Storage space is running out

[Ted Ellis]

I know this is an older post but just wanted to chime in and say thanks for all the info. I was in the same boat (what the heck was taking up so much storage) and couldn't figure out what to look for even though I had Root Explorer and thought I had gone through pretty much every folder on the phone. I found three different back up files that were just eating up my storage. Moved them off the phone and presto I had tons of storage back.

Again thanks for the info.

 

[Matthew Pisarek]

Hi i was experiencing the same issue with cm 10.1 on Huawei u9200.

I found the root cause for my issue and who ever can check the source for a potential bug, please do so asap.

The gps/logs folder was full of old logs. Removing those files corrected the issue.

For good measure i cleared the delvik cache and ran fix file permissions.

Have any questions let me know.


This post is dedicated to my wifey.

Matt out

 

[vikram singh4]

This certainly helped.

I simply did these steps:

1. Went to Application Manager
2. Opened Maps
3. Cleared Cache!! [If you are a regular G Maps user, then you would most probably be having a lot of cached data - 220Mb in my case ]

Thanks everyone!!

 

[bustanson]

Can someone tell me why on my HTC Leo (HD2) with 448 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM factory specs, 4.0.4 android, I can see only 150 MB of storage?!? Evem i have 42megs of free space I cant' install a 22 app.

 

[joel mercado]

ok so im sorry to those that this wont help and to those that maybe already said to do this but in my case my i9300 s3 was doing this to me sometimes so here was my tiny yet useful fix everytime it happened.. went tinto all the apps i use, cleared cache if possible and simply went into recovery mode deleted old backups.. and made a new one.. sometimes it took for me to reboot to get rid of the warning but always cleared tons of room. hope this helps if not id suggest doing like i did and find the place where all the memory is at with es file manager.cheers

 

[Drisc0]

Hi guys, I just registered because I just had this same problem and wanted to share my fix with y'all (note this fix requires root). I downloaded a program called DiskUsage to try and locate where all my space had gone. Instead of just looking through the sdcard you have to look at /data. In there I found a folder called lost+found which had about 8GB of data. I deleted the contents of that folder, rebooted, and had all my storage back. Hope this helps some of you.

 

[orhirshfeld]

I also had the same problem
but there is few things I picked up so far
1. there is more hidden data and folders on the phone then what seems - try to install ES Explorer from google play, and then on the list of folders would be folder without name just '/'
2. when installing a new rom usually the guides suggets, in customed recovery mode, to wipe only few things like "data", "system" and etc. which delete the ROM and User data - but there is more options like fomating specific main folders - i still cannot figure out which folders is safe to format.
3. also in some point the CWM did auto-recovery and found 2 backups but when i looked in all folders inside /sdcard/ (including Clockworkmod folder) and did not find nothing - somebody know how usually the backups files called or the filename extension? I used Nandroid on CWM and Online Nandroid

I wish to wipe completly all the things on my phone and to have a completly fresh start but I want to do it safely, can sombody give me some main guidlines or direct me to the right guide.
maybe even to reinstall Custom recovery (CWM) and new kernel

my phone is
Samsuang S3 i9300
ROM: Liquidsmooth 2.9 JellyBean 4.2.2
Kernel: SiyahKernel s3-v1.9.1
Recovery: CWM 6.0.3.2

thanks,
Or Hirshfeld

 

[arolleibrujo]

i think its ghost apps from the previous install! i am having thisissue also! when i go to the app store online it says i have apps that i have uninstalled, installed!? tahnks!

 

[rhoda perez]

Insufficient space from your device always shown everytime I download application google play shop. How to fix it?

 

[rhoda perez]

Where I foud that please help me.

 

[GSDer]

rhoda,
Can you post a screenshot from Settings -> Storage? It should look something like this:

You can also try using DiskUsage: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage - it shows a good view of which files/directories are taking up the most space.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Izaq]

When it comes to cleaning the logs, the logs may not always be at the same location.. This tutorial had the log at data/log but which was only visible after rooting. I tried all the ways mentioned here as well as the data/log thing together, dont know which one actually helped my cause..

 

[MrDoh]

ES File Explorer File Manager has a function built-in, "Storage Analyzer". You can use this to look at what's using up space on your phone. You can also "Search" for things like "LOST.dir", "lost+found", and other places where there might be files hiding out that you don't know about. I just ran into this updating a couple of apps (5MB of free storage???), and went into settings "Storage", which told me that I had about 12GB free. So thinking that it might be a cache problem, rebooted into TWRP recovery and cleared the cache. That seems to have taken care of it for the moment. Did look around for stuff in LOST.dir's and "lost+found" directories, but didn't expect to find anything since I'm told that I have 12GB of free storage on my internal SD card.

