How to see what's taking up my storage? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recently purchased a 16gb microSD card for my SGS2.
I haven't transferred any songs or pictures to the card (I do have some on the phones memory though) yet, somehow, space is being used up on it. I do download games/apps regularly however as far as I know they are set to install onto the phone's memory.
Is there a good way to see what files are taking up space on the USBStorage, SD Card, and System storage?
Is there a good app that'll allow me to see what files are on what part of the phone, details etc? A computer app or a phone app is fine, if such exists.
I'd like to have full control over my storage as the Task Manager/My Files doesn't allow me to do much.

Download ES File Explorer. Go to Menu>Manager>SD Card Analyst.
ES File Explorer - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop&hl=en
Click thanks if I've helped you.

You can see what apps are taking up the most storage in the Settings menu in Storage and Storage usage.
If you're rooted you can get to the root filesystem on your device using a file manager.

I installed Astro Manager but it's not quite what I'm looking for. It'll show me what files are taking up the USB Storage space (the approx. 2.45GB), however how can I find out what's taking up the 16.47MB on the microSD card?
I've plugged the phone into my PC with USB debugging mode ON (to be able to see the microSD card), and there are no files showing, except the LOST.DIR directory which has no files in it. Very strange.
Also, what about the files under System Storage? How can I see which files take up that space?
I wish there was the feature to click on each section under the Storage tab, and that would show you the files under that directory so you can see what is taking up the respective amount of space. If there's such an app, that would be great.
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System Storage is where your apps are installed to.
As for the SD Card, the only thing I can think of is to make sure you have Windows set to show hidden and system files and then mount the SD card to your PC and check it for hidden files.
Failing that, format the card.

There is no way to see the files that take up the space in System Storage?
Edit: I've done as you've said, and now I see what is taking up the 16.47MB on the external microSD card. Which leads to my next question. They are 3 .asec files which are from games that I currently have installed.
What are .asec files and can they be removed?

kofte said:
There is no way to see the files that take up the space in System Storage?
Edit: I've done as you've said, and now I see what is taking up the 16.47MB on the external microSD card. Which leads to my next question. They are 3 .asec files which are from games that I currently have installed.
What are .asec files and can they be removed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you rooted? If you are, most file managers should be able to get you to the root directory (where your android core files reside)
As for what are .ASEC files, it appears to be a file format used by the phone to store apps or app data in an encrypted file. If you remove them you might lose some apps or app data.
http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/asec
Not sure if this will be available on yours, but you can go into Settings > Applications > Storage usage to see what apps are taking how much room.

never mind, misread your post.

Related

WTF is this !?!?

Anybody know why Im getting this. My Note shows Im using 3.54GB for pictures and videos but Im using nowhere near that much storage on my phone. All my pictures and videos are on my SD card. Even with my card removed it shows Im using all that space.
Any suggestions?
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Your phone may count the hidden images required to make you apps work, as well as any cached photos and video files for you browser and email in that number.
Taking Slim Bean for a test drive...
Sounds like the EMMC partition needs a good scrubbing...
Easy enough to do from recovery, just make sure any data or items you wish to keep, are placed on the external sd card or PC.
Then format the emmc partition from recovery, then reboot.
I use this method myself on occasion, as I move between roms often ....g
Note : this method "WILL" remove all files from the emmc internal storage.
The reboot will place only the needed files back to internal memory, that are needed for the device to run.
It is an effective cleaning method...g
JonGarrett said:
Anybody know why Im getting this. My Note shows Im using 3.54GB for pictures and videos but Im using nowhere near that much storage on my phone. All my pictures and videos are on my SD card. Even with my card removed it shows Im using all that space.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thumbnails in the DCIM folders? Also, if those partitions have been mounted from a PC, certain systems like leaving behind ..thumbnail caches inside the folder where the actual picture was.
Just as well, a large file might have had its extension renamed...therefore falsely classifying it as a media file. Depending on the ROM, you might be able to tap the bar, to view the files that are counted in that section of the graph, and they'll automatically be sorted by file size.
Sent from my SGH-I717 using XDA Premium HD app
I highly doubt that it is thumbnails. That would be an extreme amount of thumbnails. The storage page can be misleading. "Pictures, videos" is only for the internal storage and will not report the external sd media files.
Use a good file explorer and look through your internal storage. You may have something there that you are overlooking. Possibly a movie you saved to the phone one day? Download any maps to the phone that may be showing up as pics? If you find nothing then maybe it is being reported wrong. Try going to settings > applications > all tab > media storage > clear data > reboot phone > wait about 15 minutes and then check storage again.
I agree with Agoattamer...
A good root explorer will find the files if they exist on the EMMC.
This is why I always wipe the internal storage on the roms I use.
Too much garbage left behind over time....g
Thank You all for your replies, seems the problem went away when I plugged my phone into my laptop. I didnt do anything at all except coonect it to my PC then it showed the correct ammount of freee space which was 4GB.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk

Can you tell me what caused these folders to be named like this?

