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Help "Low on space" phone/application storage notification

What will happen if I clear the cache on the "Dialer Storage"? That's my biggest thing at 41.39 MB.

Thanks

Nevermind. You can't clear the cache in this. Only the data.

Should I clear "data" to help with the low space message?
 
What will happen if I clear the cache on the "Dialer Storage"? That's my biggest thing at 41.39 MB.

Thanks

Nevermind. You can't clear the cache in this. Only the data.

Should I clear "data" to help with the low space message?

I think that clears sms and video messages. Don't know for sure though.
 
What will happen if I clear the cache on the "Dialer Storage"? That's my biggest thing at 41.39 MB.

Thanks

Nevermind. You can't clear the cache in this. Only the data.

Should I clear "data" to help with the low space message?

I think that clears sms and video messages. Don't know for sure though.

I would have guessed it cleared the list of people you called, possibly any speed dial setup you may have??????
 
I think that clears sms and video messages. Don't know for sure though.

Yep ^^. I've tried to track this down before and I'm not sure what all is included, but texts & MMS are definitely the bulk of the data in the Dialer Storage.

Not sure what they call it on stock, but it used to be called [SMS/MMS/APN] Dialer Storage, which better described it's function. Depending on how many MMS pics/vids a person receives, you could gain a lot of space by deleting these. If there are any you want to keep, move them to the SD card before deleting.
 
So a number of people have been saying how gingerbread isn't a big update and we should be happy with Froyo. Overall, I agree and have been happy with my dinc. However, there is one *absolutely glaring* problem with the software as is that, after discussions with HTC support, I think will be fixed in the next update.

The artificial limit on app storage that results in the disk space low error that I, and way to many others, have seen on this phone is ridiculous. I have tons of free space in RAM, internal memory and my SD card. As far as I know, this is an HTC issue that is specific to this phone, but I think it will be fixed with gingerbread. So I'm not exactly looking for a ton of new functionality with gingerbread, just the ability to install more apps on my phone without running into this artificial upper limit (which is partially eaten up by app data such as MMS attachments, which I find utterly ridiculous).

To me, this illustrates the number one problem with non-Apple smartphones. On top of not getting the most recent android updates, and a much bigger issue in my book, is that other smartphones get almost no updates at all throughout their life despite being released in a mature beta state. It's what drives me nuts about most smartphones these days. Before my incredible, I used a Blackberry Storm for a few months and, oh my, was that phone awful. There were so many bugs in the software it was unbelievable. And over 2+ years since release, BB/VZW had only pushed two releases, to a software that was absolutely bug ridden on release. Totally ridiculous. In my mind, it would have been like Microsoft releasing Vista (or ME) and despite tons of complaints and real problems, only have released two tiny updates to it before releasing a newer version 2 years later which required you to upgrade at a cost.

I also disagree with the, "this phone is EOL" argument. If Verizon sells me a phone and locks me into a contract for 2 years, even if the hardware is out of warranty after one year, they should realize that they need to support the software on the phone for the realistic usage case for most customers, not just until something better comes along. And if this is an HTC problem, then they need to get their act together as well.

Again, overall, I'm happy with my phone. There are just some small problems that need to be fixed and it really annoys me that the carrier/supplier/android relationship is so screwed up that not even small problems can get fixed in a reasonable timeframe.
 
So a number of people have been saying how gingerbread isn't a big update and we should be happy with Froyo. Overall, I agree and have been happy with my dinc. However, there is one *absolutely glaring* problem with the software as is that, after discussions with HTC support, I think will be fixed in the next update.

The artificial limit on app storage that results in the disk space low error that I, and way to many others, have seen on this phone is ridiculous. I have tons of free space in RAM, internal memory and my SD card. As far as I know, this is an HTC issue that is specific to this phone, but I think it will be fixed with gingerbread. So I'm not exactly looking for a ton of new functionality with gingerbread, just the ability to install more apps on my phone without running into this artificial upper limit (which is partially eaten up by app data such as MMS attachments, which I find utterly ridiculous).

