Miscellaneous files taking up TONS of space on Samsung Galaxy Core Prime

[Evilstuff]

Hello, so I have a phone with a 16GB microSD card in it along with its 8GB of memory. I wanted to download an app but it seemed I didn't have enough memory. I looked at my memory and this is what I saw (after some SD card transferring):

Total space
8.00 GB

Applications
3.48 GB (2.9 on device memory)

Pictures, videos
24.00 KB

Audio
2.96 MB

Downloads
1.59 MB

Cached data
153 MB

Miscellaneous files
4.42 GB?!

Available space
771 MB

I also have 14.07 GB of space on my SD if that helps.
In the Misc files area, it says 4.36 GB is in System Memory.
Other sites have said that this is bloatware from Verizon, but I was wondering if there's a way to clean some of this up?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! That most likely represents storage taken up by the OS. The phone is advertised as having 8 GB of internal storage, but the OS usually takes up around 3-4 GB. Additional bloatware usually takes up more space, most of which is probably represented in the Applications section.

 

[Lewis2015]

My friend try installing A Speed plus application and it clean automatically telling you what you can do to boost your RAM and ROM successfully! It a great program and works flawlessly! Just make sure you go through the files and select the ones you want to turn off if that's bloatware, or to dis install old applications you are using, it will tell you everything. Highly recommend it. I've installed it on my htc m8 1, galaxy 6, and my tablet. If you just need a boost anytime. You can just push the boost button from your home screen. Search for it on Google Play Store. Peace

 

[B. Diddy]

Sorry, but I don't recommend these types of apps at all. RAM "boosters/cleaners" work counter to how Android is designed to work, and can paradoxically contribute to battery drain and poor performance.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Sadly, there is nothing to be done about a low storage device. The OS will not leave much left at that point.

 

[rjm764]

I have exactly the same problem with almost the same sizes. So should I assume that this phone can never be upgraded? If so, how do I stop the automatic upgrade from running?

Nice product design!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! What do you mean by automatically upgraded? You can't upgrade the amount of internal storage in a device. Or are you talking about automatic app updates, or system updates?

This isn't an issue with product design--it has more to do with technological progress, and how current technology gets obsolete relatively quickly. Just a couple of years ago, 8 GB of free internal storage was more than enough for most everyone. But apps are getting bigger and bigger (some of them taking up more than 1 GB of internal storage), so these days, if a person intends to install a lot of apps, they need to purchase a device with as much internal storage as possible.

It's also up to the user to be aware of how much bloatware a device comes with. Samsung devices are notorious for loading a lot of nonremovable preinstalled apps on their devices, and it was common for their 16 GB phones to have only 8 GB availlable to the user. It's gotten better recently, but when you think about buying a phone, pay close attention to this in reviews. Nexus devices are always a good bet, because bloatware is minimal.

Also remember that the Core Prime is in no way considered a premium flagship phone. Budget and midlevel devices are not intended to push the envelope when it comes to storage or performance.

 

[z_werewolf]

I had the exact same problem where I needed to free up nearly a gig.

I went to Settings>Applications>Application Manager and then sorted by size, large to small, to see the space hogs. I uninstalled a few unneeded apps, and then I tapped on the remaining large ones like Google Play Services, Chrome, Google App, Maps, Message+, etc... and cleared the cache/data as well as tapped on Manage Storage (for each app that had it) to clear all app/search data.

I kept going down the list and pretty easily made enough space to install the update. Hope that can help you.

 

[WoodyHaney]

I had the same problem, and as I would delete apps the miscellaneous files would just take up more space!

Somehow, I figured out that my podcast app settings were such that it was not deleting podcasts that I had listened to. I changed that setting and cleared half the data stored on my phone!!

Hopefully this will be helpful to someone out there. I was HATING my new phone until I discovered this!

 

[AKAndy]

Somehow, I figured out that my podcast app settings were such that it was not deleting podcasts that I had listened to. I changed that setting and cleared half the data stored on my phone!!

This is what I found too... Went in and set my podcast app to auto delete older podcasts and miscellaneous files went from 37 GB to 14 GB.

 

[GregMiller314]

Welcome to Android Central! What do you mean by automatically upgraded? You can't upgrade the amount of internal storage in a device. Or are you talking about automatic app updates, or system updates?

This isn't an issue with product design--it has more to do with technological progress, and how current technology gets obsolete relatively quickly. Just a couple of years ago, 8 GB of free internal storage was more than enough for most everyone. But apps are getting bigger and bigger (some of them taking up more than 1 GB of internal storage), so these days, if a person intends to install a lot of apps, they need to purchase a device with as much internal storage as possible.

It's also up to the user to be aware of how much bloatware a device comes with. Samsung devices are notorious for loading a lot of nonremovable preinstalled apps on their devices, and it was common for their 16 GB phones to have only 8 GB availlable to the user. It's gotten better recently, but when you think about buying a phone, pay close attention to this in reviews. Nexus devices are always a good bet, because bloatware is minimal.

Also remember that the Core Prime is in no way considered a premium flagship phone. Budget and midlevel devices are not intended to push the envelope when it comes to storage or performance.

Okay. Hi, Im Greg. I just got a Core Prime from a new service provider, because it was cheap and I got a good deal. I came from an S3, to an S3mini, to now a Core Prime. My question is this: When you go to (settings > storage > used space > applications) and you scroll to downloaded, youll find an awful lot of apps that can be turned off. I turned them off, as a test, on my S3mini so that I dont somehow further brick my Core Prime while ironically trying to optimize it. What kinds of factory apps can I delete or move to an SD card?? I literally just want the s3mini for music, youtube, and two other apps. What can I get rid of without hurting any necessary processes?

