Samsung tablet storage

Can anyone help with this?

I have a Samsung SM-T800 tablet and a message keeps coming up telling me that I'm running out of storage and need to clear some apps or files to allow an update to the operating system, but when I check the storage there seems to be 6 gb allocated to "Miscellaneous files which is empty. I also have a 1 gb SD card installed which doesn't seem to be used, so how do I get the machine to use this storage instead of deleting files and apps of which, incidentally, I have very few...

Re: Samsung tablet storage

Do you have lots of photos or video clips? I'd posted elsewhere that I got a similar message on my iPad before I could download online magazines. So I hooked it up to the laptop, and transferred all photos across, bar about 45. Then it gave me less than 2GB free. However, I still found when I disconnected the iPad from the laptop that it still had minimal storage left, so I then checked the deleted items and found they weren't totally deleted from the device. they remain for 30 days, unless I delete them manually.

I need to check on the laptop that all photos are there before doing so.

But as for yours generally, I don't know about the miscellaneous files. Have you connected it to a computer to view the files that way?

My neighbour couldn't get her iPhone to update and her storage was almost down to zero. On checking I found 100s of photos which she hadn't transferred, but before we could even transfer 1, she had to start manually deleting some from the iPhone, and only then could we proceed.

It's all very trying, I tell ya.

Re: Samsung tablet storage

I had to look at the tech specs for this. Am I right in saying this thing has no hard disk as such and no solid state storage ?!!

Seems to have only 3GB RAM and 16GB ROM.

So the only real storage is whatever SD Card you put in it and it can take up to a 128GB card, but you're saying you have only a 1GB card in there?!!

I must surely have missed something here!

Re: Samsung tablet storage

The memory card should be storing any photos you take with the tablet but it would be worth checking that it did automatically change over from saving on the device. You really need to change the memory card for something with a decent memory - 32GB micro SD cards are as cheap as chips.

Depending on which Android version you are running it is also possible to run some apps from the memory card which saves a lot of device memory but you might have to go into the Apps Manager (in Settings) to do this or it may not be available on the version of Android you are using.

The other thing you could consider doing is changing your updates to manual, then going through the Apps Manager and unloading any updates for apps you don't use that are built into the operating system (eg Samsung Music, Google Play Music etc). Then go through the apps you have installed and decide whether you actually really need them. this can save a lot of RAM.

The advantage of having the update apps set to manual is that you still get the warning that there are updates but it gives you the chance to unload all the running apps from memory first especially if updating big apps like Facebook.

To set the up dates to manual go to Play Store touch the menu bar (top left three bars), touch Settings (at the bottom of the menu); The "Auto Update Apps" change to Do Not Auto Update Apps.

There after you will be told things like "13 apps need updating", you go to Play Store - menu bar; "My apps and Games"; you will then be shown a list of apps with updates available; only select the ones you use (plus the odd ones like "Android System Webview").

It may well be that all your problem is that you have 20 windows open when it is trying to update and there isn't enough room for it to update the bigger apps.

Re: Samsung tablet storage

Only thing I know is that it has 16gb memory and has a folder called miscellaneous files taking up 6gb but appears to be empty. The SD card just happens to be one that I had spare from a camera that I thought I would try, but if it won't use that storage then what difference would a bigger capacity card make?

I keep no photos or videos or downloaded files on the machine Jazz, that is the mystery really....

The machine has very light use Bruce, just internet browsing and the odd game of Scrabble or chess so it can't really be overloaded, so I would have thought it would use storage as required automatically, but if there is a way in the Apps Manager to designate where they are stored then I will certainly have a look at that later. Regarding the size of SD card se my reply to Realist above.

Thanks for your help and suggestions everyone, onwards and upwards...

Re: Samsung tablet storage

Just because you are not using it much doesn't mean that there are not lots of windows open (Samsung doesn't call them windows for obvious reasons)



This is a quick photo of my 8" tablet showing some of the windows open in the background (about four are showing but there are about a dozen from just using the tablet this morning - I can see them all by scrolling them down). On my machine they are shown by touching the icon to the left of the bottom button but yours may be different. On my Samgsung phone it is shown by a long press on the button.

