• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Storage space running out when still have 20GB free

b253tn

Newbie
Is this a bug that device says "storage space running out" and stuff like downloads, screenshots, etc don't work, even though there is still 20+ GB free in "internal shared storage" ?
Only the SD card is full and is formatted as internal storage

So how can I use the "internal shared storage" space if there is still 20+ GB free?

Thanks
 
The name "internal shared storage" refers to the fact that this storage is shared between apps, app data, media, etc, as opposed to the original Android storage model where apps/data and media were stored in distinct partitions and if one was full it didn't help that there was space on the other. So "internal shared storage" basically just means "internal storage, apart from the bit that's reserved for the system".

I know this is a silly question, but are you sure that the space that remains is on the internal storage and not the adopted SD card? I've never formatted an SD card as internal storage, so am not personally familiar with how it appears in the menus and so don't know how ambiguous they might be. There are definitely some things that will only work in internal storage, so if that were to get too low I would expect what you describe to happen. But 20GB sounds too high for "too low": the manufacturer sets the threshold, but I'd expect it to be an order of magnitude lower than that.
 
When you change a microSD card from its Portable status to Internal, that actually involves a pretty profound change to the card itself and how the installed Android operating system in your phone uses it. This also involves a number of added variables that have to assessed.

Typically a microSD card is formatted as either FAT32 or exFAT, That allows other devices, like desktop PCs, laptops, other mobile devices, webcams, etc., to all be able to mount and utilize that card given other operating systems also include cursory support for FAT-based file systems (an antiquated, proprietary standard that Microsoft stopped supporting decades ago but still retains its licensing). Anyway, that's the portable aspect for a card that's still Portable. When you reformat the card to be Internal, all data gets wiped, the file system gets changed to ext4, and it gets encrypted with the encryption key tying the card only to the mobile device that reformatted it. That's an important aspect.

When a card is changed to Internal, its file system and the encryption are now similar to the file system in the phone, which by default is already using ext4 as its encrypted file system. Both are now in parity, and as Internal its now a matter where the installed Android file system now considers that card's storage media to be merged to the phone's internal storage media. Instead of two separate storage media volumes when Portable, it's at that point just one, now increased storage media volume when Internal. That's why you shouldn't remove a microSD card when its set up to be Internal. The installed Android OS views the card to now be an internal component, so taking it out like when it was Portable isn't advisable. Besides there isn't much you can do with it anyway, MS Windows nor Mac include support for ext4 and the card is now encrypted so the card won't be readable even if you manually install a utility to include ext file system support. If in the future you opt to return the card back to Portable, you can use your phone's Settings >> Storage menu to reformat it to Portable, but its something of a drastic change again so be sure to read through all the warning popups about data loss.

So all that's just the fundamentals on Portable or Internal. The issue you're probably now dealing with it likely due to differences between the Settings menu and installed apps. And that brings up an important question, how are you determining your phone is out of storage space but still shows 20GB free?
Keep in mind that the Settings menu will show you a combined internal storage media and external storage media amount. There will be two volumes but shown as one.
Conversely, something like a file manager app, will show you the single, combined storage media amount. A file manager app can no longer distinguish between the internal storage and the card storage, it can only detect and show you the now virtually combined storage.
-- So what device do you have, and which version of Android is it running?
-- How big is the internal storage (i.e. 32GB, 64GB, 128GB) and the microSD card?
-- How are you determining that 20GB free amount? The Settings >> Storage menu? A different utility in the Settings menu? An installed app and which is it?
 
I've always turned that notification off since it's 99% bull cookies. You go to App Manager, Show System Apps, System UI and disable or minimize any notifications for it. That notification will never bother you again and you can use ALL of your 20GB. I paid for 32GB, I use all 32GB.

I don't need the devices I own to tell me things designed to only help morons. I don't need my laptop nagging me about updates (I use Windows 7 because it no longer gets them) or my phone BSing me about storage, or using Bixby, or signing into Samsung Account, or anything. I just want to be notified about important stuff like calls and texts, with only those two categories making any sound.
 
The name "internal shared storage" refers to the fact that this storage is shared between apps, app data, media, etc, as opposed to the original Android storage model where apps/data and media were stored in distinct partitions and if one was full it didn't help that there was space on the other. So "internal shared storage" basically just means "internal storage, apart from the bit that's reserved for the system".

