Can I delete stuff in /cache?

[digity]

I'm running low on storage space again (happens too often for me actually). Instead of doing the usual "move to SD" or uninstalling unnecessary apps I went snooping around the file system. I saw that /cache has a bunch of .apk files and a lot of them seem old and outdated (some of the apps I don't even have installed anymore).

Can I delete the .apk files (and whatever files) in /cache to give myself more space? If so, are there any other directories I could clear out that'll give me more space?


Thanks in advance


P.S. - Yes, my device is rooted (and I have Root Explorer installed) and its a HTC EVO 4G

 

[NickA]

The files in that folder are created by applications to temporarily store data it may need. Think of it as a \tmp folder in Windows. Android is supposed to clean those up automatically when you are low on memory. Developers, however, need to be more diligent and clean up after themselves when creating those files.

You can delete the files, but chances are the applications that created those files will just create them again next time you start the app.

You can also clear those files by going into Manage Applications, and Clearing Cache for each offending app.

 

[srkmagnus]

I use Cachemate to clear some of the most popular application caches. There was a Free version reviewed on the front page of Androidcentral a day or two ago, look through the first few pages to find it.

You can see which apps are high in memory use by going to Menu > Settings > Applications > Running and sort by size. The top app usually is the browser, but others can easily consume a lot of space.

 

[digity]

Thanks! I ended up going the traditional route and clearing the cache (99% of the apps didn't have anything in cache and if they did it was a very small amount) and/or moving any app that could be moved to SD. Freed up about 48 MB. Then I ran CacheMate and it freed up 2 MB.

Having to manually manage storage space every 2 weeks is fracking annoying!