Develop Bugs

[Q] How to resolve "Low on Space" error

Hi, Noob here. I have been wrestling with a "Low on Space" error for the last couple weeks. I understand it is a partition issue, and I'm hoping there is a ROM that will resolve the issue. The phone is rooted, but otherwise stock.
I have searched, but was not able to find a post that addresses this issue, even though it seems to be a common one. Maybe I just don't know the lingo.
Could someone point me in the right direction? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe someone can chime in and explain the "partition issue," I'm wondering what that is and why it would be necessary.

Low on space, Google not syncing...
I've recently been getting the "low on space" error too which has been preventing my google accounts (gmail, contacts, calendar, music) from syncing... I'd remove apps, move apps to SD, clear cache and still get the error with no syncing. I thought Twitter was the culprit so I removed that app and then everything started syncing and the error went away. At that point I then added google music beta to sync and once that finished I got the error again and google wouldn't sync. I then cleared data on google music beta and now able to sync again. I'm guessing google music is the culprit, but I thought that would just be caching to the sd card... This is really frustrating since I cannot utilize google music beta right now.
I have plenty of space available as well:
SD: 8.5 free out of 15.5
Internal: 6.2 free out of 6.6
Phone memory: 302 free out of 748.
Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

I am having the same Google sync issues as well, gdemore. It is not really a space issue, as I have plenty available:
SD: 5.2 free out of 7.5
Internal: 4.5 free out of 6.6
Phone memory: 407 free out of 748.
I have moved all apps to SD that I could, and use "1tap cache cleaner" from time to time.
I have gotten the "Low on Space" issue intermittently since the phone was new, but a reboot always made it go away until now.

Is the "Low on Space" error not a common problem on Droid Incredibles? After doing some Google searches, I thought it was. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Go to setting, applications, running and look at what apps are taking up space. Usually twitter, Google earth, Facebook. When you open so many images it caches them so you can review them with minimal loading time but at the cost of precious space. Anytime I get the error I clear data on these apps and it goes away for months, until I've viewed a ton of pictures again, hope this helps
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

shemp71 said:
Is the "Low on Space" error not a common problem on Droid Incredibles? After doing some Google searches, I thought it was. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not for people who are chronic rom flashers because everytime the flash a new one its the same as clearing data
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Clear cache/dalvik, try freeing up some memory by killing a few apps.

Thanks KKellett & dmeadows. I have tried clearing cache, killing apps, clearing data, etc.... I still have the Low on Space error. I'm going to pick a ROM to flash, hoping that will resolve the issue. Maybe getting rid of the bloatware will help.
Given that I have so much space on the phone (see above), I was hoping for a solution that didn't require constant cache clearing/app killing/data clearing, etc. I was hoping some of the ROMs would allow the phone to use more available memory for cache space than is currently allotted. IMHO i shouldn't need to micro-manage apps/cache with so much memory available.

Check your data/data and system/app directories with root explorer and see if there isn't some stuff you can get rid of.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

The "low on space" error comes when the \data\data partition, limited to 150 megabytes, becomes 90% full. Deodexed ROM's tend to take up more space in that partition than odexed ROM's. Sense takes up a considerable amount of space there, as do contacts. For instance, my daughter has thousands of Google and FB contacts, and they are taking up nearly half of the space.
There are two ways I have found to "fix" the problem.
1. Using Titanium Backup Pro, be sure to re-integrate any updated apps back into the ROM (that will take their data out of the partition); and
2. Purchase NotEnoughSpace, which enables you to create a partition outside of \data\data and move the bigger space hogs out of it. I run it regularly and keep at least 40 megabytes free in \data\data to avoid the problem.

low on space
hgoldner said:
The "low on space" error comes when the \data\data partition, limited to 150 megabytes, becomes 90% full. Deodexed ROM's tend to take up more space in that partition than odexed ROM's. Sense takes up a considerable amount of space there, as do contacts. For instance, my daughter has thousands of Google and FB contacts, and they are taking up nearly half of the space.
There are two ways I have found to "fix" the problem.
1. Using Titanium Backup Pro, be sure to re-integrate any updated apps back into the ROM (that will take their data out of the partition); and
2. Purchase NotEnoughSpace, which enables you to create a partition outside of \data\data and move the bigger space hogs out of it. I run it regularly and keep at least 40 megabytes free in \data\data to avoid the problem.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip and the background knowledge hgoldner! I'll give that a shot.
I've been getting the same warning as the OP for a week or so now...
Rooted DINC, but still on stock rom. "Appears to have" plenty of space available.

