• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Cleaning up internal storage via PC

L

Leo1966

Newbie
Hello,
I want to clean up my phone's internal storage manually by connecting it to PC. When I connect the phone, Windows shows 4.3 GB free out of total 11.5 GB. That meas that about 7.2 GB is occupied. However, when I check the properties of the folders, it shows a total of only 1.3 GB in all folders. That means that probably Windows can't see most of the files on the phone's storage. "Show hidden/system files" option is checked in my Windows.
Is there a way I can see all files on the phone's internal storage?
I guess, the phone model does not matter for this question, but just in a case it is Sony Xperia Z3 Compact.
 
No, I'm afraid you can't, because almost certainly the bulk of it is apps and app data which can't be viewed that way.

That's the summary, there's a little more detail below if you want:

What you can see that way is the user-accessible part of the storage, what's (slightly misleadingly) referred to as the "internal sd card". On the phone this appears as /sdcard, /storage/emulated/0 and a couple of other paths as well (all pointing to the same storage). But there is also the /data area, where installed apps and their internal data live. /sdcard and /data share the internal storage space, but without root you cannot look at the /data directory, and the PC won't be able to see it either. So you can tidy your own files this way, but the rest you deal with by managing your apps rather than with a file explorer.
 
Plunge your phone to your PC and manually remove all the unwanted files there.
Of course, in case of data loss, also save all important data backups in advance.
But, if you do have free up phone storage and cause data loss troubles, also remember to try some data recovery freeware to rescue lost data back, like:

Recuva- free to scan any phone memory card or drive quickly
iCare Data Recovery Free-100% freeware to scan and recover deleted or formatted phone memory card
PhotoRec- free, recover phone photos and files, but, a little bit difficult

Overall, do not back up, back up everything important well in advance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom