Galaxy Tab 4 - Free Up Space - Already taken lots of steps. Need Advice.

[paulb104]

I have a Galaxy Tab 4 running 4.4.2, not rooted, that I cannot install any new Play store apps. Bloons TD5 is free today ! so I've been trying to get that on the tablet.

I'm getting the Free Up Space error window.

This is my young daughter's tablet. Before I realized what was going on I thought it was actually full so I uninstalled some rarely used games.

I really, really, really, do NOT want to do a factory reset on the thing. She's got a ton of games on it that she plays. Having to backup everything and restore everything is too stressful for me. And her.

I have already put pretty much everything on the SD card.

Google Play Services as well as Google Play have both had their updates uninstalled, had their data cleared and their cache cleared, then rebooted.

I went into Storage and touched Cached Data and cleared the data for all apps.

I ran Avast Cleanup.

After all that, I rebooted again and there is 3.13GB free on the device.

I can update existing apps, I still cannot install the new app.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Moved from the KitKat forum to the Tab 4 forum.

Show us a screenshot of the Settings>Storage menu: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html

See this guide for tips on how to maximize your Internal Storage: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...y-how-deal-insufficient-storage-warnings.html

How much internal storage did the tablet come with? 8 or 16 GB devices can get filled up very fast, so that's why it's best to get as much internal storage as one can afford, if installing lots of apps is important.

 

[paulb104]

It's an 8GB tablet.

All the stuff at [GUIDE] Android Storage Memory and How to Deal with Insufficient Storage Warnings, I've already done, that's why there is 3GB free.

...and now it's gone back to not letting me update apps from Google Play. Again.

So now I cannot update apps, or install new ones. When one app went to update, it looked like it worked but simply didn't. When another app went to update, the Free Up Space window popped up.

 

[paulb104]

I don't think this is a Google Play issue. There happens to be two apps in the amazon app store that needs updating.

They won't update either.

They go through the motions, but give the message "app not installed".

 

[B. Diddy]

Try wiping the system cache partition: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-27862

 

[paulb104]

Try wiping the system cache partition: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-27862

See? that's the kind of innovative thinking I was looking for!

Sadly, though, it didn't help.

After clearing it and rebooting, I was not able to update existing apps or install Bloons TD5.

Interestingly, I *was* able to install codeSpark Academy & The Foos (a random highly rated coding teaching app for my seven year old... unless someone knows a better one?)

Why could I install codeSpark but not Bloons?

After installing codeSpark I tried TD5 again and got the same Free Up Space.

I saw on the tablet that codeSpark took 57.11mb. I moved it to the sd card, now it takes up 25.94mb on the tablet.

When the Free Up Space message comes up, the only apps it offers for me to remove are
Candy Crush Soda
Angry Birds
Avast Cleanup
The Foos (codeSpark)

Using the Free Up Space message, I had it remove Candy Crush Soda, Avast Cleanup, and The Foos (codeSpark). This did not change anything, I still got the Free Up Space message. Then I had it remove Angry Birds.

After that, the Free Up Space message returned, but instead of being a little window, it was the entire screen, top to bottom, but it said "No installed apps found".

Then I went into Storage and cleared the cache for all data, then shut it off, wiped the system cache partition again and turned it on.

What I additionally don't understand is why, when I uninstalled three apps, my available space is reduced. My earlier posted screenshot had the space at 2.90GB, now the device has available 2.87GB.

I'm going to have to wipe this thing, aren't I...

 

[B. Diddy]

Sorry, but I'm not sure why it's doing that. Unless Bloons is a gigantic game (and I doubt that), 2.9 GB of available Internal Storage should be fine.

 

[blue64chevy]

Paul, looking at your pic of storage info above it shows you have 275mb of misc files. Did you try deleting those?

 

[blue64chevy]

I have a Galaxy Tab 3 with 16gb internal storage, of which I have about 500mb free space approximately. I checked the TD blooms app, it is only 80-81mb total. But, when I attempted to install, I get the same free up space error as you did. I believe it is a problem with that app, 'TD bloons'..

 

[paulb104]

I have a Galaxy Tab 3 with 16gb internal storage, of which I have about 500mb free space approximately. I checked the TD blooms app, it is only 80-81mb total. But, when I attempted to install, I get the same free up space error as you did. I believe it is a problem with that app, 'TD bloons'..

No, I don't think so because I cannot update other apps.

 

[blue64chevy]

My only suggestion to avoid resetting the device, would be to purchase a larger micro SD card and copy everything on the current card to new card. Then you should be able to move more apps to the card freeing up internal storage.

 

[B. Diddy]

I have a Galaxy Tab 3 with 16gb internal storage, of which I have about 500mb free space approximately. I checked the TD blooms app, it is only 80-81mb total. But, when I attempted to install, I get the same free up space error as you did. I believe it is a problem with that app, 'TD bloons'..

This is interesting. I would email the Bloons developer and ask if they're aware of this issue. support@ninjakiwi.com

 

[paulb104]

This is interesting. I would email the Bloons developer and ask if they're aware of this issue. support@ninjakiwi.com

Done.

 

[paulb104]

Problem solved.

The culprit was the sd card.

I unmounted the sd card, removed it, and rebooted the tablet, then tried installing BTD5.

It worked.

I put the sd card back in, waited for it to load, went to install BTD Battles.

It did not work.

I unmounted the sd card, left the card in, did not reboot, went to install BTD Battles.

It worked.

All the apps from the sd card will have to moved to the tablet, then the card will need to be formatted, or wiped and formatted.

Maybe I might not even need the card at all, who knows.

 

[B. Diddy]

Thanks for the update! The card itself might be corrupt or counterfeit. Install SD Insight to see if the card is genuine or counterfeit. Counterfeit cards are programmed to report more storage than they actually have, and if you try saving more than the card can actually hold, then files can start getting corrupt.

If it's a valid card, then go to Settings>Storage, Unmount the card, remove it, and insert it into your computer. Can the computer read these files? Backup as much as you can right now, then run chkdsk to look for bad sectors: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...guide-using-chkdsk-fix-corrupted-sd-card.html.

 

[paulb104]

It's actually multiple cards. One is a Toshiba, the other a Sandisk.

On my Windows 10 Pro computer I ran diskpart and cleaned ob both disks, then had the tablet format them again and the problem persisted for both disks.

Maybe then it is the actual tablet, but if it is, it's a hardware thing.