Help Internal space

[HelpSeeker]

Hey,

I have a Galaxy S4 Mini.

The 8GB that comes with the device keeps filling up and I'm not 100% sure why.

I have a 32GB MicroSD card and I moved all possible apps that can run from the MicroSD already moved there.

Of the 8GB the split is:
3.21GB are system memory.
4.67GB left.

Of those 3.46 is in use. Almost all of them on apps. I already moved all the photos/videos to the SDCard. Tho... I'm not sure how it gets so high. The 4 heaviest apps combine for .5GB. The fifth is only 74MB. There are 43 apps that total 1.7GB with the lightest of them at 22MB. More than a third are apps that are part of the system (Google apps, some apps that were installed with the phone when I bought it). The rest are apps I basically use. At least 95% of them. So not sure what more I can do.

Then I have 1.29GB on "Other Files".
When I check that it says 1.78 is used by G Cloud. But when I browse the phone folders and check the G Cloud folder it is totally empty. Besides, the idea of G Cloud is to store data on... well, a cloud.

So that's how my 8GB is totally full.

Now, I already freed up 500MB of space by deleting some apps, but when I try to reinstall Whatsapp it says I need to clear space (which Whatsapp's size is much smaller than 500MB).

Any thoughts? What's the deal with the 1.78GB of G Cloud? What can I do to get some breathing room? Why can't I re-install whatsapp even if I have enough space?

Thanks!

 

[chanchan05]

How about just clear the data off G Cloud? It may be having some of your files offline for easy access. Are there settings on it on how much can be kept offline? Are you even using G Cloud at all?

 

[HelpSeeker]

But the G Cloud folder is 100% empty. And if I delete the data from the App then I have no backup.

I am using G Cloud.

 

[chanchan05]

Doesn't matter if the folder you see is empty. The app may be using system files and is residing in the hidden system partition. Go to application manager and check how big is the cache used by G Cloud.

 

[HelpSeeker]

The cache of G Cloud is very small. Few MBs.

 

[chanchan05]

It would seem thay G Cloud is keeping offline copies of whatever files you upload there offline. I know it's able to keep backups of photos amd contacts amd other stuff. That's the only reason I can think of that makes it so big. I'd just suggest making a backup of the G Cloud contents on a PC and then clear it's data. This would clear it up, but be warned that this would happen again as long as you are using Globe's cloud service and this poorly coded app. It's a redundant service anyway, since Android already gives you the same thing for free using GDrive.

 

[HelpSeeker]

I installed G Cloud because when my previous phone died I didn't get a lot of stuff back when I recovered the data from GDrive. Some did, so the backup was there. Others didn't.

Is GDrive supposed to backup, including App Data files, or only specific things?

Any app that does a better job than G Drive if I want to use a backup to GDrive after I was disappointed by it already?

 

[chanchan05]

GCloud can't backup data any better than Gdrive does. Remember, a third party service has even less access to system storage than Gdrive, which is set as a system app.

Apps can only backup to GDrive if they were properly coded to do so, and often times the developers made it so that you have to activate the Gdrive backup inside the app.

Using G Cloud instead of G Drive isn't changing anything in your situation anyway.

You should always make a backup regularly using proper tools anyway, as provided by your manufacturer is possible.

 

[HelpSeeker]

Ok.

Backed up my phone with Smart Switch, went with Factory Reset, and reinstalled everything back.

I have 1.94GB free now. That's without G Cloud set up again.

All good now, BUT... still want to know for future cases...

G Drive backup isn't what I'm looking for. Maybe G Cloud isn't as well, so I wonder what is.

What I'm looking for is a tool that can restore my phone AS IS.

G Drive won't install the apps back with restoration. In some cases, as you mentioned, it won't back up the data of the app.

Then when you do re-install the apps you need to login again. With some you need to restore the data (whatsapp) manually. With an app like Swiftkey that stores backups on G Drive, when I restored it now, I didn't have all the data that it displayed before (how many words it predicted, how many clicks did it save for me, etc. etc...which leads me to believe all the data it collected about my typing, etc isn't there anymore).

I was under the impression G Cloud can do, at least, some of that, but maybe I was wrong.

So... I'm looking for an app that can:

- Backup/Restore all the data on the phone (contacts, photos, vids, music, etc....).
- Backup/Restore the apps with their data and login info.
- Run automatic backups to a cloud every X time.

Is Titanium an app like that?

If not, which is?

Thanks!

 

[chanchan05]

Titanium or Helium. The paid premium versions.

 

[HelpSeeker]

Got it.

Will do that.

Thanks!