I got my (allegedly) 16GB Note 2 on Saturday and installed loads of stuff, including some pretty big Gameloft games. When I go into Storage from the Settings it says that my device memory has total space of 10.36GB with 2.98GB of it left. The fact that 7.38Gb is used up is probably about right given all the large games I've got on there, but why is the total space only reporting as 10.36GB when it's a 16GB model I bought? I'd expect some space to be used up by the OS itself and the various protected system partitions that come with it obviously, but does Jellybean really consume the GBs of space that make the difference between the 10.36GB reported and the 16GB that should be on there?
I used a disk info app to see what was going on and have attached a screenshot of it's output. I'm not sure what the difference is between the Data and SD card partitions there. Note that I do have a proper external SD card in the phone but it's only 2GB and so isn't any of those partitions. Anyone know what I'm seeing here and where my 16GB has gone?
Yes, this is the available amount of of space you get in this phone.
Its not just this phone! Any phone you get from market will have less user-available storage.
One X is said to be 32 gb but you can use only 25 gb
Here is a mod whoch can increase your space to around a bit above 11 gb http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931500
Any 16 gb phone made has around this much user available space rest is OS and other stuff.
HINT: buy a 32 gb memory card? it will replace your internal memory card need exactl as if it was internal memory storage.
How? You can transfer all apps to SD Card using titanium backup so your phone memory and SD card memory is basically unified.
Read this: http://compreviews.about.com/od/storage/a/ActualHDSizes.htm
Partitions of the SGS III (I assume pretty much the same in Note II):
/system: 1G
/data: 11G (shared with /sdcard)
/cache: 1G
Add to this space required by OS and installed apps.
Kiahnlliya said:
Partitions of the SGS III (I assume pretty much the same in Note II):
/system: 1G
/data: 11G (shared with /sdcard)
/cache: 1G
Add to this space required by OS and installed apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 'Advertised vs actual' factor as described in that article would take just over 1GB away from a 16GB start (70.3 MB x 16 = 1.12GB).
Adding in the Cache, System and Data/SD Card values from my screenshot would take us up to 13-and-a-bit GB. (1.12 GB + 1GB + 1GB + 10GB = 13.12GB)
The System partition hold the OS and any other baked in stuff (as I understand it) so where's the other 2-and-a-bit GB?
I'm sure it's all explainable so I'm just curious to know how this works. I thought I remembered having more free space on my previous Note and the GSII before it (both of which were advertised as 16GB) but perhaps I'm misremembering.
Medulla said:
The 'Advertised vs actual' factor as described in that article would take just over 1GB away from a 16GB start (70.3 MB x 16 = 1.12GB).
Adding in the Cache, System and Data/SD Card values from my screenshot would take us up to 13-and-a-bit GB. (1.12 GB + 1GB + 1GB + 10GB = 13.12GB)
The System partition hold the OS and any other baked in stuff (as I understand it) so where's the other 2-and-a-bit GB?
I'm sure it's all explainable so I'm just curious to know how this works. I thought I remembered having more free space on my previous Note and the GSII before it (both of which were advertised as 16GB) but perhaps I'm misremembering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would be interesting to get a clear answer for sure... I have a 64GB SDXC with 30GB free space on it and I can't think of anything else I would need that isn't already on there, I couldn't fill it up even if I tried. Also I still have 8GB free on my internal...
I don't listen to music on my phone, I have a dedicated player for that, so that's why I don't need tons of space... and that's why I don't really reflect on these things, but am a bit curious indeed about why the available space is so much less than 16GB.
Kiahnlliya said:
It would be interesting to get a clear answer for sure... I have a 64GB SDXC with 30GB free space on it and I can't think of anything else I would need that isn't already on there, I couldn't fill it up even if I tried. Also I still have 8GB free on my internal...
