How To Clean System Memory On Galaxy S5

Palmer Dianted · Monday, November 15, 2021

I can't even update apps on on my Verizon Galaxy S5. I uninstalled several apps to try to free up room, but I'm still getting "insufficient space" errors. Photos and videos are going to direct to SD card (unless I'm doing it wrong, but I see the SD card indicator). Is there a quick way to tell which app may be putting too much data on the phone rather than the SD card? Or where space is being taken up that can be freed or moved?

04-16-2015 05:31 AM
Settings/General/Storage/Misc is where most apps keep their data by default (meaning "unless you set them to store it somewhere else")..

04-16-2015 10:20 PM
I concur with this thread.

I have moved ALL applicable apps to my SD Card (64GB), and yet I am still running low on space. I tried resetting the cache partition to no resolution. It really annoys me that I can't move all apps to the SD card.

I've ensured that any music, movies, and pictures are on the SD card, but the OS just has such a large footprint, even after a FDR.

04-20-2015 02:55 PM
Amazing to think that out of 16GB...only about 10 is usable space and adding an SD card will only slightly help.

Posted via the Android Central App

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04-20-2015 05:20 PM
Yep. Welcome to Bloatville, USA. Population: Samsung.

04-20-2015 06:44 PM
Originally Posted by BlurryEyed

Amazing to think that out of 16GB...only about 10 is usable space and adding an SD card will only slightly help.

Posted via the Android Central App

Long press the cached data symbol and empty it. You will free up 3.87 gb.
Also, select "SD card" in "application manager" and make sure all are selected.

04-20-2015 07:24 PM
Question before clearing cached data...what will I lose?

As stated previously, all applicable apps are on the SD card. What's annoying is I have to go back every now and again and re-move the apps. I believe this is after they've been updated. Super annoying as to how much micro-management goes on with the S5. Perhaps I will install a custom ROM at somepoint...just not ready for that quite yet

04-21-2015 02:05 PM
Originally Posted by B. Diddy

Yep. Welcome to Bloatville, USA. Population: Samsung.

Strange! There's no bloaware on my unbranded Samsung phone for the U.K. However, the true kings of bloatware are the U.S. minority variants and in particular, the 2 hybrid models for AT&T and Verizon, who are world champions when it comes to excessive, battery and performance draining bloatware. See, 40 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide for more information.

04-21-2015 02:19 PM
Originally Posted by BlurryEyed

Question before clearing cached data...what will I lose?

You lose nothing.
Apps often need to be moved back to SD card after updates.

04-21-2015 03:12 PM
Check out this screenshot

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04-21-2015 03:18 PM
Originally Posted by ironass

Strange! There's no bloaware on my unbranded Samsung phone for the U.K. However, the true kings of bloatware are the U.S. minority variants and in particular, the 2 hybrid models for AT&T and Verizon, who are world champions when it comes to excessive, battery and performance draining bloatware. See, 40 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide for more information.

That's nice to hear--but does your phone also lack all of those Samsung preinstalled apps as well, like S Note, S Health, etc.? Is it a Google Play Edition?

04-21-2015 06:19 PM
Originally Posted by BlurryEyed

It really annoys me that I can't move all apps to the SD card.

You can move any app written to run from the SD card to the SD card. Unfortunately, most apps aren't written by programmers, they're "drag&dropped" by people who think that's how to design an app, and an app "written" like that has lots of parts that can't be moved to the SD card.

Android was never designed to allow apps to run from the SD card. Even if you move an entire app to the card, Android is still looking for int in internal storage, so there has to be a link in internal storage pointing to where on the card the app was moved to. When the app has a few dozen pieces that can be moved, you have a few dozen links left in internal storage. That's why we sometimes see posts saying that there's less free space after moving an app to the card than there was before moving it - the pieces being moved are smaller than a link.

