G5 system over 9GB...? - Moto G5 Questions & Answers

A friend has a G5 16GB storage 3GB RAM Amazon special. She started receiving "low storage" messages recently, and Disk Usage shows that her system data is well over 9GB with a few MB left free. I have no idea where the rest of it is. She claims not to have too many apps (she's not a propellorhead, so I believe her), she has deleted all onboard photos (now in Google Photos), and needs the few apps she has.
I think 9GB is too much for System. Can anyone tell me typical system space usage, and maybe suggest how to free up whatever is hogging the space, short of a factory reset, which as a non-propellorhead she refuses to do?
(She's 200 miles away, which makes it hard for me to diagnose too.)

Could be anything but if she uses apps like whatsapp then media that is sent and received is stored on the device but will not show in a gallery app as it contains a nomedia file
manually look in whatsapp/media folder on internal storage
Same for alot of other apps
You will just have to browse the apps - look at their data use and folders on internal storage
Can also just clean the cache

Thanks - good tip. It looks like a long Skype session coming up...

I have version 2 + 32 and when I had Android 7.0 I was dialing 8GB of the system, then I updated to Android 8.1 and it doesn't say how much it weighs but it released me 1GB, That is, if you have Android 8.1 it weighs 7GB and if you have Android 7.0 it weighs 8GB

same issue
Hi,
I'm having the same issue on my Moto G5 (16 GB storage, 3 GB RAM). The information about how much disk space is used doesn't fit the total of all the stored data. In detail here are the different values and where i got them from:
Android / Settings / Storage: 14.95 GB used of 16 GB
X-plore
Internal shared storage: 996 MB free of 10 GB; size of all the data in this folder: 4.65 GB (which is almost all from WhatsApp)
Root: 996 MB free of 10 GB; size of all the data in this folder: 160.2 GB (doesn't make much of a sense...)
TWRP / Wipe / Advanced Wipe: by selecting a partition and tapping "Repair or Change File System"
System: Size: 3243 MB, Used: 1686 MB, Free: 1557 MB; File system: ext4
Data: Size: 10267 MB, Used: 3640 MB, Free: 1186 MB; File system: f2fs
Internal Storage: can't be selected
This issue occured since the first clean install of LineageOS 14.1 (LOS 15 wouldn't work then). After a clean install of LOS 16 there was no significant change, free space did increase a little bit, probably due to cache wipe. So far I managed to live with the issue but from time to time I'm getting low storage messages and I have to delete data even though there should be enough space.
Does anyone have an idea why these numbers won't fit or how to get back the remaining amount of strage?

Each one will give a different size because they take different partitions into account
Eg android settings will probably take system data & cache partitions and add these all together to give a total size
TWRP will split each partition into its own size
And so on
Some "free space" will not actually be free space but will be reserved for system use
On average you will need about 800mb of free space as reported by android system settings to be able to update/install new apps
The biggest issue is system apps - when these get updated the system apk doesn't get updated. Instead the updated apk gets installed to the data partition tus you actually have two of the same app installed. One is the system app & the updated version in data.
This is good if you ever have issues and need to roll back to the system installed version but many users don't and it just takes up probably another 2gb of storage
Now you can either replace the system app with the one in data or you can remove the app entirely & reinstall just to data - Obviously each method requires root & can brake stock ota updates etc
Or if you are using a custom rom install the minimum amount of gapps for functionality (eg nano gapps) instead of stock gapps & manually install any other required apps
Other than that there's nothing you can do except clear cache & keep a check on apps that download media such as WhatsApp & delete that media from its folder in internal storage

As the original poster I can only add what I have found out. Since the phone was a remote one I had no direct access, but my friend went to a local Android specialist who diagnosed that her missing memory was caused by photos. When the photos were deleted from the phone, but kept in the cloud, her memory usage dropped to acceptable levels. I have no idea why local photos would count as system storage.

dahawthorne said:
As the original poster I can only add what I have found out. Since the phone was a remote one I had no direct access, but my friend went to a local Android specialist who diagnosed that her missing memory was caused by photos. When the photos were deleted from the phone, but kept in the cloud, her memory usage dropped to acceptable levels. I have no idea why local photos would count as system storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned in previous post it depends what the app deems system storage - usually it combines all internal partitions like it does in system settings storage
Unless you use a root app or twrp that can read and access individual partitions I would take system storage as a combined total of all usable internal partitions - so images would make up this total on internal storage which is why I mentioned whatsapp media

I resolved the out of space issue by installing a 32GB microSD and configuring as internal storage

