Thunderbolt only has 2.6GB of internal memory available

[FAUguy]

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but the Thunderbolt was advertised and sold to have 8GB eMMC internal memory + 768MB of RAM + 32GB memory card. While the amount of RAM and the SD card are correct, there has been some debate (elsewhere) that the phone only has 4GB eMMC internal memory, or that if does have 8GB, that a lot of this is unaccounted for.

The reason this has come up is that the phone only shows about 2.6GB of available internal memory. I've been told by a few people that a lot of this space is used by the OS and other apps, but I find it hard to believe that such a "high end" device can only have 2.6GB available (with 5GB being used). Remember, this is internal memory (eMMC) is the space where most all apps are stored, as well as other app data, emails, contacts, etc. Only some apps are written to be saved to the SD card, and pics/vids/music are also stored to the SD card.

What makes this even more interesting is that the Motorola DROID X has 8GB of internal memory, but about 6.5 GB of that is free.

[Tidbits]

Don't think so... If you look at all the information out there...

if it had a 4GB chip inside then how did they get the other .6GB... Their math must be terrible.  If you look at the partitioning space and then break it down it SHOULD be less than 4.0GB for it to be a 4GB eMMC, but they always come out with 4.6GB and that means it would have to be 6GB or larger to come out with those numbers.

It's HOW it's being partitioned rather than the chip itself.  They left EXTRA space that isn't user accessible.  Your phone can access it, but honestly if you use up 2.6GB of space you are doing something wrong.  Apps2SD for one thing helps out a lot.  You would need to have roughly about 220k contacts to use up 1/2 of 2.6GB.  ALSO the radio is MUCH larger than the Droid X radio.  eMMC as far as I remember can't be repartitioned, and having the extra space ensures if Android gets larger well increases our chances of having those updates.

[PJNC284]

There was a post on twitter the other week that mentioned it was only 4 instead of 8 because of the way it was formatted.  Then there's also a pdf floating around with the specs that only lists 4.  Who knows what the heck is going on.

[annoni]

The Android OS requires 5.52GB of the internal memory for basic operation. The user has 2.48GB to download applications and store email. Some Google Market applications can be downloaded and stored onto the pre-installed 32GB SD card.

[sammyboy405]

So we all know the Thunderbolt was advertised in having 8gig Internal and 32 External (microSD) 

So many posts have I seen with so many misleading and different responses to of which HTC is confused themselves.  Some say it was a misprint and there is only 4GB Internal others say there is 8gb.

Id like to post this output via a df command.

/dev: 305764K total, 0K used, 305764K available (block size 4096)

/system: 868792K total, 310400K used, 558392K available (block size 4096)

/data: 2705192K total, 271044K used, 2434148K available (block size 4096)

/cache: 433321K total, 16680K used, 416641K available (block size 1024)

/devlog: 21100K total, 4132K used, 16968K available (block size 4096)

/mnt/asec: 305764K total, 0K used, 305764K available (block size 4096)

/app-cache: 8192K total, 328K used, 7864K available (block size 4096)

/mnt/sdcard: 31154688K total, 1949184K used, 29205504K available (block size 32768)

/mnt/secure/asec: 31154688K total, 1949184K used, 29205504K available (block size 32768)

So A little Math Shows 4648125k  = Approx 4.6Gb 

Also a little more Proof If your still Hung up on there is 8GB of Flash.