Hi, I recently had a message on my phone that my 32 GB Lexar Micro SD Card was damaged. Basically the phone could no longer read the micro SD Card. I took it out and put it in my PC card reader. It wouldn't read in the card reader, so I formatted the card using the command prompt. The SD Card was wiped clean and working again. So I put the card back into the GS3 and formatted it again with the phone for good measure. All has been fine, although a few of my MP3s had troubles reading (using stock audio player, and never had trouble before) and then just got deleted from the micro SD Card. Later I noticed these two oddly named folders in my files. One is called uATA and the other is called uPPS. But the u is not a usually looking u. You can see what I mean from the screen shot below. The two folders are at the bottom of the list. I couldn't delete these folders with my phone, but was able to delete them from my PC card reader. They have come back again. Can anyone tell me if this means my card is damaged or maybe something else. I know something is wrong for sure. Files just don't get deleted the way a few of mine have.
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If I was to take a wild guess it would be something from an app you've installed or restored.
IMHO things don't write files magically, so must be an app or malware.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Tempott said:
Hi, I recently had a message on my phone that my 32 GB Lexar Micro SD Card was damaged. Basically the phone could no longer read the micro SD Card. I took it out and put it in my PC card reader. It wouldn't read in the card reader, so I formatted the card using the command prompt. The SD Card was wiped clean and working again. So I put the card back into the GS3 and formatted it again with the phone for good measure. All has been fine, although a few of my MP3s had troubles reading (using stock audio player, and never had trouble before) and then just got deleted from the micro SD Card. Later I noticed these two oddly named folders in my files. One is called uATA and the other is called uPPS. But the u is not a usually looking u. You can see what I mean from the screen shot below. The two folders are at the bottom of the list. I couldn't delete these folders with my phone, but was able to delete them from my PC card reader. They have come back again. Can anyone tell me if this means my card is damaged or maybe something else. I know something is wrong for sure. Files just don't get deleted the way a few of mine have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is an app that probably deals with torrent data or sort of downloading **it

[GUIDE][APK]FolderMount - Link folders from internal SD to external Working on 4.2.2

Features of FolderMount:
Root is an absolute MUST. No root, no access to app.
Mount internal SD card folders to external SD folders.
Move content from internal to external when a pair is added. (Dialog prompt)
Support for Android 2.3 - 4.2.2.
Holo themed throughout and an intuitive GUI design.
It will check SDCARD mount status and remount if necessary.
Why would you need this app?
Today some apps store big files over the internal SD card (e.g. Games, Podcasts, Offline RSS feeds, Pictures, Offline navigation software). Typically users have a small internal sd card size (~16GB) while the external SD is a lot bigger (~32-64GB). Most of these apps don't have an option to use the external SD card to store data so they starve your internal SD card memory. I'm bringing this solution to fix this issue. In my case, I use this app to mount offline navigation software and some GameLoft games (NFS anyone?).
Doesn't this do the same thing as previous apps?
There are a few apps that already do this. However, my app differs in that:
a) Some of the existing apps aren't maintained anymore. FolderMount will be maintained by me as we go forward.
b) While most of the previous apps work properly in most cases, I found them not very intuitive to setup initially and were lacking some necessary "sanity checks" before linking folders. I intend to keep this app as intuitive and bug free as possible.
c) Support for Android 4.2.2! No app will currently do that for you, so here it is. (dev talk: this uses the debuggerd service trick to get it to work).
Users that buy the premium key will get:
Unlimited folder pairs (free version has a limit of 3).
Ability to mount any subfolder in the internal sdcard. (free version has restrictions on Android obb and data folders)
Get to see the folder sizes in root explorer
Support the developer and make him very happy
Mini how to
Click add to add a folder pair
Select a source directory that you want to move files from. This should be somewhere in your internal sdcard. Usually located at /mnt/sdcard
Select a destination directory that you want to move files to. This should be some folder in your external sdcard or OTG drive.
FolderMount will offer to move the files to the destination. Click yes.
After the moving process is done, click on the pin. If the pin is green, you're all set.
Note: The files will appear in both the source and destination after pinning them. This is normal as the files that you see in your internal sdcard are actually located on your external sdcard. This is how FolderMount "tricks" apps that don't have the ability to save explicitly to the external sdcard.
Screenshots:
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Translations:
Want to have FolderMount in your language? Help us by joining our crowdin project. More information here: http://www.devasque.com/foldermount/translations.html
Bug reports:
Please read this post for guidelines on how to report problems.
Changelog:
v2.0.9 (6/23/2013)
Updated locales. New translator (Danny446). Thanks to all volunteers.
Minor FC bug fix
If FM couldn't detect the extSdCard, display a list (was broken with v2 for some users)
extSdCard permission fixer modifications that should make it less error prone
Fix S4 debuggerd screw up that was introduced in v2. This release should make FM work again for all S4 users. Thanks Leonidas87 for your patience and for testing
Rest of changelog
Download:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5kZXZhc3F1ZS5mbW91bnQiXQ..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2063786&d=1372007929
Original thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39178981#post39178981

[Q] [HELP] Problem Copying Media files to SDCard (virus??)

