Help Reclaiming space

[JLeslie]

On my Sprint Hero I'm getting the "low space" notification. I've looked through my list of apps (which arguably is quite a few) but I really don't want to get rid of any of them. I know that texting sucks up that memory so that leads me to my question.

Is there any quick, easy way to go through my texts (only 3 people) and clear them out while retaining certain messages? Or am I stuck with wading through the months of texts one by one and locking the ones I want to keep and then telling the phone to delete all non-locked texts?

What I wish is there would be an app that you could load in your texts from one individual and quickly mark them like you can mark items on a PC in Windows Explorer by holding down the CTRL key while clicking on them.

JL

 

[LBPHeretic]

Unfortunately with the stock HTC SMS app you are pretty much stuck with wading through a lot of text messages to triage what you want to keep or delete. I actually go through and delete all of my text messaging threads about once a week or if they start getting into the several hundreds range. There is an app that lets you backup your text messages to your GMail account: SMS Backup ~ Android Application v1.1.1 By Christoph Studer | Tools .

Now, to reclaim your space you can go into Settings, then Applications, then Manage Applications, and you can press the Menu button and order them by size. This will list them by largest app first in descending order. For the top ones in the list, you can go in and tap the button to delete the cache. This will free up quite a bit of space, but it is a temporary fix at best because the caches will build up again over time, so eventually you will have to make a decision on an app or two that you can delete.

 

[JLeslie]

That's what I was afraid of as far as deleting some and retaining others.

Thanks for the tip about the app to backup my texts to my Gmail account.

As for clearing the cache, I use the Android Quick Cache Cleaner widget every day so that is not a problem. My problem is most likely too many apps and about 1600 texts from family members.

 

[JLeslie]

I deleted almost all my texts (I realize what I had amounted to a small amount compared to the number of texts kids have today) and the low space warning was still there, even after rebooting.
So then I went into Manage Applications, sorted by size, and then went into each application and looked for a cache that had no already been cleared (found none) and found several apps with a Clear Data button. I did several of these but was afraid to do anymore because of what the phone says it deletes and I didn't want to lose any documents or files I have on the SD card. After doing that for several apps, the warning finally went away. In Settings I see I now have 16MB of free internal space so I hope that will stay like that though I'm sure I'll have to keep an eye on it.

These phones definitely need more internal storage space to begin with.

JL

 

[JB in AZ]

Another place to look, is your email settings. If you use the stock htc email app, go into the settings for each email account, and change the download options to a shorter time frame, say 7, vs 14 days...or less #s... You can also go to folders, and delete unneeded "sent" or deleted mail.

 

[JLeslie]

Another place to look, is your email settings. If you use the stock htc email app, go into the settings for each email account, and change the download options to a shorter time frame, say 7, vs 14 days...or less #s... You can also go to folders, and delete unneeded "sent" or deleted mail.

Thanks for those good suggestions!

 

[TheEngineer]

Go to Manage Applications and sort by size. What is at the top? Also, watch out for the Facebook sync. If you have a lot of friends it will eat up memory.

Best thing you can do for your Hero is root it and install Fresh ROM.

 

[LBPHeretic]

I deleted almost all my texts (I realize what I had amounted to a small amount compared to the number of texts kids have today) and the low space warning was still there, even after rebooting.
So then I went into Manage Applications, sorted by size, and then went into each application and looked for a cache that had no already been cleared (found none) and found several apps with a Clear Data button. I did several of these but was afraid to do anymore because of what the phone says it deletes and I didn't want to lose any documents or files I have on the SD card. After doing that for several apps, the warning finally went away. In Settings I see I now have 16MB of free internal space so I hope that will stay like that though I'm sure I'll have to keep an eye on it.

These phones definitely need more internal storage space to begin with.

JL

Deleting cache never touches anything on your microSD card as far as I know. It only frees up space in your internal memory.

From what I hear, 16 MB of space is about the cut-off for when it starts to indicate low storage space is the Sprint HTC Hero. You may still need to delete and app or two. The ideal thing to do would really be to root and switch to a ROM that either uses Apps2SD or has native app moving to the microSD card, like Android 2.2+. It is really worth the effort of rooting and flashing, in my opinion.

 

[JLeslie]

Thanks for the rooting suggestion but I have my own reason for not doing it. As for what the cache is used in, it is the internal space that I'm short of and not the SD card, so clearing the cache is something I do regularly and why I started this thread. I'll just have to keep clearing the Sent/Trash folders in email. I'll scan my apps list again but what I have is really what I want to keep.

JL