Files I can't see on my device are taking up space - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III

So the other day while flashing from AOKP to CM11, it came to my attention that there are files on my phone that I can seemingly only see from my recovery. While finding the zip to flash in CWM(Which was in my downloads folder) , I noticed that I have to go through another /0/ folder to get to my actual downloads folder. Before that, there's another Downloads folder, along with a whole bunch of other stuff I must have downloaded a while back. It looks like an old version of my phone's data. There was even a flashable early CM10 rom on there.
I get the feeling this stuff is part of the reason my phone always seems to only have around a gig or two of space open despite it's 16GB capacity and the fact that all of my 40-some apps are under 100MB. It's irritating me to no end to know there are folders I can't access and delete on my phone. Anybody have any suggestions as to how to get rid of this stuff. The several times I've reset and deleted cache to flash a rom seems not to have done anything.
On a side note, really enjoying CM11!

You can thank Google for your troubles. With the 4.2 update Google introduced Multi-User. Basically its like it is Windows where you can have multiple user accounts and each user gets their own profile folder. This is what Google did essentially. The 0 folder is "User1" basically. The files are fine where they are at. They want cause any issues. But if you would like just hook your phone to your PC. Take everything out of the "0" folder and move the file to the root of your internal SDcard. Notice I said Internal SDCard (aka SDCard0) not root of system.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

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Can't see zips on sd card in CWM

I have something all out of whack here .... I have been flashing different ROMs ... gone all the way back to stock ee4 and moved forward. I can install rooted roms and I have root. I can open Titanium and freeze appz and such. My tethering app gets granted su permissions with su popping up asking to allow and so forth. But when I go into CWM recovery, none of the zips on my sd card show up!! I put the sd card into a reader on my desktop and verify the files are on the root of the sd card but I can't see them in recovery !!
Any help greatly appreciated. I'm willing to do whatever I have to do to the phone !!
Thanx In Advance for Any Help
Steve
EDIT: All of this because I couldn't get the browser to work on Danalo's All In One while on WIFI home network. Browser works on 3g but not WIFI ... network is good, wife's moto droid works fine on wifi ...
I'd like to go back to Imnuts' Infinity ROM but I can't see the zip !!!
I can put the zips in a folder on the sd card I created and I can see them in recovery. Just can't see them on the root level of the card ...
Have you tried different programs to actual zip the file, is it getting named file.zip.zip? Sometimes you just name a file depending on the program and it adds .zip to it so it would be file.zip.zip.
I see what you are saying didnt work for me hang on I have 2 ideas. Rename it as an update.zip file and make sure its not update.zip.zip or use root explorer to move the file into a folder that you see in root level such as data. Ok worked for me I moved the file with root explorer to android/data on the sdcard reboot into recovery and see it. Maybe Im not understanding what you are trying to do.
blueis300 said:
Maybe Im not understanding what you are trying to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had an issue before seeing zip files at the root level. I mistakenly mounted system during all of the flashing I've done. Had trouble with other versions of un-mounting system but in the end got that back to original. But I don't see the (properly named) zip files at the root level on the phone. Yes, I can see them when moved into another folder but the ones that are there at root level of the sd card are not seen.
I was under the impression that to install a ROM like Imnuts' Infinity, it had to be executed from the root level of sd card and not from within a folder?
My guess is you have so many folders in your sdcard that you can't see it. Try scrolling alllll the way down. I think you'll see it.
The same thing happened to me. I thought I was losing my mind
71CH said:
My guess is you have so many folders in your sdcard that you can't see it. Try scrolling alllll the way down. I think you'll see it.
The same thing happened to me. I thought I was losing my mind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OOPS !!! You nailed it and don't I just feel like a dumb di** !
It was driving me nutz last night !! Reckon it's time to clean up the old sd card
That's one of the reasons why I put the CWM ZIP files into a folder where all of them reside. I called it "ROMs", you may name it differently than I do. Say "CWMStuff" so that it hopefully will stay near the top of the file list.
I actually have a folder already there 'charge_zips' .... appreciate the thought that put me onto it ... sometimes you do so much you miss the obvious, right?
hahahaha.....amazing, was driving me crazy as well!!! the zip was right at the bottom!