It start happen while I try using Link2SD to remove App/games on 32GB My SDCard
By some tutorial on several xda post, using Minitool partition several times, Fat32, Ext2, etc...reformat several times.
But Link2SD not working, make my XZU reboot and reboot without enter to Home screen., Then I use power + volume up to hard-power off. I forget Link2SD, it not works for me. then I back to normal. Using SD card as usual.
The big problem began, I try connect XZU via USB cable to PC, Internal media and SD card detected, mount as portable media player, but I can't copy anything to my SDcard (external storage), everytimes I copy video/music/etc will appear only copy notification, tik tok tik tok without percentage progress Oh sheeet, , then I cancel.
I try to copy on Internal storage, first time it works, to by pass the problem, I cut and paste movie/music with file commander from internal to external. I works for tens movies/files
But 2nd time, copy to internal from PC was done, but I cant copy from Internal to external with file commander, it say the movie/files not on emulates/sdcard1/ ....omg, I can't doing anything to copy media files from PC to My XZU..probably it infected by virus??
because I try use root explorer, to cut paste, the movie file was dissapear, it said success move file, but no files on destination folder or origin folder, OMG, I search with name file, find 3 of ***namefile INF**, but no original movie found.
I use Xperia SDCard Mounter, to mount SDcard to PC, copy files from PC to SDcard was Ok, but, if I unmount, it will not appear on device, it like "ghost file" succeed copied but I don't know where the files were.
I use Kapersky AV, it found 1 threat show as : exploit.AndroidOS.CVE-2013-4787.gen on Gameloft folder (Modern combat Zero hour 4), it games can't start after the virus quarantee, with Lookout AV, nothing show.
Please help... :'( I wanna My SDCard back as normal
The Screenshot
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Have you set your SD card as read only?
Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
thanks
LordManhattan said:
Have you set your SD card as read only?
Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, for advice..
I try using SD Card Permission Fixer from Playstore, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootuninstaller.sdcardpermissionfix
and it works
Many thanks, how stupid I am , it just problem on R-W SD card..
Didn't see that one coming That was a blind guess from my side, hahah
Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

SD Card problem

Hello!
First of all, happy new year!
I have a problem with my Honor 7. I have a Toshiba Exceria 128 GB SD Card. When I inserted it, my phone recognized it in the parameters menus but it gave the SD Card a strange name: 1489-D352. And of course /sdcard/ cannot be found...
My configuration:
Honor 7
Build PLK-01C432B380
EMUI 4.0.1
Android 6.0
Til I didn't consider as the main storage place in the parameters, /sdcard/ can be found and it corresponds to internal storage. As soon as I declare the external sd card as the main storage, it starts malfunctionning.
As the name isn't correct, lot of applications can't find SD Card path and I have to set it manually for every application that needs to write on the SD Card.
I formated it in my phone, in my computer, exFAT or NTFS. Started the phone with the SD Card, without it, format it before, after... Nothing changes...
Can you help me, please? And forbid my english as I'm french...
i got toshiba 32 gb sdcard working fine as ext_SdCard.... android 6.0 emui 4.1
Thanks for you answer, Thelous. How does it appear when you want to access to it?
BBBenj said:
Thanks for you answer, Thelous. How does it appear when you want to access to it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is what it shows in flile explorer, ive selected sdcard as main storage in settings
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Here is what I have...
have you tried using FAT32 format?
Formatting in FAT32 is impossible from Windows. I opened a Command Windows and I launched "format J: /fs:fat32". But it takes a while to foemat 128 GB ! 3% right now.
I'll come back to give news when it's ready.
Volume is too big for FAT32...
Any other idea ?
BBBenj said:
Volume is too big for FAT32...
Any other idea ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my sd card runs on ntfs.... (changed when i was moving 5gb+ files and there was limit)
OK, I formated my sd card with NTFS file format.
If it's not main storage location, it's OK. It's named sdcard and everything is OK... Except that there's only 2GB left on main storage !
As soon as I changed my main storage location to external sd card, everything goes wrong.
But, in the third and last screen capture, you can see what Files (correct application name ???) shows: sd card. Correct name but it's the only place it appears so. In other applications, the sd card is named 9CB87....
GAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Coucou !
Still no idea ? As it's a real problem for me.
Anytime I insert my new sd card and wait for a while it dissapears and i re-insert but still the same.
i dont know if its my phone but it works ok when am using the pc

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