False "storage low" message

[castdiva]

Getting a message that my INTERNAL storage is dangerously low but all items showing are already on SD card with plenty of room, not on my S7 device.

In fact my internal storage shows 0 items under that screen.

I have cleared the cache on every app I could as well as deleted apps I no longer use. But I continue to get this message.

What is the problem here?

 

[sullencab]

I encounter this issue before with my Samsung S5 device too and I brought it to a shop and let the technician fixed the issue. Fortunately the problem was fixed. I hope somebody here can give you a guide on how to fix the issue personally.

 

[svim]

If you go into your Settings menu, open up the Storage menu, and then your Internal storage, what does that show you? Please post screen captures of the entire Internal Storage menu:
https://www.hardreset.info/devices/samsung/samsung-g930f-galaxy-s7/screenshot/

 

[puppykickr]

Try this...

Settings
Storage
Phone
Apps

Select size as a method to sort.

Now go through your largest apps, chicking for large cache and data.

If this does not locate your issue, are you a shutterbug?
Ie., do you take/download lots of pictures and videos?

Each item of this sort will make one or more 'thumbnails', in order for the system and yourself to locate the media easier.

Each thumbnail is a fraction of the size of the real file, but in mass quantities this can still build to a significant amount.

File Manager
(show hidden files)
DCIM
(look for .thumbnails, or thumbnails)

These can be deleted without the loss of any media.

A good solution is to use a gallery that does not require them.

To prevent them from coming back, make a note of the name of the folder they are in.

Delete the folder.
Now create a file with the very same name.

Android will not allow a folder or a file of the same names in one place.

So your file will prevent that folder from being recreated.

Simple Gallery Pro - Photo Manager & Editor (A premium app for managing and editing your photos, videos, GIFs without ads) - https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro

 

[castdiva]

If you go into your Settings menu, open up the Storage menu, and then your Internal storage, what does that show you? Please post screen captures of the entire Internal Storage menu:
https://www.hardreset.info/devices/samsung/samsung-g930f-galaxy-s7/screenshot/

As you can see my internal storage show '0' and the .96GB of files are all on my SD card alredy!

 

[castdiva]

Try this...

Settings
Storage
Phone
Apps

Select size as a method to sort.

Now go through your largest apps, chicking for large cache and data.

If this does not locate your issue, are you a shutterbug?
Ie., do you take/download lots of pictures and videos?

Each item of this sort will make one or more 'thumbnails', in order for the system and yourself to locate the media easier.

Each thumbnail is a fraction of the size of the real file, but in mass quantities this can still build to a significant amount.

File Manager
(show hidden files)
DCIM
(look for .thumbnails, or thumbnails)

These can be deleted without the loss of any media.

A good solution is to use a gallery that does not require them.

To prevent them from coming back, make a note of the name of the folder they are in.

Delete the folder.
Now create a file with the very same name.

Android will not allow a folder or a file of the same names in one place.

So your file will prevent that folder from being recreated.

Simple Gallery Pro - Photo Manager & Editor (A premium app for managing and editing your photos, videos, GIFs without ads) - https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro

What you have suggested does not address the problem that I am having. I already did those steps prior to arriving at this dilemma. My problem is that the phone is reading files that are on my storage card as files on my internal storage. And that is not accurate.

 

[puppykickr]

I think you may be mistaken.

Because of some outdated setups from the past, Android will often call internal storage 'SD Card'.
And this is not really the external SD card you may have inserted.

Check your phone storage to see which area is selected as the default storage.

see at the top left, where it says 'save location'?

 

[puppykickr]

Notice here, where an app I use shows three separate memories on my device- yet there are only two in reality.

 

[puppykickr]

In fact, why not try that same app, and see what it comes up with?

CPU Info (Information about device hardware and software) - https://f-droid.org/packages/com.kgurgul.cpuinfo

 

[svim]

Thank you for posting those screen captures, they do show some notable discrepancies.
Initially, based on the screen cap of your phone's Settings menu, it does not appear to be a matter of your internal storage is filled to capacity (11.48GB out of 16GB), nor your microSD card storage (25.51GB out of 32GB).

But those other screen caps appear to be showing you conflicting numbers of your microSD card (as they are based on 32GB), not your internal storage media (16GB).
Which apps did you get those other screen captures from?

 

[puppykickr]

Thank you for posting those screen captures, they do show some notable discrepancies.
Initially, based on the screen cap of your phone's Settings menu, it does not appear to be a matter of your internal storage is filled to capacity (11.48GB out of 16GB), nor your microSD card storage (25.51GB out of 32GB).

But those other screen caps appear to be showing you conflicting numbers of your microSD card (as they are based on 32GB), not your internal storage media (16GB).
Which apps did you get those other screen captures from?

Those other screen captures are mine, from my device, lol.

The 'discrepancy' only appears to be so, the memory used by the system itself is not counted.
The point was to shoe that often Android will call the internal storage 'SD card', and this causes confusion when we are thinking of external storage.

 

[svim]

Those other screen captures are mine, from my device, lol.

The 'discrepancy' only appears to be so, the memory used by the system itself is not counted.
The point was to shoe that often Android will call the internal storage 'SD card', and this causes confusion when we are thinking of external storage.