There is a fix, and no it is not deleting all your apps to get it to go away.
Basically for some real dumb reason HTC has given the data/data folder 150MB of storage space and when that gets close to full you will not be able to add anymore apps to your phone. So even if you have 5+GB of space left you are stuck.
But there is an app in the market called "NotEnoughSpace" that I was a little leary on trying at first but after getting it and seeing that it works great I wanted to share this with everyone.
I was able to move Google Earth's 16MB to the partition this app created and have it work, and freed up all that space in my data/data folder.
BTW INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE:
1) Create a partition (I made a 1GB one on the phone in emmc)
2) Pick an app taking up a lot of space (like Google Earth) the app will show you how much space each app takes up in the data/data folder so you will learn why you are having an issue.
3) Click to open up the app (Inside NotEnoughSpace of course) and click all the sub directories (most apps have 4-5) and move them ALL to the partition.
That's it. And you can always move everything back if you want. But just note that if you move the app itself OR don't move every sub directory the app wont work after a reboot. Took me a few tries and multiple reboots to figure this all out but now I am good to go and freed up much space.

I had mixed results using NotEnoughSpace while reflashing ROMs and restoring my apps with Titanium. I'm a bit nervous to use it with anything I don't mind a fresh install of.

I used to have this problem all the time but since I've started flashing ROMs it hasn't been an issue. When I was running stock I would just clear the app data for my browser, facebook, and dialer (this is your text messages), usually worked.

Clearing the data for my Dialer App did the trick. Haven't had any space errors since!
Used SMS Backup+ to keep them just in case ;-)

Well, actually that's a lie. It keeps popping up at least once a month. I gotta start flashing some Roms...

I've tried cleaning everything out, but that doesn't work. Is there anyway to fix it without rooting your phone? honestly, I've never done that before, and I'm afraid I'll just trash my phone. Are all HTC phones like this?

Low on space
heatwave316 said:
I've tried cleaning everything out, but that doesn't work. Is there anyway to fix it without rooting your phone? honestly, I've never done that before, and I'm afraid I'll just trash my phone. Are all HTC phones like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without rooting you can delete apps. The lib files and to a lesser extent the data files fill up /data/data partition which has a total size of 149 mb (crazy low). Netflix has a 19.3 mb lib file and and Google Earth uses 16.61 mb. Also syncing facebook can take up a lot of space in data files.
If rooted I like link2sd which allows you to create a symbolic link for the larger files to the SD card. I am using about 70 mb of the /data/data partition only moving a few big files over to SD.

If I root my phone, do I need a new ROM or can I leave Sense UI on my phone? I'd really only being rooting to fix this issue. I'm not interested in playing with other things. I don't have much of a software/programming background, and I honestly don't want to mess with it.
Thanks.

Rooting and low memory

I searched a good bit, but couldn't find the answer to this specific question. Will gaining root access get rid of the low memory error? I'd just ignore the error, except it keeps the gmail app from syncing. Sorry if it's a dumb question. I was hoping the 2.3 update would fix it, but it doesn't sound like it does, and now it's starting to sound like I may never get it! I may have to take the plunge and root....
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Gaining root itself won't fix the error. However, many custom ROMs have it fixed. Not sure about the Sense ones, but the AOSP ones such as MIUI or CyanogenMod do.

Thanks for your response!
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Move apps to SD card
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

htcdroidincredible23 said:
Move apps to SD card
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I don't think moving apps to SD works. I had it with a ROM I used and it's not an actual case of low memory. A ROM with the fix does work. I'm using one of WildStang's and it's working great.

Moving apps to the SD card will help (not fix) the issue on 2.3 roms because the .lib files are now moved to the SD card from the /data/data folder (they weren't on 2.2).
Once you get close to the 150mb limit in the /data/data folder you will start seeing the notification (or a bunch of force closes on AOSP roms)
Also the app "not enough space" can alleviate the problem, or an automated cache cleaner.

sdrawkcab25 said:
Moving apps to the SD card will help (not fix) the issue on 2.3 roms because the .lib files are now moved to the SD card from the /data/data folder (they weren't on 2.2).
Once you get close to the 150mb limit in the /data/data folder you will start seeing the notification (or a bunch of force closes on AOSP roms)
Also the app "not enough space" can alleviate the problem, or an automated cache cleaner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mentioned the bunch of force closes on AOSP roms, I had this problem a few times with MIUI and CM7 where out of nowhere it would force close everything and the phone was unusable. Is this related to cache? I read that it might be corrupted contacts that caused the issue.

