Low Internal Storage, but All Apps are on SD Card!

[nutmeg07]

Just flashed a new Harmonia ROM and was re-installing apps. I downloaded App2SD and Links2SD right away.

I have nearly all my apps on the SD card, but when I look at Apps2SD, is still shows my internal memory as completely full, despite only having a couple not huge apps on the internal memory.

I am rooted. I don't know what's wrong. When I open Links2SD it asks where I want to put apps. When I say ext 2 (I also have a 3 and 4) it says those don't work, but then it still lets me move things to there anyway it seems. I only mention that in case that had something to do with my memory problem?

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[LeslieAnn]

Moving apps to the SD still leaves part of the program in normal memory.

You need to use something that moves the data partition to the SD card. Links2sd I think does this.

 

[nutmeg07]

Whenever I open Links2SD, I get a pop up saying, "select file system of your SD card's second partition." Then I get the option to choose ext2, ext3, ext4, or FAT32/FAT16.

Whether I choose ext2, 3, or 4, it will say "Mount Script Error - Mount script cannot be created. Mount: no such device. ext2 may not be supported on your device. Try FAT 32 on the second partition.

If I try selecting FAT 32/16, it says: Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument.

Any thoughts?

 

[riggerman]

What method did you use to position your sd card?
edit: Just reread your op. If you have three different ext partitions, that might be part of your problem. Go back and use whatever method you used to originally partition and remove all but one ext partition. Make sure you make it a primary partition or link2sd won't recognize it.

 

[nutmeg07]

I partitioned through the custom recovery - I believe there is an option there to partition. I must have done it more than once. Not sure how to remove the partitions though.

 

[strabo231]

I partitioned through the custom recovery - I believe there is an option there to partition. I must have done it more than once. Not sure how to remove the partitions though.

If you don't wanna have to erase everything, look for EaseUS partition manager. It'll let you remove the partitions without having to totally reformat the card.. I will stress that doing anything like this always presents a chance that you could wipe your card in the process, so make sure you back it up first

Sent from my LG-VM670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[crickie]

You got to look at YOUR stuff. What kind of apps have you got. Are there any search engines, or shopping apps that you can get rid of. Department stores, and BIG search engines like Bing, Yahoo, The Weather Channel, etc have mobile formatted websites that can be bookmarked in your browser instead of loading an app. Apps take up TONS of space, bookmarks don't. Since your phone is rooted, you can even get rid of Google Search apk. cause you can set that to your default homepage in the browser settings. Your stock browser can really help you. If you run another browser in addition to the stock one, you may think about deleting one of them. Any apps you have that are "duplicates" of any "stock" apps are just memory wasters, not matter how cool they are. Never forget...ALWAYS MAKE A FULL NANDROID BACKUP BEFORE YOU DELETE ANY SYSTEM APP. LeslieAnn's stickie guide on Google apks will help ALOT. It's at the beginning of this section of our forum. If you take some time to re-assess your stuff on your fav gadget, you'll find tons of space you didn't know you had. You may even have room for a Dropbox/Box app to dump your excess into !!

 

[nutmeg07]

Thanks for the help everyone, but I think my problem is actually something entirely different. My phone keeps telling me I have no more space, even when all my apps are on the SD card (I only have two downloaded apps on the internal memory).

When I go to Links2SD and look at storage info, I see that /data (internal storage) is completely full (it has 180MB). I don't understand how my internal memory can be full when all my apps are on the SD card. What is the solution to this?

Also, even after partitioning through CWM Recovery, and even when I can see the ext3 partition through EraseUS Partition, when I use Links2SD and click 'ext3', I still get the 'mount script cannot be created' error, although it still moves apps to the SD card so not sure it matters...

The main issue is just the internal memory filling up, even when I move every single app to the SD card.

 

[Conrail16]

I don't understand how my internal memory can be full when all my apps are on the SD card. What is the solution to this?

