Help Confusion over S2 storage space

HamptonCaught · May 23, 2014

Hi - I'm getting regular messages regarding the fact that my S2's storage space is running low and now most of my apps won't update because there's no room. I've moved all apps that will move onto my SD card, but I'm slightly confused by 'Device memory' and 'USB storage'.

Here's the current details from my phone;

Device memory
Total space - 1.97GB
Applications - 1.51GB
Available - 1.75MB

USB storage
Total space - 11.50GB
Available - 10.58GB

SD card
Total space - 14.83GB
Available - 1.83GB

Most of my spare space appears to be in my USB storage, but I'm not sure how I access it or move some apps/music/pictures to it in order to free up some space on the device memory.

I'd be really grateful for any help.

chanchan05 · May 23, 2014

It appears your S2 is still running Gingerbread? Android 2.3? You haven't updated it yet?

Anyway, your problem is Device Memory. Obviously SD card is your external SD card, which appears to be 16GB. So that doesn't matter in this case. You apparently have a 16GB version of the S2. This 16GB is further divided into 2 parts: device storage and usb storage. Usb storage is where media and some other files go. Apps install into the Device memory, where you are limited to 1.97GB.

The only fix for this is to either uninstall apps, or reformat the phone then upgrade it to a newer Android version. As of Android 4.0, device memory and USB storage has been merged so that you can use the entire 14GB available on the phone for apps.

Slug · May 23, 2014

chanchan05 said:
As of Android 4.0, device memory and USB storage has been merged so that you can use the entire 14GB available on the phone for apps.

True, but iirc the S2 still retained the pre-ICS partitioning. The OP has updated to the most recent 4.1.2 firmware, i believe.

p.s. Topic moved to Galaxy S2 (International) sub-forum.

chanchan05 · May 23, 2014

If I remember correctly, my Tab Plus had partitioning as of HC, which disappeared after an updatr to 4.0.4 and a reset, but don't quote me on that. I wasn't really observing then.

HamptonCaught · May 23, 2014

chanchan05 - many thanks for your reply. Sounds like a real pain, but I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet at some stage.

chanchan05 · May 23, 2014

Yeah, but just to be clear, take into account that the S2 may not have its storage rearranged, so we won't know until you try if it will work or not.

HamptonCaught · May 24, 2014

Incidentally, my S2 is running Android 4.1.2.

HamptonCaught · May 29, 2014

Not a solution by any means, but as a short term measure to free up some device memory;

Go to the keypad on your phone and enter the following;

*#9900#
(i.e. 'star', 'hash', '9900', 'Hash').

Then select 'Delete dumpstate/logcat' (second item on the menu) and press 'OK'.

Immediately upped my available device memory to 277MB.

Help Confusion over S2 storage space

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