I don't listen to music on my phone, I have a dedicated player for that, so that's why I don't need tons of space... and that's why I don't really reflect on these things, but am a bit curious indeed about why the available space is so much less than 16GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My usage is pretty much the same as yours (external SD card with a few things on it and separate dedicated mp3 player) so it's not something I'd usually notice either. The only reason I've clocked it this time is because I bought a few GB and bigger sized games in the recent 25p Google Play store all of which I've installed as soon as I set the phone up on Saturday; whereas usually I'd install one 'proper' game and only install a new one when I'd finished the last one. So, as such, this is probably about as full as my phone will ever be and not something that'll cause any problems, but it would be good to understand what's going on here.
Related
I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but on the internal memory of my E4T it only has 12GB of available space instead of the advertised 16GB. 4GB may not sound like much but I could really use the space and am trying to hold off on buying a microSD card.
If anyone can help with a solution or give me an answer on why this is it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I believe it's a norm to falsely advertise storage space in GB now. Our 16Gb is actually 16000mb, which equals to 15.625gb.
2 of that is partitioned as System Memory. If I am not mistaken, the OS takes up the balance.
maxspiderx said:
I believe it's a norm to falsely advertise storage space in GB now. Our 16Gb is actually 16000mb, which equals to 15.625gb.
2 of that is partitioned as System Memory. If I am not mistaken, the OS takes up the balance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo. They advertise the unformatted capacity.
And its not just Samsung... Take any flash drive or SD card, or even hard drive, and compare the ACTUAL free space with the advertised capacity. It will always be lower, sometimes significantly.
Hi guys.....got my new Note 2 which i love. 16GB internal storage only shows as 10.46GB available to use on phone, is this right ?
I know storage is kept for system etc but nearly 6GB.......seems a lot to me.
Wish downloaded games could be moved to my 64GB removable card as all my internal now full, if 10.46 available out of the box is right its a bit misleading to sell it as 16 GB.
Cheers Paul
On Og note, 2 gb of '16gb' was reserved for apps, 10+gb were for user storage and rest for system/ what nots . Not sure what the amount is on note2 but most likely the same.
from a galaxy far far away....
tall-android said:
Hi guys.....got my new Note 2 which i love. 16GB internal storage only shows as 10.46GB available to use on phone, is this right ?
I know storage is kept for system etc but nearly 6GB.......seems a lot to me.
Wish downloaded games could be moved to my 64GB removable card as all my internal now full, if 10.46 available out of the box is right its a bit misleading to sell it as 16 GB.
Cheers Paul
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine has the same storage size as well..
its not quite misleading...
its a standard. pick ANY android in market, if it has 32 gb space, the user available space will be 25 gb. and 10 or 11 gb on a 16 gb device...
its not even an android-only limit. even iPhones have that...
Hi Just got my samsung captivate glide from ebay it's a second hand phone I just notice that my internal memory is only 3gb (used root explorer to see it). Is this the real memory or there is something bogus on this phone that i got from ebay. Thank you would appreciate any reply
sinichi21 said:
Hi Just got my samsung captivate glide from ebay it's a second hand phone I just notice that my internal memory is only 3gb (used root explorer to see it). Is this the real memory or there is something bogus on this phone that i got from ebay. Thank you would appreciate any reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, no it's the real phone. I actually just got mine too. 3.75GB available for me to use.
It's weird though. I had the old Captivate which had 16GB of space and more than 13GB of it was available to me. I know you lose some space when formatting but I expected to have at least 5GB with this phone. May be due to partitioning of the device from the factory. Hopefully I can free up that space, because I'd like to have it...
Maybe someone else can explain the ROM breakdown a little better
gtmaster303 said:
Lol, no it's the real phone. I actually just got mine too. 3.75GB available for me to use.
It's weird though. I had the old Captivate which had 16GB of space and more than 13GB of it was available to me. I know you lose some space when formatting but I expected to have at least 5GB with this phone. May be due to partitioning of the device from the factory. Hopefully I can free up that space, because I'd like to have it...