cat /proc/partitions

major minor  #blocks  name

 179        0    4382720 mmcblk0

 179        1        500 mmcblk0p1

 179        2         64 mmcblk0p2

 179        3       4500 mmcblk0p3

 179        4          1 mmcblk0p4

 179        5      30000 mmcblk0p5

 179        6      12500 mmcblk0p6

 179        7       2048 mmcblk0p7

 179        8       3072 mmcblk0p8

 179        9       2048 mmcblk0p9

 179       10       1024 mmcblk0p10

 179       11       1024 mmcblk0p11

 179       12       8751 mmcblk0p12

 179       13       3072 mmcblk0p13

 179       14       3072 mmcblk0p14

 179       15       1024 mmcblk0p15

 179       16       8957 mmcblk0p16

 179       17        256 mmcblk0p17

 179       18       1024 mmcblk0p18

 179       19       1024 mmcblk0p19

 179       20       1280 mmcblk0p20

 179       21       8701 mmcblk0p21

 179       22       4096 mmcblk0p22

 179       23        256 mmcblk0p23

 179       24       2047 mmcblk0p24

 179       25     882687 mmcblk0p25

 179       26    2748416 mmcblk0p26

 179       27     447487 mmcblk0p27

 179       28       2047 mmcblk0p28

 179       29      21247 mmcblk0p29

 179       30        256 mmcblk0p30

 179       32   31166976 mmcblk1

 179       33   31162880 mmcblk1p1

#

4382720 mmcblk0 = 4.38GB

So Im not sure how Flash Memory works if its like regular hard disk there "Could" be some available space not added to the Partition. But im not very knowledgeable in that area.. 

I work with AIX servers all day and just knew a couple of places to look for diskspace.   And im siding on the fact that we indeed do not have 8GB eMMC We have a 4GB Internal eMMC.

Anyone else got something I Missed? Or hopefully a Correction to what ive found?

Now if indeed the Chip is partitioned for SLC, and is in a "Raid" Configuration if you will.  Then I can live with that..  But Verizon Did a poor Job, and basicly did a Bait and switch on that.  As they lured alot of people in with the 4G, and it having 40Gigs of space. Which we later found out that was not the case.

Id like to just see something from Verizon saying  yes..  It was a misprint etc..  there is an 8Gig Internal Chip in there but its formatted differantly.  etc... etc...   

[FAUguy]

Here's where the Verizon Wireles Developer site says the Thunderbolt has 4GB of internal memory. But I'm not sure how accurate it is, as it also has 16GB listed for the external memory, which is really 32GB.

http://developer.verizon.com/jsps/devCenters/DeviceDB/Landing_Pages/HTCThunderbolt.jsp

http://developer.verizon.com/downloads/OEM_PDF/HTC_Thunderbolt.pdf

[sammyboy405]

yea I Saw all that..   Which leads me to believe HTC and Verizon have no clue who has what. and what was delivered.

[Tidbits]

Your math is terrible. If it wad a 4GB chip inside when you poll the partitions it should show LESS than 4GB. So far the numbers you have shown is greater than 4GB every time. For you to have more than 4.6GB it would have to be at least greater than 6 GHANA of total space. So the 4GB internal can't be correct.

[annoni]

---

annoni wrote:

The Android OS requires 5.52GB of the internal memory for basic operation. The user has 2.48GB to download applications and store email. Some Google Market applications can be downloaded and stored onto the pre-installed 32GB SD card.

---

Despite the disbelief that seems to pervade many responses, The chip is actually 8GB

[Tidbits]

Sammyboy look at your numbers:

4.6GB > 4.  If it was exactly a 4GB chip then your total capacity would be less than 4.  4,000/1024 = 3.90GB.  So all those numbers you are pulling goes OVER a 4G capacity so therefore it CAN NOT be a 4GB chip inside.  It is psyically IMPOSSIBLE unless the information is compressed and as it is already known it isn't.  Also our radio is much larger due to another radio.  I believe the Droid Incredible radio is around 300MB while some people claim ours is closer to 700MB(I haven't seen anything to prove or disprove this).

Now if we look at it.  We should have roughly 7.8GB of total space.  Take into account that they may have had some extra space somewhere for future update proofing. I can see why we have 2.6GB of user space.

If they did a raid style it's still NOT a bait and switch.  Bait and switch is where they give you something else than what you paid for.  Buy a mustang and get a pinto.

You bought a phone with a 8GB eMMC, and got a phone with 8GB eMMC.  Regardless of what is user accessable or not.