Thanks for the quick replies!
Still I don't understand this massive use of disk space. I'm using LineageOS since the first day I use this phone. On LOS 14.1 I had MicroG, now on LOS 16 it's openGApps pico. Updates have to be installed manually, as for this phone there's no official LineageOS. All the data of my Apps is moved to the external SD card except WhatsApp.
So basically there's not much disk space used. As mentioned above, it's 4.65 GB of used space of the internal storage (according to X-plore its path is /sdcard). If we assume the internal storage to be just 10 GB of the physical 16 GB, then there's still half of the capacity unused. That's a big difference to the reported 996 MB (today it's 932 MB).
Might this difference come from mistakes at installing or manually updating LineageOS?
After updating to LOS 16 by clean install, there was no big increase of free space. Is there a possibility to get some space back in the course of a clean install?
Furthermore, the free space of data partition according to TWRP is just little above 1 GB, eventhough it says only about 3.5 GB of the 10 GB are used. I thought at least TWRP would show the real amount...
PorkKnuckle said:
TWRP / Wipe / Advanced Wipe: by selecting a partition and tapping "Repair or Change File System"
System: Size: 3243 MB, Used: 1686 MB, Free: 1557 MB; File system: ext4
Data: Size: 10267 MB, Used: 3640 MB, Free: 1186 MB; File system: f2fs
Internal Storage: can't be selected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Related

[Q] Noob's question regarding storages types

Hi and thank you for your patience
When I enter the "Quick system info" app I see that I have several storages.
Can someone please explain what are the uses for the following 2 storages?
System storage - I have 68MB free out of 250. Is t normal ?
Internal storage – 129 MB free out of 148.
Another question.
When I enter the "Processes" tab I see that every process take about 20MB is it ok ?
First of all why would you ask if it's normal? Doesn't it seem that your phone has problems, does it run crappy?
The system partition is the partition on which your system is installed and if you are not S-off can only be accessed in recovery.
The internal memory is the data partition, that is where all the apps are installed.
I don't know about the required free space on system, but if you did not remove any pre installed apps just leave it, it's fine. If you did remove pre installed apps you can move some apps form /data/app to system/app to save some space on the internal memory, but in your case that isn't necessary because you still have 129 Mb free.
About the processes, it's all fine except if you experience heavy lag, than you might need a task killer and use it every once in a while.

[Q] Storage Leak Problem on Desire/GB

I have HTC Desire with InsertCoin GB ROM 1.05 (not CM), used just for several days. Of course, almost all apps are moved to SD storage except few like Go Apps and small system utilities.
Today I started to get message that storage space is too low - just about 200K. I have moved GoSMS app to SD, then Gmail, and process hangs. GoSMS successfully moved to SD, while Gmail simply disappeared at all. After restart free space on internal memory left only 100K (yes, even less space then before).
Fixing permissions from ROM manager didn't help, so I wiped out cache partition. Free space increased to 65MB. Wiping dalvik cache increased it further to 72 MB.
I have very few data on phone, several hundred contacts and 20 SMS messages, virtually nothing else.
Now DiskUsage app reports this data:
Data - 194.7 MiB
Applications - 122 MiB
Free - 72.7 MB
I feel something is not right there. I can't understand why there so much data - almost 195 MB. Looks like some app draining free space on internal memory. I did video recording today on SD card, may be video recorder is buggy? I also had Locus map for some time, but then I deleted it with Uninstaller App.
Another possible clue - HTC Car Panel uses 50 MB for maps. Where they are? On internal memory?
Anyone can suggest what could cause this problem?
Thanks in advance for any suggestion(s).
Dalvik cache is on the internal memory and can be huge depending on apps installed
try moving the dalvik cash to your SD, you can use Terminal off the market to move it, youll also need busybox - take a look http://code.google.com/p/android-roms/wiki/A2SD
Also InsertCoin may have an option to move it using a pre-installed app, i know RCMix s 1.7 as a cool app to do it, i would be surprised in the InsertCoin builds didn't have it as well.
Or use a data2sd RoM and have the worry of space gone
Try this:
http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/127440-internal-memory-again.html

Rom Size worries

Need some reassurance...The Internal MB free is the space I need to worry about as the phone uses this as its memory. I have a few apps installed already, but was curious if I need to worry about the system Rom size.
Mine Reads:
System Rom: 367MB (9.94 MB free) (Kingsrom R 6.1)
Internal : 448 (323 MB free)
SD Card: 15.9 GB (10.2 GB Free)
Your running kings from it takes up slot of space if you want space flash another rom hehe
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
The Internal space is what the Apps are installed to anyway correct?
Do a search for APS2SD.
It's very simple to partition your SDCard so you can run that.
Here's a good guide:
http://themikmik.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=221
Unless you're adjusting your partition sizes (which I believe most people don't do), it really doesn't matter how big or small the ROM itself is, as long as it fits. It goes on a separate partition (/system), which is a fixed size. With few if any exceptions, files don't get written to /system during daily use of the ROM. Your apps and data get installed to /data, which is also a fixed size partition. Having space free in one doesn't help you with the other. So the extra data in /system just sits there unused.
There are ways you can adjust the partition size, but I think there are some downsides to doing that -- I don't know off the top of my head what, but there must be a reason it hasn't broadly caught on. You can also manually move apps into /system, but if they get updated you have to remember to move the updates back again.