Maybe someone else can explain the ROM breakdown a little better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply yeah was thinking looks weird they say 8 gb I know 2gb goes to system but where is the other 6 or 5 lolz anyway thanks was worried i got trick by the person I bought from.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
Memory manufacturers are allowed to define 8GB as 8000000 bytes. Given this information a computer would see 8000000 bytes as 7812.5 MB or 7.629 GB. And this is before it is formatted or partitioned. Figure the phone has 7.5 GB. Then you have 2GB for internal apps and 4GB for internal sdcard. Leaves 1.5GB some in partitioning and rest in ROM use for operating system and reserved places for phone and modem sections.
That is why you hear about many people adding large micro sd cards and switching internal memory with external memory.
Sent from my SGH-I927 using xda app-developers app
I picked up a 32gb microsd and never looked back.
Tyfighter said:
I picked up a 32gb microsd and never looked back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 16gb card, and never needed a new one since... Every phone I've upgraded to has more and more built in memory, so it's kinda left my memory card the same over the years.
reply your question
use this programe for move installed data on internal sd to external
GL to SD v1.9.9
Use Link2Sd
sinichi21 said:
Thanks for the reply yeah was thinking looks weird they say 8 gb I know 2gb goes to system but where is the other 6 or 5 lolz anyway thanks was worried i got trick by the person I bought from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if u want a better understanding of how your space it being used by your phone..
use the application called link2sd
and in that go to menu and storage space
it should show you all the partitions
they will some up to 8 gb i think . so there you go
On main page for this forum why the ROM is 64GB when its only 16GB ?
NATA8986 said:
On main page for this forum why the ROM is 64GB when its only 16GB ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue is the amount of internal (NAND) flash memory installed in the phone. When Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 they said it would be available with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal flash. This is comparable to the Galaxy S3, which was available with 16GB or 32GB (and later 64GB) internal flash.
This has become an important issue because the SGH-M919 (T-Mobile's version) comes with almost half of the 16GB internal flash used by pre-installed applications. This leaves the user with less than 8GB for their own use.
Samsung's attitude is just use the external SD card, which can hold up to 64GB. However, the most recent versions of Android do not support running applications from the external SD card. So this not a valid alternative.
Though 8 GB sounds like quite a lot of storage, on my Galaxy S3 (with 32GB internal flash and 64GB external flash) I am using approximately 10GB of the internal flash memory. And this is with all photos/music/video stored on the external card.
I would have already more then filled the internal flash on the 16GB Galaxy S4.
In addition, no matter how much better/faster the Galaxy S4 is, I will not go from 32GB Internal flash to 16GB Internal flash while paying $650 for the "upgrade".
Both the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 come with 2GB of internal RAM.
I hope this answers your question.
ChitownWingMan said:
The issue is the amount of internal (NAND) flash memory installed in the phone. When Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 they said it would be available with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal flash. This is comparable to the Galaxy S3, which was available with 16GB or 32GB internal flash.
This has become an important issue because the SGH-M919 (T-Mobile's version) comes with almost half of the 16GB internal flash used by pre-installed applications. This leaves the user with less than 8GB for their own use.
Samsung's attitude is just use the external SD card, which can hold up to 64GB. However, the most recent versions of Android do not support running applications from the external SD card. So this not a valid alternative.
Though 8 GB sounds like quite a lot of storage, on my Galaxy S3 (with 32GB internal flash and 64GB external flash) I am using approximately 10GB of the internal flash memory. And this is with all photos/music/video stored on the external card.
I would have already more then filled the internal flash on the 16GB Galaxy S4.
In addition, no matter how much better/faster the Galaxy S4 is, I will not go from 32GB Internal flash to 16GB Internal flash while paying $650 for the "upgrade".
Both the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 come with 2GB of internal RAM.
I hope this answers your question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does,
Thanks
ChitownWingMan said:
The issue is the amount of internal (NAND) flash memory installed in the phone. When Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 they said it would be available with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal flash. This is comparable to the Galaxy S3, which was available with 16GB or 32GB (and later 64GB) internal flash.
