Support App Manager SD (or not SD) apps mystery

Before anyone refers me to the "Low on space" sticky, pleeeeze - I am not low on space! But I am interested in avoiding low space when I do that next large speech engine download, so I went and checked my stats under the Android SD card item. What I found there seemed impossible, it told me that my Incredible has 6.60 GB storage, and that 6.58 is available - in short, almost no apps are installed in my internal memory, therefore they must be all on my SD card! My SD card has been chronically redlining due to my media file collecting and then certain apps which record video while you drive can take up a gig or more, but I'm aware of these issues. And there do happen to be a very large number of app folders on my SD card, which do not tend to be removed when it's owner app is removed.

It was the question of how so little of my internal storage gets used (when you really need that gig or two, 6.58 is a lot to not be using) that brought me to the Android App Manager, and then what I saw under the SD apps tab made even less sense. It says that I have a handful calculators and similar apps, one browser theme never used, and one action game which I stopped playing after only a few plays almost a year ago. I may play it again sometime, but it can't be that big, and anyway it's beside the point. It's not the question of how much space they take up, I watch that anyway. The big mystery is that my SD apps are almost entirely unaccounted for. It's impossible for nearly 300 apps to be installed on the .02 GB of internal space which Android accounts for as used, therefore they must be on my SD card (anyway I have seen the SD folders which they make).

Well, I know there are at least secondary folders for my apps (for file storage) on my SD card, and if there no primary files on that card for the apps not accounted for under the Android SD tab, then the Android App Manager is not reporting my information correctly. If the remaining 285 of my apps are installed on my internal storage, then the Android SD storage information isn't reported correctly either.

I would be grateful to anyone who can shed some light on this funny Android accounting (as I see it).

 

Thanks.

I tinkered around on my own and eventually found that out - not a fun night. Soon after saying "I don't have low memory", I got a low space error! I could see that less than half of that "phone memory" was available, but closing programs made no difference. Obviously my apps had to be installed somewhere, so this must be where they are. But they call it "MEMORY", not storage, and program files need STORAGE somewhere - so how is "memory" not a cruel misnomer? I thought the word was defined as something of a dynamic nature, and (like my own memory, *sigh*) not permanently stored. Is this type of memory an altogether different beast (other than the compact material) than what is used in PCs?

Anyway, I have not had accounts synced other than Google and AppBrain, although there was some duplication of client apps for navigation, car black box and news reader apps. When these were culled, I gained more than one point of memory for each, eventually bringing me from less than 300 MB free to over 380 MB. But I still have only about half of it free, barely over the threshold (by the judgement of IVONA when it tried to install it's voice), but I can't seem to cull or unsync any more which I could live without.

I find myself in a state of confusion when I look at my system root directory through any phone app such as Duel File Manager (I have tried them all, and I still see only two roots). The one which is not my SD card shows my system files, although I never seem to see these when my phone is connected to my PC! My pc folder shows the SD card, and the other root folder is empty except for some pictures. ????? I have left this folder alone when connected to my PC. My phone file viewers don't seem capable of displaying root capacity, but I notice that the root folder which appears empty (and truly nearly is) on my PC has 6.6 GB capacity! Therefore, I have really not been using this space at all, although my phone file viewers misled me into believing there are system files on it! It seems as though my file viewing apps form a composite root (if such a thing can exist) from my internal storage and my phone memory.

So, if I were to transfer media files through my PC, and placed them directly on the root, I suppose the Android viewer would display them on the root? What about apps? 6.6 GB is a lot of space not available for depositing apps which aren't running, or at least for use as some sort of a swap drive. Is either at all possible?