I know this is a silly question, but are you sure that the space that remains is on the internal storage and not the adopted SD card? I've never formatted an SD card as internal storage, so am not personally familiar with how it appears in the menus and so don't know how ambiguous they might be. There are definitely some things that will only work in internal storage, so if that were to get too low I would expect what you describe to happen. But 20GB sounds too high for "too low": the manufacturer sets the threshold, but I'd expect it to be an order of magnitude lower than that.
It shows that the SD card (which is formatted as internal storage) has 0.4 GB of free space
The "internal shared storage" still has 20 GB free space

So even though there is still 20+ GB free space left, it gives message "storage space running out" and stuff like screenshots, downloads, etc don't work. Is this a bug? How can I fix it
 
When you change a microSD card from its Portable status to Internal, that actually involves a pretty profound change to the card itself and how the installed Android operating system in your phone uses it. This also involves a number of added variables that have to assessed.

Typically a microSD card is formatted as either FAT32 or exFAT, That allows other devices, like desktop PCs, laptops, other mobile devices, webcams, etc., to all be able to mount and utilize that card given other operating systems also include cursory support for FAT-based file systems (an antiquated, proprietary standard that Microsoft stopped supporting decades ago but still retains its licensing). Anyway, that's the portable aspect for a card that's still Portable. When you reformat the card to be Internal, all data gets wiped, the file system gets changed to ext4, and it gets encrypted with the encryption key tying the card only to the mobile device that reformatted it. That's an important aspect.

When a card is changed to Internal, its file system and the encryption are now similar to the file system in the phone, which by default is already using ext4 as its encrypted file system. Both are now in parity, and as Internal its now a matter where the installed Android file system now considers that card's storage media to be merged to the phone's internal storage media. Instead of two separate storage media volumes when Portable, it's at that point just one, now increased storage media volume when Internal. That's why you shouldn't remove a microSD card when its set up to be Internal. The installed Android OS views the card to now be an internal component, so taking it out like when it was Portable isn't advisable. Besides there isn't much you can do with it anyway, MS Windows nor Mac include support for ext4 and the card is now encrypted so the card won't be readable even if you manually install a utility to include ext file system support. If in the future you opt to return the card back to Portable, you can use your phone's Settings >> Storage menu to reformat it to Portable, but its something of a drastic change again so be sure to read through all the warning popups about data loss.

So all that's just the fundamentals on Portable or Internal. The issue you're probably now dealing with it likely due to differences between the Settings menu and installed apps. And that brings up an important question, how are you determining your phone is out of storage space but still shows 20GB free?
Keep in mind that the Settings menu will show you a combined internal storage media and external storage media amount. There will be two volumes but shown as one.
Conversely, something like a file manager app, will show you the single, combined storage media amount. A file manager app can no longer distinguish between the internal storage and the card storage, it can only detect and show you the now virtually combined storage.
-- So what device do you have, and which version of Android is it running?
-- How big is the internal storage (i.e. 32GB, 64GB, 128GB) and the microSD card?
-- How are you determining that 20GB free amount? The Settings >> Storage menu? A different utility in the Settings menu? An installed app and which is it?
Onn 7 tablet Gen 3, Android version 11
Internal storage is 32GB, microSD card is 32GB (formatted as internal storage)

Settings >> Storage >> it shows two sections: "Internal Shared Storage" (12 GB used out of 32GB), "SD Card" (31.5 GB used out of 32 GB)
This is just from the usual system page
 
OK, that does confirm and clarify things. So there is supposedly 20GB free but you're not able to save data any longer. Nothing appears to be able to be written to storage now. If you restart your tablet, does it boot up normally or does it pause a bit right before any kind of brand logo shows on the screen?
Is this the tablet model you have?
If so, this model is running Android 11 Go edition, the issue being Go is the low-spec, reduced function, stripped-down version of Android. The issue being it is somewhat limited to rudimentary functionality. Granted, a standard, full-blown Android install does have a lot of frivolous eye-candy and bloat so depending on your expectations it might be a non-issue. Anyway, some kind of hidden data appears to be using up 20GB of storage, that isn't being detected or registered as saved data.
Try restarting your tablet into its Safe Mode, then check the storage usage amount again. Is it still showing around 20GB free? Try doing something to save a file. Is it still a problem or does it work out OK when in Safe Mode?
 
Another possibility--this '32GB' spec is faked. Tons of cheap phones claim to have large storage and have their system set up to report this, but it's not the true capacity. Welcome devices are notorious for this. Phones have also been sold that have 'fake' cameras, 'cores' that don't exist on the CPU (a 'quad core' having one core set to 1.8GHz with the other three being '0GHz').

Many SD cards have been counterfeited this way as well, with only software such as H2TestW able to prove it.

FYI Onn is a Walmart in-house brand, mainly made out of chinesium. I have a few of their older Gen 1 and Gen 2 tablets, and they make great cheap Kindles, but I've never used that much of their '32GB' of storage to find out if it's faked. I ain't even using more than 8GB now.
 
Have a look at this:

 
Have a look at this:

 
Back
Top Bottom