Why is my system taking so much space?

[AC Question]

I updated my HTC One M8 to Android 6.0 Marshmallow a few days ago. I got 16GB internal storage and have been using lots of it for a long while. After the update the system took up about 2.3GB. My spotify was taking up about 6GB. Nothing wrong with that, but now I wanted the space so I removed some of my spotify playlists that I had available offline. The space spotify took up went down but now system went up to abou 9GB. I guessed it got put in the trash or something and would go down soon but it didn't. I tried making a soft reset by restarting my phone. It rebooted as normal but got stuck for several hours at "optimizing app 3 of 7". It was completely unresponsive and I couldn't do anything with it. I eventually figured out that holding down volume up, down and Power at the same time for 10 seconds made it restart. Now the system part is still huge (just above 7GB) and I don't know how to free the space. I'm not too pro at unix.
Any help is much appreciated. I'll do my best to provide any additional info if it's any help.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Try wiping the cache partition, which won't erase any personal data: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-10672

 

[CrisozXIV]

made an account here now Thank you for your reply. I tried wiping the cache by following the instructions in your link but my system is still taking 7.13GB

 

[B. Diddy]

7.13 GB doesn't sound that unusual for system files and other preinstalled stuff on an M8. 2.3 GB definitely sounds too small to account for system files--the OS usually takes up around 3-4 GB of space, not counting bloatware. I wonder if that 2.3 GB figure you remember seeing was something else?

 

[Predrag Ristic]

Hi all,

I think I have done it.

My M8, I have it for exactly 3yrs was using 13.5GB for system storage...
I did manage to resolve this issue in this way:

Reboot with pressing power and volume down, then select factory reset.

Now I have 6GB used by the system, and phone is working perfectly.

I did this same thing from settings menu, but that didn't resolve this issue.

Now I don't have error messages, and everything is as it should be.

Regards,
Predrag

 

[reflis]

7.13 GB doesn't sound that unusual for system files and other preinstalled stuff on an M8. 2.3 GB definitely sounds too small to account for system files--the OS usually takes up around 3-4 GB of space, not counting bloatware. I wonder if that 2.3 GB figure you remember seeing was something else?

how android 7.0 took 10-15gb on my friends phone. and how linux ubuntu took only 2gb on my laptop. ?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! We'd need more details. The OS shouldn't take up 10-15 GB -- it should only be about 3-4 GB. Depending on the phone, additional bloatware might take up an additional amount of space, sometimes as much as 3-4 GB more.

But if you're talking about a 128 GB phone (like my Nexus 6P), this explanation is probably more appropriate: My 128GB SSD showed 119GB, why? - Storage - Tom's Hardware

 

[DieuxFalx]

How about for a Sony Xperia XA? I would appreciate it if somehow i clear out unnecessary system files around 2gb to 3gb.

 

[KingMira]

it should only be about 3-4 GB. Depending on the phone, additional bloatware might take up an additional amount of space, sometimes as much as 3-4 GB more.

How about for a Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime with internal storage of 8gb?? Is it normal for 4.5gb of system data?? It takes up more than half my storage...

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Yes, that's pretty standard.

 

[Soulforge30]

I have the J7 sky pro and its system/userdata uses 15GB and nothing ive done fixes it and id like more space

Its not rooted i have 2GB in apps and its space makes no sense acts like i have more but shows less i can get apps and its fine

 

[Rukbat]

Install Terminal Emulator for Android. Open it and type du and hit the Enter key. You'll see the storage usage by partition. Userdata (usually the last line) is the only space you can use, the rest are for various aspects of the system. So on a "16GB" phone, you might see a userdata partition of only a few GB. But that's really what the system sees, whatever the du command shows.

 

[Hofcah]

I also have a question about internal storage. I have a Samsung J3 Emerge (16G). The current OS is 6.0.1. My storage info is: System/User data 14.9G; Documents 32.49 MB; Images 11.57 MB; Audio 4.58 MB; Videos 0 B; Apps 2.47 GB (I do have a 60 GB SD card in the phone as well. If the OS is supposed to be taking up between 2-3 GB what is taking up the rest of the memory?

I saw above that Predrag Ristic found a method that worked,
but it looked like something that might erase all/some of the info on my phone.

Thank you,
Hofcah
11/30/18

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! System/User Data is probably combining what the OS & bloatware take up, along with any of your data. Show us a screenshot of that menu: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html

The OS and preinstalled apps rarely take up only 2-3 GB. It's usually about 5-6 GB.

 

[Hofcah]

Thank you. I am not sure which menu you mean. Do you mean what I see when I go to Settings -> Device Maintenance -> Storage?

 

[B. Diddy]

Yes, that's probably the one. (System menus on different phones can differ slightly or significantly, so it's always hard to tell if what I see on my Pixel 2 XL is similar or really different from yours.)

 

[Hofcah]

Hello,
I have attempted to upload the screen shot. Let me know if it is what you are looking for.
Thank you!

 

[B. Diddy]

Unfortunately, that menu doesn't tell us enough detail. Try using DiskUsage.

 

[Hofcah]

I have attached the screen shot from DiskUser. To make it all fit in the screen shot it is all squished. Is there a part that you would like to see in more detail?

 

[B. Diddy]

That's for Internal Storage, right? It says "Storage card" there, but I realize that Android often refers to Internal Storage as a kind of storage card or SD card.

If that is Internal Storage, then it looks like apps you installed are taking up 7.19 GB, and media files are taking up 2.17 GB. That's 9.36 GB. The OS and accompanying bloatware usually takes around 5-6 GB. So added up, that can account for the 14.9 GB out of 16 GB being used as reported in your system menu. It may just be that the way that menu is reporting the usage is poorly organized.