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2012 Nexus 7 Discussion Forums (1st Generation) => Nexus 7 General Discussion => Topic started by: samalex on July 18, 2012, 03:49:28 PM

Title: Storage on the N7 -- some odd numbers here
Post by: samalex on July 18, 2012, 03:49:28 PM
I have the 16 Gig N7, but here's what Storage shows in the Settings menu:

Total Space: 13.24GB
Apps - 358MB
Pictures,Videos - 19.59MB
Audio - 200KB
Downloads - 92KB
Available: 12.64GB

Given it's showing I only have 13.24 Gigs to work with on a 16 gig device is that other 2.8 Gigs used for RAM or for GPU storage?  I'd be interested to find a tech document showing how the memory is utilized, but thus far I can't find any such document. 

So with all this I'm definitely glad I went with the 16 Gig else I'd be closer to 4 Gigs of free space which just doesn't seem like much.

What does everyone else's show?

Title: Re: Storage on the N7 -- some odd numbers here
Post by: S.Prime on July 18, 2012, 04:59:58 PM
The 2.8 gig is about what I have seen in other Android tablets, which make up the Android system areas of your device and include specific access rules.

The phone's internal memory (not the SD card) is solid-state (flash) memory, AKA NAND. It can be partitioned much like a normal hard drive can be partitioned. The bootloader exists in its own partition. Recovery is another partition; radio, system, cache, etc are all partitions.

Here are the standard partitions on an Android device:

/misc - not sure what this is for.
/boot - bootloader, kernel
/recovery - holds the recovery program (either clockworkmod or RA recovery for a rooted Evo)
/system - operating system goes here: Android, Sense, boot animation, Sprint crapware, busybox, etc
/cache - cached data from OS usage
/data - user applications, data, settings, etc.

The below partitions are not android-specific. They are tied to the hardware of the phone, but the kernel may have code allowing Android to interact with said hardware.

/radio - the phone's radio firmware, controls cellular, data, GPS, bluetooth

Generally the remaining storage is configured as an SD card (your 13.24 GB of Total Space) and is user read and writable. Rooting your Android gives you full access to all partitions.


S.Prime