Low Memory Warning keeps popping up, how to stop?

[eklisiewicz]

In the past 12 hours or so, I've started getting continuous low memory warnings. I am in the processing of moving stuff off the app internal memory to the USB memory (app2SD doesn't give me the option of moving it to the SD card), but the warnings keep happening. I also deleted a bunch of apps, but still the warning pops up.

So what could be causing this? I have spent hours trying to find an answer, but other than move or delete apps, I've seen nothing helpful.

Any help is appreciated. thank you.

Elizabeth K.

 

[Zman1001]

Go in to Settings: Storage, and tell us what the readings are:

What is the Available portion of the Application storage? What is the Available Portion of the Internal Storage?

This may give you an idea as to what is taking up so much of the memory

 

[durango992007]

Sounds like my old LG ally. What browser are you using? Do a lot of Web surfing on your phone? If you do, clear the cache of whatever browser you are using. Settings, apps, all apps, find your browser, them click clear cache. That will free up A LOT of space.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Android Central Forums

 

[eklisiewicz]

Apps, Available: 2.17 GB
Internal, Available 432MB
External SD card, Available 32.35 GB

I moved a bunch of the apps out of app memory and I guess now they are in internal storage (media memory, I think). However, I wanted to move them to external SC card storage, but App2SD (free version) did not allow that. It just had an option called, "Move to Internal Storage."

Am not sure if the free version is limiting this functionality or not.

Have cleaned out app caches using App Cache Cleaner and 1-Click Cleaner. Don't think my files can get any cleaner than they are. No, I use the phone for email, SMS, voice calls, camera, and social apps. I do occasionally use the web, but not for great amounts of time.

Am also now using DroidSail for Root users, and it seems to be letting me move *some* apps to the SD card. It is a very tedious process and takes a long time, so I am only moving a few apps at a time. Am hoping this stops the low memory warnings.

 

[SoccerRef12]

Two apps I like are Bonny Cache and Bonny Box. Bonny Cache cleans all cache and Bonny Box kills running apps. Maybe they will help?

 

[B. Diddy]

I believe the Low Memory warning pops up when the RAM available for running apps is low, not the storage RAM. To find out how much you have, go to Manage Apps->Running, and look at the bottom of the screen. I'm not sure what limits the phone is set to, but if the free RAM gets down to <50-100 MB, that will probably set off the warning.

I agree with cleaning out caches of browsers and other apps that might have big caches (I hear Google Currents is a big culprit). Also, make sure you don't have a huge number of txt messages still available on your phone, especially if they're MMS (multimedia)--if you have a bunch of photos or videos that someone texted to you, that could take up a fair amount of memory.

By the way, Manage Apps->Running doesn't show you every single process that's taking up memory. I use the free app Android System Info, which has an option "Tasks," which lists every process that's running and how much RAM it's taking up.

 

[eklisiewicz]

According to my Running Apps, I have 239 MB free, and 601 used. The message I am seeing is a Volume Warning, and it says internal storage is running out of space. By internal storage, I was assuming it was media memory. Right now I am moving apps out of internal storage to the phone to try and balance it out. But none of my apps let me move apps to my SD card. Why would that be? I am running a 64 gig microSD card with a ton of space.
Also would be nice to know the threshold for storage. Does it throw that message when it gets below 25 percent capacity? I have no idea.

I moved close to 1 gig out of media memory to application memory, but it's still throwing the low volume warning. Will have to investigate this later or tomorrow.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[bradenfontaine]

A possible bug? Just throwing it out there.

 

[B. Diddy]

I think we need to make sure what storage areas we're talking about:

1. "Application Storage" (as listed under Settings) is about 3 GB, and is where apps are stored by default when you download them. You can tell an app is in Application Storage if, under App info, it gives you the option to "Move to Internal storage."

