How to clear up Internal Storage Space on Android Phone

[Wax Bean Tycoon]

I have a Motorola Moto e6 XT2005DL phone running Android 9 (I guess a dinosaur at this point), but it is great for my use, and I don't feel the need to buy a new phone every other year.

I installed a micro SD card with plenty of storage space and designated it as internal storage (so the apps will be installed on the SD card etc.) No need to worry about storage space forever! (I don't store large amounts of data, pics, videos, documents on the phone anyway)

however, I just had a little icon pop up telling me that I'm running out of internal storage (might have said internal shared storage) and that some apps might not run right etc. When I looked up online what to do about it, the 1st suggestion was to start deleting apps that I don't need, however if those apps are installed on the micro SD card what's the point? I have 97.22 GB of free storage left.

Much of the confusion is internal storage vs internal shared storage. My phone tells me that internal storage is 96 GB free, so what should I do, if anything, to free up internal shared storage?

Should I just ignore the warning? When I click on the settings/storage/internal shared storage/ I scroll down to "other apps", and it takes me to Apps Storage. I started selecting apps, 1 by 1, and clearing cache, but it didn't really do anything to free up internal shared storage. I don't know what I'm talking about..... hence I'm here asking 😏

Thanks

 

[Wax Bean Tycoon]

I have a Motorola Moto e6 XT2005DL phone running Android 9 (I guess a dinosaur at this point), but it is great for my use, and I don't feel the need to buy a new phone every other year.

I installed a micro SD card with plenty of storage space and designated it as internal storage (so the apps will be installed on the SD card etc.) No need to worry about storage space forever! (I don't store large amounts of data, pics, videos, documents on the phone anyway)

however, I just had a little icon pop up telling me that I'm running out of internal storage (might have said internal shared storage) and that some apps might not run right etc. When I looked up online what to do about it, the 1st suggestion was to start deleting apps that I don't need, however if those apps are installed on the micro SD card what's the point? I have 97.22 GB of free storage left.

Much of the confusion is internal storage vs internal shared storage. My phone tells me that internal storage is 96 GB free, so what should I do, if anything, to free up internal shared storage?

Should I just ignore the warning? When I click on the settings/storage/internal shared storage/ I scroll down to "other apps", and it takes me to Apps Storage. I started selecting apps, 1 by 1, and clearing cache, but it didn't really do anything to free up internal shared storage. I don't know what I'm talking about..... hence I'm here asking 😏

Thanks
View attachment 175231

So I emptied my recycle bin of the photos, and the free space of the internal shared storage increased slightly. So now I'm a bit more confused. I am assuming that all photos and videos are default stored on the micro sd card, because they appear in the DCIM folder when I plug my phone into my computer, (allowing easy transfer of photos to computer) but when I delete photos and videos, they go into the recycle bin on the internal shared storage of the phone? My head hurts.🤔

 

[svim]

Well currently you have your microSD card set up as just manually added, storage media. Basically, just added storage space. When your card is setup as Portable, you're able to manually between your phone's internal storage and your microSD card's storage. If you did actually setup your card as Internal, than you would not be able to still manage anything on the card. When Internal, the OS manages the card's content, you don't have direct access to it.

With your microSD card configured as 'Portable', its default file system remains (either FAT32 or exFAT) so it's still a transferable storage media between different devices. If you were to reconfigure your card as 'Internal' instead, it will then get reformatted to ext4 (to match up with your Android phone's internal storage) and encrypted (the encryption key linking that card to your phone). When the card is set up as Internal, you no longer have anything to do with the card's storage media, that's all handled by your phone's Android OS -- whatever apps, or parts of apps, and whatever file documents get stored within the card are all managed and maintained by the operating system. You just see an increased amount of storage capacity when the card is setup as Internal, the microSD card's internal storage becomes added to the phone's internal storage, essentially making the card an ad-hoc component of your phone (that's why the card requires a different file system and needs to be encrypted to the phone it's used in).

So pick the best choice that fits your needs. If you do opt for Internal, it's essentially tied to your phone since it's now just added to the internal storage, so you no longer can just transfer files and things to it and use the card elsewhere. If you leave it as Portable, you can just continue using the card as sharable storage space with other devices.
Or you can try using the card formatted as Internal for a while and it you find it an issue when you want to transfer data to other devices, you can always reformat the card back to Portable and restore it back to its original state. Just not that's a pretty disruptive measure, when Internal the Android OS sees the card as added storage space, change the card back to Portable and that messes up things at a file system level with what the OS was working with. That's why it's better to make a decision one way or the other first when it comes to Portable vs Internal for microSD cards. Some manufactures don't even want to bother with it, leaving card formatting as 'Portable' being the sole choice.