Tips on how to manage storage on your Galaxy S9 (easy steps)
Hello and welcome to another troubleshooting episode for the #GalaxyS9. This article will show you how to manage your S9 storage as well as how to fix other related issues. We hope you’ll find it helpfu.
Problem #1: What to do if Galaxy S9 keeps making corrupted photos
I have had my new phone 2 weeks, took a few photos, everything looked great. always use auto setting as easiest. Went away short break, took a few photos. as I was taking them, they were showing up in the preview, but then when I went back in to view them, all the grids were showing a grey empty box with an ! mark on it. tapped to try and view photos, but nothing. Left it for a while, tried to view in both my gallery and google photos, as I automatically back them up there as well, same issue. So I left it for over 24 hours. even turned off my phone and restarted. in the end I gave up and deleted the corrupt photos.
Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Oh by the way it also happened once on my other samsung S7 edge took over 100 photos that day of a sand sculpture theme park, only to check my photos later, for them all to have same happen above. In the end I deleted them too. I have a wedding in just under 3 weeks, I don’t want same to happen again. Any suggestions welcome.
Solution: Unless there are common items present in both your new Galaxy S9 and old S7, you can assume that the cause of the problem is isolated to your S9 device only. Two of the common things that users tend to carry over to their new device is the same set of apps and SD card. The first thing that you want to eliminate is the possibility that it’s an SD card issue. Of course, this troubleshooting only applies if you are using the same SD card in both devices. To check, try to observe how your S9 saves photos and videos if the default storage device is the internal memory and not your SD card. Alternatively, you can remove the SD card entirely from the device. Then, try to observe the phone for a few days by taking as many photos and videos as possible. If the photos are okay, then it’s probably caused by a bad SD card. Try to reformat your old SD card or use a new one.
If photos and videos are still corrupted even when there is no SD card involved, it can be due a bad app issue. Boot your phone to safe mode for a few days and see how it saves photos and videos. In safe mode, no third party apps will be allowed to run, thereby eliminating any third party app interfering with Android or your camera function. Be sure to only take photos on safe mode and observe what happens. If photos and videos are saved properly on safe mode but not on normal mode, a third party app must be to blame.
To boot your S9 to safe mode:
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
- When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
- Take photos and videos and check observe.
To identify which of your apps is causing the trouble, you should boot the phone back to safe mode and follow these steps:
- Boot to safe mode.
- Check for the problem.
- Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
- After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
- If your S9 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.
Problem #2: What to do if Galaxy S9 has bad battery: battery drains fast and phone keeps shutting down when camera is used
I have a Samsung Galaxy S9 that my friend gave me. My phone has been great until a few months ago. The battery was draining very fast, so I assumed I needed a new battery (I have had that happen in the past to my Galaxy S4 and my Galaxy S5). The battery life was better, but now I noticed it’s draining fast again. I go into app manager and stop the apps when not in use, but the battery is still draining faster than it was. I live in Georgia where it has been really hot lately and my boss does not allow phones inside, so I have to leave my phone in the car. It wouldn’t be any better if I left it in my pocket at work because I work in a hot warehouse.
Also, when I try to take a picture (regular or selfie) or video, phone shuts off and will not turn on by the power button. I removed my SD card because I thought it was bad. My service is AT&T go Phone. I don’t know if that matters. Thank you.
Solution: Like people, Lithium-based batteries like the one in your phone works best when its in room temperature. Being exposed to temperatures above or room temperature can negatively impact it in both the short and long run. Battery drain and random or premature shutdowns are consistent with a bad or malfunctioning battery. We suggest that you bring the device to Samsung so they can replace the battery with a new one.
The current problem may return even if you’ll get a new battery if you’ll continue to expose the phone to high temperature. You must do something about that to avoid damaging the replacement battery, or the phone in general.
Problem #3: Tips on how to manage storage on your Galaxy S9
Hi. my S9 has run just about out of space & rather quickly. I barely have any apps & never downloaded many. Im wondering why this seems to be an issue with this phone & how do I fix it (if possible). I haven’t even done the most recent update in part due to space but also hate how it messes with apps. My battery also drains VERY fast, have to recharge at least once a day.The memory on this cell is the largest I’ve ever had & know that with all my other cells (16 &32 GB). I never used that up & had more apps as well as stuff saved than this. Any reason(s) it does this & how do I fix it? Is the battery issue related to the lack of memory issue? Going to try the battery remedies you shared for this cell. Thanks!
Solution: Some apps may consume a lot of storage space if you don’t regularly monitor their usage. Apps like Netflix may use a lot of storage if you use it to download offline content like videos. Some games may do the same. So, even if you only have a handful of apps installed, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t take a lot of space in the system.
Use Device maintenance tool
To manage storage in your Galaxy S9, we suggest that you do the following:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap Device maintenance.
- Tap Storage.
Your phone has an automated system that determines if there’s a lot of temporary files and folders that can be deleted (called cache). This is a handy feature especially if you don’t have the time to manually check for things that you can get rid of. If the OPTIMIZE NOW button is active, make sure to tap it to allow the system to erase caches and temporary files.
Move photos and videos to SD card
Depending on the particular S9 model you have, it should have 64, 128, or 256 GB. If that’s not enough for your usage lifestyle, you can add up to 512 GB of SD card (for Dual SIM models only). If you do have an SD card, you can use it to store non-system critical stuff like photos, videos, music or some of your apps.
Set Camera app to save to SD card
If you regularly take photos and videos, we also suggest that you set the camera app to save files to the SD card so that the internal memory does not fill up easily. This can save you a lot of storage space in the long run. Check your camera app settings to change the saving directory.
Move files to a computer or cloud
If you keep on running out of storage space, you must exert effort in regularly creating a backup to either a computer or cloud. Doing so will free up your phone’s internal storage and SD card.
Check individual apps
As mentioned above, some apps may need a lot of storage space to do certain tasks, like keep offline contents. Be sure check each of your apps and see if many of them take huge storage space to work. The easiest way to get rid of unnecessary data for each app is to clear their cache and data. Here’s how to do that:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
- Select Show system apps.
- Find and tap your app.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear Data button.