Develop Bugs

[Q] Managing the SD Card and External SD Card

So, this device handles storage slightly differently than my HTC EVO 4G did. That, which pretty much needed an SD card for storage, mounted it in /mnt/sdcard/. This phone however, mounts the external SD card in /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/. I am guessing this is because this guy has 16GB internal storage already, and changes are if you were to dissect the phone, you'd probably find an SD card in there too.
I am thinking I'll just move my card contents over to internal storage. Programs that backup/restore data to /mnt/sdcard/ don't realize that this path isn't actually external storage.
I am wondering how this will affect those of us that frequently reflash. Does that partition get wiped when the ROM is wiped? Or is it really just another SD card internally that isn't touched by the system kernel or ROM except for storing user data?

I also have another Q, that's not online with the OP exactly but related to the topic. I'm coming from an e4g to the et4g and plan on using my sdcard from the e4g in the et4g (at least until I buy a 32gb card). I notice that there are many system files on the sdcard from the e4g, are these gonna be an issue with the et4g?
also, I was thinking to make a backup of the card as is to a hard drive, then delete all the files and reformat the card (fresh start), then add back only those I feel are necessary (backup apks, titanium backup files, pics & vids)....is this feasible?
lastly, are there any "don't touch" files on the scard that I should be aware of.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

KaliS-Pugilist said:
I also have another Q, that's not online with the OP exactly but related to the topic. I'm coming from an e4g to the et4g an plan on using my sdcard from the e4g
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, what is your question? You should be able to move the card, but like I stated, the paths seem to be different. It may be the same for you since both devices are Samsung, but maybe not.

muzicman82 said:
So, what is your question? You should be able to move the card, but like I stated, the paths seem to be different. It may be the same for you since both devices are Samsung, but maybe not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, mistakenly hit the submit button before putting my questions (hate when that happens)....
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

KaliS-Pugilist said:
I also have another Q, that's not online with the OP exactly but related to the topic. I'm coming from an e4g to the et4g and plan on using my sdcard from the e4g in the et4g (at least until I buy a 32gb card). I notice that there are many system files on the sdcard from the e4g, are these gonna be an issue with the et4g?
also, I was thinking to make a backup of the card as is to a hard drive, then delete all the files and reformat the card (fresh start), then add back only those I feel are necessary (backup apks, titanium backup files, pics & vids)....is this feasible?
lastly, are there any "don't touch" files on the scard that I should be aware of.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There shouldn't be anything you shouldn't touch. As far as I know, I think a program like Titanium Backup will archive everything.
What I would do is use Titanium Backup to backup old phone and restore to new phone. Then start the programs you use with personalized data at least once. If you end up with paths on both the phone storage and external storage, move the external over to the phone, replacing/combining.
I ended up doing this and found that my external SD card is now empty.. Starting clean!
It's pretty amazing how far 16GB built into a phone can go. I don't use my phone for movie watching or music often, so we'll see. Maybe I will.

I just notced on the e4g that there are 2 paths that both seem to lead to the same. destination file.
one is: /mnt/sdcard
the other is: /sdcard
the content is exactly the same. not sure if that info helps you any.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

KaliS-Pugilist said:
I just notced on the e4g that there are 2 paths that both seem to lead to the same. destination file.
one is: /mnt/sdcard
the other is: /sdcard
the content is exactly the same. not sure if that info helps you any.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't make a difference. I think there are two mounts to support applications that look to just /sdcard.

May i have 3rd grade level instructions on how to move all the contents from my sd card(evo) into the internal memory please?
Thanks,
Ian B

Mr Ian B said:
May i have 3rd grade level instructions on how to move all the contents from my sd card(evo) into the internal memory please?
Thanks,
Ian B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you move the SD Card from your EVO 4G to the Epic 4G Touch, attach a USB cable to your PC. In the notification area on the phone, you have to touch the USB Connected status and then touch the button that says "Connect USB storage".
This will mount TWO removable disks. One will be the size of your SD Card. The other will come in at around 11.5GB. The 11.5GB is the internal storage.
Just use Windows to move everything over. You may want to back up both before you make changes just in case.
If the hardware doesn't mount in Windows, you may need to install the drivers first. They are installed with Samsung Kies, which is on their site.
If you need more info, let me know.

