Storage space is running out

[SA3178]

I believe this is a common issue, as I've read every post I can get my hands on, but none of the proposed solutions that I've attempted have resolved my issue.

I recently rooted my VZW S3, using CyanogenMod (10.0.0-d2vzw), so I'm at Android 4.1.2. I don't have many apps loaded onto the phone (GMail, Maps, Evernote, Dropbox, Twitter, USAToday) as well as photos saved onto the internal memory.

When attempting to download/install app updates, I'd always get hit with the insufficient space available error...so I found a resolution that suggested using [redacted] to fix this. It appeared to work, but today I now get a persistent "Storage space is running out" error, which has rendered any data connection (wifi/4g) useless.

Per other recommendations, I tried using 1Tap Cleaner, then Link2SD to move photos to SD, but that even threw an error (pkg: /data/app/com.google.android.gm-2.apk Failue (INSTALL_FAILED_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE))

I then tried Send to SD card, and seemed to work at first, but hasn't corrected the issue.

When viewing my storage settings, they currently are:

Internal: Total, 12.05gb
Apps: 820MB
Pictures: 723MB
Audio: 20k
Available: 80.95MB

External (SD card): Total, 14.93GB
Available: 11.44GB

Obviously something doesn't make sense if I have the free space on the SD card (or so it says) and I find it hard to believe that the ROM is taking up almost 11gb of internal.

Any and all help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

 

[dmarcus48]

I have all my pictures, all my music, and whatever app i can put there on my ext 32gig sd card.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[SA3178]

Thanks, but as I explained above, I'm unable to transfer any of my files onto the external sd card.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

*SOMETHING* is taking up a LOT of space on your internal storage.

Do you have a lot of nandroid backups? They take up a ton of space...

Go to /mnt/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup to check. You may need to delete some if that's the case (There are options to backup to SD card when in CWM as well)

If it's not that, it's gotta be something else...

EDIT: Also check the internal storage downloads folder (/mnt/sdcard/downloads) to see if there are large files in there that can be deleted. If you've downloaded a lot of ROM files, for example, they may be taking up considerable space.

 

[SA3178]

Thanks. After some considerable time, I was able to copy picture files over to my SD card manually, which freed up 1gb of space, but now I'm back to the "insufficient storage available" issue.

The only clockworkmod folder I see is on my internal card. I delete one file under backups, but I see a blobs folder with a ton of folders/files in it. Is is safe to delete any of this?

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

Yes ... but you won't be able to restore any old backups if you do.

What I would do is delete all backup folders, including "Blobs" to clear up space. After that, you may want to boot to recovery to make a new fresh backup.

When you're in CWM and doing a backup, I recommend doing this: Go to "choose default backup format" and choose "tar" (this allows you to delete individual backups, instead of using the BLOBS folder). Then, choose "backup to SD Card" instead of "Backup" if you want the files saved to the external card.

 

[SA3178]

Thanks, I've freed up 3 gb of internal now, but still dealing with "insufficient storage available" issue, so I'm unable to add back any apps I previously deleted to free up space.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

Thanks, I've freed up 3 gb of internal now, but still dealing with "insufficient storage available" issue, so I'm unable to add back any apps I previously deleted to free up space.

Have you tried rebooting the phone? If that doesn't work, you may want to try booting into recovery and clearing the davlik and cache (as long as you don't "wipe data/factory reset" it won't affect any of your apps or data)...? I'm about out of ideas past that....

 

[SA3178]

Thanks. Yes, I've tried both, only to have the same issue. Are there hidden files on the internal that might be taking up space, but that I can't see? I've tried looking at each folder/size, and still cannot figure out where all of the space has gone. Last resort I'll start over and reinstall. Thanks for your time and assistance.

 

[blade22222]

Try going to the play store in app manager and clearing all data.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[SA3178]

Still no luck.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

Thanks. Yes, I've tried both, only to have the same issue. Are there hidden files on the internal that might be taking up space, but that I can't see? I've tried looking at each folder/size, and still cannot figure out where all of the space has gone. Last resort I'll start over and reinstall. Thanks for your time and assistance.

It's very strange...I'm not sure what could be "hidden" and taking up that much space???

