Android storage woes

I have a phone (Galaxy Note) which I used to have a shitload of apps installed on. However, I've gradually had to remove them, as the internal storage space is depleted, and now I'm down to the bare necessitites.

I've tried the *#9900# cheat code to delete dumps and logs, I've tried various cleaning software, but still something is eating away at the storage. I've googled, and lots of people have similar problems, but nowhere can a solution be found.

Anyone here who recognize the issue?

Also, on my Galaxy Tab S, it claims that SD card is not inserted, even though it can correctly report size, used space and read files on it. It is, however a bit unstable, and once a week or so, I need to reboot for it to find it (or, as it claims, not find it...) again. It's a good SD card (SanDisk) which works perfectly in other devices.

Any ideas?

All in all, on these and other devices, I've got a feeling that something is very strange with Android storage. I'm so out of ideas that soon I'll hire an exorcist to fix it...

Feel free to share your experiences.

Of you don't mind having to set all your customisations up (of you do that sort of thing), then a factory reset will do the trick. Alternatively you could try SE FileExplorer and manually delete stuff.

I don't want to do a factory reset, it would mean a re-root, reinstall and reconfiguration of Apex and a lot of other stuff. If I run into to wall, it's better to just get a new phone.

I've already tried manually deleting all I dare.

Troberg said:

I've already tried manually deleting all I dare.

Click to expand...

Maybe try this App (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobile_infographics_tools.mydrive) see if it helps identify where the high usage is.

PS. I've no affiliation with the App and have just tested it for the first time before posing here. The only permission it asked for was access to files, and it's free. So I guess nothing to lose by trying. I'm impressed with it and will be keeping it for future use.

Nice app, helped me find the big cultprits. However, the only one I found was a dir called App, which contained a shitload of APK files (700MB). Are the APK files needed once installed, or can they be safely removed?

Once installed you can delete them.

Nice, that will give me a lot more space!

I wonder why they are left on the device, and why the automatic cleanup tools don't delete them...

Troberg said:

Nice, that will give me a lot more space!

I wonder why they are left on the device, and why the automatic cleanup tools don't delete them...

Click to expand...

You'd have thought that they would get deleted and I'm pretty sure that I have an App installed which does this automatically for me. I think its called MobileGo by Wondershare.
Anyway, I'm glad you found the source of the problem.

there are some instaler apps that either do auto-delete or ask the user what they should do... hummm, the app, not the user...

framaroot and then say goodby to all apk's you don't want (inluding pre installed). After that unroot it again.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/framaroot/root-framaroot-one-click-apk-to-root-t2130276

Already rooted all my devices. I do it as soon as they are fully charged after I've bought them. I want to truly own my devices.

TowelRoot works well for the 2nd gen Nexus 7. It's so simple you install it like any other APK!

Yep, it's so easy and safe to root today that there is really no reason not to, and lots of reasons for doing it.