muzicman82 said:
There shouldn't be anything you shouldn't touch. As far as I know, I think a program like Titanium Backup will archive everything.
What I would do is use Titanium Backup to backup old phone and restore to new phone. Then start the programs you use with personalized data at least once. If you end up with paths on both the phone storage and external storage, move the external over to the phone, replacing/combining.
I ended up doing this and found that my external SD card is now empty.. Starting clean!
It's pretty amazing how far 16GB built into a phone can go. I don't use my phone for movie watching or music often, so we'll see. Maybe I will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thanks...im thinking to do this. im going to back up the entire sdcard on my PC (and ext HD) before i do anything.
also, i see about 15 files that have a "." prefix, ex) ".dataviz" are these system files for the apk's that are installed? should these be deleted or just leave and if i find it has been created on the phones storage just move it over?
anyways...my et4g just came in today, so after work i'm going in my cave to unbox and forget about the rest of the world.

Keeping your storage clean

Do any of y'all do anything to keep your internal and external storage nice and tidy?
I go in there thru my PC and delete folders and files I don't use. Sometimes they are loaded down with cache files and whatnot, and it can be thousands of them! I have found that it takes a while to process (delete) those thousands of files through my PC, so who knows what they can do to the little Snapdragon.
I have also used CCleaner to wipe the free space on both the internal and SD storage as well. I thought maybe I felt a difference, but who knows if it was placebo or what. I figured they would benefit from a nice clean slate as far as blank space goes, as well as help the nandroid backup process.
Anyone else do anything or have advice on maintaining our storage so that it is responsive and reliable?

DustinBooyah said:
Do any of y'all do anything to keep your internal and external storage nice and tidy?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used the market app "SD Maid" before. It might be something to look into.
DustinBooyah said:
I figured they would benefit from a nice clean slate as far as blank space goes, as well as help the nandroid backup process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt this helps the nandroid process at all. I don't think SD or EMMC contents get backed up by a nandroid (I could be wrong though)

I clear usless stuff off of my storage on a regular basis, just for my own sanity and ease of finding stuff. The emmc is not to bad at gathering garbage but the sd is full of it every time i look. There is always burstlyimagecache folders and folders left behind by apps i have uninstalled. I usually just copy the stuff i want / need to my pc and then format it fat32, and then copy the good files back. Sometimes im lazy though and i will just use the multiselect option in root explorer, and go on a deleting spree. I use sdmaid although im not sure why they named it that, as it hardly touches the sdcard at all. It mostly clears app caches which some are on the sd but most are on the /data partirion. Cleaning up the storage wont affect nandroids as they are not backed up. However having a cleaner sd with more space can make I/O times faster therfore very slightly speeding up the nandroid writing to the sd.

[Q]Corrupt Internal Storage Data and Recovering

Good Day All.
I'd like to share a weird problem that I've encountered today.
I have a Lt26 running .55 firmware stock, and my OS is Windows 8 Pro 64bit.
Now what happened today was I plugged my phone in my PC via USB, the "Xperia“ icon appeared in My Computer, under removable devices. I clicked on it, it will show Internal Storage (Contents on my phone)
Until this stage, everything was fine. I then went into my phone's internal storage to look for a mp3 file, but ended up finding an empty folder called "sdcard". Now the strange part comes, I've never seen this folder, and it appeared in my internal storage's root folder. I went into this folder, there was an empty folder called "Screenshot".
Bear in mind at this time there are 11GB of files on my phone. And all other files are presence on my internal storage, all was normal.
I made a bad decision to delete that empty folder, by pressing Shift + Del. Bad choice, my Explorer process got stuck, so I had to force close it. Then I pulled out my USB cable....
Now when I plug in my phone again, the internal storage shows that I have 25 GB of space available, but when I goto the root folder of the internal storage. I can see ALL THE FILES ARE STILL THERE, WITH CORRECT FILE SIZES. But if I unplug the usb cable, and open Root Explorer on my phone, the SDcard folder now has nothing in it, completely wiped. And the total available space now shows as "25GB" (Which is the full space)
I can only see those files on my PC. But when I try to copy them out of the phone, Windows tells me "Unspecified Error". I looked up for the meaning of that error code - Access Denied.
I have tried to mount Internal Storage as SD card using SD Mounter V2.0. Then used some recovering software to scan for files on that drive. I manage to recover 9000 files with a file size of 32kb only. Interesting enough, I can not copy anything back to the internal storage anymore.
I suspect that I might accidentally deleted the file index. As I've never seen that folder before.
MY QUESTION is. Are those data still there on my phone? Should I just give up trying to recover those files and clear internal storage within my phone's option?
Many thanks.

