanded in the play store and it is not ad-free any longer
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ghisler.android.TotalCommander&token=Iu1mHkaM

 

[B. Diddy]

I just checked total commanded in the play store and it is not ad-free any longer
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ghisler.android.TotalCommander&token=qRKqCDDV

See this in the app description: "Important note: This app does NOT contain any ads. However, it contains a link "Add plugins (download)" in the home folder. This is treated as an ad by the Play Store because it links to our other apps (plugins)."

 

[nahoku]

Wow that is a lot of useful information. Thanks
Couple of questions though.

What do you recommend for backing up the tablet?
I have Helium backup but it has serious issues and the publisher does not respond to support. I can backup/restore to the same device. But when I tried to backup the apps from my phone and restore them to the tablet, helium crashes. I have checked the apps I attempted to restore and they are compatible with both devices.

I do agree about the minimum storage 16GB vs 32GB. However, I have not been able to find a Galaxy Tab S 10.5 in 32GB that is affordable.
Plus I couldn't argue with the price I paid $150 and the tablet is mint. Not a scratch and everything works perfectly.

I may get a 32GB model at some point if I could find one that is affordable. But for now, this one works great and with all the tips you gave, I am sure it will work great.
Thanks

First off, I don't rely on the cloud for backups, or apps like Helium. I've heard good things about Helium, but also bad things like it can mess up your device by causing the OS to think it's rooted. I can't really remember what it does that makes the device think it's been rooted, but I've heard/read about it here on the forum. I also have no experience with what Helium actually does as far as how it backs stuff up.

Since you're on a Samsung device, you could try Smart Switch or Kies to backup your data. Sorry, I can't tell you how to use those programs either as I don't use them. Do some research on them to find out what they do and how to use them. I'm also not sure how these programs store the data. Some programs store data in database form rather than actual individual file backups... which means that if the database gets corrupted, there's no means to access the data. An old program called Zoombrowser (Canon) used to use database for backing up photos. So many people on DPReview lost all their photos when their database got corrupted... thousands of photos! If you try smart switch or kies, check to see if the files you backup are actual files and not database.

I back everything up manually to my PC, and if it's important, like my contacts, I have 3 or 4 backups... two on the PC, one on internal memory of my devices, and one on my SD. If for some reason my contacts on my phone become corrupted, all I have to do is restore them. Note that I don't use social media and I also don't sync my contacts to Google or any other place. If you have Google contacts, Facebook, Whatsapp, or any other contacts, I can't tell you how to back them up.

All my photos and videos are also backed up to my PC... in more than one place and on separate harddrives. My apps are also backed up to PC, to include older versions of the app in case the developer has messed something up in their updates. I use Appsaver to backup all my apps and then sideload the apps if/when I need to. If you don't know what sideloading is, it simply means you take an app and install it as an unknown source... or you can search Google about it. Appsaver will backup the apps to the internal memory of the phone, so you need to move the backups to your SD, or move them directly to your PC when you connect your device to your computer. Appsaver works really well.

Backing up my data manually to my PC probably takes a little more time, but I'm in "total" control, and I don't have to worry if some app messes something up, or some cloud database loses my stuff due to something happening with my account, or whatevers. If you read how many people have lost all their data to the cloud, it's astonishing that so many people endorse using it. This site is just full of unfortunate souls! I could totally lose my phone right now to a crash and my data would all be safe and ready to be placed on another phone or tablet. Of course, my computer could crash and hose my backups! Anyways, a bit off topic.

As for the 32gb recommendation, it's just food for thought. I realize that not everyone can or will front the cash to get something like that. At least your tablet isn't 8gb!

 

[nahoku]

For a file manager, I like Total Commander -- free and ad-free.

This appears to be the same guys that made Total Commander for PC way back when. My Dad used to use it on his PC... I just stayed with Windows Explorer. Think I'll give it a try. ES is too... how do I say it... cluttered! LOL!

UPDATE... I tried it for the last 2 minutes and I like it! ES is gone! Thank you sir!

 

[tonyvr4]

Very interesting. I will give total commander a try
Thanks

 

[tonyvr4]

Great tips. I do backup my tablet MicroSD and phone MicroSD manually. I have multiple backups saved on my PC that I can restore them at any time. This is how I copied the data from my phone over to the tablet.

Since Helium would not work to restore the apps I let google restore the apps during the tablet device setup. Then if the app had cloud backup I did a restore from there. If the app did not have cloud backup I had to manually setup the app. Took a lot longer but since nothing else worked, it was the only option I knew of.

I do really like the Appsaver you mentioned. It is a great idea for the few important apps that I have
Thanks for the tips!