[Q] Bare Minimum Files

As I'm sure most of us have been, with all the ICS Roms being posted as of the last couple of days, I've been a Flashaholic trying all these different Roms and so on and so on. Well, my question is...
I feel my Internal SD Card is getting full of folders that are becoming obsolete/redundant, so does anyone know what are the "Bare Minimum Folders" required to run correctly. IOW, I want to delete everything but the "True System Folders". I'm hoping that by getting rid of everything, it'll free up space, and speed the system up as a whole because it's not having to search a huge Index for where it's trying to pull info from to operate.
I personally feel like I can delete everything from there, with the obvious exceptions being the Files included in the Rom.. but once again, that's just my "Noob-ness".. lol..
As always any help would be greatly appreciated, and I would also like to thank anyone for their assistance in this matter in advance.
What I usually do to clean up is to go to storage in settings on the phone, and format usb storage. This keeps only the necessary stuff for system and gets rid of all of the extra stuff. I keep all of my files like music, etc on the ext. sd card, so it doesn't get wiped.
Sent from my HTC_Flyer_P512_NA using Tapatalk 2
So after doing this do you have to go into recovery and re-flash the Rom? or will it automatically create the folders as you open the Apps?
sledgeharvy said:
So after doing this do you have to go into recovery and re-flash the Rom? or will it automatically create the folders as you open the Apps?
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Click to collapse
Just to clarify, I'm talking about doing this in the rom and not in recovery. You won't have to reflash the rom, and apps will create what they need as you run them.
Sent from my HTC_Flyer_P512_NA using Tapatalk 2
Oh, okay, I was originally talking about as your phone is running, go into Settings/Storage, and Format from there, but I didn't see that option. Lol..
So overall, I can delete anything I want to on the larger 13.03Gb and the smaller 1.85Gb internal sd card I can not delete anything from there because it's reserved for Apps and System Files/Folders.
sledgeharvy said:
Oh, okay, I was originally talking about as your phone is running, go into Settings/Storage, and Format from there, but I didn't see that option. Lol..
So overall, I can delete anything I want to on the larger 13.03Gb and the smaller 1.85Gb internal sd card I can not delete anything from there because it's reserved for Apps and System Files/Folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much, but there are a few files that stay if you go the settings/storage/format route, so I do that to get rid of junk in the 13.03 GB partition. But you are right, you mainly don't want to delete stuff on the smaller internal partition, unless you know what you are deleting.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

Internal memory is FULL with NO APPS?! HELP

So i've been trying to research this problem for hours now. Ive jumped around a bunch of different roms since owning this gs3. MIUI 4.1 - Aokp 4.2.1 and currently synergy 4.1.2. I think since flashing aokp 4.2 that i get that "0" file when looking for files and such. I can tap "0" like 4-5 times to finally get into the files i want. I'm not sure if this is where my problem is coming from?
Let me say i don't have ANY backups. Im running clockwork and wiped,reset,cache all of that multiple times. I have ZERO apps installed and only a handful of pictures. My internal memory says its full and i get a warning at the top saying that my internal storage is to the max and that some programs might not respond. The bulk of GB used is in the "misc" folder. I've seen other people with this issue but it seems the only fix is to re-format the internal memory and LOSE EVERYTHING. I'm sure someone here can help :/
You delete all those roms you downloaded after flashing them?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Install Disk Usage (if you have the space <grin>) and see what it says is taking up the space:
I feel as though it has something to do with the emulated "0" folders. I have literally 5 of them. I downloaded disk usage and it shows 5 different "0" folders.
Out of pure frustration, I went into the second "0" folder in file manager and deleted it. That in-turn must of deleted the other "0" folders? That free up 7 GB. My pictures and videos are still there but im wondering what else it deleted? It seemed like things would get stored in each of those "0" folders seperatly.
dincfool said:
I feel as though it has something to do with the emulated "0" folders. I have literally 5 of them. I downloaded disk usage and it shows 5 different "0" folders.
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Click to collapse
Ah, yes, the joys of 4.2. I've never flashed a 4.2 ROM, so take what I say with a grain of salt. It's my understanding that when you flash 4.2, it takes everything on the internal SD (/data/media/ folder) and puts it into that "0" folder (part of that whole separate user accounts "feature"). So, if you've installed, let's say five, 4.2 Roms, then that info will have been copied 5 times and put into nested "0" folders.
If it were me, I'd run a nandroid and put it on my external sd. I'd also run a TiBu (under preferences you can switch default location to external sd). Once you're sure you have those, I'd copy whatever data you want to save from the internal (DCIM folder, music, etc) and move it to computer or external sd.
Have a copy of synergy on the external and go into CWM and wipe the internal SD card (mounts -> wipe system, wipe data, wipe cache, wipe internal sd), then reinstall synergy, restore from TiBu and you should be golden.
^^
That sounds about right. Man this right here is enough for me to never want to go to 4.2 until I have too. Is the easiest way to transfer all my files to external SD through a computer? Where abouts in the phone do you transfer/or assign your files to an external SD?
dincfool said:
^^
That sounds about right. Man this right here is enough for me to never want to go to 4.2 until I have too. Is the easiest way to transfer all my files to external SD through a computer? Where abouts in the phone do you transfer/or assign your files to an external SD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you installed Android SDK on your computer (ever used adb commands via command prompt)?
Edit: if you open up your phone in windows explorer, you should see 2 folders: Phone and Card (or something like that). You can drag the files from Phone to Card and they'll be on the external SD.
letinsh said:
Have you installed Android SDK on your computer (ever used adb commands via command prompt)?
Edit: if you open up your phone in windows explorer, you should see 2 folders: Phone and Card (or something like that). You can drag the files from Phone to Card and they'll be on the external SD.
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Click to collapse
Gotcha, i'll try that. I have a feeling once more people start running 4.2 they're going to run into this problem as well.
If you do have the SDK set up, a faster way to do it (if you're moving a butt-load of data) is to open a command prompt on the computer and navigate to where you want the data. For instance, I use C:\Backups. I'll then create a 2 folders within Backups (one for internal and one for external sd) and give them the date as a name. For instance, C:\Backups\Internal_2_5 and C:\Backups\External_2_5.
Then I'll be in C:\Backups and issue these commands:
Code:
adb pull /data/media/ Internal_2_5
adb pull /external_sd/ External_2_5
Depending on how much data you're moving, it could take awhile. Now, you could pick and choose what you want to pull:
Code:
adb pull /data/media/DCIM Internal_2_5/DCIM
would only pull that DCIM folder.
When I dump all of it, I'll wipe everything, install my rom, get it all up and going, then go through each of those backup folders and delete the stuff that's not "mine" (ie the Android folder(since your new rom built it's own folder), etc), then I'll push it back to the phone:
Code:
adb push Internal_2_5 /data/media/
adb push External_2_5 /external_sd/
Clean wipe, clean install, and all the data that I wanted back.
(fair warning, if your cards are full, that push pull commands could take several hours...)

