Lumia 640 XL memory almost full. Unable to locate images.

[AmitSrivastava2]

The internal 8 GB memory on my 640xl is filling up fast. 6.7 GB used out of 7.28 GB. Of these, 3.50 GB is system memory and 3 GB is Apps and Games. Now, I have set everything to be stored on my SD card. Only apps such as Whatsapp which cannot be installed on SD card have been installed on the phone. The photo app is taking up as much as 1.1 GB on the phone memory. I used the Files App to trace the photos on the phone memory but there are none. I even searched using my laptop, but could not find any photo on the phone memory. Any suggestions?

 

[ap0calypto]

Try storage cleaner, its free

 

[AmitSrivastava2]

Try storage cleaner, its free

Storage cleaner doesn't clean up much.... Just a couple of MBs. I am wondering about that 1.1 GB used up by the photo app. I just could not find any photo on the device memory. The app itself could not be 1.1 GB surely.

 

[raycpl]

Did you download video? Some apps store video file which be part of the app size

 

[AmitSrivastava2]

With my phone connected to laptop, windows explorer shows 7 folders in the device storage. Documents, downloads, music, pictures, recent, ringtones ,videos. None of these folders are showing even 1mb size. I have enabled the hidden files also. Obviously Windows 10 is hiding some folders from me. Not sure how to find those and clear them. Seems hard reset is the only option left with me.

 

[slooksterpsv]

You may be able to use a graphical disk space manager on windows to view the file system. What about OneDrive? Is it downloading files locally? And if you tap to view photos from the storage app does it show photos?

 

[Derausgewanderte]

My wife's phone had the same issue that you describe with

the photo app is taking up as much as 1.1 GB on the phone memory

It didn't matter what I tried and I believe it's a bug with the photo app and one of the recent builds that kept something on the phone's memory even though everything was pointing to the sdcard. It was 1.1 to 1.2Gb just like yours.
And just like you I could not find any videos (first suspect) or pictures on the phone memory. Eventually you'll quickly run into space issues with that 1Gb useless baggage. E.g. Every time a new OS update came along I had to temporarily move most of the apps to the sdcard.

Long story short, the only way to fix this was a hard reset.

I do not remember if I had to start without restore of a backup. If you still have the problem after a hard reset you may need to start from scratch without restoring a prior backup.

 

[AmitSrivastava2]

Agree with you. Had to finally do a hard reset. Did a clean reset without restoring a prior backup. Got some space back now.