Error downloading ... insufficient space on the device

[Onktebong]

I used my Asus Fonepad 7 for several months without any trouble.

Then I suddenly, whenever I wanted to update, I would inevitably get the "Error downloading "app name". There is insufficient space on the device." message from from Google Play. I use Clean Master and CCleaner more often than I brush my teeth. Clean Master tells me that I still have 15% free space. CCleaner tells me that I have 3.47 out of 3.79 GB available in my storage.

On the other hand, DiskInfo tells me that I have only 66.2 MB available out of the 1.8 GB on my System partition on the Internal Storage (MMC). Ouch, that looks a bit too tight for comfort. My guess that is at the heart of my problem. :'(

I've already tried several of the stock guides on solving the "insufficient space" conundrum, but to no avail. Maybe you have another idea. Many thanks in advance! :-*

I have an Asus Fonepad 7 (K019 aka FE375CXG) running Android 5.0.1.

 

[Rukbat]

I use Clean Master

Before you do anything else, uninstall Clean Master and anything else from Cheetah. (You'll probably notice an improvement in battery life too, but that's not why you shouldn't use an app that kills apps in Android - you're just fighting with Android's memory manager.)

CCleaner tells me that I have 3.47 out of 3.79 GB available in my storage.

App storage or total storage? I don't know how ASUS partitions storage, but some phones give you about 1GB for apps, and no matter how much "free storage" you have, you have only 1GB for apps. ASUS may give you a different amount, but not all that 3.47GB may be free for apps or for downloads.

On the other hand, DiskInfo tells me that I have only 66.2 MB available out of the 1.8 GB on my System partition

You don't need much free on the system partition. Android installs there, then that's about it. Any free space is wasted. (You can only allocate space in discrete chunks, so if there's 66.2MB left over in the last chunk, that's how it is.)

Ouch, that looks a bit too tight for comfort. My guess that is at the heart of my problem. :'(

Nope. That's not where you download anything. It's like squeezing 9 passengers into a VW Beetle, then wondering why you can't fit any gas into the tank. The passenger compartment is WAY overcrowded,b but if the tank is empty, you can still put more than 10 gallons into it.

Look in your Download folder. If there's anything there that's already installed, you don't need the apk file there too. Same thing with anything you downloaded. If it's there and you want to keep it, put it where it belongs - a documents folder, a pictures folder, whatever. And if it's on the external card, you'll free up more internal space.

Clear the app cache. Settings/General/Storage/Cache. Most of that is stuff the apps stored there and didn't clean out before they closed. Some of it is stuff to make the app appear a little snappier (it doesn't have to download that logo again, or whatever is in there), but you won't lose any data by clearing the cache - data is in Misc or in a database.

 

[Onktebong]

Many thanks for your help, I especially enjoyed the Volkswagen Beetle simile.

I've removed Clean Master, cleaned out the downloads folder, deleted APKs, etc. When all that didn't help, I did a system reset (Settings > Backup & reset > Factory data reset). This helped for a while, then I was back to the "insufficient space" error message again.

Eventually, using the app Storage Partitions, I found out that I have 22 partitions on my internal storage, out of which only six are mounted (partitions 0, 2, 3, 11, 13 and 15, namely /cache, /system, /data, /factory, /config and /firmware). I presume that's why I'm out of space?

How can I recover the space from the unmounted partitions? What do I do now?

 

[jamicah sanchez]

Download in market market