Why am I running low on storage?

[sukayser]

I've got the original Droid, with 16GB SD card (15.7 GB usable). According to ASTRO (file manager), I've got 14.3 GB available.
Yesterday, I got notices to update several apps; I believe all of them are put in by Google, and I can't deleter them: Facebook, Twitter, CarHome. I started to update them, but they wouldn't complete the download; a message popped up saying I didn't have sufficient storage available.

How can this be, with 14.3 GB on the SD card unused? I don't really have many apps, other than those that come with Android, so I'm astonished that I have no space available. I read somewhere that Facebook, which I do not use, can fill up space even when not in use. Could this be the problem? If so, what can I do about it?

Susan

 

[tjk629]

The message is about internal storage. Which you only have around 256MB of.

The best thing to do is to look at your apps, and see which ones can be moved over to the SD card. You can do this through the manage apps section in settings.

 

[sukayser]

How do I put stuff on the SD card?

The message is about internal storage. Which you only have around 256MB of.

The best thing to do is to look at your apps, and see which ones can be moved over to the SD card. You can do this through the manage apps section in settings.

That makes sense. However, I tried to do this, and can't figure out how. The instructions I found on the Web don't seem to correspond to my system (I don't know which version of Android I'm using, but I accept all updates, so I presume I'm up to date.) The most important thing is probably to get the Droid to put my photos on the SD card, but neither ASTRO nor Settings seems to give me that choice. What do I do, to get audio and video stored on the SD card, not the internal storage? (By the way, in Settings, under Storage, I found that I have about 25 MB of internal storage free.)

Susan

 

[guidot]

Do you have a large amount of SMS and/or MMS messages?

This can cause problems like that also.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

[electricman58]

Happened to me a couple of times on my Bionic, believe it or not all I had to do was to clear the cache and it worked, go figure!!!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[tjk629]

That makes sense. However, I tried to do this, and can't figure out how. The instructions I found on the Web don't seem to correspond to my system (I don't know which version of Android I'm using, but I accept all updates, so I presume I'm up to date.) The most important thing is probably to get the Droid to put my photos on the SD card, but neither ASTRO nor Settings seems to give me that choice. What do I do, to get audio and video stored on the SD card, not the internal storage? (By the way, in Settings, under Storage, I found that I have about 25 MB of internal storage free.)

Susan

By default pictures and videos are stored on the SD card. So, you shouldn't have any of that stuff on internal.

You most likely have Froyo so there are a few things you can try.

1.) ZDbox If you can download this. There is a section here will scan your apps, and tell you what can be moved over. Then you just click on it, and it'll send you to the page you need to click the move to SD. BTW, don't look at the screenshots for the app, it is in English.

2.) Since you're so low ZDbox may not install, so you'll have to do this manually. Since you're on Froyo it's going to take a bit. Haven't used Froyo in well over a year, but these screenshots, should be what you have to do. (Click to enlarge)

View attachment 49158

The Move to SD card should look like the Uninstall button. If it doesn't, then it cannot be moved.

 

[sukayser]

Do you have a large amount of SMS and/or MMS messages?

This can cause problems like that also.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

Nope. I don't text. And I did look at caches for some likely apps, and they were empty or tiny.

 

[sukayser]

on moving to SD card

Dear tjk629,

Yes, I'm on Froyo (v2.2.3). I don't have ZDbox, but do use Settings/Applications/Manage Applications. It turns out only a couple of my apps can be moved over--some really tiny ones, like Doodle Jump (which my nephews pressured me to get last year, and now ignore ) and the biggest suspects can't be moved, but a few can.

I've just added up the sizes of my apps, and they come to about 203 MB. If I have only 256 MB, that starts to look like most of the trouble. The 2 biggest, both of which can be moved, are about 20 MB each, so I'll move them and see. (They are the Kindle Reader and the B&N Nook Reader, if you may need similar surgery.)

One other thing occurs to me: I just installed a beta version of Dropbox (which is like the Apple iOS Photostream: it copies all photos on your phone to the Dropbox cloud, without you having to send them one by one, for easy access on other devices). Dropbox itself claims it is using very little memory (4.3 MB, including its cache), but maybe it's using some hidden memory? I turned off the phone and then restarted, but that didn't change anything. I haven't taken out the battery, though.

Anyhow, I've just moved the Kindle and Nook readers over, and the "low storage" message isn't there now, so I think you have solved my problem. Thanks, to all of you!

Susan

 

[tjk629]

I don't know what apps you have, but you said you had a lot of updates. It's possible some of them added support for app2SD.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[sukayser]

Maybe. App2SD tells you when an app can be moved to SD, but how would that cause a problem? If anything, it should help clear up an overload of apps; I suppose it could add a bit to the size of each program. But the updates were for programs like Facebook that can't be moved, so they wouldn't have added support for App2SD. Anyhow, I have few enough apps that I have added that it isn't a problem to find out which can be moved. Hopefully, moving the ebook readers over will give me enough room: I now have 51 MB of internal storage free.

 

[teddyearp]

Your phone will give you the message when internal storage gets to about 25-30mb. As stated it has nothing at all to do with the amount of free space on your sdcard. Sounds like you have alot of apps installed and have made the right solution by moving some of them to your sdcard. Make note that even then a tiny portion remains on your phone's internal storage. I'll re-iterate that your photos are already stored on your sdcard.

good luck

 

[TatDroid]

I loved my OG DROID, and kept it past my upgrade date, but lack of app storage space ultimately drove me to a new phone. RIP - you did me well, OG DROID.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[sukayser]

Your phone will give you the message when internal storage gets to about 25-30mb. As stated it has nothing at all to do with the amount of free space on your sdcard. Sounds like you have alot of apps installed and have made the right solution by moving some of them to your sdcard. Make note that even then a tiny portion remains on your phone's internal storage. I'll re-iterate that your photos are already stored on your sdcard.

good luck

The internal free space was apparently low enough that several apps, each under 5 MB, would not update. Oh well, eventually they'll get in, and these were for apps I rarely or never use, but they are part of the system and cannot be uninstalled.

Thanks for your explanation.
Susan

 

[vey]

The internal free space was apparently low enough that several apps, each under 5 MB, would not update. Oh well, eventually they'll get in, and these were for apps I rarely or never use, but they are part of the system and cannot be uninstalled.

Thanks for your explanation.
Susan

If you have a rooted phone, there are things you can do without having to put in a different rom or buying a new phone.

I use titanium backup and it has tools in it such a wiping the "dalvick cache" which is where files sometimes get stuck on installation. Also, I "freeze" system apps such as youtube and other programs like facebook I don't use. Even though the system may say a program can't be moved to the sd card, many times it can be by using the batch tool. As always, you can cause things to fail this way, such as moving an app that has a widget, then wondering why the widget won't work.

Another app I use this way is System Tuner. And another is Memory Usage Plus.