Insufficient Storage space on GS3

[Ghostnyc]

Hi everyone- Im hoping to get some help with a problem regarding ?insufficient storage available? notification. I am currently running stock JB 4.1.1 on AT&T GS3, additionally I am using a 32 GB Sandisk UHC microsd of which only 6GB is being used.

I got this notice for the 1st time last night. Many of my apps were attempting download updates and could not because of this notice. It is worth noting that I was also having severe power drain issues after the latest updates to Google music and Hangouts (aka Talk). Which I resolved after unsuccessful reboots & battery pull, by uninstalling google music. (Google music updated itself and the problem has not repeated?.so far)

I deleted apps that appeared to take up too much space and apps I have not used in the last 30 days. I currently have 61 apps, 25 of which are system apps. I used an app called Clean Master, but Im still getting this error message.

I usually back up my files to my sd card, with the intention of having my internal memory free for applications. However looking through file explorer I realized that ?sdcard? is actually internal memory and ?extSdcard? is my external drive. Out of approximately 12 GB internal space I have just under 500MB free for me to use.

Can anyone offer any insight to what is going on here? Can I rename the internal sdcard something else or for apps to back up into my external sd card? Is there a way for me to copy contents from internal sd card to my external sd card? Will a factory reset correct this issue? If I do a factory reset, should I remove my microsd card?

 

[JeffDenver]

My roommate had this same problem a few weeks ago.

The S3 requires a minimum amount of internal storage to function, but does not warn you if you are running too low. Deleting apps did not work, as he needed a LOT more space than apps were taking up. The solution for him was to connect it to a PC as a drive, move all his crap to the PC (pictures, video whatever). Restart the phone and it should be fine.

Just save all your stuff to SD in the future and it will not be a problem. He has not had the issue since.

(I agree the "SD/ExtSD" terminology is confusing and annoying)

 

[Ghostnyc]

JeffDenver- thank for the info, I did not mention it in OP but I already did that and Im still getting the error message.

Something I discovered while investigating the issue- certain applications that allow you to make back ups and creating them and storing them on the "sdcard" which is the internal storage. I got APEX Launcher, Zooper Widget Pro and RssDemonElite with back ups in there.

Is this a JB issue with the file structure being unclear about internal storage?

 

[JeffDenver]

JeffDenver- thank for the info, I did not mention it in OP but I already did that and Im still getting the error message.

Something I discovered while investigating the issue- certain applications that allow you to make back ups and creating them and storing them on the "sdcard" which is the internal storage. I got APEX Launcher, Zooper Widget Pro and RssDemonElite with back ups in there.

Is this a JB issue with the file structure being unclear about internal storage?

Definitely not a JB issue. I have only ever seen this on the GS3. I have never seen it on my Nexus 4, Nexus 7, or Asus Transformer. I have heard of other people with this problem, and it was always GS3 owners.

How much free internal space are you showing now?

 

[Ghostnyc]

Quick Update-

I removed the following updates- Google music, Google+ and Google Hangouts (Talk) and restarted. I got 1.2 GB of space back. No more "Insufficient Storage" notice. However my phone is still sluggish compared to a few days ago before the initial Google updates downloaded. Since the updates I've experienced severe battery drain (detailed here- http://forums.androidcentral.com/sp...-battery-drain-please-read-2.html#post2801403), Insufficient storage space message and overall sluggish behavior.

I think its fair to say that the Google updates had some adverse effects on GS3 that others should be aware of.

Another update- performed a hard reset and recovered 10.93 GB of available space. This was space available after all apps were re-installed along with the google updates that IMO were responsible for the performance issues I was having.

 

[Atadadadam]

The same problem...Total space 11.35GB
Apps 89.71MB
and Available 10.20MB...
this is annoying, cant download anything.
My apps are runing low.
What can i do to restore my internal space?

 

[Ghostnyc]

I attempted removing apps, clearing cache, etc. All really short term solutions that lasted a few hours at most. Uninstalling all the latest Google updates - music, playstore, Plus, Hangouts- resulted in alot more memory being released but again this is just another short term solution. Back up your data if you can and do factory reset. My GS3 is running great after I did my factory reset- Battery life is great (just over 26 hours on 1 charge with light usage), memory issue is resolved- all my apps are back, fully updated including all the new google apps and I have a solid 10.55 GB of memory free

Biggest headache however was getting my launcher and widgets back- JB refers to internal device storage as "sdcard" and your micro sd card as "extSDcard" when you attempt to create a back up it saves them all to "sdcard" which is the internal memory, which will be WIPED CLEAN during factory reset. I made several attempts to copy out my back ups from internal memory to my pc, but performance was ridiculously slow and my connection to my device keeping dropping. I also attempted to copy the back up files from internal to external SD card, but that did not work either. I decided to take the hit and just do the factory reset.

And it was well worth it.