Where has my storage gone!?

[AC Question]

Where has my storage gone!?!

I have a HTC One m8 running 5.0.1 and having problems with not being able to save/download anything due to lack of storage space.

Looking at the storage section in Settings it says i'm using 15.63gb/16.00gb. This is made up from...

Apps - 10.90gb
Music - 138mb
Photos & videos - 464mb
Downloads - 71.54mb
Other - 4.08gb

I have looked at making more space and it appears that the apps are giving false readings. I don't have many apps on the phone and the largest one is showing as 1282mb. Looking at the storage through an external app (Storage Analyser), I receive the following readings...

Internal Storage
Total: 10.58gb Used: 10.21gb Free: 377.45mb
Used by publicly accessible files: 5.39gb
Used by android/inaccessible files: 4.83gb

Clicking on the circle reveals...
DCIM: 3.79gb
Android: 1.14gb
data: 120.96mb
WhatsApp: 115.48mb
Snapchat: 72.79mb
Download: 71.64mb

There seems to be 3.79gb taken up inside the DCIM folder with something called 'thumbnails'.

Anyone more in the know, have any idea what is happening and how to fix it? I can't download any apps and am having to move any photos/videos to an SD card.

Thanks in advance

 

[Javier P]

Re: Where has my storage gone!?!

Go to settings - apps and check the size of cached data in all your gallery apps. Most likely those thumbnails are included there. You can safely clear that cache and force Android to rebuild the thumbnails from scratch next time you open the gallery. It's possible that those cache files are related to old photos that you don't have anymore in your phone. Tell us how it goes.

 

[Farie Indriawan]

Re: Where has my storage gone!?!

Most apps will keep data caches.
This can decrease available space on your phone.
Try to clear some of your application's cache by selecting "CLEAR CACHE" on the App Info menu.

 

[iamstreety]

Thank you for your help. I have followed a tutorial and cleared the cache (via Wipe Cache Partition). It doesn't seem to have made a difference to the storage.

 

[Javier P]

Re: Where has my storage gone!?!

Hello, thanks for registering and welcome to the forums!

Wiping the cache partition and clearing your apps cache are different processes. The first one won't give you more free storage. Take a look at this guide to see the differences.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=558872

What's the size of your cached data in the storage settings?

 

[iamstreety]

I have gone through and cleared all of my app caches. The storage is now displaying the following...

Apps - 10.07gb
Music - 138mb
Photos & videos - 464mb
Downloads - 71.54mb
Other - 3.86gb

I have also moved a load of apps to the SD card. There can't be 10gb of apps on the phone.

 

[Lok52]

I have gone through and cleared all of my app caches. The storage is now displaying the following...

Apps - 10.07gb
Music - 138mb
Photos & videos - 464mb
Downloads - 71.54mb
Other - 3.86gb

I have also moved a load of apps to the SD card. There can't be 10gb of apps on the phone.

Have you moved your music & photos to the SD card? That will clear up some space.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[iamstreety]

Have you moved your music & photos to the SD card? That will clear up some space.

Posted via Android Central App

I have moved all of the photos on the phone to an SD card. It is still showing the same amount of space is taken up on the phone.

I am going to back up the phone and do a factory reset. Hopefully this will tide me over until the new phones are released early next year.