Storage Issue With Generic Chinese Tablet (GT90H)

[pejayuk]

Hi, I would really appreciate some help with an old 9" tablet I am trying to keep going for a friend.

The problem is that he is not able to install any apps because of a Play Store warning of low storage space. There doesn't seem to be much already installed and I have uninstalled a couple of apps and Play Store now states 290MB available.

Looking in settings and storage everything seems to be duplicated.
It says:-
Internal Storage
Total Space 0.98GB
Available 290MB
Apps (app data & media content) 528MB
Cached 1.77MB

Then underneath it says:-
Internal Storage
Total Space 4.56GB
Available 4.44GB
Apps (app data & media content) 116MB
Cached 8.00KB

Both the 0.98GB and the 4.56GB spaces seem to have exactly the same apps and Android files etc.

The tablet is supposed to have an 8GB memory and there is no external card installed.

I'm hoping someone can help me understand what is going on here and if the is any possible solution.

Many thanks

 

[hallux]

Honestly - the storage space is the least of the worries with a device of that age. 4.2.2 is no longer supported for Google Play Services, even if the apps install they'll likely not be functional to any usable extent.

 

[mustang7757]

Your going have all sorts of issue with a operating system that old , they sell many tablets today that aren't that expensive.

 

[Rukbat]

That's 8GB for your things (apps, music, pictures, etc.) plus the kernel plus Android. If you want to see the space you have available, and how much is left, see [Guide] Checking the ACTUAL storage space on an Android device. (8GB wasn't enough space in 2018 - it's certainly not enough now. About all it's good for is to put in a large SD card for music, pictures, videos, etc. The firmware is going to take most of that 8GB.)

 

[pejayuk]

Thanks for the reply. I followed your link and installed Terminal Emulator. These are the results I got. I'm not quite sure what it all means to be honest. Also, I understand what you are saying about 8GB not being enough space by todays standards and obviously this can't run an up-to-date version of Android, but shouldn't it still have enough space considering 4.2 can't be a big as later versions?

u0_a62@android:/ $ df
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/dev 209M 32K 209M 4096
/mnt/secure 209M 0K 209M 4096
/mnt/asec 209M 0K 209M 4096
/mnt/obb 209M 0K 209M 4096
/system 755M 459M 296M 4096
/cache 123M 5M 118M 1024
/data 1007M 672M 335M 4096
/mnt/sdcard 4G 208M 4G 4096
/mnt/asec/com.rovio.angrybirdsseasons-1 109M 108M 1008K 4096
/mnt/asec/com.xksoftware.angrypeasant-1 47M 46M 1M 4096
/mnt/asec/com.RatFury.TheAngryRats-1 37M 36M 1M 4096
u0_a62@android:/ $

 

[Rukbat]

nothing there about userdata? Or storage/emulated/0? That's where your partition is. (Storage is partitioned - each one of the lines you posted is a different partition. (And you only get access to one of them.)

 

[pejayuk]

Can't see anything about userdata (just data) nor storage/emulated. The line that says mnt/sdcard with 4GB free, should I not be able to access that one?

 

[B. Diddy]

What version of Android is it running? I suspect it's using the old way of partitioning the available user storage, where a small portion is used for app installation, and the rest of it is used for file storage (aka "Internal SD", where apps can't be installed). So the 0.98 GB is the app installation partition (which only has 290 MB left, not very much by Android standards, especially with how big apps are these days), the 4.56 GB is the "internal SD" that is used only for files (like music, photos, videos, documents -- but not app installation), and the remaining 2.5 GB that's not accounted for is the system partition (with the OS, that doesn't get reported to the user).

 

[B. Diddy]

Duplicate threads merged.

 

[pejayuk]

Thanks B. Diddy, It is running version 4.2.2. That does make perfect sense, how you described the probable partitioning of the device. And I have just noticed the large partition has the option to erase SD card (It says erases all data on the SD card, such as music and photos). The only thing that still puzzles me is why the list of apps etc are exactly the same in both partitions. Does that sound normal? Or could it be they have all been installed twice thereby wasting space?

 

[B. Diddy]

The apps that are listed in the Internal SD partition probably just represent the app data that each of those apps stores on the partition. Note that the Apps from first section shows 528 MB and the Apps from the second section shows 116 MB. The 116 MB is just app data, not the actual app program files.

 

[Rukbat]

Can't see anything about userdata (just data) nor storage/emulated. The line that says mnt/sdcard with 4GB free, should I not be able to access that one?

the internal sd card isn't usually mounted to /mnt, it's usually mounted to /storage. I suppose that, being "a generic Chinese tablet", they could have set it up that way, though. (Strange that they would - it shows a total lack of familiarity with Linux.)

The numbers don't add up, though - you should have 3.8GB free, so I'm not feeling too trustful about what df is reporting. (You may have a lot less actual space, but df was manipulated to report more. If they mount userdata as sdcard mounted to mnt, who knows how much rewriting of the kernel they did?)

Actually, the whole thing looks strange - assuming that /mnt/asec is a partition, that should be on one line - Android doesn't put each app in a different partition. It's saying that you have 3.7GB of userspace free, but it's also saying that 293MB is being used by 3 apps in addition to the data for userdata (which is where apps are installed). Very strange.

 

[pejayuk]

@Rukbat This is definitely confusing for me. What is mnt? Also, although it was always supposed to have 8GB, I wonder if it was built using something smaller.

 

[B. Diddy]

Could you post an actual screenshot of the Settings>Storage menu? http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html

 

[pejayuk]

Not sure if I did this right but have tried to post a screenshot of storage

 

[B. Diddy]

Yeah, that really looks like the situation we were discussing earlier. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about expanding the ability to install more apps. See this guide about that problem: https://forums.androidcentral.com/a...y-how-deal-insufficient-storage-warnings.html

 

[pejayuk]

@B. Diddy. Thanks for the link to your guide on storage. That was very helpful and it clarified all the issues perfectly. I followed the advice and I was able to free up a little space by moving a few apps and deleting cached data. At least I was able to return it to my friend with a little more space than it had to begin with! And for now, the Play Store warning of low storage space is not showing. The main thing is, confirming this is just how it is and not as I first thought, an error causing duplication of apps.

Thanks again for your help and to everyone else who offered suggestions.