You must be wondering what ‘Other’ storage means in Android. Every Android user must be giving thought to it at least once. In the past few years, there’s been a significant enhancement in the operating system of Android. The effort made by Google for the improvement of the file system was extremely good and now the applications seem to be very fast. But, it came at the expense of Android internal storage. So let us now firstly understand what does other storage stand for?
What Does ‘Other’ Storage Stand For?
Data of Private Application
This is one of the most prominent reasons for filling up your device storage space. It includes cloud sync, failed OTA updates, additionally downloaded files, etc. There are numerous games and applications with files of small installation but they might need heavy downloads over any Wi-fi connection for their complete operation. In addition to this, there are a few applications that will automatically sync to the cloud and will download and upload the data constantly according to your choice.
Failed Backups
You have an option to backup the data of your Android to Google drive. If you keep your device in sync with the cloud, you’ll get numerous advantages. Even if you lose your complete data, at least you have a backup of it, and you can easily access your data and files even after you don’t have enough space on your device. The other perks offered by the Cloud services are backup of game data, password vaults, file hosting, free space of storage, etc. But the latest features and regular updates might create a glitch while accessing the services.
Failed Updates of OTA
New devices can go for some huge updates of the OS along with the regular updates of the security. A few years back, many such updates had OTA and it became easy for the user because they can update the device remotely without a PC. But OTA has a drawback too. If the network is slow or there’s a network that resets frequently, then there are chances of OTA updates getting failed. Another reason can be a higher internet ping. Such temporary installed files and incomplete downloads of the updates can also become one of the ‘Other’ storage in your device and that’s why you need to clean such storage manually.
Temporary Data and Hidden Cache
The games, apps, and web browser when connected to the Internet, downloads numerous data in form of images, videos, and text. Such programs need to be cleaned to free up the local storage of your device. At times, a few files are leftover specifically in the case of web browsers. If you do not clean the data of the website, then the local storage of the browser will end up containing huge storage of your Android.
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Method On ‘How To Clear Other Storage On Android?’
The files of operating system size have increased along with the applications and games that have turned out to be more resourceful. Taking all these points, there’s no need to give another thought to why the huge storage space of the Android fills up quickly. You can check out the video, images, programs, notes, games, and directories that are filling up the space. To keep your device fast here we are with another article which comprises of all the methods on how to clear other storage on android. It will surely help you to remove unnecessary and non-required data from your Android.
Method 1: Use ‘Clean Up’ Option
- Step 1: Visit the ‘Settings’ of your device.
- Step 2: Look out for the option of ‘Storage’.
- Step 3: Different devices will have different user interfaces but you can select any option to know more about its function and accordingly you can select the stuff that you want to delete.
Method 2: Using File Manager Application Or Storage Analyzer
Before working on the problem, you need to analyze it carefully, you can do this by using the file manager application. By this, you’ll get a clear idea of which file is taking more space, which file is unnecessary, etc. We have suggested a few file analyzers and managers that can help you in cleaning up the storage of your device.
Flashlight + Clock File Manager
The application of file manager is a useful and popular app where you can manage the storage of your device. You can have a comprehensive look at your device’s local storage, external storage, SD card, etc. The file manager will help you in the classification of the stored files into predetermined categories such as videos, system files, images, audio file downloads, etc. The file manager also provides a facility for syncing the device data to the cloud and the other remote services so that you can access your data and analyze the comprehensive storage of your file system.
Disc Usage and Storage Analyzer
It has a major focus on cleaning the local storage of the device. The user interface is very interactive and informative and it has an inbuilt cache cleaner to clean up your device. You can also see a few virtualization parameters that show the pie charts, graphs, etc. depending on the different variables such as the date of creation, the storage size, when it was last opened, etc. It has a widget as well that you can place on the home screen of your device directly and it also has top 10 features that will show the largest file stored in the device to clean the storage space easily.
Disk Usage (By Ivan Volosyuk)
A file manager that is comprehensive and concentrates on privacy. It is an open-source code project that shows the data in a visual format to clean up the space easily. It consists of diagrams that are in detail for the identification of the huge files & directories present in the file system to clean them manually.
Ghost Commander
Another file manager focuses on privacy. It permits the user to sort out the files easily based on size, date, extension, and name. It modifies the partitions and supports decompressing and compressing files. It has a built-in FTP client along with its image viewer and text editor.
Amaze File Manager
File manager is an open-source that supports AES encryption and consists of its basic design. It supports the great services of the cloud and has its own ‘database reader’. It has an inbuilt APK reader and supports .rar and .zip files but it does not have built-in ads that act as a great advantage.
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Method 3: Proprietary Application Data Check
- Step 1: Visit the ‘Settings’ of the application.
- Step 2: Direct towards the ‘Storage options’ and tap on it to open.
- Step 3: If the device manufacturer permits you, sort out the application based on their size. Otherwise, you can scan the applications manually to find out the data size of each app.
- Step 4: Go to the specific application and tap on the option of ‘Clear Cache’.
- Step 5: You can also tap on the option of ‘Clear data’ if step 4 does not work out properly.
Method 4: Data Directories Check
When you delete a file, it remains in the recycle bin of the file system because of a few glitches that occurred due to incompatible app updates. It can also occur because the third-party launchers are not optimized for your Android.
- Step 1: Visit the File manager of your device.
- Step 2: Direct towards the option of ‘Show system files & folders’ to enable it.
- Step 3: Direct towards the ‘/Android/obb’ present in the file manager.
- Step 4: The files stored in this section will be named in the format of ‘com.ABC.XYZ’. ABC indicates the name of the developer and XYZ represents the name of the app.
- Step 5: Scan the deleted files and app in this section. Once you find it, delete them.
- Step 6: Now direct towards the ‘/Android/data’.
- Step 7: The steps explained in points 4 & 5 need to be repeated.
Method 5: Shift Data To SD Card & Reset Device
- Step 1: Insert an SD card of high capacity into your device.
- Step 2: You need to make a manual backup of the important data.
- Step 3: Back up saved passwords and important contacts on the SD card.
- Step 4: Reset the phone by going to the factory settings.
- Step 5: After setting up the phone as ‘new’, bring back the contacts and data that were stored in the SD card as a backup.
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Conclusion
To enhance the performance of the device, it is mandatory to keep it up to date by clearing out unnecessary storage. The more space is covered by the ‘Other storage’ the less a device performs. That’s why we have discussed How to clear other storage on android that can help you to enhance the level of performance of the device.
