Samsung TV apps storage space issue

Tony212

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TV: UE55 NU7500

I'm not sure whether this is a general Samsung issue or just to do with my TV, but the amount of space allocated to the Smart Hub apps seems to be seriously lacking.

As this is a new TV I thought I'd explore some of the available apps, but when I went into the Apps area I got a message saying that there was insufficient space to update apps. This was before I had downloaded anything so it would purely apply to the pre-installed apps.

I checked settings and the used space was 751MB with 64MB available, i.e. 7%. This seems absurd as these apps can't be deleted and are built into the system. The available space doesn't even allow them to be updated. I then tried resetting Smart Hub. This has helped to an extent as the available space is now 13%. However, it's still far too low and whenever I try and download a new app I get a warning about available space.

I can't believe that the pre-installed apps are taking around 700MB of space, and it seems crazy that Samsung would design the system this way. Presumably I will have to install an SD card to provide more space for the apps?

Any tips welcome as this is my first Samsung TV.
 
Are you sure it is reading the amount of total storage correctly? 751MB seems a low.

I have the 55NU8000, which has 3GB of total storage, of which I am currently using 1GB of space. That includes all the pre-installed apps and then 3 I downloaded in addition to the pre-installed one.
 
Are you sure it is reading the amount of total storage correctly? 751MB seems a low.

I have the 55NU8000, which has 3GB of total storage, of which I am currently using 1GB of space. That includes all the pre-installed apps and then 3 I downloaded in addition to the pre-installed one.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the issue may be that the storage is being incorrectly read by the apps manager, so that it thinks less memory is available than there actually is.

Since I posted the OP I contacted Samsung Support and they said that this was not a known issue. They reset the apps remotely and that took the free space to 15%. I've since loaded six other apps and the free space is now 4%, so that means that none of the apps will be able to update. The support technician was puzzled and said she'd refer the issue to a specialist who would phone me on Monday, but that didn't happen.

As I'm with John Lewis I'll just return the TV. Your comment about 3GB being available in the NU8000 is much more what I would have expected. Given that the NU8000 has come down in price a lot I think I'll go for that model after returning my TV. Are you happy with it? The reviews are pretty good.
 
Thanks for your reply. Yes, the issue may be that the storage is being incorrectly read by the apps manager, so that it thinks less memory is available than there actually is.

Since I posted the OP I contacted Samsung Support and they said that this was not a known issue. They reset the apps remotely and that took the free space to 15%. I've since loaded six other apps and the free space is now 4%, so that means that none of the apps will be able to update. The support technician was puzzled and said she'd refer the issue to a specialist who would phone me on Monday, but that didn't happen.

As I'm with John Lewis I'll just return the TV. Your comment about 3GB being available in the NU8000 is much more what I would have expected. Given that the NU8000 has come down in price a lot I think I'll go for that model after returning my TV. Are you happy with it? The reviews are pretty good.

Yeah, I am extremely happy with it.

It performs well with everything I have thrown it's way so far, and it has a great image (to mine and my missus' eyes at least) once I had tweaked the settings.
 
Have a look here:

Samsung NU8000 Owners Thread

It's at 11 pages long now, so a hefty thread; but you might find it an interesting read.

Just note, some of the earlier complaints have been patched out/sorted in firmware updates. So you can probably skim read the first lot of pages.

It's a good place to ask any questions you might have. I'm quite active in there trying to help people.
 
TV: UE55 NU7500

I'm not sure whether this is a general Samsung issue or just to do with my TV, but the amount of space allocated to the Smart Hub apps seems to be seriously lacking.

As this is a new TV I thought I'd explore some of the available apps, but when I went into the Apps area I got a message saying that there was insufficient space to update apps. This was before I had downloaded anything so it would purely apply to the pre-installed apps.

I checked settings and the used space was 751MB with 64MB available, i.e. 7%. This seems absurd as these apps can't be deleted and are built into the system. The available space doesn't even allow them to be updated. I then tried resetting Smart Hub. This has helped to an extent as the available space is now 13%. However, it's still far too low and whenever I try and download a new app I get a warning about available space.

I can't believe that the pre-installed apps are taking around 700MB of space, and it seems crazy that Samsung would design the system this way. Presumably I will have to install an SD card to provide more space for the apps?

Any tips welcome as this is my first Samsung TV.

Hi. I don't know if you already exchanged your TV, but something similar was happening to my TV: only 120 MB free. Yesterday night I began to install a lot of apps just to try and the installed without a problem. Nonetheless, the reported "free" space was somehow random: it could also increase after installing an app (?). So, I guess the problem is not the actual free space.
 
Hi. I don't know if you already exchanged your TV, but something similar was happening to my TV: only 120 MB free. Yesterday night I began to install a lot of apps just to try and the installed without a problem. Nonetheless, the reported "free" space was somehow random: it could also increase after installing an app (?). So, I guess the problem is not the actual free space.

Thanks for your comment, and it's interesting that the free space changed randomly. With me it was fairly consistent with the size of the additional apps I installed. You might find that when you go into the Apps menu at some point you'll receive a message stating that there's insufficient space to update the apps (assuming you have auto update on). That's how I first became aware of the issue.

I can update on this after contacting John Lewis and Samsung yesterday. Unfortunately JL wouldn't help as I was past the 30-day exchange period. They said that the defect would be covered under the manufacturer's warranty, and insisted that they connect me to Samsung. I explained that I'd already contacted Samsung and they'd been unable to help. JL spoke to them first and then handed me over.