Man, I can't figure it out this time. Had the DI for 18 months, and I've always been able to fix this - facebook, contacts, or just trace it back to the most recently installed app. This time I can't figure it out. It's so frustrating - 18 months ago and went ahead and spent the extra money to get (at the time) the most powerful phone I could find as far as memory, and got the 32g card to go with it, so I wouldn't have to worry about this. Now I've got plenty of memory, but my phone doesn't think so!
I'm scared to death to root. I'd love to start messing with ROMs, but I'm scared to brick it, I'd be screwed.
Thanks for the responses....

possible fix
You should check out jermaine151's Stock+ version 2.1. http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1260994. I can't personally vouch for it as he just released it and it's a little late to start reinstalling everything, but it looks promising.

This mod will fix the low space problems.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1315372
I have been using it for about a week and no problems at all. Phone seems snappy and no annoying low space issue. It basically resizes the small partition to a bigger one. So no more low space notification.

Late to the party, unrooted GB, gmail & low space issues...

So I've been living in a low-tech bubble and just got the OTA, tried searching for answers on why G-mail no longer syncs and why I get a false low space warning... didn't find anything too helpful in a hurry... Throwing myself at your mercy. TIA
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

You mentioned it's a false warning. Are you sure that it is? The partition where your apps and associated data is stored is ludicrously small, 150MB, even though your app manager will show you all of your free internal space. When you go into manage apps and sort by size, what are your 5 largest apps and the space listed for them?

Do you store your contacts on your phone or do they live on Gmail?
Are you syncing FB contact information for you contacts as well?
The reason I ask: My g/f has a HTC Desire and had this issue 2 days after she had the phone, had 2 apps installed from the Market. WTF right?! Her contact storage was over 90 MB itself, which were phone contacts. I took the time to input all of those contacts she had into Gmail, and cleared contact storage. I also rooted her phone.
I disabled FB syncing for her contacts, as that was also contributing to ballooning storage for her contacts. Since doing this, she hasn't had this issue. That phone is plagued with that issue, but you may want to see what apps are taking up a ton of space, clear their caches like previously stated by "Haus".
EDIT: Gmail may not be syncing due to the low space warning, and you won't be able to send/receive texts either. Do have a ton of old texts that you save? You may want to delete some of those as well if you do.

My internal memory lists 500mb unused. I store everything possible on SD. Contacts via gmail. I do sync FB for the image avatars, but with the above mentioned space I can't see how that alone would cause the issue. All of this started after the OTA yesterday... Leads me to believe that there is an issue outside of my storage space, something tied to the update. Found random posts on other forums this AM where MANY others had same 2 issues resulting right after their OTA but most were from Sept. I figured these would be old news, with quick fixes by now... Anyone else seen this?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

dali137 said:
My internal memory lists 500mb unused. I store everything possible on SD. Contacts via gmail. I do sync FB for the image avatars, but with the above mentioned space I can't see how that alone would cause the issue. All of this started after the OTA yesterday... Leads me to believe that there is an issue outside of my storage space, something tied to the update. Found random posts on other forums this AM where MANY others had same 2 issues resulting right after their OTA but most were from Sept. I figured these would be old news, with quick fixes by now... Anyone else seen this?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
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Even though it lists 500 MB free, the DInc only has 150 MB total partitioned for apps (which is referring to the /data/data partition). When it gets close to that 150 MB, you'd get that warning.
Are you rooted?
There is a work around for this, but you'd have to be rooted running a ROM like Jermaine's Stock+, and there's a mod which increases the 150 MB /data/data partition to virtually unlimited. See here.

Unrooted (see post title)... so, the act of installing GB zapped up so much room that I am too close to the limit for my phone to function properly? Would GB install into the 150mb space for apps? As it's OS I'd think storage would be elsewhere? Also txting works fine atm.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Some of the other posts I've found of users with same issues...
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=02216e9b3aed01ad&hl=en

dali137 said:
Unrooted (see post title)... so, the act of installing GB zapped up so much room that I am too close to the limit for my phone to function properly? Would GB install into the 150mb space for apps? As it's OS I'd think storage would be elsewhere? Also txting works fine atm.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Sorry, my bad, I missed that in the title. What is the size of your Contact Storage?
Menu - Settings - Applications - Manage Applications - All tab at the top - scroll to Contacts Storage. It'll list the size underneath it.
Short of doing a factory reset to see if that fixes things, I'm not sure what to have you try since you are factory stock 2.3 other than contact VZW and/or HTC to see what they say. Since it wasn't happening before, and now it is, they'd either need to fix it or replace your phone.
EDIT: Also, what is the size say for com.htc.socialnetwork.provider?
EDIT 2: Menu - Settings - About phone - Software Information - Build Number, what are the numbers here? The latest OTA should have been 4.08.605.2.

