Help How to free up 280 MB of space

Sean Laurence · May 5, 2017

I want to free up 280 MB of space on my phone. When I go to Settings > Storage > Pictures, videos it says 280 MB. I want to copy whatever is there to my computer and then delete it. I have tried using Android File Transfer. I looked in /DCIM and /Pictures but I don't see the 280 MB. I have tried connecting it as a Media Device (MTP) and as a Camera (PTP).

What else can I try?

I'm very low on space on my phone. I've already deleted any unnecessary apps, cleared the cached data and used the "Free up space" feature of Google Photos.

Phone: Nexus 4
Android version: 5.1.1

Daniel Fernandes · May 6, 2017

Camera photos are stored in DCIM\Camera

Sean Laurence · May 6, 2017

Hi Daniel - Thank you for replying. I looked in that folder. There are just 2 pictures totaling 3.5 MB. There's a thumbnails folder that has about 30 MB in it.

Daniel Fernandes · May 6, 2017

That means you got 2 pictures taken by your camera. Do you have other sources for getting images? Different apps like social media apps will keep the photos in their own folder.

Like I use WhatsApp, and when someone sends me an image, it gets saved to :
WhatsApp\Media\WhatsApp Images
It does not get saved in Pictures or DCIM. So, depending from where you get these images, you'll have to find the folder.

Oh, and there is no harm in deleting the thumbnails folder. But I think it will come again. Still, no harm trying...

Sean Laurence · May 10, 2017

The only apps that I use for photo taking/storing are: Camera (the default app), Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Photos (by Google). I don’t have many apps on the phone (just 2 pages and 1 row). I checked in the Photos app under Device folders. There are 2 folders there: Camera and Messenger. There’s 1 picture in the Camera folder and 1 picture in the Messenger folder.

I went through the phone (with the cable connected). I found a folder here:

Pictures > cache > com.google.android.googlephotos

In that folder is download-cache, several folders (picasa—0, picasa—2, etc) and some files. In that folder (com.google.android.googlephotos), there is about 225 MB of .screen files. I don’t use Picasa (on my computer or as an app on the phone). Can I delete the com.google.android.googlephotos folder?

I looked through the other folders on the phone for Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Photos and there isn’t anything stored there.

Daniel Fernandes · May 10, 2017

Those are in the cache folder, so probably something you don't need. But it is safe to backup. If you're doing it on PC then right click on the file>>open with>> and select windows photo viewer. See if it's something important. If it is, then simply copy to your PC. If you don't know what it is, or if it doesn't open, then just delete it.

Sean Laurence · May 11, 2017

I made a backup of that folder and then deleted it from my phone. So far so good.

Help How to free up 280 MB of space

Sean Laurence

Lurker

Daniel Fernandes

Android Enthusiast

Sean Laurence

Lurker

Daniel Fernandes

Android Enthusiast

Sean Laurence

Lurker

Daniel Fernandes

Android Enthusiast

Sean Laurence

Lurker

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