To me, this illustrates the number one problem with non-Apple smartphones. On top of not getting the most recent android updates, and a much bigger issue in my book, is that other smartphones get almost no updates at all throughout their life despite being released in a mature beta state. It's what drives me nuts about most smartphones these days. Before my incredible, I used a Blackberry Storm for a few months and, oh my, was that phone awful. There were so many bugs in the software it was unbelievable. And over 2+ years since release, BB/VZW had only pushed two releases, to a software that was absolutely bug ridden on release. Totally ridiculous. In my mind, it would have been like Microsoft releasing Vista (or ME) and despite tons of complaints and real problems, only have released two tiny updates to it before releasing a newer version 2 years later which required you to upgrade at a cost.

I also disagree with the, "this phone is EOL" argument. If Verizon sells me a phone and locks me into a contract for 2 years, even if the hardware is out of warranty after one year, they should realize that they need to support the software on the phone for the realistic usage case for most customers, not just until something better comes along. And if this is an HTC problem, then they need to get their act together as well.

Again, overall, I'm happy with my phone. There are just some small problems that need to be fixed and it really annoys me that the carrier/supplier/android relationship is so screwed up that not even small problems can get fixed in a reasonable timeframe.


It's not a small problem to fix. Any fix would either require the phone to be repartitioning (which can't happen OTA) or require that "private" data be stored somewhere OTHER than in the data/data partition (which wouldn't be secure enough). So there is no fix coming from HTC's end except possibly putting their software on a diet (reduce the amount of the partition their apps use). Which would surprise me if they'd put that effort in on an EOLed phone when they haven't thus far.
 
It's not a small problem to fix. Any fix would either require the phone to be repartitioning (which can't happen OTA) or require that "private" data be stored somewhere OTHER than in the data/data partition (which wouldn't be secure enough). So there is no fix coming from HTC's end except possibly putting their software on a diet (reduce the amount of the partition their apps use). Which would surprise me if they'd put that effort in on an EOLed phone when they haven't thus far.

Do you know why, then, that this is the only HTC phone that has this problem?(at least to my knowledge, and the HTC support guy confirmed this but they don't always know what they're talking about.)

In any case, this is something that is encountered by a ton of users (it's always near the top in the HTC Dinc support forums), and has been a problem since release. It's just insane to me that this is the state of the smartphone market: 1)release buggy phone, 2)update phone to be useable but still buggy, 3)release new phone and claim old phone (released 1 yr prior) is obsolete and no longer supported, 4)screw over your customers who signed 2-year contracts so as not to get raped by the carriers over the cost of the phone.

Again, Apple is the only one who treats their customers right in this regard as they have successfully circumvented the stupid carriers (and in this case, I'm particularly pissed at VZW for installing unremovable bloatware that takes up my very limited app space).

And yes, I know I can root and solve most of my problems (if CM7 had 720p support, I'd probably jump), but the end user should not be responsible for making the phone usable.
 
Do you know why, then, that this is the only HTC phone that has this problem?(at least to my knowledge, and the HTC support guy confirmed this but they don't always know what they're talking about.)

In any case, this is something that is encountered by a ton of users (it's always near the top in the HTC Dinc support forums), and has been a problem since release. It's just insane to me that this is the state of the smartphone market: 1)release buggy phone, 2)update phone to be useable but still buggy, 3)release new phone and claim old phone (released 1 yr prior) is obsolete and no longer supported, 4)screw over your customers who signed 2-year contracts so as not to get raped by the carriers over the cost of the phone.

Again, Apple is the only one who treats their customers right in this regard as they have successfully circumvented the stupid carriers (and in this case, I'm particularly pissed at VZW for installing unremovable bloatware that takes up my very limited app space).

And yes, I know I can root and solve most of my problems (if CM7 had 720p support, I'd probably jump), but the end user should not be responsible for making the phone usable.


