Available storage issue after attempt at removing SD-card configured as Internal Storage.

[PillarOfAutumn]

Lenovo TB-8504X.
Android 8.1.0.

Sorry for the ramblings, i am not sure how to describe my problem more succinctly, so feel free to ask questions.

Extracted my usual SD card, that was mounted as Portable Storage, and replaced it with a temporary one because of reason. For the life of me I can't explain why, but during the setup I decided to mount this new card as an Internal Device Storage.
After initial formatting was complete it had asked me if i wanted to move some files to it right away - photos, music, etc. - and that it would move 223MB to the SD card. Thinking nothing about it, since it was such a measly amount of data, I said yes. It did its thing for some time, but afterwards according to the system it moved much more than 223MB, it was using around 4Gb of space on that card. And it didn’t remove the corresponding 4gb amount of data from tablet memory.
I kinda shrugged and moved ahead with my day.
Used my tablet with this new card for about 8 hours, took some pics.
Now it was time to go back to my usual card. I Googled proper procedure and was directed to Going into Settings->Storage->Internal Shared Storage->Three dots in the upper right corner->Migrate.
I did that. It said not enough space.
I cleared a couple of GB so that empty space on my Tablet was slightly bigger than used space on the card. Tried Migrate option again. This time it went through and it told me that it would move 223Mb from my SD card. I said yes. And again it moved way more data, to the point where i was left with less than 400Mb of internal memory. And it didn’t affect reported space usage on the card.
And now I can't find where all that empty space disappeared. Default Storage Capacity reporting tool didn’t change much. All the categories are the same size as they were before.
Those 4.5Gb I've cleared are just gone. And I'm left with 98% of storage capacity used.
In order to clear those GB i had to delete some pretty useful apps and now i can’t reinstall them.

Help?

 

[Mooncatt]

The first thing I would do is backup any important files you don't want to lose. Formatting as internal storage is problematic to say the least, and there's a good risk you'll lose data during the process of going back to portable.

Once backed up, I would simply do whatever process is required to un-mount the card. After that is done, check your tablet for any files and apps that are now missing and clear out any unnecessary files you find. You'll then need to manually reinstall any missing apps and transfer your backups to it or the new SD card.

If all else fails, you may have to factory reset the tablet. Adoptable storage was never well supported, so this wouldn't be all that surprising if needed.

 

[PillarOfAutumn]

The first thing I would do is backup any important files you don't want to lose. Formatting as internal storage is problematic to say the least, and there's a good risk you'll lose data during the process of going back to portable.

Once backed up, I would simply do whatever process is required to un-mount the card. After that is done, check your tablet for any files and apps that are now missing and clear out any unnecessary files you find. You'll then need to manually reinstall any missing apps and transfer your backups to it or the new SD card.

If all else fails, you may have to factory reset the tablet. Adoptable storage was never well supported, so this wouldn't be all that surprising if needed.

Yeah, i was afraid of that. More I google the issue, more factory reset looks like only feasible solution.

While you here - any advice on how to backup stuff? Other than looking at each app individual settings?
Any way to essentially "clone" my device, in case I forgot to backup something?

I would simply do whatever process is required to un-mount the card.

That's the rub, though. I've already did what i could to un-mount it and it ate all of that space I cleared, seemingly doing nothing.

 

[Mooncatt]

For backups, I would transfer any stand alone files to my computer. You could backup photos and videos to Google Photos online, but it will compress the files and you lose some quality when downloading or viewing again.

For apps, I would just make a list of ones I want to keep. Google Play should automatically re-install them after a factory reset if you use the same account to set it up again, but it'll sometimes install apps you previously uninstalled and don't want. I just prefer manual installations for this reason. With settings, I just go through and set things back up as needed. Apps with cloud syncing may save that info as well.

There are some ways to automate the process, but I'm a manual tinkerer and not sure what good options there are. If your tablet has its own backup service, that may do a cloning of sorts, but then you risk importing whatever glitch you have going on now.

 

[joeldf]

I agree with Mooncatt on the resetting procedure. I do things manually as well.

Plus, it gives you a chance to see if you really want to reinstall that app you haven't used in years. If you have apps that store it's own data, see if it has its own backup capability. Maybe to a cloud account like a notes app or similar. Then, re-sign back into that account after the reset and you should get that back. All of this of course depends on the app.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I also agree with Mooncatt. SD as internal storage is a waste of time. It only partially moves files and causes so much trouble. Best steer well clear of it. At this point backing up to cloud storage is the best option. Plus go into settings accounts google and backup there as well. But I would also do a clean install manually adding apps you want. This stops you from importing any problems and causing similar issues again.