Why is my internal memory almost completely full?

[Shmoopinator]

A month ago I upgraded from an S8 to the Note 9 (128GB) and used the Smart Switch to transfer my files and settings from my old phone to my new one. Earlier today I had a notification about space running low on my phone so I started to clean it out.

Upon doing so, I noticed my internal storage shows 121/128GB used which doesn't add up with the different categories it shows. The breakdown it gives me is:

Total space

128 GB

Available space

6.7 GB

System memory

17 GB

Photos and videos

1.1 GB

Music and audio

453 MB

Games

4.5 GB

Secure Folder

228 MB

Movie and TV apps

192 MB

Other apps

16.1 GB

Files

84 GB

I tried looking for some solutions via google and youtube and found some ideas, but none of them have worked for me. One of them seems to be a hidden trashcan that stores old media files but I cannot locate it.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Javier P]

Welcome to the forums. I moved your thread to the Note 9 forum where it'll be easier getting help from other owners.

 

[thecomicbookandme]

Try using the My Files app in your app drawer to get a better idea of what is taking up space.

 

[adegbenroagoro]

What puzzles me is the total EXCEEDS 128 GB.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I think some of the breakdown stats are part of others, so you are counting some stats twice. The used and available versus total are adding up correctly.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Try starting over with reinstalling and skipping smart switch.

Memory usually means RAM and not storage. I have trouble with 6GB in S9+ not being enough for photo library management and other tasks.

SD Maid is handy. Copying your files off for backup and to remove and erase is helpful.

Someone else had corrupt storage and weird bad numbers. Went away after resetting up phone. Thought at first this was them with another update.

 

[mustang7757]

A month ago I upgraded from an S8 to the Note 9 (128GB) and used the Smart Switch to transfer my files and settings from my old phone to my new one. Earlier today I had a notification about space running low on my phone so I started to clean it out.

Upon doing so, I noticed my internal storage shows 121/128GB used which doesn't add up with the different categories it shows. The breakdown it gives me is:

Total space

128 GB

Available space

6.7 GB

System memory

17 GB

Photos and videos

1.1 GB

Music and audio

453 MB

Games

4.5 GB

Secure Folder

228 MB

Movie and TV apps

192 MB

Other apps

16.1 GB

Files

84 GB

I tried looking for some solutions via google and youtube and found some ideas, but none of them have worked for me. One of them seems to be a hidden trashcan that stores old media files but I cannot locate it.

Any help would be appreciated.

I would first try restart your device , its easiest to do then see what happens.

 

[Rukbat]

There are probably about a dozen partitions in storage - only one of them is yours, you can't do anything about the rest of them. Install Terminal Emulator for Android and run

df

The last partition listed is your Photos, videos, Music, audio, Games, Files, Secure Folder and anything else you've put on the phone. The rest of it is the kernel (Linux), aboot (the code that starts the phone when you turn it on), Recovery (that's not part of Android, it's a separate system), download (or bootloader in most non-Samsung devices) - also a separate partition, EFS (the IMEI and things associated with it). Most (by name, not by size) of the phone isn't available to you, but what's used on those partitions is included in the 7GB of "used" space.

 

[bandofbrothers2112]

I have read past posts where it appeared that using Smart switch for some took up a chunk of phone storage.

Personally I use my Samsung Cloud Back Up when setting up a new phone.