AOKP tried to wipe internal SD

I finally tried to update from 4.1.2 to 4.2.1 build 5 the other day, and was outraged when my internal sd (/sdcard) appeared blank. That's right, all my pictures, videos, downloads, everything, gone.. Even after restoring back to 4.1.2, nothing.
However, when booting into TWRP and going to the file explorer, and navigating to /sdcard, all my old files appear there.. Thanks to TWRP I was able to copy over my old internal SD card files to my external. However, I can't seem to find the place that AOKP now seems to think is my internal SD. Somehow /mnt/sdcard is pointing to a different place in my internal storage now and I cannot determine where.
Does anyone know what happened? Why does TWRP and AOKP find two complete different locations for \mnt\sdcard? How to I make AOKP point to where it used to?
if im understanding correctly this is completely normal.
youre stuff is moved to somewhere else. cant remember the file path. hopefully someone can psot it up.
check the OPs of the 4.2.2 threads and do a search its orobably pretty easy to find.
Its not moved. When you flash a 4.2.2 ROM it makes a "0" folder on your internal. It will only read from there. Anything not in that 0 folder will not be read. It has to do with the multi user support in 4.2.x from what I've read.
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Thanks guys. With your responses I was able to find this:
http://teamw.in/androidmultiuser
It explains the situation. I completely skipped over the 0 folder. It just looked like some stupid temp directory. Case closed.

[Q] Nexus 5 storage problem

I installed some games a while back including Badland and Fifa14 and I manually moved the .obb files to my Nexus using a pc which were about 1.8gb combined, then after a while I tried to remove the files manually through the USB connection throughout my pc, the files were gone but it did not affect the storage, I tried everything but I couldn't get my storage back.. I know formatting would solve my problem but I really don't want it to get to that, any help would be appreciated.
@eytch_1 try to restart, see on android with es file explorer or the file still exist, find the trash folder and delete that one. It is maybe hidden but its named like .trash 1000 i believe but its an trash folder i can't say much more since i dont have an phone anymore for 2 months now. Or you must find some app to find big and large files or some trash remover app.
I also had the same problem as you had on my s2 i had my wth moment when that happend and i needed to remove an folder named something with trash and i had my storage back i hope it also works for you.
Also try running fstrim command through elevated terminal emulator. Also use disk usage to see where the space is being used up.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app

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