2. "Internal Storage" (as listed under Settings) is about 8 GB, and is the portion of the advertised 16 GB of onboard memory (not counting the external SD card) that we can actually use for storage of music, photos, video, etc. Its directory is actually confusingly labeled as "/mnt/sdcard," but it's actually onboard memory. This is where apps can be moved--you can tell if your app is in Internal Storage, because under App Info, you have the option to "Move to phone." If you're using Moto's My Files app, this storage area is referred to as "Internal phone storage."

3. The actual external microSD card is listed under Settings as "SD Card," with the directory being /mnt/sdcard-ext. You can't move apps to the external SD card with stock ICS, so it's most useful storing media. You can also set your camera to save images and videos directly to the external SD card.

 

[eklisiewicz]

Nothing can be moved to external SD card. Moved some apps to internal media storage and the rest are part of app storage. Freed up a gig of space in internal media storage and there is plenty of app storage space. This warning should not be displaying. Maybe it is a bug. Will investigate more tomorrow.

 

[jeffrok]

External SD is intended for media only- not apps. Movies, pictures, and music only.

 

[eklisiewicz]

Thanks everyone, for all the suggestions. I ran those two Bonny apps, but my cache had already been completely cleaned out. And yes, I now know that you cannot move apps to the microSD card.

But this morning, I got the Low Volume warning right at startup. Bonny reported the Media memory (internal memory) to be 89 percent full. I have to wonder what the threshold is that causes that warning, and whether it can be changed. I already removed a bunch of apps from my phone, and I have to say, even with many more apps, I was not getting the storage/volume warning. So I wonder if some other app is causing this message to appear.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[bradenfontaine]

try moving all of your media (music, pics, videos) to your PC and see what happens then...

 

[eklisiewicz]

The warning keeps pointing to internal storage, or the partition called sd card. That is at 89 percent capacity. SO I am not sure why emptying my external microSD card would make this problem go away. I can try it, but it's a lengthy process.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[bradenfontaine]

if it is at 89% capacity then that is probably why you are getting warnings.

 

[eklisiewicz]

That partition had a much lower capacity the other day when these warnings started. And so I moved apps from app storage to internal storage. I have already removed as many apps as I can, but I will not remove the rest because I use these apps regularly.

My money is still on either a bug or an app conflict with the OS. And that probably means I will never resolve this problem. Very annoying. Will try moving my media files off to my PC tonight, but I really don't think that will help.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[bradenfontaine]

back everything up and do a Factory Data Reset

 

[Zman1001]

Apps, Available: 2.17 GB
Internal, Available 432MB
External SD card, Available 32.35 GB

The above numbers are showing you the problem. You only have 432MB available. I feel that by moving all of your apps to the internal storage, you have frees up a ton of storage supposed to be used for APPS (which shows you have 2.17GB available), but in turn, have now taken up the internal storage away.

For comparison, I have the following numbers (and I have 116 downloaded apps - although none of them real consuming stuff)

Apps - 1.04GB used; 1.48GB available
Internal - 4.81GB Available


Above where it says Internal Available, it should give you a breakdown of what is using the most storage. It shows Apps / Pictures / Audio / Downloads.

After you see which one is taking up all of the space, then you should know where to look to try and get rid of some of the storage hogs.

Good luck

 

[eklisiewicz]

Current storage stats:

Application Storage, Available 2.05 GB
Internal Storage, Available 898 MB
External microSD, Available 32.35 GB

In Internal Storage, apps take up 5.28 GB. As it is, I moved a bunch of apps back to app storage last night, bringing available space to what you see above. I have already removed a bunch of apps and am down to the apps I use all the time and am not willing to remove. Though my phone is rooted, there is still a ton of garbage on it from Verizon. Since I don't know exactly what those apk files are when I view them in Root Explorer, I've left most of them intact.

I had many more apps on this phone before this, and I did not get this low volume warning popping up. So I am still of the mind that some app is interfering and causing this error to show up. I've done a ton of web searching on this issue, and there are a lot of people like me who should not be getting the message that gave up because no one could solve their problem.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[bradenfontaine]

if you're rooted try clearing your cache and dalvik cache