What file explorer are you using? If you have one that allows to view the root directory, I'd check the properties of "/mnt/sdcard" (despite the name, this is your INTERNAL storage..."extSdCard" is the external SD card) and see what the size is. If the size of that directory isn't very large, then you know that it's possibly system files that hogging up space (in which case a wipe and re-install would probably be recommended). If that directory is large, like over a few GB, then you know it's more likely media/downloads/cwm backups/etc. that is taking up that space.

 

[AH17]

Hello,
I have exactly the same problem with samsung galaxy s3. I had the peroblem after rooting and installing PanaroidKangdroid rom( unfortunately i did not check the available memory before rooting). Now i have 1 gb only of available memory. I flashed the rom again but still the same problem. I remembre learned somewhere about CMW duplicating files on the sd card. as i am a newbee, I can't tell wich is the correct directory and files. Any body can hep! thanks in advance

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

Hello,
I have exactly the same problem with samsung galaxy s3. I had the peroblem after rooting and installing PanaroidKangdroid rom( unfortunately i did not check the available memory before rooting). Now i have 1 gb only of available memory. I flashed the rom again but still the same problem. I remembre learned somewhere about CMW duplicating files on the sd card. as i am a newbee, I can't tell wich is the correct directory and files. Any body can hep! thanks in advance

First, did you make a backup in CWM, or have you made several backups? While the backup feature is great (if not crucial), those backups do take up a ton of space, so you definitely need to clear old ones out if you start running space.
Using a file explorer (many ROMs have one built in, or you can install one like "root explorer"), go to the "sdcard" directory (this will often be the default starting directory, and is actually the INTERNAL storage, your actual sdcard contents are in the "extsdcard" directory), and check the "clockworkmod/backup" folder. If you have stuff in there, those are your backups. It is perfectly safe to delete everything in that folder, however you will no longer be able to restore your phone to a previous state anymore. so...

If you do need to delete stuff from there, either make sure you don't need the old backups, or after you've deleted everything, go in a make a new backup if desired. (Also, see my post above about how to save backups to the external SD card).

If it's not CWM backups that taking up space, then you may have to investigate further....

When you install new ROMs, are you doing a full data wipe/system reset?

 

[AH17]

@paintdrinkingpete
Thanks for your help. I finally fixed the problem. After many trials using CWM, iI downloaded TWRP, I did a complete wipe of the system and the sd card. I rebouted and I get Available memory....12.05GB. When first I opened TWRP and after wiping, it was saying sd card capacity 2.22 GB. but after rebout and appling partitionningg , I got 12.05 GB available memory.
I installed the ROM (PanaroidKangDroid) and every thing is fine with my ATT Galaxy S3. I hope this could help people having same problem.

 

[Atadadadam]

Wiped my GS3, still the same 73MB free memory : /

 

[GSDer]

You can start by looking at the Storage view

to see what's going on. Then use something like DiskUsage: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage to drill down to where all of your space is going.
You can also set the camera app to save all of your pictures/videos to the SDCard (if you have one).
Be sure to put any music on the SDCard as well (although both Google & Amazon appear to cache content on the internal storage, with no way to change it).

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Atadadadam]

Can someone record a video by repairing this annoying internal storage bug?

 

[GSDer]

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking for.
If you post a screenshot of the Storage view that will help.
If you use a File Manager to look through the internal storage (/mnt/sdcard0) you should be able to find whatever is taking up your space. There are a ton of good, free File Managers out there (including the one I listed), but you'll have to do the searching yourself - without knowing what you had previously installed there's no way to tell you what to look for, other than saying to search based on file size (which is why I recommended the one app that I did - it shows a graphical representation of the directories that are large). Here are some others you could try:
DiskInfo: http://market.android.com/details?id=me.kuder.diskinfo
ES File Explorer: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop
Root Explorer: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer
Solid Explorer: http://market.android.com/details?id=pl.solidexplorer
plus, of course, the built-in My Files app.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Aaron19]

LOl experienced same problem.. Overtime lots of junk files like cache, thumbnail files and residual files begin to build up. I freed up a lot of space by finding and deleting those files. Just follow these two links and let us know if that solved your problem. 1.Android Fix: Internal Storage getting low problem. 2.Android Fix: Insufficient Storage Space available while updating Chrome app