Out of memory/can't find files on Galaxy Tab A

[CJ Mac]

Not sure what info is helpful. This is an SM-T350 with Android 7.1.1 . I know it's old, but I only use it browse the web and listen to music and audiobooks in the car--since my Pixel phone is much more frustrating to work with in the car--but that's another story.

For the past several months, I keep getting warnings that the tablet is dangerously low on space, but then when I run the clean-up operation, it doesn't show any large files at all. And as far as I knew, I had put all large files on my SD card.

But when I hook up to my PC and look at File Explorer, it shows the SD card as empty and the tablet is full. However, when I open the files and folders on the tablet, all of them are empty or nearly empty. I don't keep much on this tablet and have deleted all unnecessary apps and disabled the ones I don't use, but I don't know where my music files are. They are definitely on the tablet, but if I do a search for music files, they don't come up at all.

Any suggestions on what I might do to find my files and actually move them to the SD card? "My Files" says I have 2.39 GB of music files but whether they are in Internal Storage or on the SD-card, I don't know. And why can see all these files in "My Files" on the tablet but can't see them from File Explorer on my PC?

Appreciate any help you can offer!

 

[B. Diddy]

Show us a screenshot of the Settings>Storage screen.

It might also be helpful to use DiskUsage to get a better idea of what's taking up space.

 

[CJ Mac]

I popped out the SD-card and yes, the music and photos all appear to be on it because I couldn't access any with the card out. No idea why it appears to be empty when I look at it from the PC. Here's a screen shot I took earlier of that:



I will try DiskUsage if I can download it to the tablet.

Thanks!

 

[mustang7757]

View attachment 333495

I popped out the SD-card and yes, the music and photos all appear to be on it because I couldn't access any with the card out. No idea why it appears to be empty when I look at it from the PC. Here's a screen shot I took earlier of that:

View attachment 333496

I will try DiskUsage if I can download it to the tablet.

Thanks!

You have apps that's taking up 6.1gb and figure system prob takes another 6 to 7 gb your right there , might have to delete some apps

 

[B. Diddy]

It would not be entirely unusual for a Samsung device (especially an older one) to have about 9-10 GB of its 16 GB of Internal Storage taken up by the OS and various preinstalled bloatware. I'm looking for any information on the web about how much free space available to the user that tablet typically starts with, but so far have been unsuccessful.

 

[CJ Mac]

Looking at Disk Usage, I see files that I'd like to delete but can't. It tells me to install a compatible file manager such as "Solid Explorer"--but that doesn't come up in the Play Store. Any suggestions on that?

When I open an app I'd like to delete, say like One Note or Google Play Music, it's almost always one of those that I can't delete. I can either Enable or Force Stop. Or if I select the 3 dots up above, I can Uninstall updates. Should I force stop and uninstall updates?

I DO have one app that is quite large--2 GB. I can uninstall it but I'd sure rather get rid of the stuff I never use before I uninstall this one.

Appreciate your help. And B. Diddy, I think I may have told you this years ago when I first signed up with Android Central, but my husband and I fell in love over MST3K, so I am quite fond of your avatar.

 

[B. Diddy]

Can you show some screenshots of DiskUsage? http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html. Do you know what the files that you want to delete are for? It's not a good idea to delete files without knowing their exact function.

As I probably said before -- always good to hear from another MSTie! These days, I'm fully into Rifftrax, but I also donated to Joel's most recent Kickstarter to bring back MST3K yet again!

 

[CJ Mac]

Oh yes, the files I wanted to delete were simply music files. I know they are on the tablet, but as I explained before, I can't seem to access anything. I can search for and find them using the Samsung music app, but to actually delete anything is beyond me. When I first got the tablet, I was able to hook it up to my PC, view the directory and add/delete items. Now with Windows 10, nothing looks as it did before: no directory but just a bunch of empty folders. I may have deleted folders thinking they were completely empty but perhaps they weren't.

My husband would be ecstatic if they brought back MST3K--but I am a purist and hated all the stuff with Pearl. I just liked Joel and the bots. Mike was okay but Joel was funnier.

 

[B. Diddy]

Try using the Files by Google app to delete the music files. Another good free file explorer app is Total Commander.

 

[CJ Mac]

I know how to take a screenshot, but I don't know how I would provide you screenshots of the DiskUsage since if I shrink it all to get it in one image, it wouldn't give you enough info. And if I open it up, I think I would have to take a dozen pics. I wish I could get it to give a less "visual" look at the storage and just list it by details. Know what I mean?

The thing that is most confusing to me on DiskUsage is that the apps appear to be on the Storage Card, and the files are in Internal storage--the opposite of what it ought to be. I don't understand it.

But it HAS shown me an audio file that would be very useful if I knew how to access it and move it to my computer. This is my big frustration--HOW to get to these files!

EDIT: I installed Files by Google and have been able to access the files. Yay! Also deleted a few apps at its suggestion.

 

[B. Diddy]

Looking back at your previous screenshot, I see that Windows reports 11 GB total storage for the tablet, suggesting that 5 GB out of the 16 GB is used for the OS and bloatware, which is frankly a bit surprising for a Samsung device -- usually, their added bloatware decreases the space available to the user by a few more GB.

If you use social media or messaging apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, or kik, go to Settings>Apps and see if they report a huge amount of cache or app data.

 

[CJ Mac]

Way back, I did try my best to uninstall or at least stop nearly all the Samsung apps on my tablet, so that might account for the extra storage. I have since stopped the Google music app and reverted to Samsung music--which is when I could no longer find the music files on the tablet even though I know they are there. But Files by Google has let me find them again. Thank you for suggesting it.

Only messaging app I have is Messenger. I cleared the cache on that and moved it to the card. Also uninstalled a few more apps and --YAY!--I'm in the blue again with 1.38 GB free.

Later: I went ahead and uninstalled my largest app (2GB) and now I have 3.46 GB free. (I wrote to the company and they said it couldn't be moved to the sd-card. But I can access it on Roku.) In case I ever want to put it back: DOES it do anything helpful to uninstall updates on app that I have disabled but can't uninstall?

I moved all my photos/pictures/screenshots to my PC, but I realize now that I didn't need to do that at all as the SD-card is still nearly empty.

Will stop this project for now as it has taken many more hours than I meant to spend on it. Left with that one question about the usefulness or not of uninstalling updates.

Greatly appreciate all the help!