I'm going to say this again, this is not something htc can fix on our phones. Period.

And fyi if you aren't using an app it is in all likelihood not contributing to the low on space issue. The bug has to do with the limited space available for the data and cache apps store, and not the space for the apps themselves. Try it it yourself, go to the market and just go nuts. Install a ton of stuff, but don't run any of it. You can see fire yourself if app that are installed but not used give you problems. Agree 110% that they should let me uninstall apps that aren't needed but that is a separate issue from the low on space bug.

As for your question, most other htc phones don't have this problem because it is incredibly easy to avoid in design. Just make the data/data partition bigger. Phones before ours had smaller app storage, so they would run out of space there before the data/data space became an issue. And after our phone, htc knows they need more data space.

There is a thread on the low on space issue, in the support section. I'd suggest moving that part it's this discussion there.
And you don't need to flash a rom of you root. You can root and keep the stock software (another topic that should take place elsewhere, but I just wanted to mention it).
 
So there's no way to actively manage partitions? What would be required for them to actually fix this bug then (on the incredible)? This is good to know and makes this update even less important for me then (why I think it's still pertinent to this thread). Thanks for the information. HTC support is wrong again. I wish that companies had better communication with their customers and there support staff actually knew more than advanced users.

And yes, I know I can root w/o flashing a rom, but from what I've read (including in the thread you reference), there's not a good way to fix this, but I'll take a second look.
 
So there's no way to actively manage partitions? What would be required for them to actually fix this bug then (on the incredible)?


basically the problem is the apps are tried to put 200mbs (arbitrart number) of data in a 150mb space. So leaving a margin, you either need to make the space 90mb bigger, put 90mb somewhere else or throw out 90mn of that data. But, since htc only has control on how their apps use data, reducimg the amount of data isn't going to fix the problem universally (although it is possible that they could fix the problem for alot of users that way. That would basically require them to take all their code back to the drawing board).
To increase the space you would have to reformat the device, which will brick phones, and would have to be distributed by flashing from a computer. In short, QA would never let it out the door.

Lastly, since the data is private (as determined by the app developer), they can't put it somewhere that is not secured. so they'd basically be linking one secured folder in one partition using one file system inside a different secured partition using another file system. It would be complicated, fundamentally different from how they store anything, and probably slow and/or unstable and potentially not secure enough for htc to accept.

Check out Not Enough Space, which basically does the "put 90mb somewhere else", but is actually viable as a user install (you'll need root). I haven't used it, but I have heard good things.
 
I had the 'low on space' error long term, even after a factory reset until I did this -

Cleared the caches of programs I use a lot (especially mail)

Wrote down all the apps I had stored on the SD card

Removed the SD card and used a SD reader on a laptop to delete the .Android_secure directory

Loaded the new market app on the phone(found the link in these forums somewhere)

Reinstalled the SD card and rebooted the phone.

I may just have been lucky but the low space error has not returned, even after reinstalling my apps, and moving several back to the SD card.

Hope it's worthwhile to someone.
 
I LOVE my little incredible Droid! After trying all the tips here, I rooted, got 1TapCleaner, Root Explorer, NotEnoughSpace & MyBackupPro and haven't looked back. :)

I moved a few of the big apps to the partition made my NES and can easily check my /data/data space with Root Explorer.

Somewhere I saved info on how to return to normal in case I have to update or visit Verizon.

Good luck to the 'non-rooters'. :)
Bo
 
I don't know why, in every situation, android says low memory space, but I know this: My droid Incredible shows me with over 600 mb of memory on my phone. That is not my internal memory for media and documents. My phone, as Google will verify, is 512 RAM and 512 ROM. RAM is what makes my phone speedy, and nothing gets permanently saved to RAM. ROM is what holds my OS, contacts, sms/mms and all my apps. What is the conclusion? I DO NOT have over 600 mb available for apps, contacts, ect. But, if you add my 512 RAM with my remaining ROM, it seems to go that the sum would be thet same number in the 'Available Memory' category.
So, if your phone reads memory like mine, take the given number and subtract your RAM specs. That is how much memory you have left for apps, contacts, ect. What my phone tells me is true, but not useful, information. In reality, the Droid Incredible, when entirely stock, has only about 260 mb available for apps, contacts... (if I remember right).
I hope this infoo helps people.
 