This has become an important issue because the SGH-M919 (T-Mobile's version) comes with almost half of the 16GB internal flash used by pre-installed applications. This leaves the user with less than 8GB for their own use.
Samsung's attitude is just use the external SD card, which can hold up to 64GB. However, the most recent versions of Android do not support running applications from the external SD card. So this not a valid alternative.
Though 8 GB sounds like quite a lot of storage, on my Galaxy S3 (with 32GB internal flash and 64GB external flash) I am using approximately 10GB of the internal flash memory. And this is with all photos/music/video stored on the external card.
I would have already more then filled the internal flash on the 16GB Galaxy S4.
In addition, no matter how much better/faster the Galaxy S4 is, I will not go from 32GB Internal flash to 16GB Internal flash while paying $650 for the "upgrade".
Both the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 come with 2GB of internal RAM.
I hope this answers your question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats crazy! Back that stuff up to your computer man! lol. I have the 16GB S3 and have only ever filled up the internal SD because i didn't clean it. After i took 10 mins to go through ever file i had, i reclaimed 7 GB! of data.
elesbb said:
Thats crazy! Back that stuff up to your computer man! lol. I have the 16GB S3 and have only ever filled up the internal SD because i didn't clean it. After i took 10 mins to go through ever file i had, i reclaimed 7 GB! of data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has nothing to do with cleaning. It has to do with having over 700 apps installed, some of them using large amounts of data that could not be moved to the SD card. When I clean the dead and unused file I may recover 10 or 20 MB. Not gigabytes.
I backup daily with Titanium and weekly with Nandroid Manager.
ChitownWingMan said:
It has nothing to do with cleaning. It has to do with having over 700 apps installed, some of them using large amounts of data that could not be moved to the SD card. When I clean the dead and unused file I may recover 10 or 20 MB. Not gigabytes.
I backup daily with Titanium and weekly with Nandroid Manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah them backups suck a lot of memory. Can i ask how one uses 700 apps!? holy crap
elesbb said:
Ah them backups suck a lot of memory. Can i ask how one uses 700 apps!? holy crap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of them are because I'm anal. I have something like 30 camera apps because I just can't decide which one I like best. I am a professional photographer and none of them work like my Nikon D-700 .
I keep downloading the Amazon free app of the day if it looks like an interesting game or utility. I have 10 different calculators (RF, Hex, Construction, Depth of Field, etc). Maybe 30 different games. I have a whole bunch of root/custom configuration apps. Even a bootable copy of Ubuntu.
I use Go Launcher Ex. I have the most commonly used apps on my home page, 2nd most commonly used apps on a second home page.
Everything else is organized into 36 folders in the app tray.
ChitownWingMan said:
Some of them are because I'm anal. I have something like 30 camera apps because I just can't decide which one I like best. I am a professional photographer and none of them work like my Nikon D-700 .
I keep downloading the Amazon free app of the day if it looks like an interesting game or utility. I have 10 different calculators (RF, Hex, Construction, Depth of Field, etc). Maybe 30 different games. I have a whole bunch of root/custom configuration apps. Even a bootable copy of Ubuntu.
I use Go Launcher Ex. I have the most commonly used apps on my home page, 2nd most commonly used apps on a second home page.
Everything else is organized into 36 folders in the app tray.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im glad thats not my phone sheesh!
I too had a bunch of camera apps, finally just got to it and edited the CM10.1 camera to add/remove the things i like. And i also had 564564646 calculators, being a theoretical physics major not one did everything. I just came across Graphing Calculator - MathPac+ that i am loving now that i modded it. Prolly gonna be my go to one now. I also used the TI emulators.
elesbb said:
Im glad thats not my phone sheesh!
