"Other" in Internal Storage has 10GB of unexplained files. Other file apps showing different results

[manishb]

Something odd has suddenly appeared on my phone and I have suddenly GBs of free storage gone. I have a Galaxy A50 and observed this issue in the last few days. I think this issue was not there a while back, but may have started recently. I definitely had more than 10GB of free space a month or so back and I have not installed any large apps or downloaded/received many large files.

The Samsung MyFiles app in my case shows 59.28GB out of 64GB used (the "Other "folder is 10.51 GB) => Phone has 4.72 GB free.

However, the Files by Google shows only 50.82GB used out of 64GB => 13.18 GB free. The google files app is unable to enumerate this ~10GB completely. 

Solid Explorer (third party files app) shows 4.70GB free of 51.58GB => This app has no idea about some 12.42GB of my phone's storage.

The google files and Samsung MyFiles app have never shown this difference of storage space.

I think this is something Samsung is missing and these "Other" files are not readable or something. I think there is a serious problem Samsung has with Android 11 and have messed up something with the File Storage. I have no idea where this "Other" files are and what it contains and how to even begin clearing it up.

And no, this is not a cached file problem. I wiped my Cache completely and it made difference to this. I even tried to wipe the Cache of several apps having large amounts of cached files, but that also did not make any difference in reducing the Other size. I have tried my best to find where these files are and have been unable to. These files are simply hiding.

This could be related to the WhatsApp Dual app media folder missing issues so many people have reported. Probably there are more folders missing like this and everything is enumerated under Others now.

To be clear for the WhatsApp dual app issue I mentioned above, there are 27 different posts in the r2.community.samsung.com in the last month indicating its a wide issue which I also have.

https://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?filter=location,dateRangeType&q=wh...

[SamsungClaudette]

Hey @Samsung_PVamxeH

Thanks for reaching out. I suggest sending an error report within 2-3 minutes of the issue occurring for this to be investigated by our research and development team. Error reports assist with identifying any deviations in your device performance. Once analysed, our team will get back to you with a response to advise further steps.

To send an error report:
Samsung Members app > Support > Error reports > select issue category > Describe issue and frequency > Tick ‘Send system log data’ > ‘Send’ in top right.

Kind Regards,

SamsungClaudette

[Piglette]

Hello: My A11 shows 28Gb in the Other folder and the phone is becoming unusable. The folder does not show when connected to a PC with a USB cable even when Show Hidden Files and Folders is checked.

Folder does show in Android>Settings>Storage but you can do nothing with it.

Help!! Thanks

[BMGRAHAM]

Smart Suggestions - an app that doesn't appear anywhere in the list of Apps - was taking 23GB of storage.  What does this actually do that is so important for it to take 23GB?

[SamsungLaura]

Hi @BMGRAHAM, Smart suggestions is part of the OS. This refers to everything on your phone related to the system, settings, gestures etc. 

[ala222]

I found it . There's a glitch in samsung phones where emptying the bin does not actually delete the videos/ photos .. please watch this how to empty the other storage .. there might be some storage used by apps but you will see the difference in the video.

https://youtu.be/B2_pC3R1SNw

Please like and share the video

Cheers.

[Astalph]

I just got a Galaxy A03s. I have no photos,videos,music,or other such things stored on my phone. And only about 2gb used by a couple games. Yet out of the phones 32Gb I only have about 6gb free. System says 10gb and Other is using up a ridiculous 14GB!   What are these 14GB? It makes no sense to me. The Android OS and everything they include with it such as the Calculator,Calendar,etc should all be labeled as System.  Even if they're  not,though, I can't come up with what this 14GB listed as Other could be. Especially when I see screen shots here of people with Others showing almost nothing. One of phone's selling points was that it has 32gb of storage. Then you take it out of the box and you only have 6gb of usable storage!!!

[ala222]

Hey check apps If they using any cache.

[Astalph]

I enabled My Files in the App Data settings,or whatever it's called. Now the breakdown of memory usage is more accurate and the Other section displays much less memory usage. Now the usage is listed as Apps. That makes a little more sense but when I look at all the apps I can't come up with anywhere near 14gb. They couldn't possibly be caching THAT much data, could they? That's  crazy.

[ala222]

It's possible . U might have to play with your phone a bit.. but nowadays 32gb is not enough for a phone. Apps games are getting bigger.