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Insufficient Storage !!

A

arunonline1

Lurker
hey,
My new phone :-
Samsung Galaxy J2
Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7
1 GB Ram
8 GB internal memory.

Firstly, i'm new to android & facing a problem. Internal memory is 8gb & now free space is showing as 460MB. But, i cannot update or download an app. The error shows "Insufficient storage - Consider deleting apps or content you no longer need". I cleared all; cache files but same error. The interesting point is that i can make use of the remaining 460mb for music files/videos (which i have confirmed). It doesn't show any error. But, i can't download an app or update. I'm seeking help to solve this. Waiting for valuable solution.
 
Lots of users also face the same problem, if your phone has SD card you can use apps like apps2sd or Link2sd to use the SD card as additional memory for your apps.
 
The OS will refuse to install apps if that would leave too little internal storage free. The manufacturer decides how little is too little, but typically 200-300MB.

Move media to the physical sd card would be my advice.
 
Hadron said:
The OS will refuse to install apps if that would leave too little internal storage free. The manufacturer decides how little is too little, but typically 200-300MB.

Move media to the physical sd card would be my advice.
Click to expand...

Thnxxx for the reply. But, my phone have 460MB free space & still i can't update or download apps. & whats the logic that i can use 460MB to copy media files but cant use for apps. can u make it clear for me?
 
A media file is a set size. An app is compressed before it is installed so takes up more memory than the size of the APK file plus an app will require memory for its data
 
arunonline1 said:
Thnxxx for the reply. But, my phone have 460MB free space & still i can't update or download apps. & whats the logic that i can use 460MB to copy media files but cant use for apps. can u make it clear for me?
Click to expand...
As I say, I don't know what your manufacturer set the limit to, just the range in which it is commonly set (I am assuming that a Samsung is using a unified storage model so we don't have to worry about whether you are looking at the correct internal storage). But if installing the app (which as Pugs says will use more space than just the size of the apk file) then the phone will refuse to install it. The app installer tools is a different piece of software from the file browser you are using to copy the media file, so there's no guarantee that they will have the same limits.

If you think that the Play Store app could be playing up you can always try clearing its cache, or even clearing the Play Store app's data (after which you'll have to sign in again). That's the only other thing that comes to mind.
 
arunonline1 said:
Thnxxx for the reply. But, my phone have 460MB free space & still i can't update or download apps. & whats the logic that i can use 460MB to copy media files but cant use for apps. can u make it clear for me?
Click to expand...

lvt suggested using Link2SD. If you have a rooted device or don't mind rooting, I'd say this is a really good idea. The free version of Link2SD will let you move apps like Google Play Services etc. to your SD card.

I've used it for my old Galaxy Ace phone and it's working perfectly for my needs. I even went ahead and purchased the pro version.
 
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The_R said:
lvt suggested using Link2SD. If you have a rooted device or don't mind rooting, I'd say this is a really good idea. The free version of Link2SD will let you move apps like Google Play Services etc. to your SD card.

I've used it for my old Galaxy Ace phone and it's working perfectly for my needs. I even went ahead and purchased the pro version.
Click to expand...
I also get the Pro version, it's really worth the small investment.
 
Pugs1957 said:
A media file is a set size. An app is compressed before it is installed so takes up more memory than the size of the APK file plus an app will require memory for its data
Click to expand...

Ok fine. but, i have to install a 4MB app and have 460MB free space. And i cant perform any app update which shows "Insufficient data". According to you, if the app is compressed, does 460MB not sufficient ?? Or if i have to perform an update (which could be kb files) does 460Mb bcomes insuffiecient ?
 
The_R said:
lvt suggested using Link2SD. If you have a rooted device or don't mind rooting, I'd say this is a really good idea. The free version of Link2SD will let you move apps like Google Play Services etc. to your SD card.

I've used it for my old Galaxy Ace phone and it's working perfectly for my needs. I even went ahead and purchased the pro version.
Click to expand...

