Insufficient storage available error

[StoneRyno]

The error mainly occurs when trying to install an update to an app already installed. The problem occurred on the android market branded app and continues with the new google play store branded app. I have been trying to find a total solution to this problem but have had no luck. I have found plenty of complaints on the issue using google search and even some threads in different phones section here but nothing definitive in solving the problem. The amount of free space is not relevant to the problem as the message occurs no matter how much free space there is. And also other apps update and install without the error with the same amount of free space available and during the same time frame as the apps that the error occurs with. When the problem first began a simple reboot would correct it. Then the problem got worse and that was not enough and the google play store data had to be cleared to correct it. Then got worse and both things had to be done to correct that. Now even doing both of those things doesn't correct the problem any more. The problem persists even after flashing again from a clean wipe.

 

[ratsttam]

Is your SD card near capacity?
Copy everything from your sd card toa computer, than format the card IN the phone, and copy your data back to it.

If that doesn't help, you may need to use odin, with the PIT file, repartition, and then reinstall your chosen rom over that.

 

[StoneRyno]

This last time around that would be everything I did. My sd card has over 8GB free. I always use odin to go back to stock out of box then proceed with the process to flash the newest CM. The thing that baffles me is the fact that I can install new apps and update other apps under the same identical condition and not get the error and other apps it persists. Then arbitrarily the apps the error kept occurring on update fine later. Wouldn't be so bad if it was like 1 out of a few hundred installs or updates but it happens way too much like more than half of all installs or updates.

 

[StoneRyno]

I have more info though it doesn't lead me to a solution but perhaps will spark someone's thoughts and help arrive at a solution. I decided to go all out and free up crazy amounts of space as a test. I moved apps until I had 200MB internal storage free. That's more than 50% storage free. Even after performing all known troubleshooting steps including uninstalling the app and rebooting it would still generate the error. So I was like forget it I'll just move all the apps back I just moved to then be barraged with the insufficient storage error moving the apps back to internal storage I had just moved to the SD card to try and get the one update installed. Something deeper is going on here like the OS is failing to read the free space correctly or worse simply arbitrarily failing 90% of the time making it the most hated bug ever.

 

[jdthepig]

I'm having the exact some problem on HTC amaze running stock HTC sense. Google play support is recommending a factory reset but there has to be an actual solution. I found a similar post where a guy resolved it by using Log Collector or a similar tool to find the error being thrown by the install package then manually correcting it. In has case I believe a temporary file existed in a folder that the install didn't like so he manually deleted the file and the problem was solved. I captured the log of a failed install and found an error but wasn't able to determine how to resolve it. Is anyone out there willing to look at the log to see if they can figure it out?

 

[StoneRyno]

Factory reset doesn't solve the problem, just in case you were considering that. I, in a more complex method, factory reset each time I update to the newest CM9 build. It always starts happening after all of my apps have been installed and the first set of updates are available (for some of the apps installed) and gets progressively worse as time goes on. This weekend over carrier data I got both the invalid package file and insufficient storage error more than a dozen times before I was finally able to get one particular app to install. It was a new game I decided to try out. I could look at logs if I knew where to look or what terminal commands I would need to perform to get the info.

 

[jdthepig]

I could look at logs if I knew where to look or what terminal commands I would need to perform to get the info.

I have several log files I captured using an app called CatLog. I poked thru several of them but didn't find anything that caused an "a ha!" moment. However, I think I found the method that is throwing the error. Here are snippets from 2 lines of the log:

D/dalvikvm(14222): GC_EXPLICIT freed 5K, 48% free 2835K/5379K, external 0K/0K, paused 21ms
D/DefContainer(14222): recommendAppInstallLocation(): RECOMMEND_FAILED_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE

If I'm reading it correctly, the install is calling a method named recommendAppInstallLocation which is returning the insufficient storage error. I could be wrong because I'm not familiar with this programming language. If you want me to send you some complete log files, let me know where to send them.

I should also note that I was able to update a 9MB app but I'm not able to update some apps that are < 2 MB. I was also able to update Google Offers but not Gmail or Google Maps.

One final note, I uninstalled one of the apps I couldn't update and tried to do a clean install. That didn't work so I tried to install from the Amazon App Store and received an insufficient memory error from that install too.

 

[StoneRyno]

If those two lines are consecutive in the log then it looks like it may have seen that the SD card is full or something. 0k/0k seems to me to be an error in reading the proper info for the SD card. But I'm just guessing. And then the subroutine call made for the other line from the log I'm assuming determines the app is installed or needs to be installed on the SD card which results in the insufficient storage error due to the previously mentioned assumption.

 

[jeff275]

I've had this problem for a few months on a stock unrooted HTC Amaze that's not quite six months old with 103 MB free on internal storage (6GB free on SD card and 8GB free on phone storage). I've tried everything mentioned except a factory reset. I've been trying to avoid doing that but I guess I'll have to. It's a problem that shouldn't even exist.

 

[StoneRyno]

A factory reset isn't likely going to solve the problem. I know it didn't for me. I do a factory reset between every update of CM9 (about every few weeks) and it always began to happen after auto reinstall of all my apps occurred. However since my most recent update i got a 32GB sd card and so i made an ext partition to try using link to sd method instead of the built in method of moving apps to sd. i no longer have the error ever. This indicates to me that my previous conclusion was correct. That being, the method call made to install/update erroneously reads the sd card free space as zero (someone posted a log showing this) and aborts the install/update regardless where it's stored (internal or sd).