So... I deleted date associated with FB and also ran the tip in the last post on the thread I linked to...
...He then had me dial a code (*#*#CHECKIN#*#*) and said if the update hadn't pushed in 72 hours to call them again. Guess I'll know by Sunday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if that had anything to do with it or not but somewhere along the line the space error went away and gmail starting syncing... I guess I am now just concerned with will happen again the next time I have an update of any kind to apps that can't be stored on SD.
grrr.... guess I'll be looking to jump the incredible ship when my upgrade comes through in a few months.
BTW... my contacts storage reads 14MB but not sure why/how as I have no contacts stored on phone.

dali137 said:
So... I deleted date associated with FB and also ran the tip in the last post on the thread I linked to...
Not sure if that had anything to do with it or not but somewhere along the line the space error went away and gmail starting syncing... I guess I am now just concerned with will happen again the next time I have an update of any kind to apps that can't be stored on SD.
grrr.... guess I'll be looking to jump the incredible ship when my upgrade comes through in a few months.
BTW... my contacts storage reads 14MB but not sure why/how as I have no contacts stored on phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
14 MB isn't too bad. If you have no contacts stored on your phone, you could clear that information, and Gmail will just re-sync it, so you wouldn't lose anything or delete contacts. I did see something in a post about going to an HTC link and downloading a "hotfix" file to install for this issue, but these were before this latest OTA that came out, and I couldn't find anything about anyone having success with it as far as this latest OTA is concerned.

I guess I should rephrase... I don't want to have any contacts stored purely on my phone... is there anyway to sort and see?
NM... found it... yeah, listed as 0. will delete. Thanks!

RMarkwald said:
Even though it lists 500 MB free, the DInc only has 150 MB total partitioned for apps (which is referring to the /data/data partition). When it gets close to that 150 MB, you'd get that warning.
Are you rooted?
There is a work around for this, but you'd have to be rooted running a ROM like Jermaine's Stock+, and there's a mod which increases the 150 MB /data/data partition to virtually unlimited. See here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd missed that mod, that is going to make my wife really happy. Glad you mentioned it.

"Haus" said:
I'd missed that mod, that is going to make my wife really happy. Glad you mentioned it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, converts /data and /cache to ext4, which speeds things up as far as the file system goes. I'm just using the normal version of this mod, but I highly recommend it!

I guess I should also mention the other annoying issue... battery life is terrible after the OTA... anyone else?

a large portion of us on here have rooted our devices, and cured our phones of these ailments. No more limited data applications thanks to the Ext4 mod, and no terrible battery life thanks to custom kernels to help govern how the battery is utilized.
If you have the resources, I highly recommend rooting your incredible and installing a custom ROM

I just don't have the bandwidth in my life ATM to learn/do anything new... was just looking to see if anyone knew of a unrooted fix...
guess that is too much to hope for though

The unrooted fix is to uninstall applications and clear some caches.
Thats about it AFAIK other than wiping everything or rooting.

my wife has the incredible and up till now she wouldn't let me root her phone and now that she's on 2.3 she wants to root it and dive into the custom rom scene. i tried rooting it with unrEVOked but was unsuccessful even tried showing it a custom clockwork recovrey to flash however I still couldnt figure it out. Any "easy" way to root after going to 2.3

There's a thread, I think in Development about how to do it, looks involved but possible.
It's by Scotty1223.
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium

tcs.computergeek said:
my wife has the incredible and up till now she wouldn't let me root her phone and now that she's on 2.3 she wants to root it and dive into the custom rom scene. i tried rooting it with unrEVOked but was unsuccessful even tried showing it a custom clockwork recovrey to flash however I still couldnt figure it out. Any "easy" way to root after going to 2.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here you go tcs, it's found in the general section of the forum...
root 2.3.4,downgrade,and s-off

[Q] How do I do moves apps to sd?

