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Unrooted Android, wipe internal sd or force free space recount?

K

kurkosdr

Newbie
Hi there,

I have an Android phone (Galaxy SIII) running unrooted factory ROM.

A problem I have is the reported free space is wrong (less than it should). The space that the folders take up doesn't add up (it's about 1GB off). As calculated from the "My Files" app and from Windows Explorer (when connected to PC).

Something must be wrong with the filesystem. For example, I deleted the DCIM folder, which had nothing in it, and I "saved" about 2.5GB (the reported free space was off by a whole 3.5GB before).

So, is there a way to wipe the internal SD or force the phone to do a recount of free space? Without having to root and mess with the recovery?

I 've tried moving all the data of the internal sd to my PC, leaving the internal SD completely blank, but the reported space was still off :confused: . I even tried "formatting" it from Windows Explorer, no dice.

PS: I didn't post this under the Galaxy SIII forum, because wrong free space seems like a general problem with Android 4.x. Remember the good ol' days of Android 2.x, when we had access to The Real Filesystem, and you could fix literally anything sd-related from the Windows Explorer?

PS: I thought about doing a factory reset, but factory reset doesn't wipe the internal sd, right?

PPS: For full disclosure, I deleted some thumbnails in the past, but I did got that space back, and they weren't that big anyway (~100MB), so this post is probably not relevant.
 
A factory reset does wipe whats now known as the internal sd :thumbup:
Where is this GB missing from though mate?

When you look at internal storage, what you see also includes the system partition which includes the rom and system apps
 
funkylogik said:
A factory reset does wipe whats now known as the internal sd :thumbup:
Where is this GB missing from though mate?

When you look at internal storage, what you see also includes the system partition which includes the rom and system apps
Click to expand...

I forgot to say I have Android 4.1.2, which has separate system, data and internal sd partitions.

One of the reasons I don't upgrade is precisely so I don't have a unified storage, so that I always have free space in data (the Internal SD space keeps lower getting in most Android phones for no reason (from caches and hidden files I guess, or in my case from wrong free space counting), at least if you have a separate data partition you always have free space in data).

I don't know where this GB is missing from. My free space just got progessively less and less. Without downloading any apps, and with everything else going to External SD.

Rxpert83 said:
Keep in mind there can be hidden files taking up space.

Windows wouldn't necessarily see it
Click to expand...
Is there any way to see them, from PC or from some app?
 
Okay, I finally figured it out. The DCIM folder has a .thumbnails folder inside which is 1.4GB in size (and has files in it). The bizzare thing is that a)Windows Explorer sees this folder as 0 bytes in size and as completely empty even if you have "show hidden" option of windows explorer enabled and b)the "My Files" app also sees this foler as 0 bytes unless you have the "show hidden" option of the app enabled. The truly bizzare thing: if you delete the DCIM folder from Windows Explorer (or from My Files with the hidden option off) it appears deleted, but you don't reclaim any free space. And it pops back after a while with the same size.

So sorry for wasting your time and some forum space. So far, all portable devices I had showed me the real filesystem, so this deal with MTP devices hidding files from the PC is completely new to me. I originally thought the filesystem was "leaking free space" by creating bad inodes (a nasty problem with linux filesystems) and got panicked. So, don't mock me too hard.

Now, I just need to find a "safe" way to delete thumbnails (aka without breaking the gallery) to get rid of that 1.4GB pile of junk, but whatever, it can wait...
 
I also upgraded to 4.3 in the meantime, and noticed sammy lists the available storage and free space of the internal storage in decimal (aka "16GB" instead of 14,9GB), while the storage and free space of the External SD is listed in binary. Yay! Now my files have two filesizes, depending on where they are (internal or external SD).

Let's take two things that weren't broken (showing the real filesystem and listing everything in binary) and break them in the name of "improvement" (that doesn't actually improve anything).
 
Lol i dont know if thats a samsung or android thing.
On my s3 running an aosp rom, neither are rounded up
 
funkylogik said:
Lol i dont know if thats a samsung or android thing.
On my s3 running an aosp rom, neither are rounded up
Click to expand...

What do you mean by "rounded up"?

The "storage" option under "settings", which measures the capacity and the free space, doesn't round up anything. It just uses a different way to meaure internal storage, where 1MB = 1000KB instead of the usual 1MB=1024KB etcetera.

For example, the internal storage of my SIII has 16 billion bytes.

Divide that by 1024 three times, and you get 14.9GB. This is the real capacity of my SIII.

Divide the 16 billion bytes by 1000 three times, and you get "16GB". This is the capacity my SIII reports for internal storage, aka capacity measured wrong.

Confusingly, the SIII measures the capacity of the External SD using the correct method.

Even more confusingly, the "My Files" app of the SIII measures files using the correct method for both storages.

If you are not aware of this, you are suddenly worried about lost gigabytes and such.

Needs more insanity...

Oh yeah, let's make files starting with a dot invisible to Windows too. Now the user is guaranteed to go berserk :rolleyes:

PS: This is why a 16GB MicroSD card appears as 14.9GB to Windows when inserted in the card reader of your laptop. The 16GB number the MicroSD manufacturer advertizes is basically a fraud, it's capacity measured wrong. The real capacity is 14.9GB
 
funkylogik said:
Yeah i did understand that lol. Id just rather say rounded up :D
Nice rant though :beer:
Click to expand...
It's as confusing as it gets. This is why even average (non-noob) users ask questions like "I inserted a blank DVD that has 4.7GB capacity, but Windows shows only 4.38GB!".

What you need to know is that there are two definitions of what a GB is:
The decimal definition (the wrong one): 1GB = 1000000000 bytes.
The binary definition (the correct one): 1 GB = 1073741824 bytes

The MicroSD manufacturers (and device manufacturers) use the wrong definition. They produce a MicroSD card that has 16000000000 bytes (16 billion bytes).
Using the wrong definition of GB, it's 16000000000 bytes / 1000000000 = 16GB (that's what they advertise)
Using the correct definition of GB, it's 16000000000 bytes / 1073741824 = 14.9GB (that's what your PC reports)

Blank DVDs also use the wrong definition.
A single-sided DVD has 4700000000 bytes. So:
Wrong definition: 4700000000 / 1000000000 = 4.7GB (what is advertized)
Correct definition: 4700000000 / 1073741824 = 4.38GB (what your PC reports)

The Galaxy SIII uses both definitions, in an attempt to be more insane.
 
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