It's also one reason carriers let you upgrade your phone so frequently. As phones get larger (you can now get phones with 128GB internal storage, and the day is coming when we'll see phones with 1TB internal), app-making apps get sloppier, making the apps larger, so older phones can't keep as many apps on them. (We used to write accounting packages that fit in 48KB of space. A shoehorn and hammer were part of a programmer's tool kit - to force that last byte into the computer.) You don't see contests (outside of hacker conferences) any more for "the smallest piece of code to xxx". The smallest code I ever saw that actually did something was the winner of one of those contests - 3 bytes of code. Now a 1GB app that does almost nothing isn't looked at as a total waste of space.

04-21-2015 07:00 PM
Originally Posted by thecomicbookandme

You lose nothing.
Apps often need to be moved back to SD card after updates.

Are you certain? Research suggests by clearing the cached data (not partition cache) I'll lose saved login info, saved data, game progress, etc....like downloading an app and fresh install

04-22-2015 02:45 PM
That never happens when I clear either the app caches or the system cache partition.

04-22-2015 05:08 PM
Originally Posted by BlurryEyed

Amazing to think that out of 16GB...only about 10 is usable space and adding an SD card will only slightly help.

Posted via the Android Central App

Rather than criticising the operating system, maybe you should "research" why you are wasting 3.87gb of usable space in cached data, and 5.69gb of usable space in miscellaneous files.
This is mismanagement on your part, not the fault of the OS.

04-23-2015 09:37 AM
Originally Posted by B. Diddy

That's nice to hear--but does your phone also lack all of those Samsung preinstalled apps as well, like S Note, S Health, etc.? Is it a Google Play Edition?

As it is a Samsung phone it has the usual Samsung apps. After all, Samsung designed their phones and firmware to run both the Google apps and their own. These are standard and I do not term those as bloatware. That term I reserve for those carriers that insist on further adding even more apps, around 20 in some cases, baked into their firmware. Since these carrier apps rely solely on the ability of the carriers to ensure that they run correctly we tend to see a lot more complaints from the heavily branded and modified models as opposed to the unbranded ones with regards to lagging performance and battery drain.

04-23-2015 10:09 AM
Originally Posted by thecomicbookandme

Rather than criticising the operating system, maybe you should "research" why you are wasting 3.87gb of usable space in cached data, and 5.69gb of usable space in miscellaneous files.
This is mismanagement on your part, not the fault of the OS.

The OP is still correct in that only about 10 GB is usable: 16GB Samsung Galaxy S5 actually offers 10.7GB of usable storage.

04-23-2015 10:36 AM
Originally Posted by thecomicbookandme

Rather than criticising the operating system, maybe you should "research" why you are wasting 3.87gb of usable space in cached data, and 5.69gb of usable space in miscellaneous files.
This is mismanagement on your part, not the fault of the OS.

Maybe you should research how GS5 only offers 10GB of usable space out of the box...

04-23-2015 02:35 PM
Originally Posted by thecomicbookandme

and 5.69gb of usable space in miscellaneous files.
This is mismanagement on your part, not the fault of the OS.

And for your knowledge oh wise one....Of the 5.69GB of "usable" space in Misc files, 5.46GB are "System Memory" that cannot be modified in a stock configuration.

04-23-2015 02:47 PM
Originally Posted by B. Diddy

That never happens when I clear either the app caches or the system cache partition.

Excellent! I haven't noticed any immediate ramifications of clearing the "cached data" in Storage. Thanks your your feedback.

I'm now up to 4.48GB of free space after clearing the cached data.

04-23-2015 02:49 PM
Originally Posted by BlurryEyed

Excellent! I haven't noticed any immediate ramifications of clearing the "cached data" in Storage. Thanks your your feedback.

I'm now up to 4.48GB of free space after clearing the cached data.

Let me add a disclaimer that I've read a few posts about people who have lost some settings while wiping the cache partition on the S6 (and maybe the S5). It's not supposed to happen, but sometimes odd things can occur.

04-23-2015 03:00 PM
I gotta say, having cleared the data cache, my battery life has dramatically improved. Bonus!

Posted via the Android Central App

04-28-2015 02:47 PM
i use an app called all in one toolbox its free in the google play store it cleans out everything, and theres an option to boost your phone as well as many other options, its very easy to use and quick and has made my phone run super smooth

04-28-2015 04:15 PM
tool box worked great - thanks for the tip without the ********!

02-29-2016 08:28 PM