System data keeps expanding and won't shrink, eliminating all free space - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

My free space on my AT&T LG V10 is disappearing for no apparent reason. My problem is that according to DiskUsage, my System Data keep getting inflated, crowding out my free space. I had 20 gig of free space last week, but now it is only 2.6 gig. I spent an hour with AT&T tech support, but nothing helped. It has almost no media or downloads. I have cleared cache, removed some unneeded apps, but free space keeps shrinking.
Part of the problem is that there are different results using different memory viewing tools. DiskUsage show this. Free = 2.6 G, Apps = 13.4 G + 7.44 G from App Backup (my apk backups), so Apps = 23 G and System data = 24.7 G. I cannot find a way to make the system data smaller. Here is the screenshot.
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https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5sbtcVLtbhBT3hvd29zY1ZwV2lhbnhDVnFVTElMVHFhQm9j
AT&T told me to instead look at Settings - Storage & USB - Internal storage, which shows these numbers for various types of files. Free = 2.6 G, Apps = 38.3 G, Other = 10.2 G, System data = 12.5 G, the rest don't matter. I don't know what "Other" files are. Here is the screenshot.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5sbtcVLtbhBc3piT2tRYmJJWDFtdE5wNTFlVmNfZkpxYktB
No one knows how to reduce the inflated System data. I tried to delete system dumpfiles using *#9900# but that won't work on my phone. There are about 2000 zero-byte folders which I have not yet deleted because I wanted to check it out with someone knowledgeable before I did.
This is an unlocked unrooted ATT LG V10 with Marshmallow. After receiving it back from warranty repair, I rebuilt it with my apps about two months ago. Would rooting help? This is the first phone I haven't rooted in years. I also really do not want to have to reinstall the apps. How can I free up space without resetting or rooting?
I have been using App Backup to backup and reinstall all my apks. I delete old versions of apks. That is the only thing I've worked on that involves a lot of space, now 7 gig.
I don't know if this is a clue, but another problem also began a few days ago. When it reboots, it "forgets" about 40 out of 500 apps installed and their icons disappear, usually the same ones each time. It acts like registry entries are lost. All the files and settings remain so when I reinstall those apps myself, everything works like before. If I do not reinstall them myself, the Play store automatically reinstalls them. This keeps happening most time I reboot.
Any ideas? I won't be able to download anything soon without a reset.

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ziva1 said:
My free space on my AT&T LG V10 is disappearing for no apparent reason. My problem is that according to DiskUsage, my System Data keep getting inflated, crowding out my free space. I had 20 gig of free space last week, but now it is only 2.6 gig. I spent an hour with AT&T tech support, but nothing helped. It has almost no media or downloads. I have cleared cache, removed some unneeded apps, but free space keeps shrinking.
Part of the problem is that there are different results using different memory viewing tools. DiskUsage show this. Free = 2.6 G, Apps = 13.4 G + 7.44 G from App Backup (my apk backups), so Apps = 23 G and System data = 24.7 G. I cannot find a way to make the system data smaller. Here is the screenshot. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5sbtcVLtbhBT3hvd29zY1ZwV2lhbnhDVnFVTElMVHFhQm9j
AT&T told me to instead look at Settings - Storage & USB - Internal storage, which shows these numbers for various types of files. Free = 2.6 G, Apps = 38.3 G, Other = 10.2 G, System data = 12.5 G, the rest don't matter. I don't know what "Other" files are. Here is the screenshot. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5sbtcVLtbhBT3hvd29zY1ZwV2lhbnhDVnFVTElMVHFhQm9j
AT&T told me to instead look at Settings - Storage & USB - Internal storage, which shows these numbers for various types of files. Free = 2.6 G, Apps = 38.3 G, Other = 10.2 G, System data = 12.5 G, the rest don't matter. I don't know what "Other" files are. Here is the screenshot. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5sbtcVLtbhBc3piT2tRYmJJWDFtdE5wNTFlVmNfZkpxYktB
No one knows how to reduce the inflated System data. I tried to delete system dumpfiles using *#9900# but that won't work on my phone. There are about 2000 zero-byte folders which I have not yet deleted because I wanted to check it out with someone knowledgeable before I did.
This is an unlocked unrooted ATT LG V10 with Marshmallow. After receiving it back from warranty repair, I rebuilt it with my apps about two months ago. Would rooting help? This is the first phone I haven't rooted in years. I also really do not want to have to reinstall the apps. How can I free up space without resetting or rooting?
I have been using App Backup to backup and reinstall all my apks. I delete old versions of apks. That is the only thing I've worked on that involves a lot of space, now 7 gig.
I don't know if this is a clue, but another problem also began a few days ago. When it reboots, it "forgets" about 40 out of 500 apps installed and their icons disappear, usually the same ones each time. It acts like registry entries are lost. All the files and settings remain so when I reinstall those apps myself, everything works like before. If I do not reinstall them myself, the Play store automatically reinstalls them. This keeps happening most time I reboot.
Any ideas? I won't be able to download anything soon without a reset.
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Try deleting ".thumbnails" folder, it's hidden folder usually exists in the same directory where the "camera" folder exist, and also check the "Lost Directory" folder and "android secure" folder.

