getting low on internal memory - what next?

[cchhiipp]

I'm starting to get low on internal memory - 221 out of 261 MB. I imagine most of that is being taken up by apps.

Should I move some of the lesser-used apps to the SD card? If so, how do I do that?

I'm not rooted, just stock.

Any suggestions about how to best handle this or will the OS handle it for me?

Thanks!

 

[harrellj]

Apps that are able to be moved to the SD card are dependent on whether the developer has enabled that option. To do so, go into settings > applications > manage apps and individually go through them. There should be a button that says either move to phone or move to SD, if it is possible to do so.

To see what is really taking up space, run DiskUsage - Android app on AppBrain or a similar app and it hopefully will tell you what is the largest items.

Also, sometimes just clearing caches out will help as well.

 

[mwhartman]

+ 1 for cleaning cache!

 

[aaf709]

To see what is really taking up space, run DiskUsage - Android app on AppBrain or a similar app and it hopefully will tell you what is the largest items.

Nice app, thanks for sharing that.

To the OP, while it's a good idea to move what you can to the sd card, not all of the app will move. For example, Google Earth is about 20mb but only 5mb will move to the sd card. And the DiskUsage app mentioned above is 168kb, but only 76kb will move to the sd card.

 

[DF Smod]

+ 1 for cleaning cache!

Make that 2

 

[izzysmom]

And the DiskUsage app mentioned above is 168kb, but only 76kb will move to the sd card.

OK - I installed DiskUsage -- I cleared ALL of my Caches - and "looked" at the buttons in Applications>SETTINGS -- I didnt find a SINGLE ONE that mentioned anything about moving/storing data on the SD....including diskusage....so what am I missing...it that Move/Store button hidden somewhere that I'm not looking??

I did gain about 20MB by clearing caches - which is great....but I'd love to gain more room.

 

[harrellj]

Did you go to the list of installed applications in manage applications? If so and after clicking on an individual application, there was no send to phone or send to SD button? If so, if you go to settings and about phone, what version are you running (2.1)?

When you launch diskusage, it should prompt you to choose either internal storage or SD. If you choose internal storage, what do you see visible (since that would be what is taking up the most space)? Whatever it is will give you an idea of what the next step is to reduce it down.

Yeah, yeah.. I'm on my phone. So?

 

[hookbill]

I did gain about 20MB by clearing caches - which is great....but I'd love to gain more room.

20 mb is a lot of memory to recover. You sound like you come from the Blackberry world. You really shouldn't have to worry about disk memory. 20 mb is plenty for an Android OS to work with.

Have you actually got a low memory warning?

 

[izzysmom]

I did gain about 20MB by clearing caches - which is great....but I'd love to gain more room.

20 mb is a lot of memory to recover. You sound like you come from the Blackberry world. You really shouldn't have to worry about disk memory. 20 mb is plenty for an Android OS to work with.

Have you actually got a low memory warning?

No - I havent gotten a warning -- I just assumed that I should be putting anything that could be stored "off site" to the SD card - leaving internal memory available for those things that CANT be moved. This is actually my 1st smartphone -- so I'm learning as I go. (I've had an iPod Touch since it first came out...and I'm a heavy PC user....I tend to think of my Ally in those terms....)

 

[izzysmom]

Did you go to the list of installed applications in manage applications? If so and after clicking on an individual application, there was no send to phone or send to SD button? If so, if you go to settings and about phone, what version are you running (2.1)?

When you launch diskusage, it should prompt you to choose either internal storage or SD. If you choose internal storage, what do you see visible (since that would be what is taking up the most space)? Whatever it is will give you an idea of what the next step is to reduce it down.

Yeah, yeah.. I'm on my phone. So?

Yes, I am running 2.1 -- and I did go to manage applications -- none of the ones I have installed had an option to send to SD -- so I wasnt sure if I was looking in the right place or not.

 

[harrellj]

You're looking in the right place, but 2.1 doesn't support apps2sd so it won't be available until you update.

Yeah, yeah.. I'm on my phone. So?

 

[claym]

Once you do update, there are apps like App 2 SD that give you a list of apps that can be moved to your sd card. It can take the app awhile to load, but alot easier than looking in each individual app.

 

[murphette]

Ur phone doesnt move apps to sd card nor store them there. just pics and music. sorry. phone sucks for memory