8G Internal Memory?

[awriternot]

I'm not super techy so if I'm missing something, please forgive me. I bought my Maxx from Verizon, the specs said 16g internal with a 16g SD card. But when I was looking at my overall storage, it says 8g total for internal. I am looking in settings, under the storage tab.

Am I missing something?

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[bsweetness]

I'm not super techy so if I'm missing something, please forgive me. I bought my Maxx from Verizon, the specs said 16g internal with a 16g SD card. But when I was looking at my overall storage, it says 8g total for internal. I am looking in settings, under the storage tab.

Am I missing something?

This is a question that comes up a lot with many Android phones since it doesn't appear to some users that the memory is all there. There is 16GB of storage, it's all there, but it's partitioned. Most Android phones these days partition the storage. The RAZR Maxx is partitioned in the following way - 8GB for user storage ("internal storage"), 3GB for application storage (for the apps you download and the files that go along with them), 5GB for the system (I guess Webtop takes up a good amount of space). Partitioning the storage off into user storage, application storage, and system storage is pretty normal, although the amount of space used for system storage is much larger here than on most phones. Here's Motorola's page on the breakdown of the storage.

[awriternot]

Thank you for explaining! Makes perfect sense.

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[xxwabbit]

So in order to get more than 8 gigs of music on my maxx, I'll have to get a bigger sd card?

[weatherlover1]

So in order to get more than 8 gigs of music on my maxx, I'll have to get a bigger sd card?

You have a 16 gb sd is that not enough?

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[bsweetness]

So in order to get more than 8 gigs of music on my maxx, I'll have to get a bigger sd card?

Short of installing a custom rom, you won't get more than 8GB of music on the internal storage in the MAXX itself. But as weatherlover1 pointed out, the phone does come with a 16GB microSD card, which is free and clear for you to fill up and isn't partitioned off (it's just the 16GB of internal memory that is partitioned). You could always swap that out for a larger microSD card if 16GB isn't enough for you. I'm using a 32GB card in mine.

[xxwabbit]

It's funny that I'm fairly techwise, but this still confuses me. 16gigs was enough for me on my OG droid, but I'm still misunderstanding the new partitioning of the sd card concept. If someone could draw it out maybe that might help, as I'm more of a visual learner. When I go into storage settings it just doesn't make sense to me. I'm glad though that we have tons more room for apps, even though for me it's overkill as I don't use as many apps some people do. I did put 7gigs or so of music today and when I open up quick settings, it shows that I have 7.9 gigs free on the sd card. So that means I've only used half of my sd card.

[bsweetness]

It's funny that I'm fairly techwise, but this still confuses me. 16gigs was enough for me on my OG droid, but I'm still misunderstanding the new partitioning of the sd card concept. If someone could draw it out maybe that might help, as I'm more of a visual learner. When I go into storage settings it just doesn't make sense to me. I'm glad though that we have tons more room for apps, even though for me it's overkill as I don't use as many apps some people do. I did put 7gigs or so of music today and when I open up quick settings, it shows that I have 7.9 gigs free on the sd card. So that means I've only used half of my sd card.

The SD card is not partitioned. You have full access to the entire storage on the SD card. It is the internal flash storage that is partitioned.

There are two completely separate means of storage on the RAZR MAXX:

1) Internal storage. There is 16GB of internal flash memory actually built into the phone. This is not removable. This is the part that is partitioned. It's divided up into three categories (user storage, application storage, and system storage). Only 8GB of it is directly accessible for user storage. The rest is used for app storage and system storage.

2) Expandable storage. This is the microSD card slot on the side of the phone. The phone comes with a 16GB microSD card that is blank (save for the few folders and files Android has to place on it in order for it to function). You can use the entire memory on the card. It is not partitioned. This is why your settings show that you have 7.9GB free on the SD card after placing 7GB of music on it.

Between the two, out of the box the entire storage capacity of the MAXX is approximately 32GB, but only 24GB of that is directly available to the user for media.

What might be confusing for some is the names that are often assigned to partitioned internal storage. When the internal storage is partitioned this way, the user accessible portion is often labled "SD Card" in file browsers and managers because that's how Android needs to read it when partitioned. But it's not actually the microSD card that you slide in the side of the phone. It's just a way of making the system understand that it's a separate storage area. In cases like this, the actual microSD card is labeled as "SD Card 2."

[xxwabbit]

Somewhere I missed the 16gb of internal flash memory. That makes it a lot clearer. You've totally got me in the clear now. Thank you.