Hello all! Ive done some research and still am not completely understanding the partition thing. I downloaded an app that was called app2sd (I think that was the name) but it says unable to do so because of a patch that was needed. Can someone explain specifically the process. What is the partition and what about this patch thing? lol sorry but I knew just enough to use the toolkit to root my phone and now id like to benefit from it. Thanks to all who help.
-Paint pb balla-

Well from the research I've done after no replies here. They have resulted in the ultimate answer being is yes you can move apps to SD, BUT it takes a process that I don't think I'd be able to do. You have to "fool" your note 2 into thinking that your SD is your internal memory and I don't want to mess things up. If someone has an easy, easy way to do this please let me know. Until then I will just wait til 4.3 update which hopefully apps to SD will be integrated with that update. The S4 in Germany has it, Shortly others shall follow. Well maybe not shortly but eventually haha.
-Paint pb Balla-

There's an app called folder mount that works with high data games.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

+1 on FolderMount. It's different from Apps2SD. I suggest installing My Drives. It'll help find the files that are big storage hogs.
The problem is how Android setups up the memory because of the ability to have multiple profiles.
I haven't personally tried it on the GN2, but you could tired the function Convert to System App. Maybe through that you can move an app to the SD card.
Not that they all do, but I find the two biggest storage hogs are games and videos. Videos are easily moved. Well, nandroids are too.

That is what's eating up most my memory is videos and pictures. I eventually change it over to where my pics and vids were stored on my sd card but that was after my internal memory was almost all gone. Im just going to get drop box on my computer and store them there so I can erase them on my phone to free the memory. The only reason I didn't want to do that before is because my cpu is 3 4 years old and slow. so I hate getting on it. Ill just suck it up and do it. Thanks guys.

If you set up a google+ account you can use it the same way as drop box and you can also get picasa Web, the cool thing about them is Thayer all free unlike drop box
Give it a try I think that's the best route and you can upload from your phone.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

Thanks ya'll and I've got drop box on my CPU now and it is free...for what I'm using it for anyway.
-Paint pb Balla-

how to clean other files with huge size in internal memory in storage analyzer

I have my Galaxy Note 10 + for 11 months now, with 256 gb internal storage and 128 GB SD card and a few months ago I was notified that my internal storage space was almost full. It was very difficult for me to believe this, as I do not have nearly enough pictures to be taking that up (pictures and videos are routinely uploaded to Google Drive and are stored on external SD card), and all of my music is loaded onto an SD card.
I have cleaned recycle bin but something is getting piled up day by day reducing main storage of the phone base memory. When actually measured the folders account only 60 gb in base memory but there is very less free memory.
Looking at the storage analysis, the problem seems to come from a large amount of space being taken up in the "other" category, but I cannot figure out what is categorized under "other" or why it is filling. How do I identify these files and delete them if unwanted?

SD Maid Pro works great for me. I can confirm that it can delete files. Just did some storage management yesterday.

lostman004 said:
SD Maid Pro works great for me. I can confirm that it can delete files. Just did some storage management yesterday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good app...
The original samsung Device Care that was loaded with Pie cleans very well.
Don't update it... the new sanitized version sucks.
I put the phone in airplane mode when using it and keep it package block it otherwise. It's probably chinese spyware but works well if gagged, lol.

I use a tool called "DiskUsage". Try installing that from the play store and give it a shot...
Sent from my SM-N976V using Tapatalk

KruseLudsMobile said:
I use a tool called "DiskUsage". Try installing that from the play store and give it a shot...
Sent from my SM-N976V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but i does not allow to delete. how to delete the identified junk?

knn1111 said:
Thanks but i does not allow to delete. how to delete the identified junk?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check browser caches/data etc.
Go down the line with all apps including system ones. Google is a hog. See who'd hogging the beef....
I use SD Maid Pro to clean, it does a good job.
Just about time to do a reload anyway. Be picky about the apps you put on the new load.

blackhawk said:
Check browser caches/data etc.
Go down the line with all apps including system ones. Google is a hog. See who'd hogging the beef....
I use SD Maid Pro to clean, it does a good job.
Just about time to do a reload anyway. Be picky about the apps you put on the new load.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but My problem is not resolved even after buying the pro version . How to clean "other" with huge size in internal memory in analyse storage. The size of other is still 179 gb

knn1111 said:
Thanks but My problem is not resolved even after buying the pro version . How to clean "other" with huge size in internal memory in analyse storage. The size of other is still 179 gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the file manager and sort by size, what's on top?
You need to manually hunt for it. Check app data especially Google's. SD Maid doesn't delete app data.
Get the Windows driver for it and view the Android on the PC. Play with it. Off load some of the files and watch how it behaves. Does internal memory unexpectedly keep being used up?
You can try clearing the system cache on the boot menu but I don't think it will help. Never hurts.
That copy sounds like it's getting old... maybe reload time anyway.