Help USB storage full for no reason?

[CydonianZeta]

Hi,
My phone's 1.10GB USB storage always seems to be bewilderingly full, or near enough anyway (1.08GB full as of writing). Normally I wouldn't be bothered but it appears to be limiting the usage of my Music Player default app and Gallery. For example, lately I can only play music if I restart my phone and quickly started the song before the media scanner had finished, otherwise it just hangs when I tap a song.
All of the pictures on my phone are stored on my 32GB MicroSD card and so is all of my music, I deleted all videos from my phone a while ago in attempt to resolve the space issue and I've moved almost every app to the SD card.
I have had a "memory too full" error before when trying to access the Gallery and Music Player, but that was before I moved all my media to the SD card. Now I have no idea what could be on the USB Storage that's filling it up so much, and what does it actually "store" compared to the System storage?
It's unrooted and I'd prefer to stay that way.
Thanks!

 

[bagnall18]

i too have hasd this problem - the solution format usb memory seems to work done this twice now with no ill effects. dont forget to back up via Kies first just incase.

 

[bagnall18]

the path to this is settings, storage, usb storage then format usb storage hope this helps you

 

[apinya24]

the path to this is settings, storage, usb storage then format usb storage hope this helps you

If you do this do you then need to reinstall all your files?

 

[bagnall18]

No need to reinstall files as all you have done is clear the usb storage down. i have done this with no troubles caused to the phone at all.

 

[sethriditus]

I get this problem all the time. After spending a lot of time searching I have been unable to find a fix which does not involve backing up files. This seems to be a major floor of the android OS. In effect the Android OS normal functionality renders apps (inbuilt or not) unusable.

If I format the phones USB storage, I get two problems... Firstly, all of the memos in my phones inbuilt TMemo app get deleted, and secondly, all of the game data in my GolfStar game gets deleated, preventing the game from launching unless I reinstall, and start from scratch.

This is an inherent problem of the android operating system and has been widely discussed within the android comunity, to such an extent that i would be VERY surprised if the developers of android were not aware of the problem. That being said, as far as i know there has been no attempt to fix this common android problem by the developers (Google). And Google aren't exactly low on cash, so why has there not been a fix? Because Google are hoping that that the android community don't make too much noise and that the problem will just go away. (in my opinion)

I'm no expert,(i know you know that:hmmmm, but if it's possible to fix this USB storage full problem by rooting your phone and downloading an app that let's you swap your external SD card memory for your internal USB storage memory, then surely it's possible for the developers to include this function within an update.

I know it's a BIG hope, but stranger things have happened.

 

[Smokey Mc Pot]

Seriously this is a great tiny little phone.
But this is only a low budget phone...

There are many different causes for that problem...

-You can clean the cache partition to release memory.

-2 many apps in your phone can be the cause.
Just delete the ones you hardly or don't use.

-Windows media player sync is normally one of the causes to fill up the usb storage in Android phones.
Moving media manually between your pc and your phone is a good solution to prevent that problem.

-Games are definitely a problem because they use so much space.
Buy a nintendo video game portable console instead.



The external SD card is only good for storing files.
But you can always make a good real use to your massive external SD card:

1- Root your device.
2- Create a second partition in your external sd card.
3- Install any app with the capability to link2sd.
4- Link your (application file + dalvik-cache file + library files) to the second partition in your sd card.
5- Perform maintenance on your phone using the tools provided in the link2sd app.
6- Be happy.


- And finally the best option of all is... buy a proper phone with some real internal storage space 16gb.


Good luck.

 

[sethriditus]

"Seriously this is a great tiny little phone.
But this is only a low budget phone...buy a proper phone with some real internal storage space 16gb."

It would seem you are suggesting that low storage space problems are restricted to only non proper, and low budget phones. Fact is, I could buy a more powerful phone with larger memory, like the S3 for example, and still find myself in the same situation...

http://www.askmefast.com/Low_storage_space_notification_on_samsung_galaxy_s3- qna3991437.html#q4378157

As I mentioned in my post, this is a 'common' android problem, and as you mentioned, there are 'many' situations where this problem will occur.

Also, it's all very well for us phone savvy people to be deleting the cash every two weeks, and rooting our phones etc., to restore functionality, but what about those who are not technically minded.

Thanks for the suggestions by the way, I already have Android assistant and use it to clear the cache almost every day, I don't use any sync functions on my phone, and I don't wish to root my phone as I would rather not void my warranty. But, I do have 14 apps that I have installed, along with the 48 pre-installed, (and undeletable), apps that came with the phone. I will try to whittle the number of my apps down a bit, but it's not going to be easy as i use them all often.

Once again, thanks for the suggestions, and your reply.

 

[Smokey Mc Pot]

@sethriditus
The link you posted is invalid (doesn't work).

You don't need to be a "phone savvy" person to:
-Open "Settings"
-Select "Storage"
-Scroll to "USB Storage"
And read to find out what files are consuming all the space.


You don't need a special app to perform such basic steps.
In fact you can "Format the USB storage", any time you wish to and with no negative consequences... well for as long you back up your stuff first.

Many android apps including the native browser and camera offer the option to save content in the external sd card and is down to the user to set that in the application settings.
And voila that is how you avoid to fill up the usb storage.


I do feel for the people that are not "technically minded".
And that is why I bother to reply to questions and to help people in this forums.

 

[j800r]

Install Clean Master.

Seriously. One of the most amazing apps for Android. Cleans all junk/leftover files from your system (if the space is taken up by something other than files/apps you have stored then it'll all be cleared), has the option for some advanced clearing (I always use that to remove any empty folders), has a task manager (though I'd refrain from using that unless you are certain of what you're doing) AND has an app manager where you can move apps, backup apps (not sure how the app does backup as I've never used it) and uninstall apps. With root access you can even uninstall system apps although be careful with this and only remove what you are certain is not important to system stability.

Discovered it when I tried out Go Launcher one time (app came bundled) and I swear by it now. It's fantastic!

As for making good use of storage, store all your media files on an external SD card. What I also do is still all games on USB storage and all other apps on main device storage. I have four Final Fantasy games installed on my phone, a few other little games, several normal apps and STILL have a little available device storage. Don't expect to be able to install every app on the play store or whatever cause that ain't happening but the phone still has ample storage for a few games and enough apps to get good use out of the device.

 

[aldober]

if i have move all my game,photo,music, video and i format usb storage, will i lost those all ?

 

[xenoblade]

have you checked your music's album art if like me you have a lot of music you will also have alot of album art locate folder in my files and move the folder to extsdcard..