I had this problem a couple weeks ago but all I had to do was clean out some of my "fluff" or junk apps. ALSO I cleared the something like 3000 text messages in my inbox..THEN my problem was fixed.
 
I don't know why, in every situation, android says low memory space, but I know this: My droid Incredible shows me with over 600 mb of memory on my phone. That is not my internal memory for media and documents. My phone, as Google will verify, is 512 RAM and 512 ROM. RAM is what makes my phone speedy, and nothing gets permanently saved to RAM. ROM is what holds my OS, contacts, sms/mms and all my apps. What is the conclusion? I DO NOT have over 600 mb available for apps, contacts, ect. But, if you add my 512 RAM with my remaining ROM, it seems to go that the sum would be thet same number in the 'Available Memory' category.
So, if your phone reads memory like mine, take the given number and subtract your RAM specs. That is how much memory you have left for apps, contacts, ect. What my phone tells me is true, but not useful, information. In reality, the Droid Incredible, when entirely stock, has only about 260 mb available for apps, contacts... (if I remember right).
I hope this infoo helps people.

First off, let's call RAM memory, and everything else storage. It's far less confusing and better describes the function of each. And that way people will stop thinking they're ANYWAY the same. As far as this application goes (and most consumer applications, for that matter), they do completely different things. Think of storage as a book on a shelf and memory as your short term memory. The former is used to store data before it's processed by you, and to record new data after. The later is used to manage the data WHILE it's being processed. You can't really use the book to help you process the data, because you keep in on a shelf. Whenever you want it it takes you time to pick it up and find what you're looking for.

Second, the incredible has 1GB of ROM, not 512MB. Which means you have about 750MB for apps (748mb to be exact). And another 150MB used for application data (I don't know if it's on the ROM or the 8GB of NAND storage the phone also has). That 150MB is where the low on space problem lies, since typically 750MB of apps will need more storage than that. Actually that 150MB is just for storage of PRIVATE data (private as determined by the app developer). For data with no privacy/security concerns, the whole sd card is available (as is the 7.5GB of NAND that's left after formating, but very few apps use this).
 
It's been over a week since I did this and the error has not yet returned. Keeping my fingers crossed..

I had the 'low on space' error long term, even after a factory reset until I did this -

Cleared the caches of programs I use a lot (especially mail)

Wrote down all the apps I had stored on the SD card

Removed the SD card and used a SD reader on a laptop to delete the .Android_secure directory

Loaded the new market app on the phone(found the link in these forums somewhere)

Reinstalled the SD card and rebooted the phone.

I may just have been lucky but the low space error has not returned, even after reinstalling my apps, and moving several back to the SD card.

Hope it's worthwhile to someone.
 
Hello, I was hoping I could get some insight and help on this problem I am having. I have read the stickied thread here (http://androidforums.com/incredible...e-phone-application-storage-notification.html), but I am hoping that someone could help me understand what is going on and how I can fix the problem because this has been happening for a while now.

Now I just checked a few minutes ago, I do have a 2GB Micro SD card which came with the phone. Here's what my phone states for the SD/Phone information as far as the total and available space.

SD & phone strage

SD card
Total space 1.84GB
Available space 1.81GB

Internal phone storage
Total space 6.46GB
Available space 6.46GB

Phone memory
Total space 748MB
Available space 642MB


Now any time I install a application, the information that may come with the application ends up going on the SD card. That SD card gets eaten up pretty quickly, and pictures and what not end up on the internal phone storage. My question is, why is it that pictures, music, videos can get saved to the internal phone storage however, application and games get saved to the SD card?

