I have a Samsung S7 with 32 GB of storage. For a couple of years now, storage space kept getting filled up for no apparent reason, until none was left. How can I find out what is using up the storage?
What have I tried so far?
- I installed Google Files, which gives a breakdown of used storage. It says, 7.4 GB apps, 1 GB images, very little for the rest, except: 21.2 GB for "System". That's over 65% of all available storage. What is included in this 21 GB and how can I free it up?
- I tried uninstalling apps, but whatever space I free up will eventually disappear, preventing me from re-installing the same apps again.
- I tried uninstall Samsung Secure Folder. It freed up minimal space.
- I used the Samsung Files app to look at all visible files on the internal storage, and move whatever I could identify (such as images) to the SD card. Whatever space I could re-gain this way would eventually get filled up again.
- Tried wiping the cache partition.
- I regularly use
abdto executepm trim-caches. This usually lets me get to about 1.0-1.5 GB of free space on the phone, which allows it to work properly for a few days. Eventually, that space gets filled up and I'm down to 0.5 GB of free space again, compromising the functionality of several apps. The amount I can get back withtrim-cacheshas been steadily decreasing over time.
Any tips about (1) how to identify what uses up space (2) how to free up space are very welcome. I am very much hoping to be able to avoid a factory reset.
/systempartition. It includes almost everything on/dataother than apps directories and/data/media. Explained in How disk space is used on Android device?.