Actually I was referring directly to the screen caps posted by the OP as I only recognized the one from the Storage settings as being from the Android OS Settings menu and the rest presumably from other apps. And yes there is a clear discrepancy where one screen cap (from the Settings menu) is indicating there is no shortage of free storage memory yet the others do for some reason.

 

[puppykickr]

Actually I was referring directly to the screen caps posted by the OP as I only recognized the one from the Storage settings as being from the Android OS Settings menu and the rest presumably from other apps. And yes there is a clear discrepancy where one screen cap (from the Settings menu) is indicating there is no shortage of free storage memory yet the others do for some reason.

You mentioned 11.48 GB, and that is a screenshot from my device.

 

[puppykickr]

From what I see, OP has multiple files copied between amazon cloud storage and internal storage.

It seems OP has been watching these, and not deleting the files afterwards, as they are downloaded in order to view.

Even so, it looks like there is only about 1 GB of files like this on the device.

A better assesment could be made by looking at the apps list on the device.

 

[puppykickr]

You mentioned 11.48 GB, and that is a screenshot from my device.

OP's device has 32GB, mine has 16GB.

 

[svim]

Yes, now I see what I misinterpreted and was all confused about. When viewing the OP's screen caps as a series it included all the screen caps posted in this thread. I should have just viewed them individually. Never noticed that as a buggy problem on this site before. Please ignore all my previous comments, they have no basis. Oops, my bad.

 

[puppykickr]

Yes, now I see what I misinterpreted and was all confused about. When viewing the OP's screen caps as a series it included all the screen caps posted in this thread. I should have just viewed them individually. Never noticed that as a buggy problem on this site before. Please ignore all my previous comments, they have no basis. Oops, my bad.

No problem, lol.
Your misunderstanding caused me to rethink it all, and try to figure it out more than I had before, so it was probably for the best.

This bug is new, and I have noticed a few other recent ones as well.

I have never seen that happen like that in any other post, and it would make confusion for anyone.

 

[castdiva]

I think you may be mistaken.

Because of some outdated setups from the past, Android will often call internal storage 'SD Card'.
And this is not really the external SD card you may have inserted.

Check your phone storage to see which area is selected as the default storage.

see at the top left, where it says 'save location'?

View attachment 154242

Thank you that actually makes sense. I checked but my phone storage doesn't show "SAVE LOCATION" on that screen.

However I deleted a couple of the music files showing stored on the SD card, and it "freed space"

I have 190 "duplicate" music files and am not sure which one connects to my Amazon Music Prime Library. I am VERY confused at this point and could use some direct help. Is there a way to get tech support assistance online and/or by phone?

 

[puppykickr]

Thank you that actually makes sense. I checked but my phone storage doesn't show "SAVE LOCATION" on that screen.

However I deleted a couple of the music files showing stored on the SD card, and it "freed space"

I have 190 "duplicate" music files and am not sure which one connects to my Amazon Music Prime Library. I am VERY confused at this point and could use some direct help. Is there a way to get tech support assistance online and/or by phone?

When you are using your online storage for (what I think is) music, it seems that it is downloading the file onto your device.

That is why you are getting copies of files that are also saved online.

Myself, I would suggest streaming your music when listening to it, and only storing music online that you really want to keep.

Music that you listen to everyday would serve you better if stored onto your device on an SD card (an external memory).
That way the card and its contents are transferable to other devices.
(Computer, a new phone, etc.)

Keeping your internal memory at or below a 70% threshold is a goal that is only met with due diligence on the part of the user.

Go through your apps, and ditch what you don't use or need.

Use a browser for social media, ie. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Delete the apps and just use the mobile site with your browser.

This can save a huge amount of space.

Do you play games on the device?
Use a firewall or an adblocker to pevent the games from showing ads.
The ads get downloaded for you to watch, but they do not get deleted automatically.
Sure, you will miss out on whatever digital trinkets they dangle in front of you to entice you to watch the ads, but so be it.
It's just a game.

The vast majority of people here, myself included, will tell you to delete any app that is a cleaner, booster, cooler, etc. or any security app.

They are not needed and don't do anything beneficial for the user.

The worst part is that they run all the time, show ads, and take up space on the device.

That being said, there are two 'cleaner' apps that I DO recommend to people.

One is pretty simple, and thorough.
I have older versions of Android, so I use the older, ad-free version of the app.
If you have Android 9 or newer, you will need the most recent updated version- and unfortunately it has ads.
But it does a great job, and it also includes a duplicate finder, which allows you to easilly find and delete duplicate files on your device.

App for Android 8 and below (no ads):

https://systweak-android-cleaner.en.uptodown.com/android/download/1633705

App for Android 9 and above (has ads):

https://systweak-android-cleaner.en.uptodown.com/android

The second app that I recommend is very thorough, but not quite as simple to use.

It only cleans junk files, and you need to be able to tell it the filepath to files that you don't want cleared.

If this is within your capabilities, this one is by far the best one I have seen.
The description of the app tells you important infomation that everyone should know about this type of app.

No ads, open source Android cleaner:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/theredspy15.ltecleanerfoss/