"Missing" Internal Memory on Motorola 2G

[Android Central Question]

My Moto 2G has 8Gb of internal memory. Under Settings – Storage & USB it indicates that 7.25Gb is used. Of that 2.49Gb is used by the Android system. Under Internal storage it indicates that 4.75Gb of 5.51Gb is used. The breakdown is – Apps: 2.98Gb; Images: 8.77Mb; Other: 37.40Mb; Cached: 8.00Mb.
Thus the internal storage is only a little over 3Gb but the phone indicates 4.75Gb is used. So where is the missing 4.57Gb minus 3Gb = 1.57Gb?
I’ve used Superspeed Cleaner and also have ES File Explorer installed and periodiacally delete Junk files etc but still can’t seem to find what’s using this “missing” 1.57Gb.
Any feedback appreciated.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Try using DiskUsage to get a better idea.

 

[MGMaestro]

Thanks. I'll give that a go and let you know how I get on.

 

[MGMaestro]

Well I installed Disk User but I'm afraid it has not revealed anything. It just mirrors the phone settings. I tried a couple of other, similar Apps, eg Disk and Storage Analyser, Astro File Manager but they fail to reveal anything. I wonder if it's due to a bug, malware etc.

 

[MGMaestro]

It seems that the various File Explorer Apps only see the internal storage and don't see the whole of the memory. It would be good if there was an App that was able to see the equivalent of the C:/ Drive on a PC which would reveal all.

 

[B. Diddy]

For that, you'd probably have to root the phone and use a file manager designed for root (like Root Explorer). (How many times can I say "root" in a sentence?)

 

[Rukbat]

First - stop using "memory cleaner" apps - they usually cause problems, they don't fix them.

Second - Android runs in Linux, and there are parts of storage that you can't see in Linux unless you get superuser status - which requires root in Android. So the apps you run can't see those parts either. But Linux reports the total amount of storage and the total amount used, even without root. So there's always going to be some "missing" storage in an unrooted phone.

 

[MGMaestro]

Thanks to both of you for your feedback.
The frustrating thing is that the amount of "missing" memory seems to be ever increasing. In order to update some Apps I'm reaching the stage that I have to remove some others :-(
As said in the first post the amount of missing memory is 1.5Gb out of the nominal total memory of 8Gb. Does this not seem excessive?

 

[MGMaestro]

Oops, finger trouble, hence duplicate reply. I've looked at a Samsung phone with 32Gb of memory. System/ User data is 20.6 GB and free space is 11.4Gb. This adds to 32Gb, i.e., no "missing" memory. How come?