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N96 C: drive losing space

4 replies · 6,669 views · Started 01 February 2009

Hello everyone!

I'm having a slight problem with my N96. The phone came with firmware v11 and I updated to v12 the following day. When I bought it, I had about 32mb left in the C: drive.

Now I only have half that space left. The thing is, I only installed 2 small apps on C: (everything else goes to the mass memory) and I delete the web cache regularly.

Every time I install/open/use an app, I see the available space decreasing, even though I do my best not to use the c: drive.

From the memory report, I have around 2mb in sms, so that shouldn't be the cause either. Pictures and such are all saved on E: (mass memory). The memory report also says I have 55mb of "other files" in C:, of which I have no idea what/where they are.

Recently I managed to gain access to all protected files just to see if there was a logging program slowly filling up my memory in the sys folder or so. No such luck, but I noticed something else. According to activefile file manager (manufacturer version), I have 25mb of used space.

If that's the case, why do I only have 17mb free out of 82? Because 82-25 = 57, not 17.... And why does free space keep decreasing if the used space doesn't increase?

I'm puzzled by all this, and worried as well. If I don't find a solution to my problem, I'll eventually have to reformat due to lack of memory, which I really don't want to do. Can anyone shed me some light?

Thank you in advance!

Hey john.med, I eventually found out what the problem was.
It seems the internal file system of the C: drive is crap, and the minimum file size for any given file is huge, something like 32KB, or maybe 16KB.

What this means is that any SMS you receive will occupy 32KB, even though it is less than 1KB in actual length. Multiply that by 1,000 SMSs...... and you got a 32MB waste of space! To regain your lost space, you have to archive and delete your SMSs. Another alternative is to use the 16GB mass memory device, which has way more space to waste.

This is a terrible problem and Nokia should have known better. But at least it's easily solvable.