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MigoMujahid said:
Try deleting ".thumbnails" folder, it's hidden folder usually exists in the same directory where the "camera" folder exist, and also check the "Lost Directory" folder and "android secure" folder.
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Thanks for the suggestions but they didn't help.
I deleted the .thumbnails folder. I didn't have a Lost Directory folder on my internal storage, nor could I find an "android secure" folder. I have only about 24 gig of user-accessible memory used, 3.5 gig free, and still have 24.5 gig of inaccessible System Data.
BTW, you can see DiskUsage says my total internal memory is only 51.5 gig. That means that there is 12.5 gig of completely hidden system files since the LG V10 is supposed to have 64 G internal storage.

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ziva1 said:
Thanks for the suggestions but they didn't help.
I deleted the .thumbnails folder. I didn't have a Lost Directory folder on my internal storage, nor could I find an "android secure" folder. I have only about 24 gig of user-accessible memory used, 3.5 gig free, and still have 24.5 gig of inaccessible System Data. BTW, you can see DiskUsage says my total internal memory is only 51.5 gig. That means that there is 12.5 gig of completely hidden system files since the LG V10 is supposed to have 64 G internal storage.
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This hidden usage are normal, i have 16gb phone, and i can only use 11.5 gb for media, my father has 32gb phone, and he can only use 26 or 27 gb, the taken gigabytes are for system partition and data partition and other partitions such as Cache and Preload, but your case is weird bro, have you tried formatting and factory reset?

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MigoMujahid said:
This hidden usage are normal, i have 16gb phone, and i can only use 11.5 gb for media, my father has 32gb phone, and he can only use 26 or 27 gb, the taken gigabytes are for system partition and data partition and other partitions such as Cache and Preload, but your case is weird bro, have you tried formatting and factory reset?
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I am trying NOT to have to do a factory reset. Yes, this IS quite weird. I have been troubleshooting my own phones and computers for decades. I have spent hours researching this online. Earlier this week my phone kept showing Google Play services had stopped or was updating, and reinstalling it did not help. It turns out that I had to also install Google Services Framework.
This is phone is only two months old so I need to understand what is happening to prevent it from happening again.
BTW, I'm a sis rather than a bro, but it's no big deal.

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ziva1 said:
I am trying NOT to have to do a factory reset. Yes, this IS quite weird. I have been troubleshooting my own phones and computers for decades. I have spent hours researching this online. Earlier this week my phone kept showing Google Play services had stopped or was updating, and reinstalling it did not help. It turns out that I had to also install Google Services Framework.
This is phone is only two months old so I need to understand what is happening to prevent it from happening again.
BTW, I'm a sis rather than a bro, but it's no big deal.
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Click to collapse
Sorry for misunderstanding sis ??
Well, it's mostly a rom issue, i will suggest you to ask in this thread, it's dedicated specially for your phone.
This is the full support thread link (Q&A, General, Accessories, android development..etc):
AT&T LG V10
Again, sorry for misunderstanding..
Edit: sorry for wrong links, i got confused between LG v10 and AT&T LG v10, i thought they are the same one ?, links updated
Edit2: i see you already asked there 15 hours ago..., hope you solve the issue.

