how to manage over-filled /system space after 4.3 OTA

[Duard]

As measured by the "My Drives" app my space in /system (1.72gb total) is 93.3% full - it was about 80% before the update. On a prior phone (Infuse 4G) I let the /system space get full and could not recover without a factory reset so I want to deal with the situation before it gets worse.

About half of the space is apparently .apk's - but I deleted a bunch of programs without making a dent in /system.

I believe that I could root the phone and delete some of the bloatware - for example, speech-to-text seems to use a lot of room but I will never use it. But I'm looking forward to the 4.4 update, and I believe there's a significant risk that the update will not load if I have removed the wrong bloatware.

Any suggestions on freeing up some space on /system?

 

[FutureKix]

First, I would not recommend rooting just for deleting bloatware, because like you said, 4.4 is on it's way. That being said, I would try deleting any cache or app data on the system apps you don't use, and disabling them so they don't grow again. I know the S4 can disable built in apps, and I believe the Note 2 can as well. Not much else I can say, hope this helps! Good luck!