 

[jdthepig]

I heard t-mobile is releasing ice cream sandwich next week. Does anyone think the problem could go away after updating to ics?

A factory reset isn't likely going to solve the problem. I know it didn't for me. I do a factory reset between every update of CM9 (about every few weeks) and it always began to happen after auto reinstall of all my apps occurred. However since my most recent update i got a 32GB sd card and so i made an ext partition to try using link to sd method instead of the built in method of moving apps to sd. i no longer have the error ever. This indicates to me that my previous conclusion was correct. That being, the method call made to install/update erroneously reads the sd card free space as zero (someone posted a log showing this) and aborts the install/update regardless where it's stored (internal or sd).

Do I need to be rooted and using a custom ROM to use the "link to sd method"? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm currently running stock HTC Sense and I'm not rooted.

 

[StoneRyno]

Do I need to be rooted and using a custom ROM to use the "link to sd method"? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm currently running stock HTC Sense and I'm not rooted.

You can use any ROM including the one the device comes with (aka stock ROM). You do need to be rooted to use link to sd. Search the app store for link2sd. Once you're rooted it will be what links the apps to sd. Note also that you will need to create a second partition on the sd card for the apps to be linked. I don't have my NetBook to check for sure but I used either easeUS or paragon partition manager on windows to shrink the existing sd partition so that I could create the second one (25% total size for 8GB). I chose ext4 because of the info given on this site. Make a backup of your sd card before messing with partitions just in case something goes wrong. Or if you prefer use the backup to restore all the files after formatting the card so that you can mess with the partitions without worry of loss or damage to your files.

 

[gentle-giant]

Hello StoneRyno,

Could you tell me if this solution still works for you? I mean the Link2SD solution.
For me it did not work but I am a NOOB in these things. It might have failed because I formatted to FAT32. The Dev od Link2Sd indicares that it might be FAT32, Ext4, ext3, ext2 .

What surprises me most is that it seems to be a widespread problem, yet no one seems to be interested in solving the problem.
It can effect a stock phone or with custom ROM, rooted or not, it doesn't matter. Something within Android OS is going wrong.
My phone is a Motorola Defy+, rooted and with Quarx's CM9
Only the mayor apps like facebook, WhatsApp, Google Maps refuse to update.

I can not be much of a help, being a noob.

 

[StoneRyno]

I formatted 2nd part with ext4. And yes it is still working I've not gotten one insuffiecient error message since even with internal free space as low as 50MB except when I tried to install an app that required more space than was free and didn't pay attention. So I linked a few more apps to keep a little over 100MB free so that there is plenty of space for the store to save the install files for the larger apps and install the updates.

 

[boocephus]

I am moving some stuff around and wanted to do a titanium backup. When I opened it, I only have 1 MB free in the system ROM. How the heck did that happen? I just applied the clean GB with fc09 like 2 weeks ago. Is it the stupid SprintID stuff or live wallpapers? I dodn't use any of that crap.

 

[StoneRyno]

I don't think anything user installed gets put in system. Did you make anything a system app? I'm not familiar with how much free space each ROM make leaves in the system partition. I'm using CM9 and there is 57MB free in the system partition. Unless I'm misunderstanding you and you are mistakenly referring to the user app space (internal storage) as system. In that case then yes anything sprint ID and live wallpaper would be stored in that space. And in that case you should move stuff to the SD card using either the built in method or the link2sd if you constantly have problems with the error message when there is sufficient space. I recommend moving the largest apps/games as they would free up the most internal storage for the fewest amount of things to move. Of course you could get rid of sprint ID and live wallpaper stuff if you decide it's not worth keeping and free up space that way too.

 

[RapDaddyDon]

I uninstalled all the updates for the factory apps and the error ceased. Guess I'll have to add the updates back in one at a time till I find the culprit.

 

[grisrenard]

Removing all updates worked for me. I am able to upload new software again. I am reinstalling updates one at a time until I find the culprit.

 

[Jonny-S]

Unfortunately I don't have the time to decipher what many of these replies mean nor the time to go through my phone and figure it all out. And I shouldn't. It is such BS that these phones do this. I purchased an 8gb card (thanks to the salesman) so that these errors wouldn't occur. I wonder how much of my data plan has been gobbled up downloading something that gets rejected due to this artificial error? Just another absurd aspect of these phones.

Can someone say, "class action"?

 

[ratsttam]

Unfortunately I don't have the time to decipher what many of these replies mean nor the time to go through my phone and figure it all out. And I shouldn't. It is such BS that these phones do this. I purchased an 8gb card (thanks to the salesman) so that these errors wouldn't occur. I wonder how much of my data plan has been gobbled up downloading something that gets rejected due to this artificial error? Just another absurd aspect of these phones.

Can someone say, "class action"?

Even if we did start a "class action" suit, there would not be enough members to make up a "class". Sprint has unlimited data, so what does it really matter if you burn up a couple MB at a time downloading a file that fails to install. Your inconvenienced, not "damaged" by this issue.
What phone are you running? You mentioned being sold an 8gb sd card, and I recall the Epic coming with a 16gb from day one...