Question Android storage giving wildly inaccurate figure

[Dave Rado]

As you can see in the attached screenshot, Settings/Device Maintenance./ Storage is claiming that I have used up 30.8GB out of 32GB, leaving only 1.GB free. But below that it breaks down the storage that is actually being used, including by my apps, and that only comes to just over 14GB.

So where has the missing 16GB gone???

Dave

 

[methodman89]

Run 'data size explorer' from the Playstore. It will break everything down for you. Good luck

 

[B. Diddy]

Note that it's only showing you "User Data", which doesn' t account for all of the storage the system takes up. How much storage the system takes up depends on the device, depending on how much bloatware the manufacturer or carrier loads on there. Some 32 GB Samsung phones have been known to have as much as 16 GB of storage taken up by the system. Which device do you have?

 

[Dave Rado]

Note that it's only showing you "User Data", which doesn' t account for all of the storage the system takes up. How much storage the system takes up depends on the device, depending on how much bloatware the manufacturer or carrier loads on there. Some 32 GB Samsung phones have been known to have as much as 16 GB of storage taken up by the system. Which device do you have?

Samsung Galaxy S7

 

[B. Diddy]

From what I can dig up, 8 GB of the S7's 32 GB of internal storage is taken up by the Android OS and Samsung preinstalled apps that can't be removed: https://bgr.com/tech/galaxy-s7-storage-memory-microsd/. Some carriers may load even more junk -- was your phone originally from a carrier? Do you see a carrier logo anywhere on the phone, or does a carrier logo show up on the boot screen?

Also, in that Storage screen you shared, what happens if you tap the 3-dot menu button at the upper right? Is there an option to show System?

 

[Dave Rado]

From what I can dig up, 8 GB of the S7's 32 GB of internal storage is taken up by the Android OS and Samsung preinstalled apps that can't be removed: https://bgr.com/tech/galaxy-s7-storage-memory-microsd/. Some carriers may load even more junk -- was your phone originally from a carrier? Do you see a carrier logo anywhere on the phone, or does a carrier logo show up on the boot screen?

Also, in that Storage screen you shared, what happens if you tap the 3-dot menu button at the upper right? Is there an option to show System?

Using Cleaner+ I managed to free up a load of junk and now have 4.6GB of free space. That's still much less than I should have - my apps and data are using just over 14GB, so if Android and the Samsung preinstalled apps are using an additional 8GB, that should still only be a total 22GB used and I should have 10GB free, not 4.6GB. Also I'm worried that part of that junk may be cache and so will quickly get used up again, although there's no sign of that happening yet. In the meantime, 4.7GB is a great deal better than 1.2GB.

No the 3-dot menu button at the upper right of the storage screen only gives "storage settings" and "get more space" as options. The former just tells me how much space is used up in both the internal storage and my SD card; and the latter just invites me to delete some of my data!!!

Dave

 

[B. Diddy]

What about my question about if the phone was originally from a carrier -- can you tell?

 

[Dave Rado]

What about my question about if the phone was originally from a carrier -- can you tell?

No it's not from a carrier and has been flashed many times since I bought it in any case.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm -- there's no system setting that explicitly shows how much storage the system is taking?

See if SD Maid can give you more insight.

 

[Laura Knotek]

The S7 is a 7½ year old device only capable of running Android 8. Android 14 is the current OS. 32 GB storage is inadequate for current usage, and Android 8 is way out of date in terms of security. It would be a good idea to look for something newer.

 

[mustang7757]

No it's not from a carrier and has been flashed many times since I bought it in any case.

How do u know it's been flashed many times?

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

How do u know it's been flashed many times?

I would guess because they flashed it lol

 

[mustang7757]

I would guess because they flashed it lol

If they did what's the reason the Next question lol

 

[Dave Rado]

How do u know it's been flashed many times?

Because I took it into a shop and had it flashed, many times, obviously.,

 

[Dave Rado]

If they did what's the reason the Next question lol

What next question?

 

[Dave Rado]

The S7 is a 7½ year old device only capable of running Android 8. Android 14 is the current OS. 32 GB storage is inadequate for current usage, and Android 8 is way out of date in terms of security. It would be a good idea to look for something newer.

That's not an option unless you're offering to pay. Plus I object strongly on principle to built-in obsolescance. My laptop model was released in 2013 and it works fine with Windows 10. The S7 was released in 2016. It's immoral and extremely damaging to the environment for an expensive phone to intentionally be designed to have to be thrown away in less than 10 years.

The fact is that I'm only using 14GB of my 32GB storage for my apps and data and the OS should only be using 8GB - so I should still have 10GB free. Even after clearing my cache I now only have 3.5GB free according to settings - down from 4.7GB when I posted last November. So how can I find out what the other 6.5GB is being used for, and also why the amount of unaccounted for storage is increasing so rapidly?

Please could you restrict your comments to helping me to find the answer to my question.

PS - the reason I didn't see your reply before is that I'm not getting email notifications when people reply to this thread. Is there any way of turning that facility on? I can't see any option to do that. I'm "watching" this thread, but that isn't giving me email notifications when people reply.

 

[Dave Rado]

Hmm -- there's no system setting that explicitly shows how much storage the system is taking?

See if SD Maid can give you more insight.

I tried installing SD Maid but can't see anywhere in the app that would give more insight into this - please could you clarify?

 

[methodman89]

Back in November, I advised you to install and run Data Size Explorer from the Playstore. Obviously, you did not. Your initial post, as explained to you by B Diddy, did not include system files.
What more do you expect when you are not following even initial steps? Good luck

 

[mustang7757]

What next question?

It's been 6 months ago , so had to reread everything lol
The next question would be why did you flash it .

 

[mustang7757]

Because I took it into a shop and had it flashed, many times, obviously.,

That's why you have to mention, can't just say it's been flashed many times , why would you need to flash it so many times , think once is enough, No?