Sir, I don't know whether Link2SD is necessary for me. Because, In samsung galaxy J2, In "Settings ---> Application Manager" option, i have 2 options for every apps. 1)Move to SD Card 2)Move to Device Storage.
By selecting the 1st option, i can move the apps to sd, Am i right?
But, there comes another problem. I have moved 3 apps to sd. But, if my assumption is right, only some files are moved to sd & the rest are still in internal memory. To make it clear for everyone, i have attached the screenshots.
Screenshot_2015-12-05-20-36-33.png Screenshot_2015-12-05-20-36-33.png Screenshot_2015-12-05-20-36-26.png
I'm confused with 3 options in the screenshot. What does application size denotes and what does SD card app size denotes ?
 

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  • Screenshot_2015-12-05-20-36-42.png
    Screenshot_2015-12-05-20-36-42.png
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"Move to sd" only moves part of the installed app (apk and any shared object library component). Other parts of the installed app remain on the phone. It is a second rate patch that was introduced in the days when phones had very little storage indeed, and hasn't been part of the base Android OS for a few years. A more comprehensive replacement is introduced in 6.0.

Refusing to install a 4MB app when you have 460 free suggests that either the manufacturer has specified at least 450MB should remain free (larger than the norm) or there is something else wrong/some missing piece of information. Can you post a shot of your storage information? You normally only get stuff like this with cheap Chinese phones that still use a Gingerbread like setup with separate /data and /sdcard partitions (where only /data is used for app installs).
 
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arunonline1 said:
But, there comes another problem. I have moved 3 apps to sd. But, if my assumption is right, only some files are moved to sd & the rest are still in internal memory.
Click to expand...

Some apps and tools, like whatsapp, facebook, google play services etc. cannot be moved to SD. Link2SD will allow you to move even those apps to SD Card. I must admit though, its not that easy for everyone to set it up. Maybe find someone who is willing to do that for you, if you don't feel confident rooting your phone and partitioning your SD card
 
Hadron said:
"Move to sd" only moves part of the installed app (apk and any shared object library component). Other parts of the installed app remain on the phone. It is a second rate patch that was introduced in the days when phones had very little storage indeed, and hasn't been part of the base Android OS for a few years. A more comprehensive replacement is introduced in 6.0.

Refusing to install a 4MB app when you have 460 free suggests that either the manufacturer has specified at least 450MB should remain free (larger than the norm) or there is something else wrong/some missing piece of information. Can you post a shot of your storage information? You normally only get stuff like this with cheap Chinese phones that still use a Gingerbread like setup with separate /data and /sdcard partitions (where only /data is used for app installs).
Click to expand...

Move to Sd will move only a part. Ok Sir, the 1st part is ok.

I'm attaching the screenshot of mem storage.
Screenshot_2015-12-10-15-37-47.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The_R said:
Some apps and tools, like whatsapp, facebook, google play services etc. cannot be moved to SD. Link2SD will allow you to move even those apps to SD Card. I must admit though, its not that easy for everyone to set it up. Maybe find someone who is willing to do that for you, if you don't feel confident rooting your phone and partitioning your SD card
Click to expand...

Ok fine, I tried Watsapp to be moved to SD but there was no option in file manager. Now its clear what Link2SD does. Thnxxxxx.
 
Yes the built-in "Move to SD" option is only available if the app's developer wants to offer it, and as stated above, for big apps most of the largest files of the app will remain in internal memory.
 
The big issue here is one of misunderstanding when it comes to how OEM's Advertise their devices. Yes you have 8 gigs of internal memory but you don't have access to all 8gigs. Carriers and OEM's both use internal storage for their bloatware. Having recently purchased another Samsung I know that Sammy comes with lots of bloat and uses more of the space that I wish it to.

Apps like Link2SD help tremendously with this however you still have to have enough internal memory to download the app allow it to install and then Link2SD will move the app over to your external sdcard. You also have to have a kernel that supports init.d scripts this allows Link2SD to start at boot. This is needed in order to mount the external sdcard as memory for the apps.

You can probably remove an app like Facebook temporarily to get Link2SD to install. Once its installed allow it to run and move what it will over to the sdcard. After the first setup run I always rebooted and cleaned dalvic and cache and when the OS is back up go and re-download Facebook or whatever I uninstalled.
 
The memory limit might be OS dependent, so it's hard to say why. but you just move your application in Sd Card....
 
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