Use sony pc companion and try to back up everything on ur computer.
After that format ur cell.
Thn restore ur backup.
If the files are available it should help
Or else no way out.
Press thanks if helpful!
Sent from my LT26i using xda premium

Yesterday I had same with u. If you moving files with root explorer, when u plug hh at computer that cant record.
And now I ussualy use es explorer, all moving same with my computer screen.
Sent from my LT26w using xda premium

SyedMusarraf said:
Use sony pc companion and try to back up everything on ur computer.
After that format ur cell.
Thn restore ur backup.
If the files are available it should help
Or else no way out.
Press thanks if helpful!
Sent from my LT26i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there. I tried your method, and unfortunately the files can not be recovered this way. PC companion "having error trying to copy files". So I used Final Data and recovered about 70% of my stuff.
Thanks again for the input.

fksoul said:
Good Day All.
I'd like to share a weird problem that I've encountered today.
I have a Lt26 running .55 firmware stock, and my OS is Windows 8 Pro 64bit.
Now what happened today was I plugged my phone in my PC via USB, the "Xperia“ icon appeared in My Computer, under removable devices. I clicked on it, it will show Internal Storage (Contents on my phone)
Until this stage, everything was fine. I then went into my phone's internal storage to look for a mp3 file, but ended up finding an empty folder called "sdcard". Now the strange part comes, I've never seen this folder, and it appeared in my internal storage's root folder. I went into this folder, there was an empty folder called "Screenshot".
Bear in mind at this time there are 11GB of files on my phone. And all other files are presence on my internal storage, all was normal.
I made a bad decision to delete that empty folder, by pressing Shift + Del. Bad choice, my Explorer process got stuck, so I had to force close it. Then I pulled out my USB cable....
Now when I plug in my phone again, the internal storage shows that I have 25 GB of space available, but when I goto the root folder of the internal storage. I can see ALL THE FILES ARE STILL THERE, WITH CORRECT FILE SIZES. But if I unplug the usb cable, and open Root Explorer on my phone, the SDcard folder now has nothing in it, completely wiped. And the total available space now shows as "25GB" (Which is the full space)
I can only see those files on my PC. But when I try to copy them out of the phone, Windows tells me "Unspecified Error". I looked up for the meaning of that error code - Access Denied.
I have tried to mount Internal Storage as SD card using SD Mounter V2.0. Then used some recovering software to scan for files on that drive. I manage to recover 9000 files with a file size of 32kb only. Interesting enough, I can not copy anything back to the internal storage anymore.
I suspect that I might accidentally deleted the file index. As I've never seen that folder before.
MY QUESTION is. Are those data still there on my phone? Should I just give up trying to recover those files and clear internal storage within my phone's option?
Many thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fksoul said:
Hi there. I tried your method, and unfortunately the files can not be recovered this way. PC companion "having error trying to copy files". So I used Final Data and recovered about 70% of my stuff.
Thanks again for the input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly what happened to me (deleted sdcard folder inside internal storage, etc, pc companion has errors trying to copy files). So I'm pretty much in the same situation now. Did Final Data really solved your problem? Where can I get it? Do you know any other software that might do it?
Thanks
---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 AM ----------
nariz said:
That's exactly what happened to me (deleted sdcard folder inside internal storage, etc, pc companion has errors trying to copy files). So I'm pretty much in the same situation now. Did Final Data really solved your problem? Where can I get it? Do you know any other software that might do it?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And how did you recognize the internal storage inside Final Data?

nariz said:
That's exactly what happened to me (deleted sdcard folder inside internal storage, etc, pc companion has errors trying to copy files). So I'm pretty much in the same situation now. Did Final Data really solved your problem? Where can I get it? Do you know any other software that might do it?
Thanks
---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 AM ----------
And how did you recognize the internal storage inside Final Data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly, you can google around Final Data. Or try using Recuva. They both work, but I'd say Final Data works much better. I managed to recover 29G of stuff (Most of them are not working) from both softwares.
To get Final Data recognize your phone's internal storage, you must remember to use SD Mounter by Soheli (I used V2.0). It's in the same forum, maybe you should look for it. Sorry I don't have the link anymore.
DO NOT TRY TO COPY ANYTHING INTO YOUR PHONE AT THIS STAGE (Except for SD Mounter Maybe). Mount your Internal Storage as Mass Storage after you installed the apk file. Your PC should recognize the drive as a "Removable Drive", then open Recuva or Final Data, do a deep scan (It took me a whole night just to scan through 11GB of files, another 3 hours to recover the files).
Good Luck. I recovered 70% of my stuff with this method.
Can somebody explain what that SDCARD folder actually is?