Program storage full

hey all
well y HOX has about 15 gig free on the storage... but the internal storage is full.or about to be..
apps about 300 Mb. And then it shows "other" about 6 gig!
wich leves me with about 200 mb free...
i have moved all apps to phone memory.
but how do i access that partiton wichs is nealy full ?
i want to see whay the "other" 6 gig is...and delte some of it.
i am running newest viper venom / 3.7.7
Thanks
intercode said:
hey all
well y HOX has about 15 gig free on the storage... but the internal storage is full.or about to be..
apps about 300 Mb. And then it shows "other" about 6 gig!
wich leves me with about 200 mb free...
i have moved all apps to phone memory.
but how do i access that partiton wichs is nealy full ?
i want to see whay the "other" 6 gig is...and delte some of it.
i am running newest viper venom / 3.7.7
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'App Storage' as displayed by Sense is an accumulation of the TOTAL available space as distinct from 'Phone Storage'.
It includes ALL installed files and their associated data including the entire ROM and it's built-in apps, which is what occupies the 'Other' heading. Reserved space, like the unused part of /system and /cache, are counted as USED space in the Storage app. This is part of the reason 'Other' is so big.
You can reduce the usage of 'Other' by using ROMCleaner or Titanium Backup to remove those pre-installed apps you do not want/need.
But there is a limit to what can be done. Be careful not to uninstall anything necessary for the system to operate properly.
As for user-installed apps, post-ROM installation, they are allocated to the 2GB /data partition.
You can also use Titanium Backup to install apps to /system, making use of the slack space in that partition.
Titanium Backup can also be used to move these apps to SD, which in the HOX's case is just as fast as the other partitions since it has no seperate SD card.
EDIT: It's ALSO worth pointing out that there is NO clear documentation or official word from HTC about what exactly 'Other' is or why it occupies so much space. There have been MANY discussions about this, in this very forum (search is your friend BTW)...so the above is best-guess and trial and error.
Thank you for your detailed reply !
i will start looking into it right away!
thank you again!
:good::good::good::good::good::good::good::good::good::good::good::good::good::good:

[Q] strange storage space problems: cannot install more than 9 apps

Dear P920 users,
I once installed about 25 own Apps. No problems with storage space.
Then I updated my mobile from Android 2.3.5 to 4.0.4. and rootet it. The old app installations have been lost hereby.
But now I could install just 9 apps. Since that I have BIG storage problems:
No more app can be installed because there shall be too few system storage. It seems to be a joke for me!...
But it is fact: no more download from GooglePlay is possible!
Android shows in the storage management:
* system storage: 252 MB apps, 106 MB available, All together: 0,98 GB
* Internal storage: 85 MB apps, 378 MB photos/videos, Downloads: 33,8 MB, miscallenous: 1,83GB, available: 610 MB, all together: 5,57 GB.
* SD card: 4,79 GB available, 7,39 GB all together.
As you can see: the only reason can be the few 106 MB of the system storage. But WHY is there so few space left??...
1 GB space should be enough for 100 apps and more!...
Can anybody understand what is wrong here?... The storage managment seems to be wrong. There SHOULD be enough room!
I attached to this message a screenshot from a file explorer. Maybe this tells anybody anything and gives an explanation.
I cannot find anything wrong.
Thank you very much for your help and tips!
PS:
To find out what the strange 'storage eater' is I should know the following:
A) During upgarde to version 4.0.4 are there any folders of the system storage that are not cleaned?
B) Option 'System management': Several parameters are missing, like miscellanies and other. So the sum of app and available is not 0,98 GB? What is wrong here?
Where can I find out about the remaining not mentioned data?
C) How does Android calculate the 'available' system space? (here 106 MB) In the screenshot 106 MB are not mentioned anywhere.
C2) What is the minimal necessary available storage before there are problems? Is 106 MB left already too low?
C3) Which are the limitations of system storage folders?
D) Is there a file explorer app that directly lists the sizes of of (system)folders?
E) What is the size of the system folders at P920 of a clean Android 4 system? (especially of folders 'data', 'data/data' and 'system') [then I could compare!...]

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