How to Access Android Internal Storage with Ease [2024 Update]

Every Android device has an internal memory on it called internal storage. This memory space is used to store the essential files of your device such as the camera folders, application data, and so on. If you have not added an SD card to your device, you have already been using the internal storage of your device all this time whether you knew it or you did not.

Then, how can you get to internal storage on your phone to view files and retrieve data from internal storage? Here in this post, we’d like to show you the steps to access internal storage Android. And, the internal storage can be mounted as a drive on your computer. So you can also access internal storage on an Android phone using a PC/Mac. Let’s check them out.

Way 1. How Do I Access Internal Storage on Android?

To access internal storage on a Samsung phone:

1. Go to My Files, you can view internal storage, SD card, and Network storage.
2. Click internal storage, you can view data and files with folders.
3. Usually, photos are saved in the DCIM folder.

You can also access free internal storage from your Android phone through the path below:

1. Go to Settings and find Device Care or Device Maintenance.
2. Click on Storage. Here you can preview what data are using your internal storage and how much free storage you can use further.

Usually, the low Android internal storage will cause the system to run slow, and other system glitches to happen. Therefore, you can clear internal storage to get more space on Android, by clearing apps’ cache, deleting unnecessary photos and downloads, moving data from phone to computer, etc.

Also Read: Where Do Deleted Files Go on Android Phone >

Way 2. How to Access Internal Storage on Android Phone using PC (HOT)

If you can’t access internal storage on your Android phone, or want to retrieve data from internal storage but found nothing, you can try an Android data manager. DriodKit – Android Phone Toolkit is a PC/Mac software that allows you to take full control of all Android data easily. You can access the internal storage of an Android phone or even a Samsung dead phone/tablet. It is designed as a complete Android solution that includes a data manager, data recovery, broken system data recovery, etc. 

How can you access internal storage with DroidKit:

• Connect your Android phone or tablet via PC/Mac, showing all data on your internal storage.
• Transfer data from internal storage to your computer.
• You can also transfer data from Android to Android or iPhone to Android.
• A file manager allows you to manage all your Android data types, like photos, videos, text messages, music, etc.
• The broken system data extractor helps you to access internal storage on dead Samsung.
• Supports all AndroidOS, including Android 12 and 13.

Download the latest version of DriodKit to have a try!

Steps to access internal storage on Android with PC:

Step 1. Get DroidKit installed on your computer. Launch the software and choose Device Manager in Data Manager as below and click Start.

Step 2. Connect your device to the computer and Start.

Step 3. Here you can click Export Content to view data in your internal storage. Or, click Photos, Videos, etc. to access data by category.

Step 4. Furtherly, if you need to access data by category, you can click data type directly. Taking photos as an example, you can delete photos, transfer photos to a PC, etc as below.

Way 3. Access Android Internal Storage via Android File Transfer

If you would like to use the traditional USB method of transferring files, you can use a USB cable with your Android device to access your internal storage. You are going to connect your device to your computer with a USB cable to then be able to view your files.

The following are the exact steps on how you can do the task on your computer:

Step 1: If you use a Mac computer, you will have to install and use the Android File Transfer app to access the internal storage of your device on your Mac. Windows users do not need to do this step.

Step 2: Connect your Android device to your computer using a compatible USB cable. Tap on the notification that appears on your device and choose File transfer.

Step 3: Open This PC (Windows) or the Android File Transfer app (Mac) and you should be able to access the internal files of your device. You can then move around your files however you want.

As you can see, it is pretty easy to mount your Android device as a drive on your computer and access its files. Keep in mind, though, that not all the devices can be mounted that way as sometimes you will run into issues like your computer lacking the required drivers to recognize your device.

If you would like to eliminate all those issues that may possibly occur, you can use an app to view your internal storage as described in the following section.

Way 4. Access Android Internal Storage via AnyDroid

If you do not wish to get into the hassle of finding and installing the required drivers for your device on your computer, you can use a third-party app to view your internal memory files without installing anything but the app. AnyDroid allows you to access your internal storage on your Android device with minimum hassle, even without a USB cable. Here are some of the useful features the app offers to its users:

• Full access– It gives you full access to each and every file stored on your internal storage.
• Transfer multiple files – The app allows you to transfer any type of file from your device to your computer and vice versa.
• Access Android internal storage wirelessly – It allows you to connect your phone to a PC wirelessly if there’s no available USB cable.
• Safe– It is very safe and secure to use the app to access and transfer your files.
• Easy– Whether you are an expert or a novice, you will equally enjoy using AnyDroid on your computer.

AnyDroid has everything you would ever need to manage all kinds of files on your Android device’s internal storage. The following is how you use the app to access your internal storage.

Step 1: Go download and install the app on your computer. Launch the app and plug in your Android device to your computer using a cable.

Step 2: The main screen of the app will appear. Find and click on the option that says Files and it will let you access the files saved on your internal storage.

Step 3: Once you have clicked the files option, the app will display all the files and folders you have got on your device. These are all the files and folders available on your device’s internal storage.

Step 4: If you want to move a file or a folder to your computer, select the file or the folder and click on the Send to PC button at the top to transfer your content to computer.

Step 5: Wait while the app transfers your content. When it is done, you will see the following message on your screen.

Using AnyDroid to access the files on the internal storage of an Android device is extremely easy and it allows file transfer tasks as well should you want to do that.

Tip: How to Free Up Internal Storage on Android

Clearing internal storage helps you to retrieve low space and save other photos & videos.

To delete unwanted downloads from Google Play:

1. Launch Google Play Store.
2. Manage downloads from Menu.
3. Choose the Downloaded file that you want to delete.
4. Click Remove.

To clear unwanted cache and data from apps:

1. Open Settings and tap on Applications.
2. Go to Applications Manager or find the storage from the Application List.
3. Tap on Clear Cache or Clear Data,

Note that some apps may act slower when used, after clearing the cache.

To get more space, you can also make sure your photos back up with Google Drive, add an SD card to install apps, or move data to your SD card.

The Bottom Line

If you have never accessed the internal storage files on your Android device, the above guide should help you do that. So, you can see what you have got in your internal memory space. The complete Android solution – DroidKit, enables you to access internal storage using a PC, clear internal storage, and even retrieve data from internal storage. Feel free to download it to take a preview of it.