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Help low on space - only 35mb apps+caches

It's the old chestnut of the desire low on space. I did a search but I couldn't find an up-to-date answer.

All my applications in the internal memory, including caches and data, add up to about 32mb. I don't have very many at all.

I'm perpetually getting the low on space warning, and mini info says that I have used 135MB of app space out of 148MB.

Ergo, there must be about 100mb of stuff on the phone taking up space, that I can't access or delete.

Has anybody found a way of sorting this problem out without doing a factory reset?

Thanks a lot
 
So from what I understand, moving the app to the SD card doesn't move -all- of it over. Some remains on the internal storage.

I am in the same boat as you and I am getting furious! Once the phone hits low internal storage (< 15MBs), then the phone decides to crap out (friend stream fails to update, downloads from market fail).. These are issues known to occur when there is low storage due to some GTalk negotiation that needs to take place.

WTF can I do besides remove apps? ALL of my apps are on the SD card, except these that require to be on the internal because they provide widgets or system functionality that I use:

Tasker
FolderOrganizer
Clockr Evolution
Snowstorm
SmoothCalendar
Google Analytics

Keep in mind that these apps are very small.

Rooting and making the ext2 partition seems like my only way out.
 
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So from what I understand, moving the app to the SD card doesn't move -all- of it over. Some remains on the internal storage.

I am in the same boat as you and I am getting furious! Once the phone hits low internal storage (< 15MBs), then the phone decides to crap out (friend stream fails to update, downloads from market fail).. These are issues known to occur when there is low storage due to some GTalk negotiation that needs to take place.

WTF can I do besides remove apps? ALL of my apps are on the SD card, except these that require to be on the internal because they provide widgets or system functionality that I use:

Tasker
FolderOrganizer
Clockr Evolution
Snowstorm
SmoothCalendar
Google Analytics

Keep in mind that these apps are very small.

Rooting and making the ext2 partition seems like my only way out.

And what a way out to be given. ;)

Ext3 would be better though.
 
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OP here

I backed up all my stuff and tried a factory reset and then put all my apps back on, and I have about 80mb free that wasn't there before.

So this is the only viable solution

Just one note. Have you noticed that when you delete mail in the stock HTC mail app, it doesn't delete it, but just moves it to the 'Trash' folder? I've just cleared 6Mb that accumulated of the last month or so.
 
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I hadn't noticed that thing about the mail app, but I don't think that was the problem as I never had that many emails.

After a day of being factory resetted, the memory is starting to disappear again. It's gone from 80mb down to 40mb for no reason that I can see. Haven't installed anything new, nothing new in application manager, just disappearing memory! I'll keep you all posted.
 
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OP here

Ok, so after a factory reset, the same problem is back. It's been a week since I factory reset it, I started with about 80mb free and that's gradually trickled away over the week and now i'm down to 15mb free, but I haven't installed any new apps.

Please don't mention caches again, that is not the problem.


Any final ideas before I send it back to my provider for a replacement handset?
 
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Do you use a GPS app? I noticed that even if I move maps and app to the SD after running the app for the first time, seems like it copies the map files to the internal memory. This is an app issue and it was about 30mb.

I had same issues in the past, I'm just waiting my new 16gb sd so I can wipe everything and extend the partition there.
 
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I've been having the same problem on my Evo. Low disk space warning that comes and goes. I originally thought it was the SD Card and struggled to clear caches and locate 'hidden' downloaded files. I did find that downloaded email attachments are saved in the sdcard/.Mail and sdcard/.easc/Attachment folders. I don't think these folders get emptied when I clear caches because I've cleared caches in the past and yet there were files there that dated back to June when I got the phone new. So if you haven't yet already anyway, or are running low on SD card space, you'll probably want to delete the files in those directories, for example using ASTRO File Manager to go into the directory, select Multi, then Menu...Select All, then Delete.

As it turned out, had I read the 'Low on space' notification more clearly, it told me that the problem was really the Phone storage (I had 2.72 GB free on the SD card and should have checked that first).

So, using ASTRO File Manager, I was able to see that my total size of the phone storage is 350 MB and free is 91.79 MB (I'm guessing the 'Low on space' notification appears when there is <100MB free on the phone storage but maybe a quick Google / manual search or reply from another poster might confirm that). The folder that is taking up the most space is the system folder under the root, as that is ~270 MB in size. As I drill down, out of that 270 MB:
  • app is 118 MB
  • bin is 11 MB
  • customize is 14 MB
  • etc is 7 MB
  • fonts is 10 MB
  • framework is 42 MB
  • lib is 56 MB
  • lost+found is 0 MB
  • media is 3 MB
  • tts is 6 MB
  • usr is 2 MB
  • xbin is 22KB

If I navigate into the app folder, it's essentially all the app files and if I sort by size descending, I can see the major offenders: HTC_IME, Sprint_Navigation, Sprint_Qik, Maps, Settings, install_flash_player, Quickoffice, Mail, Phone, HtcContacts, Mms, etc.

So based on this analysis, it seems that the only option available to me (not sure if this applies to others), is to uninstall some apps...

I hope someone else finds this helpful!
 
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