21GB of System/User Data

[refryguy]

I have 21GB of System/User Data on my phone and that seems like a lot. I don't have a ton of apps that I loaded myself (outside of what phone came with). Is that a lot? Should I root my phone?

 

[Dannydet]

Do you have a lot of photos? Music?
Offline maps? Videos?

 

[Hadron]

I guess that 10GB or so of that is "system data". This is actually the total size of the system partitions, which includes the operating system, radio firmware, kernel etc, but also any unused space on those partitions (which is not accessible to you anyway so may as well be included).

 

[lunatic59]

How long have you been using the phone? Many times message and mail databases grow, especially if you send a lot of images or other media.

Download this app and post a screenshot.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sa.storagetruth

 

[refryguy]

There is no photos or video as part of that 21gb. I managed to get it down to about 16gb by removing apps and clearing data, but I'm having to do it one app at a time???

 

[refryguy]

How long have you been using the phone? Many times message and mail databases grow, especially if you send a lot of images or other media.

Download this app and post a screenshot.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sa.storagetruth

Been using it a little over 1 year.

 

[refryguy]

Do you have a lot of photos? Music?
Offline maps? Videos?

There is no photos or video as part of that 21gb. I managed to get it down to about 16gb by removing apps and clearing data, but I'm having to do it one app at a time???

 

[tube517]

It's a PITA but a factory reset may help. And then re-add your apps. That's alot of data and junk that builds up over time.

 

[svim]

There is no photos or video as part of that 21gb. I managed to get it down to about 16gb by removing apps and clearing data, but I'm having to do it one app at a time???

Not necessarily one at a time for everything. Some apps yes but for the most part you can do a lot through your phone's Settings >> Storage >> Internal storage menu.
Apparently you've cleaned up quite a bit already so depending on just how far you want to take this, try installing this DiskUsage app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage&hl=en
It will give you a graphical display of the contents stored in your internal storage.
You also have a basic file manager to manage your files/folders that Samsung includes on its phones, look in your apps menu for the 'My Files' app.