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MigoMujahid said:
Sorry for misunderstanding sis
Well, it's mostly a rom issue, i will suggest you to ask in this thread, it's dedicated specially for your phone.
This is the full support thread link (Q&A, General, Accessories, android development..etc):
AT&T LG V10
Again, sorry for misunderstanding..
Edit: sorry for wrong links, i got confused between LG v10 and AT&T LG v10, i thought they are the same one , links updated
Edit2: i see you already asked there 15 hours ago..., hope you solve the issue.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, I did ask in the correct phone/carrier forum first, but I didn't get any replies. I figured a larger forum like this might get more replies. I still hope someone reading this thread may have some ideas short of a factory reset.
A little backstory. I got a Samsung Note 7 when it came out in August and set it up. Then you know what happened, so I got an LG V10 and set it up in October. It worked for a while, started rebooting a lot, and finally died in December. I sent it back for warranty repair and this is the phone I'm working on now. I didn't return my Note 7 (which worked perfectly fine) until I got my repaired V10 back in January so I could do a "tap and go" to restore my several hundred apps easily. It worked fine so I returned my Note 7. Now I can't do a "tap and go" Since I have a 256 G SD card, I'll have to work out something with that if there is no other solution.

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ziva1 said:
Thanks, I did ask in the correct phone/carrier forum first, but I didn't get any replies. I figured a larger forum like this might get more replies. I still hope someone reading this thread may have some ideas short of a factory reset.
A little backstory. I got a Samsung Note 7 when it came out in August and set it up. Then you know what happened, so I got an LG V10 and set it up in October. It worked for a while, started rebooting a lot, and finally died in December. I sent it back for warranty repair and this is the phone I'm working on now. I didn't return my Note 7 (which worked perfectly fine) until I got my repaired V10 back in January so I could do a "tap and go" to restore my several hundred apps easily. It worked fine so I returned my Note 7. Now I can't do a "tap and go" Since I have a 256 G SD card, I'll have to work out something with that if there is no other solution.
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Click to collapse
I don't know if you have root or not, but there is an app called sdmaid that I use and it's very effective at freeing up space. A lot of times when I delete large files the extra space doesn't even register until I run this app.

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DopeSick said:
I don't know if you have root or not, but there is an app called sdmaid that I use and it's very effective at freeing up space. A lot of times when I delete large files the extra space doesn't even register until I run this app.
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Click to collapse
This is the first phone I haven't rooted in years. I figure with Nougat, I'll have what I want. I'm resisting rooting it for now. I may have to at some point since I have a license for Titanium.
I tried sdmaid and it did not help reduce my 24.5g system data area. It did not complain about the phone not being rooted.
I have been trying to backup my phone using Helium, but after 56 apps out of 221 (when there are really at least 318) it stops, even when I have it backup up to Dropbox. I also tried backing up internally, but it did not give me the choice of using my mostly empty SD card. I can't find where it backed up to internally, but it again stopped at fewer than 60 apps.
Thanks for you suggestions. Keep 'em coming, folks. Something may eventually work.

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ziva1 said:
This is the first phone I haven't rooted in years. I figure with Nougat, I'll have what I want. I'm resisting rooting it for now. I may have to at some point since I have a license for Titanium.
I tried sdmaid and it did not help reduce my 24.5g system data area. It did not complain about the phone not being rooted.
I have been trying to backup my phone using Helium, but after 56 apps out of 221 (when there are really at least 318) it stops, even when I have it backup up to Dropbox. I also tried backing up internally, but it did not give me the choice of using my mostly empty SD card. I can't find where it backed up to internally, but it again stopped at fewer than 60 apps.
Thanks for you suggestions. Keep 'em coming, folks. Something may eventually work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I'm dealing with a similar problem. The only difference is that I was able to successfully use *#9900#, but it barely frees up any space.