I guess I'm just a little confused and want to know if there is a way where I can use the internal phone storage instead of the SD card for some apps?

Now don't get me wrong, I know all about the applications apps2sd and etc. My problem is, I want to be able to put some apps on the internal phone storage and not the SD because I have such a small SD card (can't afford to get a bigger SD card right now). Is there a way for the time being that I can use the internal phone storage or am I wrong?

Any help with this would be very appreciated. I've been wracking my brain about this. I have also cleared my phones cache, pretty much factory resetted my phone, and yes my phone is rooted and I have the SkyRaider 4.2 rom.

Like I said, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Post number 555:
http://androidforums.com/incredible...hone-application-storage-notification-12.html

Doesn't matter where you put your apps, they still put their data in the same place. The phone is partitioned to use the space how you described. Internal storage can not be used for apps, and wouldn't solve the problem anyway. The /data/data partition needs to be enlarged (can't be done) . The app "not enough space" has helped some people but also has it's bugs.
 
Hello, I was hoping I could get some insight and help on this problem I am having. I have read the stickied thread here (http://androidforums.com/incredible...e-phone-application-storage-notification.html), but I am hoping that someone could help me understand what is going on and how I can fix the problem because this has been happening for a while now.

Now I just checked a few minutes ago, I do have a 2GB Micro SD card which came with the phone. Here's what my phone states for the SD/Phone information as far as the total and available space.

SD & phone strage

SD card
Total space 1.84GB
Available space 1.81GB

Internal phone storage
Total space 6.46GB
Available space 6.46GB

Phone memory
Total space 748MB
Available space 642MB


Now any time I install a application, the information that may come with the application ends up going on the SD card. That SD card gets eaten up pretty quickly, and pictures and what not end up on the internal phone storage. My question is, why is it that pictures, music, videos can get saved to the internal phone storage however, application and games get saved to the SD card?

I guess I'm just a little confused and want to know if there is a way where I can use the internal phone storage instead of the SD card for some apps?

Now don't get me wrong, I know all about the applications apps2sd and etc. My problem is, I want to be able to put some apps on the internal phone storage and not the SD because I have such a small SD card (can't afford to get a bigger SD card right now). Is there a way for the time being that I can use the internal phone storage or am I wrong?

Any help with this would be very appreciated. I've been wracking my brain about this. I have also cleared my phones cache, pretty much factory resetted my phone, and yes my phone is rooted and I have the SkyRaider 4.2 rom.

Like I said, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Apps can use they internal space, but it's up to the individual dev to allow that. Very few apps allow that, and you would have to go into the app to change that. It's not a system setting.

Oh, and you can't afford this?

And you never actually said that you were getting the "low on space" message.
 
Apps can use they internal space, but it's up to the individual dev to allow that. Very few apps allow that.

Oh, and you can't afford this?

And you never actually said that you were getting the "low on space" message.

I can but I can't. Other more important bills are in the way of letting me get that right now, if you know what I mean.

But yes I was getting low on space type of thing. It was to the point that I had 0.00GB left of space on my SD card. That's why I was wondering if apps can go on the internal phone storage rather than all go on my SD card.

Driving me nuts! lol I have all this space on the internal phone storage that hardly gets used up, and can't put or figure out how to get apps to save to my internal phone storage.
 
I can but I can't. Other more important bills are in the way of letting me get that right now, if you know what I mean.

But yes I was getting low on space type of thing. It was to the point that I had 0.00GB left of space on my SD card. That's why I was wondering if apps can go on the internal phone storage rather than all go on my SD card.

Driving me nuts! lol I have all this space on the internal phone storage that hardly gets used up, and can't put or figure out how to get apps to save to my internal phone storage.

Well for any app that has a 'move to SD' option there will be a 'move to phone' option also. Have you gone to 'manage applications' and moved them all back?
 
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