Also, what can I delete on the Core Prime without being detrimental to the core (no pun intended) processes?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! "Turn off" is the same as "Disable," which just prevents the app from opening into RAM (and thereby allowing the system to keep other apps open in RAM). Turning Off doesn't remove the app from internal storage--this option is only for apps that are preinstalled and that can't be uninstalled (i.e., system apps and bloatware).

It's hard to tell you a complete list of apps you can turn off, because every phone will have a somewhat different list of preinstalled apps. You can turn off as many apps as you want, and if the phone starts to misbehave, just go back to the App Manager and turn apps back on again.

 

[Leakyherpeblister]

Okay. Hi, Im Greg. I just got a Core Prime from a new service provider, because it was cheap and I got a good deal. I came from an S3, to an S3mini, to now a Core Prime. My question is this: When you go to (settings > storage > used space > applications) and you scroll to downloaded, youll find an awful lot of apps that can be turned off. I turned them off, as a test, on my S3mini so that I dont somehow further brick my Core Prime while ironically trying to optimize it. What kinds of factory apps can I delete or move to an SD card?? I literally just want the s3mini for music, youtube, and two other apps. What can I get rid of without hurting any necessary processes?

Also, what can I delete on the Core Prime without being detrimental to the core (no pun intended) processes?

I had the same issues with my core prime360t1 i used kingroot rooted my phone and deleted all the bloatware i dont use and manufacturer apps that i dont use then i deleted the google apps i dont use like google play books, weather apps (i know how to look up), google music, video, so on so forth ... my phones speed is awesome now without all the useless apps taking up space the only thing left now is figuring how to get the audio to play louder the only thing about this phone i didnt care for was that if i plug head phones in itll boost the volume but not if they werent plugged in.

 

[luna13]

I had the same issues with my core prime360t1 i used kingroot rooted my phone and deleted all the bloatware i dont use and manufacturer apps that i dont use then i deleted the google apps i dont use like google play books, weather apps (i know how to look up), google music, video, so on so forth ... my phones speed is awesome now without all the useless apps taking up space the only thing left now is figuring how to get the audio to play louder the only thing about this phone i didnt care for was that if i plug head phones in itll boost the volume but not if they werent plugged in.

Excellent bro, worked pperfectly thank you

 

[Touchdowntommy41]

Welcome to Android Central! What do you mean by automatically upgraded? You can't upgrade the amount of internal storage in a device. Or are you talking about automatic app updates, or system updates?

This isn't an issue with product design--it has more to do with technological progress, and how current technology gets obsolete relatively quickly. Just a couple of years ago, 8 GB of free internal storage was more than enough for most everyone. But apps are getting bigger and bigger (some of them taking up more than 1 GB of internal storage), so these days, if a person intends to install a lot of apps, they need to purchase a device with as much internal storage as possible.

It's also up to the user to be aware of how much bloatware a device comes with. Samsung devices are notorious for loading a lot of nonremovable preinstalled apps on their devices, and it was common for their 16 GB phones to have only 8 GB availlable to the user. It's gotten better recently, but when you think about buying a phone, pay close attention to this in reviews. Nexus devices are always a good bet, because bloatware is minimal.

Also remember that the Core Prime is in no way considered a premium flagship phone. Budget and midlevel devices are not intended to push the envelope when it comes to storage or performance.

This is a horrible explanation. When 5-6 gb is taken by system memory. How big is a fresh install of the latest version of android? 2gb maybe?! The problem is all the useless junk that gets left behind when updates are done. The people who code the updates for samsung, and don't delete this stuff for users when the updates are done. Admit the real problem, and stop trying to pass it off on people who purchased your crsppy device for $800, like they did not spend enough money to get more storage. You don't even leave a way to make system files available to end users so they can delete log files, redundant files, no longer used files, etc.., that add up quickly and take up tons of space.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! You realize that we are an independent community forum, and not directly affiliated with Google or any hardware manufacturer, right?

I'm sorry that you don't like my explanation, but I don't think you'll find much disagreement among tech writers. The OS itself, along with basic Google apps, takes up around 3-4 GB on most devices. Additional bloatware can take up more space, depending on the phone. If you stripped Android of any Google app, then yes, perhaps it might take up closer to 2 GB, but realistically, if you wanted a Google-free Android phone, you'd have to root it and strip that stuff out yourself.

 

[Aquila]

This is a horrible explanation. When 5-6 gb is taken by system memory. How big is a fresh install of the latest version of android? 2gb maybe?! The problem is all the useless junk that gets left behind when updates are done. The people who code the updates for samsung, and don't delete this stuff for users when the updates are done. Admit the real problem, and stop trying to pass it off on people who purchased your crsppy device for $800, like they did not spend enough money to get more storage. You don't even leave a way to make system files available to end users so they can delete log files, redundant files, no longer used files, etc.., that add up quickly and take up tons of space.

Strongly disagree here. If people stop buying crappy budget phones with too little storage, etc then oems will stop making them.

 

[BillyK2]

Thanks for the info. Since I'm old school and just recently joined the world of android, I had no idea what I was doing when I picked this starter phone on the cheap. Now I'll have a better idea what to look for when I get ready to upgrade.

 

[Manish1600]

After hard reset on my samsung j5 prime my firmware got erased.i installed firmware but after installing it i had onli 1.10gb space on my system memory... how can i get more free space.. can you help me find a sollution

 

[shivasagar katta]

Hi guys,


I got a solution for deleting miscellaneous in samsung galaxy J5 mobile because i have that too. Previously they show empty space but it took so much of amount of space from mobile but after unmount SD card it show that space what they took for and then easily delete the files from there. First you have to do in your mobile unmount SD card then try to clear miscellaneous files. I think this is helpful to you . THANKYOU