When Android moves an app to the SD card, it does not move it completely. Chunks of it (sometimes large chunks) remain on the internal memory. It's not really inuitive, but that's how Google designed it.

 

[adamhos]

I just downloaded the om mandylion rom and it uses some kind of internal 2 SD and now I have close to a gig of internal...nice!

Sent from my VM670 using Android Central Forums

 

[nutmeg07]

Is there any way to solve this issue? It's also strange because a few months ago when I was using my phone, I don't remember this being an issue - I had a bunch of apps on my SD card and had plenty of internal space (I shut off my phone for two months while traveling, then wiped everything and reflashed a new ROM when I got back).

Is there a way to move that data to the SD card?

 

[Takenover83]

You could just mount your sd-ext to /data, not even using the internal storage.
[DEV]Mounting the data partition to SD-EXT before Android boots [TESTERS NEEDED] - xda-developers

Takes a bit of work to mod the rom you want to use it on, but I have tested it and it works fine.

 

[nutmeg07]

Hey,

Thanks for the help everyone, but I'm actually STILL having problems with this and it's driving me crazy.

I managed to partition my SD card and have set up Links2SD correctly (so I think).

But even when I select all the options to link apps with Links2SD, I am getting a full up internal memory. I'm totally lost on how to remedy this. I have less than a dozen apps and no space whatsoever. How can this be?

 

[5ubtle]

links2sd unable to mount second partition

Whenever I open Links2SD, I get a pop up saying, "select file system of your SD card's second partition." Then I get the option to choose ext2, ext3, ext4, or FAT32/FAT16.

Whether I choose ext2, 3, or 4, it will say "Mount Script Error - Mount script cannot be created. Mount: no such device. ext2 may not be supported on your device. Try FAT 32 on the second partition.

If I try selecting FAT 32/16, it says: Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument.

Any thoughts?

I had this same problem. Nobody gave any solution, so I'm giving mine now. Maybe it will help somebody. I am a novice, and don't know much more than I am stating.
I've found that with links2sd on Harmonia v1.90, the only type of "file system" which will work is "FAT".
I've found that CWM v4.0.1.5 (my recovery program) will create an external partion on my sd card with a file system of "ext3".
I created the "FAT" external partition using mini Partition wizard on my windows machine. Marked the partion as "primary".
Then links2sd could mount the external partion.

 

[AndyOpie150]

+1 ^ . The best way to do it. Create partition with SD card in phone with recovery. Then change to FAT 32 with Mini Tool Partition Wizard. The BobZohme and MandyLion ROMs as well as the ICS and JellyBean ROMs work better with ext.3

Sent from my LG-VM670 using Android Central Forums

 

[Jnew1]

Hey,

Thanks for the help everyone, but I'm actually STILL having problems with this and it's driving me crazy.

I managed to partition my SD card and have set up Links2SD correctly (so I think).

But even when I select all the options to link apps with Links2SD, I am getting a full up internal memory. I'm totally lost on how to remedy this. I have less than a dozen apps and no space whatsoever. How can this be?

Link2sd is not completely effective but the best I have found. You still have to manage your internal memory usage from time to time. For instance, when an app autoupdates it will sometimes install itself to the SD card which still leaves some in internal memory. This prevents link2sd from creating a link. I have to use link2sd to move link them occasionally. Also some apps use internal memory for data and are very sloppy about how they manage memory usage. For instance the Facebook app I think is a packrat. It uses alot of memory over time and never seems to throw stuff away. It consumes alot of memory over time. It seems to really depend on how the app is written. It's really a black ar tas to how to free up memory but here is what I do. I try to keep about 30-80MB of free internal.

