Help Reconcile SDCARD Storage

[DaveSyd]

Out of the box I am trying to reconcile the storage used on the S4. I understand the system takes up some but because the initial size is 9.23 GB out of 16GB phone. But of the 9.23 Gb avail out of the box, over 2 GB is used before any apps have loaded data on incl Maps, etc. There are no hidden files or folders that I can see. Does anyone have some clues on what would be filling this up.

I have now loaded apps so the amount used from Navigon, Android/data folder etc have added files but none of them amount to more than 300MB?

Phone is i9505 unbranded unlocked phone from JBHifi Australia.

 

[lotus49]

Download the DiskUsage app (which is free) from the Play Store. That will tell you what is where.

 

[DaveSyd]

Thanks for that great little program. Now I realise that all the Apps, data and Cache is stored in the same partition as the internal storage, meaning from reset it still has about 1.5GB of apps loaded into the 9.3GB available.

I come from the S2 and it had 2 separate areas one for App storage and one for 'internal SD card'. It meant that once the 1.9 App area became close to full that was it you couldn't load any more apps on, even if the internal SD card storage was largely empty.

S4 is a better design meaning apps and data can be loaded up to 9.3 GB in the one partition. However the S4 16GB yields 9.3GB Apps + data usable, while the S2 yielded 1.97GB Apps + 11.5GB data. That means the S4 has 4.17GB less than the S2 did for data presumably taken up with OS. In usuable space more than a 30% drop.

That's ok but when will 32GB internal become standard given the prices of flash dropping all the time. Hopefully on the next model I get!

 

[lotus49]

I haven't filled up my so-called internal SD card but it is a little frustrating that so much of it is used by the system.

Fortunately, most apps use very little space. The only ones that do are ones like games and satnav apps that have large data files to go with them. My favourite satnav app is Sygic Aura, which allows you to stick your data on the external SD card but most don't. If you do start to run out of space and you have a big external SD card, you can look into using Foldermount, which allows you to move data to the external SD card (but you have to be rooted).