Anyways, these phone OS's are always a hassle *smile*. They don't tell you much, so you have to dig around yourself and find out what's going on.

 

[Deon Wolfaardt]

Watch this video : Galaxy S3 Transfer Apps, Pictures From Internal Storage to Micro SD Card Without Installing an App - YouTube

 

[scynz1]

My SGS3 was plagued with this problem for months but I have finally found the answer on another forum. Basically it's a huge log file which keeps building up. The fix is incredibly simple after all that frustrating searching

"You don't have to root your phones to fix this problem. Just dial *#9900# on the phone and then select from menu - delete dumpstate/logcat. I tested this solution on my SGS2 and it works. "
Credit to damianoz here

 

[kayrealist]

Hey there, I am having the exact same problem with my GS3, I recently changed my ROM to 4.4.2. Android CyanogenMod KitKat and I did a factory wipe/reset and now I only have 457MB on my 16gb phone.
I've deleted my back up files in the recoveries folder and searched for large files in my (external sdcard) internal storage and there's not much of anything in my folders. Its almost as if my phone shows no sign of being full but its full. Very frustrating.

Please helppp

Oh and I don't even have enough space to download a new app for clearing space so..... lucky me.

 

[GSDer]

Please help

Have you read through all of the previous posts in this thread and tried the various solutions? That would be a great starting point.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Charlie Castellanos]

DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK, IM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGES OR ISSUES IF YOU TRY THIS METHOD.

ANOTHER FIX that worked for me and many other GS3s from different carriers and about 6 other different android rooted phones: first a quick explanation of why this happens, when rooting and flashing custom roms, it's better to try to start from an almost blank slate, meaning of course factory reset, dalvik cache and all of those steps instructed when flashing a rom. What to Wipe in TWRP | TeamWin this article explains it better.
Anyways, my process has been this:
1. Installed Root Browser from the Play Store.
2. Installed Clean Master (this app when set up right, will automatically free you up valuable space from junk files, uninstalled apps, temp files, boost your ram and many other neat tricks).
3. IF YOU USE ROM MANAGER, for some reason on the devices with Rom Manager, the app had 1 or 2 backups of the device's previous or stock ROM, taking up to 5 or more GBs of space. These are stored in the device's internal memory, not SD card. Not sure why this happened but get rid of them or move them to the SD card (assuming you have enough space) and BOOM, precious space but there's more
4. The rest of the kidnapped space lies within a protected partition, when flashing a ROM sometimes this partition is left untouched and a different partition is created instead of re-using the old one.... thus giving us the famous LOW STORAGE. The system app that shows storage usage does not reflect partitions or their sizes, reason why when we add up available space, apps, pics, downloads and whatever else is shown in there, IT NEVER MAKES SENSE ("._.).
5. By this time you're already familiar with your device and what you've installed and what you shouldn't have. Open Root Browser, if prompted, download utilities. On the menu bar, go to “Prefs” and make sure that "Show storage bar" is checked which is a great way to see the file size of every single item you select, group or individual.
6. On the root folder, find the folder “Media”, inside of this folder there are many other that contain data from the old partition, this data is the one taking up the remaining space we’ve been looking for. Inside of “Media” there is another folder labeled “Data”, this is the largest folder in the partition.

The trick is to keep whatever you want to salvage, anything else is trash. Take a look at the folders, browse, see if you remember the apps in those folders that are from previous ROMS and delete what you want. Since your current ROM is in another partition, nothing that gets erased from the “Media” folder will cause damage. I erased some “system” apps and folders within “Media” that I thought would mess up my GS3 or the other devices I worked with, the browser, keyboard and other apps had some issues but a quick REBOOT fixes the path that invokes the apps and they work again like brand new.
Run Clean Master to get rid of left over junk and flies, free up some RAM and there you go. Hope it helps. IT WORKED FOR ME ON DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT DEVICES. All rooted.
This is what Im running...

 

[scynz1]

You don't need to bother with this rooting business above, the fix is explained in my post.

 

[rxgadget]

My SGS3 was plagued with this problem for months but I have finally found the answer on another forum. Basically it's a huge log file which keeps building up. The fix is incredibly simple after all that frustrating searching

"You don't have to root your phones to fix this problem. Just dial *#9900# on the phone and then select from menu - delete dumpstate/logcat. I tested this solution on my SGS2 and it works. "
Credit to damianoz here

*#9900# doesn't work on! Verizon phone.

I have a non rooted VZW GS3 a sad 16GB but a 64GB SD card. With 4.3 it allows some app to SD in the SD card section. Go to settings - applications and scroll right to find it.

However still says I have less than 3GB internal after I factory reset and put on less than half the apps I had before.

If I was able to help you please click on the Thank You button. On the Tapatalk App it is the Thumbs up icon. - From my VZW Samsung Galaxy S3