At first Samsung said that this was not a defect and they would not exchange the TV. They said that I had to connect a USB drive which could then be used by the apps if necessary. What they were suggesting was at best a workaround, so I insisted on speaking to a supervisor.

The supervisor gave me a whole different story and was much more honest. She said that this is a known issue which has appeared randomly across the whole current TV range. She admitted that the USB drive suggestion was a temporary workaround until they could resolve the issue permanently. They had no timescale as they didn't know what was causing it. She said that she would contact me within three days with an update.

Currently I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place - JL won't help, but Samsung also won't exchange the TV as they're working on a solution which is seemingly open-ended. I must say I'm disappointed with JL and wonder what the value is of their 5-year guarantee if they're just going to fob you off to the manufacturer.

I'll tackle them again in a week if there's been no resolution from Samsung, as they've essentially now admitted that there is a defect.
 
At first Samsung said that this was not a defect and they would not exchange the TV. They said that I had to connect a USB drive which could then be used by the apps if necessary. What they were suggesting was at best a workaround, so I insisted on speaking to a supervisor.

The supervisor gave me a whole different story and was much more honest. She said that this is a known issue which has appeared randomly across the whole current TV range. She admitted that the USB drive suggestion was a temporary workaround until they could resolve the issue permanently. They had no timescale as they didn't know what was causing it. She said that she would contact me within three days with an update.

Hi. I spoke with a CR too, and he said to use a USB drive to install apps on. For the life of me, I wasn't able to do that, despite following CR's directions. Well, let's hope they manage to fix this by a software update. I'll try to keep this thread up-to-date, if some solution is given.

Bye!
 
Thanks. I've also posted this issue on the Samsung UK consumers' support site. Someone there also has a 7 series TV with exactly the same issue. He was also told by Samsung to use a USB drive and he confirms that it doesn't work. This is seriously putting me off Samsung!
 
There's a new firmware version released today via the Samsung support site - version 1202.3.
I can confirm that this does NOT resolve the issue.
 
Sorry to hear you are still having the issue.

Have you had any further word from Samsung or JL?
 
No. Given that the firmware update has not resolved matters I think I'll give up waiting and press JL for an exchange.
 
Having you decided what you are going to exchange for?
 
I'm pretty sure it will be the Samsung UE55NU8000 as so many people, including you, have vouched for it. It's now only £79 more than I paid for the NU7500 at JL, and it's a superior TV. JL are also throwing in a free 4k Samsung blue ray player as well!

Samsung UE55NU8000 HDR 1000 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 55" with TVPlus/Freesat HD, Dynamic Crystal Colour & 360 Design, Ultra HD Certified, Black at John Lewis & Partners

I could go for an equivalent LG model, but having had an LG previously I much prefer the Samsung OS.
 
There's a new firmware version released today via the Samsung support site - version 1202.3.
I can confirm that this does NOT resolve the issue.

Just FYI, this appears in the firmware update info.txt

build date = 2018-11-30

So, the firmware appears to have been in development well before the problem was reported by you (in my understanding, at least). And I also think that a faulty HDD/flash memory would cause all sort of issues, not just a wrong memory report. I mean, it could well be a HW issue, but in my very humble opinion there's something else going on here.
 
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Thanks for that. Yes indeed, the build was completed about two weeks before I first reported the issue.

It is intriguing what could be causing it. I wonder if this is actually more of a random latent defect in Samsung's manufacturing process which goes back some years? Yesterday I was googling to see how widespread the issue was and found a post on another forum from 2016 reporting exactly the same thing. In that scenario the built-in apps on a new Samsung TV had taken up 100% of the storage. There was no resolution posted.
 
And I also think that a faulty HDD/flash memory would cause all sort of issues, not just a wrong memory report. I mean, it could well be a HW issue, but in my very humble opinion there's something else going on here.

It is intriguing what could be causing it. I wonder if this is actually more of a random latent defect in Samsung's manufacturing process which goes back some years? Yesterday I was googling to see how widespread the issue was and found a post on another forum from 2016 reporting exactly the same thing. In that scenario the built-in apps on a new Samsung TV had taken up 100% of the storage. There was no resolution posted.

I still think it is hardware based rather than software, as unless people never connect their TV to their internet, then everyone will be on the same OS and firmware for their TVs (Outside of things made for localisation). So everyone would have the issue.

I guess without opening up the TV we will never know how the hardware is configured exactly, so everything is theory.

Personally, I'd still put money on it being something HDD specific. Maybe it's a bad partition, faulty sectors, incorrectly formatted drive size; the list goes on and on. There may even be 2 separate modules, 1 for OS/pre-installs and 1 for everything else, that the TV reads as one drive like RAID 0/JBOD drives in a desktop PC and 1 module is faulty.

Whatever the cause, it is likely a 'restricted' issue, as in restricted to those that have a TV with hardware from the faulty batch. Same issue might have happened in 2016, with a previous bad batch of hardware from the supplier.

The fluctuation in memory availability is likely to do with how apps install on Tizen. When an app updates, it doesn't just download the new parts, it downloads a complete new download of the whole app, then gets rid of the old one; similar to how it is done on android. Some updated apps can even be smaller in file size than their old versions as redundant code is removed; this would then free up space on the HDD thereby increasing the % showing as free.
 
I cancelled. He said nothing he could do. The replaced board would not rectify. Exchange is best.
 
Agreed. I'll contact JL again and update progress on here.
 
My apps just tried to auto-update and I got the message about insufficient storage. See photo.

Significantly, it refers to internal memory only, and does not look for external storage even though my USB stick is attached. Therefore using external storage is not a workaround for app updating and Samsung support are wrong. More hard evidence for Richer Sounds and JL!
 

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