Lesson in memory please...

[krp6006]

So for a few months now when trying to update app's I have been getting an insufficient storage available message which I've just ignored. I've also been regularly getting a notification telling me to make more space.

Until now it has just been a nuisance but this morning I woke up telling me I need to update my whatsapp but I can't because of "insufficient storage available". I have deleted almost all photo's and videos in a desperate attempt to get it to work. I've downloaded various apps to clear my cache. Yet I am still having the same problem.

When I plug my phone into my laptop through USB it tells me the internal memory is almost empty and the micro SD card (8GB) is only a 1/4 full.

So why do I have "insufficient storage"? How can I fix this? How can I move more stuff on my SD card as it appears (to me anyway) this would be the best solution.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Sounds like you have a phone that has/had an earlier version of Android.

Earlier versions of Android partitioned internal storage into a smaller area for apps and a larger area for general storage (for photos, MP3s etc). This meant that, while you might have GBs of free space in the general storage area the apps area could easily be filled - sometimes with just a couple of larger apps. This is what appears to have happened with your phone.

Later versions of Android removed the partition so all internal storage is available to both apps and other files.

Unfortunately, if your phone came with a version of Android that partitioned storage, updating to a later version of Android does not remove the partitioning as this would lose all data.

As a work around, some versions of Android supported App2SD which moved some the app files to be to the SD card to free space. Not all apps supported this. If your phone and the app supports it, you should see a Move to SD button when you click on the app in Settings .. Apps.

If not, there are a number of other things you could do, easiest being to uninstall any apps you no longer use.

Alternatively you could:

- use a 3rd party app2SD tool

or

- re-partition the memory and install a later version of Android (erases ALL data from the phone)

Note that these require rooting and maybe ROMing so are quite technical - and quite risky. For more information, see the Rooting section of the forum for your specific phone model.

 

[lunatic59]

Welcome to Android Forums krp606.

This can explain the various areas and partitions of Android device memory. Android Partitions Explained: boot, system, recovery, data, cache & misc.

As for your problem, If you go to Menu>settings>applications and click on the "all" tab, you can sort your apps by size and see which are the largest. From there you might find some very large caches that can be deleted. Remember, though, that those caches were built buy you using your device, so they will likely grow again. Messaging databases have a tendency to bloat up, especially if you have a lot of pictures and media embedded. These are stored in protected system memory and can't be deleted. What you can do, is limit the amount of data it stores under the settings for mail, gmail and messaging so that it doesn't get out of hand.