fksoul said:
Firstly, you can google around Final Data. Or try using Recuva. They both work, but I'd say Final Data works much better. I managed to recover 29G of stuff (Most of them are not working) from both softwares.
To get Final Data recognize your phone's internal storage, you must remember to use SD Mounter by Soheli (I used V2.0). It's in the same forum, maybe you should look for it. Sorry I don't have the link anymore.
DO NOT TRY TO COPY ANYTHING INTO YOUR PHONE AT THIS STAGE (Except for SD Mounter Maybe). Mount your Internal Storage as Mass Storage after you installed the apk file. Your PC should recognize the drive as a "Removable Drive", then open Recuva or Final Data, do a deep scan (It took me a whole night just to scan through 11GB of files, another 3 hours to recover the files).
Good Luck. I recovered 70% of my stuff with this method.
Can somebody explain what that SDCARD folder actually is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, it requires root and I don't have the phone with it and trying now to root it would wipe data (at least it seems so)...

nariz said:
Damn, it requires root and I don't have the phone with it and trying now to root it would wipe data (at least it seems so)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I was able to do it. Having stock ICS without root and bootloader locked, I had to get root to try the sd card mount and recover data.
Luckily, I found Bin4ry's root method for Xperia S: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1886460 . It worked as a charm, and now I have root in stock ICS (without unlocking bootloader).
After, I follow your comments, installed SD Mounter: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1744878 , mounted the Internal Storage as SD Card and was able to run the PhotoRec and recovered almost all pictures (without the correct name). Couldn't use Final Data and Recuva only found 5% of the photos.

You can recover data from android phone internal storage, see this solution: recover data from android phone internal memory
hope this helps.

Internal memory folders changed after J.B Kies update?

Hi I have been dealing with this problem for awhile now and still haven't been able to find a fix (without rooting). After I updated JB from Kies when it came out my internal and memory card folders are completely different? Also it says I only have 11.95GB total in my internal memory. The internal memory folder says :sdcard0. And my memory card folder is: extSdCard? I'm not rooted. Does anyone know how to get the folders back to the regular names ext sd ect? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

RPK925 said:
Hi I have been dealing with this problem for awhile now and still haven't been able to find a fix (without rooting). After I updated JB from Kies when it came out my internal and memory card folders are completely different? Also it says I only have 11.95GB total in my internal memory. The internal memory folder says :sdcard0. And my memory card folder is: extSdCard? I'm not rooted. Does anyone know how to get the folders back to the regular names ext sd ect? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is how it they are formatted now. It's not a mistake or anything being messed up. I guess I'm just used the internal being sdcard0 and ex sd card being extsdcard. I don't use myfiles much. I use root explorer and it can displays it as storage and then inside that folder is extsdcard and sdcard. Or there is a fodler just called sdcard for the internal in the root of the file system.
What problem is it creating, other than just being different than you are used to ?

hednik said:
That is how it they are formatted now. It's not a mistake or anything being messed up. I guess I'm just used the internal being sdcard0 and ex sd card being extsdcard. I don't use myfiles much. I use root explorer and it can displays it as storage and then inside that folder is extsdcard and sdcard. Or there is a fodler just called sdcard for the internal in the root of the file system.
What problem is it creating, other than just being different than you are used to ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yhea, i'm having some trouble too. After the update my extCard is totally mess-up. The folders with the pictures and songs are not recognized, and the Gallery doesn't show hundreds of pictures, but i see if i use a file manager. I've synced all my songs so far, but with the pictures is a mess: seems also the format is not recognized anymore and with Kies i'm not seeing a way for put the pictures in the new folder named "Photo". It's really frustrating.