You can see the "Close All" Icon at the bottom centre of the screen. before I update any programs I press that to clear the RAM of all these working screens because they are just taking up memory. If you have never cleared these screens they you could have dozens hanging about in the background which are just cluttering up the memory doing nothing. You can close them individually by touching the X on the task bar of each screen but it is obviously easier to do all at once.

Re: Samsung tablet storage

Barry the 16GB is ROM not RAM

ROM is Read Only Memory which means you can't write to it. It will have been pre-loaded with info, which I presume is the operating system and apps that come native with the tablet. It's basically like a music CD that you buy. It has content on it but you can't ever change that content.

The other memory is the RAM and there's just 3GB of that and that's needed for the apps to work. It's basically the working memory.

For actual storage of your own content, docs, music, photos, videos etc you have to use that SD Card, so you need a proper card in there.

In short, this isn't a device for storing stuff on. It's a play toy, designed really to give you convenient access to the internet and run basic apps. If you're taking lots of photos and videos and the like what you need is . . . .

a computer !

Re: Samsung tablet storage

Unfortunately you don't understand how an Android tablet or a phone works.

There are two memories as you observe but to call them ROM and RAM is to misunderstand their function. (I presume this is rather like CR and LF in computers - a left over from earlier times)

There is System Memory (not ROM) which is where the operating system, photos, apps, data, downloads etc are stored in a non volatile memory (think of it as an SSD), then there is RAM which is volatile memory where things are run and done (hence the need to empty it when updating apps). On Android devices the System memory is treated as another memory card and in the newer versions of Android the external memory card can be used as System memory (sort of) for some apps.

If you look in "MyFiles" the internal memory is called /sdcard and any plugged in memory card is called /extsdcard

Re: Samsung tablet storage

The terminology was not mine Bruce. IIt's taken directly from the Samsung website when viewing the technical specs for the Galaxy Tab.

3GB RAM
16GB ROM
External Storage (MicroSD) up to 128GB

Seems a poor choice of term if it's writable.

Re: Samsung tablet storage

Barry

The issue you are experiencing turns out to be very common amongst Samsung tablet users. There are a few issues.

One issue is that you can't assign the external storage MicroSD card to be "internal storage", at least not out of the box. If you could, then apps that you download would be stored on that SD card and run from there.

I believe you can manually move them across from internal storage to external storage but some apps will likely be designed to run from internal.

You can circumvent that whole issue by putting a different operating system on the device. Marshmallow seems to be the one recommended.

A larger issue is that Samsung Galaxy tablets have a "cache" issue. This is likely where your missing storage capacity has gone. Apps leave "stuff" in the cache and you have to therefore routinely clear it out. If you don't you'll eventually run into trouble.

I found the instructions below which show how to clear out the entire Cache partitiion. I can't vouch for the safety or effectiveness. Here they are:

To wipe the cache partition, follow these steps:

1 Press and hold the Power/Lock key, tap Power off, and then tap OK to turn off the tablet.
2 Press and hold the Power/Lock key and Up Volume key at the same time.
3 Release the Power/lock key when the Samsung logo appears.
4 Release the Up Volume keys when the Android image appears.
5 When the menu appears, press the Down Volume key to select Wipe cache partition.
6 Press the Power/Lock key.

Doing the above will not touch your installed apps or personal data

Once the message, “Cache wipe complete” appears on the screen below the menu, Press the Power/Lock key to select Reboot system now.


I read also that you can download an app that provides a simple 1 click solution to clearing the cache. There was a user out there however who had gotten into a catch 22 situation. His device (and cache) was so full that he couldn't download any further apps. So he couldn't download that actual app he needed to be able to clear the cache!

So in summary the solutions appear to be:

1. Manually move apps over to your SD card
2. Clear the cache partition
(or clear individual apps cache)
3. Install Marshmallow on the device so you can set the SD card to be effectively the internal storage

GL