Lots of Questions regarding Memory

[Ted Pitman]

I hope this is the right category. Anyway I have a few questions about my android phone (a galaxy y).

1. I tried to move some apps to the SD card, but it says they are already on the SD card. Why?
2. If all my apps are on the SD card, what's taking up the phone's space?
3. Why can't I download anything else when my 7GB SD card is nearly empty, and everything is going on there?
4. I recently downloaded an album from google play. I can't play it because I haven't got the new Play Music app. Will it stay on my google account so I can listen when I get my new phone?
5. I deleted all my messaging threads earlier but it still says the message box is full or something. I assume the texts are still stored somewhere else, where can I find and terminate them?
Thanks in advance.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! First of all, tell us what make and model of phone you have, and what version of Android. EDIT: Sorry, just noticed that you have a Galaxy Y. But still tell us what version of Android it is running.

1. I tried to move some apps to the SD card, but it says they are already on the SD card. Why?

Moving apps to an external SD card used to be possible on any phone prior to Android 4.0 as long as it had an SD card slot, but this started to change with Ice Cream Sandwich and Jellybean. Nowadays, I think it's mostly Samsung that still has this feature (but then again, Samsung is probably one of the only phone manufacturer that still provides external SD card support). When you move an app to SD, you're not moving the entire app--only a portion of it. Some part of the app has to remain in the main Internal Storage in order to function properly.

The reason why some of your apps are already on the SD card is that they may have defaulted to being moved there. That was the case on my old Razr Maxx.

2. If all my apps are on the SD card, what's taking up the phone's space?

As I mentioned above, only a portion of an app can be moved to the SD. The rest of it remains in the phone's Internal Storage. Remember that the OS also resides in Internal Storage, as well as any preinstalled "bloatware" apps, which can take up anywhere from 2-3 GB to almost 8 GB. Data generated by apps can also reside in Internal Storage, but depending on the app, can also be saved to the external SD card.

3. Why can't I download anything else when my 7GB SD card is nearly empty, and everything is going on there?

The external SD card is primarily used for storage of media files (like music, videos, photos). It's your Internal Storage that is important when it comes to downloading or installing new apps. Apps need to download to Internal Storage first in order to install, before you can try to move it to the SD card. If you don't have enough room in Internal Storage to begin with, you won't be able to install the app.

4. I recently downloaded an album from google play. I can't play it because I haven't got the new Play Music app. Will it stay on my google account so I can listen when I get my new phone?

What do you mean you downloaded an album? If you purchased music on Google Play Music (whether on your Google Play Store app or on the Google Play website on your computer), that music is yours and will be in your Google Music Library in the cloud. Your phone should have Play Music preinstalled--if it doesn't, you should be able to install it from Google Play here: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...gle.android.apps.youtube.music&token=FD7JXlKe. Downloading music directly to your phone requires the Play Music app in order to play--the music won't be downloaded in any recognizable form to your downloads folder.

May I suggest the following guides;
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...i-intro-homescreens-settings.html#post3298515
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...stalling-apps-managing-media.html#post3400938
http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...roid-memory-how-deal-low-memory-warnings.html

 

[B. Diddy]

Ok, I looked up the specs for your Galaxy Y--it's pretty hobbled by its low memory. It has 160 MB of internal storage available to the user--that's very low, and probably why you're having difficulty downloading or installing anything. 160 MB gets filled pretty quickly once you start installing any modern apps.

 

[Ted Pitman]

Thanks for the help. What I meant by downloaded an album is I purchased one from google play. I don't have enough space for the new play music app, which it says I require. Your answer suggests yes, it will be available to me on another device. That's great.