hednik said:
That is how it they are formatted now. It's not a mistake or anything being messed up. I guess I'm just used the internal being sdcard0 and ex sd card being extsdcard. I don't use myfiles much. I use root explorer and it can displays it as storage and then inside that folder is extsdcard and sdcard. Or there is a fodler just called sdcard for the internal in the root of the file system.
What problem is it creating, other than just being different than you are used to ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot use the Apps2sd app anymore. And basically I would just like to be like before the update.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

i'll try not to rant too hard but Kies and OTA firmware updates are a joke. you are essentially dirty flashing one rom over another with no real clearing of caches, no resetting, no way for all the programs to regroup, rebuild and run on the system hardware/software properly. the thing about dirty flashing is, it sticks well with some devices but generally not with many others. you'll see these types of issues many times among the avid flashers and those that must have the latest release of a developers rom.
i would recommend backing everything up, booting into stock recovery, wiping data/factory reset and wiping cache. if you decide to perform another update via kies in the future, i would do this procedure before AND after the update.
yes, you have to start over when you perform these sorts of actions but you have to ask yourself, are you happy with how your device is performing now (before the update)? is it worth starting over? (it might be if you're going to run on the updated OS for a year or so) and how well do you want it to perform after you install the update?
cheers
EDIT: i just assume everyone accesses recovery and download mode so i didnt post the button combo. recovery is: Volume Up + Home + Power. release just the power button when you get a vibrate.

RPK925 said:
Also it says I only have 11.95GB total in my internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is normal for a 16GB SGS3. 16GB is advertised but actual formatted available space is less. 11.95GB is right on par. This is the case for just about all devices that have memory that is writable, including hard drives on a computer.
RPK925 said:
I cannot use the Apps2sd app anymore. And basically I would just like to be like before the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any particular reason why you are using Apps2sd? $10 to $20 will land you an external memory card with huge amounts of space (32GB at least). This is plenty to store music, photos, and other misc. files. And even with a ton of apps installed to internal, you still should have ample space left over. There is just no good reason to use Apps2sd on this phone as it has so much internal memory. If this is just to keep you from losing data, then I would suggest rooting and using an app such as Titanium Backup as it makes it super easy to restore apps and the corresponding data after anything that requires a factory reset.
simonMac777 said:
Yhea, i'm having some trouble too. After the update my extCard is totally mess-up. The folders with the pictures and songs are not recognized, and the Gallery doesn't show hundreds of pictures, but i see if i use a file manager. I've synced all my songs so far, but with the pictures is a mess: seems also the format is not recognized anymore and with Kies i'm not seeing a way for put the pictures in the new folder named "Photo". It's really frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated by xBeerDroidx, factory reset from stock recovery. You will have to re-setup your device but it will be a one time frustration for now until the next update.

As stated by xBeerDroidx, factory reset from stock recovery. You will have to re-setup your device but it will be a one time frustration for now until the next update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually i did.
After the update, without factory reset, everything was (almost) fine… except a strange malfunction of the Gps (lock signal lost after a while) and sporadic reboot without reason. For the Gps I’ve found here the solution (NV Rebuild), but for the reboot… I wasn’t sure about it. So I decided for a factory reset. After that my ext card, with the ICS paths, was not recognized. So bucked up everything, format the ext card and let Kies sync my files and create all the folders needed from JB: Camera Photo Video for pictures, and media for the music. Now I’m let’s say 90% ready to go… I’m curios to test especially the Gps.

[Q] Free space in internal memory

Hi there
I have a serious problem with my S4 Mini Duos GT-I9192. The problem is that the free internal memory space is wrong. At the moment it's showing about 1GB free space, but I confirmed my installed apps and it's impossible I have 5GB of installed apps. In fact I have about 2.5GB of installed apps, then I shoud have about 3GB of free space.
I made a test, plugged the device in the computer and it shows I really have 1GB free in internal memory, after that I selected all folders into it and get properties, and it shows 2.4GB size. (you can see in attached images)
My question: If the internal memory has 5.39GB and my all files has 2.4GB used space, I should have 2.99GB free space, not just 1GB free!!! Where is this lost space??? I need it, because I want install apps and games, and at now I cant!!
My andriod version is 4.4.2 kitkat (not rooted), manually updated from sammobile, but the problem was the same before update. The original version was 4.2 Jelly Bean.
Best regards for all.