1 Make sure Link2SD has everything linked to the SD card except a few essentials like link2sd, Superuser, Rom Manager, or anything else you really need if your sd card cant be used.
2 In Link2SD click settings then more and pretty much go down the list except for Recreate Mount Scripts and Link Dalvik-Cache Files. It sometimes helps when you relink application and library files... don't ask me why.
3 Download an app called DiskUsage from the market. It can give you an Idea of what apps are eating up internal memory. If you find an offender like Facebook or something like a google reader app that thinks it needs to waste 30MB of your memory downloading everything it thinks you might ever read delete the data for that app and consider uninstalling it if it continues to use too much. The data for an app can always be downloaded again if it is necessary. Caches for apps can be deleted as well. Not every app is the same. Some use internal memory and some put it on the SD card where it "Should" be. There really doesn't seen to be any rhyme or reason to it, so watch your free internal memory every time you make a change.
4 Uninstall half the new games my kids installed the last time they used my phone!

Seems to work for me, I gave up trying to understand it a long time ago.

You could very well have a different problem since you say you have only a small number of apps installed. One thought... why would you have app2sd AND Link2sd both installed? They do essentially the same thing, although I never got app2sd to work right. Sounds kind of like running two anti-virus programs to me. I would try uninstalling app2sd, then uninstall the other apps one by one and reinstall and see if that makes a difference. Try rebooting after uninstalling even...

EDIT: Oh i forgot empty the trash on your email account! I forget if it was the stock email app or the hotmail app but one of them was caching every single one of my wifes deleted emails. She had maybe a couple thousand in her trash and it was eating ups gobs of internal memory on her phone!

 

[IAskAlotOfQuestions]

Ok so I just put a 32GB SD card in my android tablet and everything is fine then I download an app called LOL pics that let's you download the picture that you want to your SD card so WHEN I download the picture i want i click on download to SD card but when i tried to plug up my Tablet to my desktop computer and upload the picture it worked and now when i try to download another picture on the SD card it says Download To Libary and i dont know why it wont let me download it to my SD card and i only used 25MB on my 35GB SD card

PLEASE PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME
THANK YOU ALOT

 

[AndyOpie150]

It has been my experience with big capacity micro SD cards( I have a Sandisk 16GB class 4 with 40MB/s read speed that allows my SD card to be read faster and thus allows for faster boot up times and makes my apps on the SD card open faster) that you need to start with a clean freshly installed ROM. Make partition in the recovery (this is the only way it will allow the partition to function properly) and reformat to what you need with Mini Tool Partition Wizard. Do not wipe with Mini Tool as this will Bork the partition.
Only use a format option in any utility used. This is the safest way to erase data from the SD card.

If the partition was made with Mini Tool then use a utility called "Boot It" to straighten out the SD card then put back in phone and select erase (make sure it put the needed folders on the SD card). Then format as specified.

Download Link2SD, open it up and select the format of the partition you made. Reboot.
Download the App you used to backup your apps. Restore those apps you want, or need to be on the system.
Go back to Link2SD/settings/auto link and auto select location.
Go back and restore the rest of your apps. Done!


Sent from my LG-VM670 using Android Central Forums

Ok so I just put a 32GB SD card in my android tablet and everything is fine then I download an app called LOL pics that let's you download the picture that you want to your SD card so WHEN I download the picture i want i click on download to SD card but when i tried to plug up my Tablet to my desktop computer and upload the picture it worked and now when i try to download another picture on the SD card it says Download To Libary and i dont know why it wont let me download it to my SD card and i only used 25MB on my 35GB SD card

PLEASE PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME
THANK YOU ALOT

You will get better help and answers to your questions by going to the tablet forums.

Sent from my LG-VM670 using Android Central Forums

 

[morrisjones]

I found that most of my space was being used up in directories created by Mac OSx, .Trashes. Places to "undelete" files. Plus LOST.DIR, files which became unlinked in a filesystem scan.

 

[fafaec]

Hi, i'm stuck here with some simlar problem. I'm rooted and partitioned my sd card. I have lind2sd and moved all possible applications. When i go to my task manager, the internal memory usage is 178/190 and the sd is 101/1.67 gb. My applications were moved to the sd card using link2sd so i don't know what i should be doing to actually free space from my internal memory. Hope someone can help me.