Low space problem

[spex55]

This problem has been really bugging me since a few months after I bought the phone in July and I can't understand why the internal storage always gets low to the point where I can't use it. I've had to revert back to the stock image (Stock_Triumph_1980-01-06.00.00.34 with CWM) about 4-5 times. I only started doing that because my phone had this problem out of the box and, at one point, I rooted so I could try some root only apps. However, I ended up having some performance issues so I just wanted to start with a clean image. Currently, the device is un-rooted.

So anyway, I have read all the other threads and keep seeing suggestions about clearing the cache (davlik too) and moving apps to SD, which of course, I do.

After starting from stock, I have about 980 mb of free internal storage and here are the apps I have installed (even though I see this happen with no apps installed):

app2SD, Bank of America, Cache clear, History Eraser, LinkedIn, Minutes checker virgin mobile, Facebook, Google Voice

Gmail is configured and my work email is configured through the native email client via Active Sync (1 day of emails).

After I load the stock image, install all my apps, configure my email and then take a backup through CWM, within a day, I see internal storage get sucked down to about 800 mb. Then every week or so I lose about 100 mb. Then I can usually get a couple of weeks out of the last 50 mb and then when i get below 30 mb.. storage low.. can't receive any new messages. Nothing left to clear. Then I either re-image back to stock and re-install apps or re-image back to the backup I took after installing all my apps. Madness.

Does anybody else have this problem? It's like there is some hidden cache/file that is not getting cleared and it just keep growing. I've got to wonder what the typical non-techy Android user does when/if this happens.

 

[kcerica]

A while ago I was noticing in particular my market data, browser data, and for some reason google maps data was really high so check those apps and others (don't clear browser data if you don't want to lose bookmarks and saved passwords,etc) and see about clearing the data in other apps and if you have alot of text messages I think deleting your messages might help too. Another thing I had done was uninstall the updates for the market and google maps under manage applications in the settings instead of being able to uninstall these apps there'll be an option to uninstall updates then go to the google maps page in the market and uncheck the auto update box so it won't get updated again. IDK if it's still the same cuz it's been a while since I had to do this but it helped alot.
I have to admit I don't know anything about your phone but having an optimus s I know exactly what you are taking about having virtually no internal storage. Besides buying a new sd card and putting all of your apps on the card that can be moved to it the only thing that helped me was rooting my phone (I'm assuming if you root your phone and not change anything and keep your stock rom the performance should be the same?) then I bought titanium backup -only works with root, uninstalled all of the "bloatware' sprint and lg apps (if you're not sure about an app you can freeze it with tb and see if everything works and back it up b4 uninstalling to b4 safe.) Titanium backup shows you how much external (sd card) you have and how much space you have left for external and system storage which is helpful cuz after uninstalling all of those system apps you can convert your regular apps to system apps with tb which as far as i know means it just moves the app from your data folder to the system folder. Idk if its recommended to do this, I haven't had any problems but this is what i do with certain apps to free up more space because there is an alotted amount of space your phone gives for system data and apps and after you uninstall alot of the system apps you have on your phone you'll have alot of unused space that otherwise would be wasted. Off the top of my head swype worked but swype beta didn't work as a system app but all others I have tried worked like normal. I really don't think it makes a difference except the file being moved to the system folder but just to be on the safe side I only converted apps from well known/reliable developers and maybe apps that only have certain permissions. There are alot of options in tb besides backing up and uninstalling apps. Besides using custom roms from our gracious developers here, titanium backup is probably the main thing that keeps my space issues with my phone tolerable without always having to figure out what to uninstall or find apps that i can clear data just to be able to use my browser or send a text message.
Even if you don't feel comfortable converting apps to system apps I hope the other stuff I mentioned might help you, I know how frustrating it is when you feel like you're constantly uninstalling apps and freeing cache's and data from your phone just to be able to use it.

 

[spex55]

After rooting around a bit on some other forums, I believe I've found the answer. There are these log files under the data folder. They're called alogs (application logs?) and they are named alog1, alog2, etc. and then there's an alog_events. Since I re-imaged my phone last week, those files have ballooned up to almost 100 mb. Through some android design flaw I'm guessing, don't seem to have a limit where they'll automatically delete old records. So they just eat up space until it runs out.

The way I got to them was by gingerbreaking (rooting), installing Root Explorer and just deleting those alog files. No negative repercussions so far. None reported on the other forums. They do get created again after a few minutes. Seems like I'm just going to have to delete these logs manually every few weeks. No biggie I guess.

Thank you for taking the time to answer though.

 

[David Sears]

Hi, I read the threads and many went real technical on this problem. What I discovered is when you approach 20 mb ROM storage, you can start to download, lets say a 5mb app... the download will nearly complete.. then give an error "insufficient space". If you look you will see that you now have 15 mb storage.. this will stop emails and messages. None of the cleaner apps address this issue, nor have I read about it. I did a factory reset and came back with 150 mb. available. I also noted that even though you select to download to your memory card, it seems to go through the phone first and when you move it, it seems a portion stays on the phone. So after only loading card designated apps.. I came down to 94 MB and stopped. 56 MB lost and no new apps installed on phone memory. So, does anyone know about this and know of a way to clean this wasted memory out.. All the noted about purging cache's only effect RAM

 

[Ronald Williamson]

The Motorola Triumph is inherently defective. The best fix is to throw it away.