I too had a bunch of camera apps, finally just got to it and edited the CM10.1 camera to add/remove the things i like. And i also had 564564646 calculators, being a theoretical physics major not one did everything. I just came across Graphing Calculator - MathPac+ that i am loving now that i modded it. Prolly gonna be my go to one now. I also used the TI emulators.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am leaning towards the JB+ camera app as it seems to be the easiest. However, there are several apps that allow much more control for when I am too lazy to drag out the Nikon.
I use NeoCal in RPN mode for my main calculator but it doesn't handle Hex or Time Value of Money very well.
I sent you a private email about learning Java/Android and an app I would like to write.
thanks in advance...
I'm still waiting for the 64GB version of the SGH-M919.
ChitownWingMan said:
I am leaning towards the JB+ camera app as it seems to be the easiest. However, there are several apps that allow much more control for when I am too lazy to drag out the Nikon.
I use NeoCal in RPN mode for my main calculator but it doesn't handle Hex or Time Value of Money very well.
I sent you a private email about learning Java/Android and an app I would like to write.
thanks in advance...
I'm still waiting for the 64GB version of the SGH-M919.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did reply, i hope you got it, i typed quite a bit
But now that CM10.1 has HDR, i love it more Pics look phenomenal on the S3.
And im waiting for my back account to increase for the 16GB SGH-M919
Looking at a Galaxy Tab S. Is the 32G worth it over the 16G if I'm going to use a large microSD? Does the Tab S allow easy push to the microSD? How large can you use?
Thanks
4Nails
You dont really need that huge space just stream music/movies, & upload all your stuff
I think you get like 10 or 12 usable GB with 16 GB.
4Nails said:
Looking at a Galaxy Tab S. Is the 32G worth it over the 16G if I'm going to use a large microSD? Does the Tab S allow easy push to the microSD? How large can you use?
Thanks
4Nails
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got a 64gb card in mine (Wifi). You can have music & videos as well as move apps2sd. I'm not always near a wifi hotspot (unless I use my phone) so it's convenient.
Get the 32GB version, or you will regret it. The stock software uses up 9 GB, so right off the bat you only have 7 GB or so to use. You can store all your media on a micro SD card, but not all apps support move to SD. So depending on the apps you use, you can end up with a lot of apps that doesn't support apps to SD.
Edit: after removing some updates for the stock apps I was able to shrink system file size to just 5 GB, so there is 11 GB available.
Unless you get the 32GB at a good price, I would not worry about getting it over the 16GB. With apps like app2sd and Foldermount, you can easily move apps to the microsd card. I have most of mine running off of 64GB microsd just fine. Save your money and put it toward the SD card. Now again, if it's only marginally more, say $50, then I would indeed get it. I know Best Buy only charges $50 more but a lot of deals can be found on the 16GB model making the delta much greater. Shop around, you should be able to get the 16Gb for around $399 or so. Thus wouldn't pay much more for the 32Gb version.
In my experience with many android devices I've never had issue getting the lowest available internal. Have always used microSD to store files and moved apps when possible. My 10.5 and 8.4 both are 16Gb with 120Gb Sandisc uSDs. No issues whatsoever.
(BTW BB often has those uSDs at $99)
MicroSD is great for media files, but the number of apps that support move to SD is limited, so depending on your usage your mileage may vary. I am not saying that you will definitely run out of space if you get the 16 GB
snapper.fishes said:
MicroSD is great for media files, but the number of apps that support move to SD is limited, so depending on your usage your mileage may vary. I am not saying that you will definitely run out of space if you get the 16 GB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned, there are a number of utilities out there that will move the apps or large files from them to the SD card (folder mount, Directory Bind, latest apps2sd). I have over 50 games and apps running off my 64GB card. I will mentioned that I believe each of these utilities do require root, thus if you do not plan to root, your options will be limited and probably best to pursue the 32GB. However if you do plan on rooting, then 16GB should not be an issue. Can also remove the undesired apps as well, freeing even more space.
5.0.2 update will also help massively as fixes SD card issues of kitkat.
I hope so too.