You should look for hidden folders with a dot before the name. I think you probably got a big .thumbnails folder. That's a common problem, try searching on google for solutions.

marchrius said:
You should look for hidden folders with a dot before the name. I think you probably got a big .thumbnails folder. That's a common problem, try searching on google for solutions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guy, that's not the problem. I selected all folders, included with dot before name, hidden folders... Also had googled, but no answer...

renatotozzi said:
Hi guy, that's not the problem. I selected all folders, included with dot before name, hidden folders... Also had googled, but no answer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did u play heavy games in the past? If you uninstall those games, occasionally their cache/data remain on your device. Go to internal sdcard > Android > Obb and look for any folders that correspond to the apps u used previously. Delete them and see if that solves your problem. I had this problem once in the past when I uninstalled gta3, the com.rockstargames.XXXX folder remained in the obb folder. I had to manually delete that to free up space.
If that does not work, backup everything u got on your internal sd card onto microsd card/usb drive and wipe internal storage via TWRP recovery.
Try what I suggested. hopefully it works. good luck.

Do what he said. you can wipe internal storage from your pc too

sasank360 said:
Did u play heavy games in the past? If you uninstall those games, occasionally their cache/data remain on your device. Go to internal sdcard > Android > Obb and look for any folders that correspond to the apps u used previously. Delete them and see if that solves your problem. I had this problem once in the past when I uninstalled gta3, the com.rockstargames.XXXX folder remained in the obb folder. I had to manually delete that to free up space.
If that does not work, backup everything u got on your internal sd card onto microsd card/usb drive and wipe internal storage via TWRP recovery.
Try what I suggested. hopefully it works. good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I don't have old data/obb games in device. As you can see in attached screen capture, I selected all existing folders in my device and get properties, it shows I have 2.5 GB used, the refered space is really lost, maybe in some partition which windows does not recognize...

marchrius said:
Do what he said. you can wipe internal storage from your pc too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But wipe what? wipe not used files? I can't do this because all files used, I don't have unused files there. Or this wipe process is something which can find the lost space in device?

renatotozzi said:
But wipe what? wipe not used files? I can't do this because all files used, I don't have unused files there. Or this wipe process is something which can find the lost space in device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No what we meant is : You first copy everything from your internal storage to external sd card or usb drive. Then go to TWRP recovery and choose wipe>Advanced Wipe and select internal storage. Then swipe and your internal storage will be cleaned up off everything. Now you can transfer the backup files from that usb drive or ext sd card back to internal storage.Do not format internal storage via windows pc.
Do that only with TWRP recovery. Good luck.

Have you considered that the internal memory is shared?
Infact the internal sdcard is the folder /data/media.
The S4 mini has the /data partition of 5.4 GB.
So if you have 1 Gb free and 2.4 occupied into internal sdcard (/data/media), maybe you have 2 GB occupied into /data? In particular into /data/app e app-asec? (these folders contain the apks of app installed from play store).

sasank360 said:
No what we meant is : You first copy everything from your internal storage to external sd card or usb drive. Then go to TWRP recovery and choose wipe>Advanced Wipe and select internal storage. Then swipe and your internal storage will be cleaned up off everything. Now you can transfer the backup files from that usb drive or ext sd card back to internal storage.Do not format internal storage via windows pc.
Do that only with TWRP recovery. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok guy, I understood your tip. I'll try to do that. Just another question: Doing this process I will lose all my personal settings, installed apps, accounts? Or all will be as before after do that?

renatotozzi said:
Ok guy, I understood your tip. I'll try to do that. Just another question: Doing this process I will lose all my personal settings, installed apps, accounts? Or all will be as before after do that?
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Sorry for late reply. You wont lose installed apps but you will lose those photos, videos and any downloads or documents you have on internal storage. That's the reason I said backup/Copy everything on your internal storage to usb drive/external sd card and then format. Later you can move them back to internal storage and reboot.

sasank360 said:
Sorry for late reply. You wont lose installed apps but you will lose those photos, videos and any downloads or documents you have on internal storage. That's the reason I said backup/Copy everything on your internal storage to usb drive/external sd card and then format. Later you can move them back to internal storage and reboot.
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Ok, guy, thanks for tip, I'll try this

I've got this problem today. Only 800 MB free in internal SD, but when selected all files/folders they only had 1,2 GB!! Where the hell was the remaining GB?
I've entered the recovery and found a backup in the internal SD. Deleted it and recovered the free space!
2 days ago, I've made a backup to the external SD (waiting for the M10 release!), and it really is there, but I don't know how, the backup was made to the internal SD too!
See if you don't have any backup in the internal SD, but you have to go by the recovery.