Low Space: All Droid Incredibles?

[euph_22]

I believe that's what the beta app "Not Enough Space" does. I've been using it to relocate stuff that would otherwise clog that 150mb space. At this point, I'm "addicted" to it, in that, if I had to move everything back to the 150mb space, I'd have a chronic "low memory" warning.

I'm about to flash a new ROM, though, and that will require a full wipe, which might clean things up a bit, too.

Incidentally, the link for the thread about Not Enough Space is:

Beta testers wanted: NES, tool to manage data partition - xda-developers

You do need to be rooted for this to work.

Similar idea. Possibly even better than mine (his works on individual apps, one at a time instead of manipulating the directory). He's moving and symlinking (symbolic linking) the moved file back to the original /data/data partition. Could/should fix the problem, definitely worth trying if you're having the Low on Space problem and don't mind beta testing things that can total ___ up your system (although I'm guessing it'd at worst confuse the app your moving).

 

[dotcom624]

I don't know that I believe that it is an android thing that the /data/data partition is only 150mb. My OG droid has combined /data and /data/data partitions for a total of 260mb (at least that's what root explorer says). I've never seen the 'low memory' error unless I'm actually running out of memory on that total partition. I do see the separate partitions on my wife's incredible, and suspected that was the problem. I noticed that Google Earth and Nook abused the space, so they were removed. Also went through all of the other methods to gain space. IMHO, this is a stupid problem, and should be fixed by whoever created the problem, whether it is google or HTC (my guess is HTC, since I've never seen this discussed on a motorola forum).

 

[Dream]

I've been getting this error ever since the last OTA update. I got so sick of it (and im not getting a new phone until December of this year) that I decided to root and run customs roms now. No problems thus far

 

[Dream]

One other thing, if you have a TON of text messages, that will cause this problem as well.

 

[Deleted User]

I got this notification today but it disappeared and never came back.... 2nd time since the 2.2 OTA.

 

[dm33]

This problem is an enormous FAIL on the part of HTC. This is why Apple eats everyone's lunch. They will continue to support customers after the sale.

HTC puts out the phone with up to 12GB of memory, yet limits app data space to a minuscule 150MB. And if you run out, there's little help in understanding what the problem is and how to deal with it.

Worse, HTC doesn't make any attempt to fix it.

I had considered going to the HTC Thunderbolt, but I'm seriously disliking the way HTC is handling this problem.

I've had lots of problems since the Froyo update. Not impressed. Most annoying is that my ringer only rings once, sometimes only a partial ring. Why? I do NOT have the option set to turn down the ringer if the phone is moved.

 

[euph_22]

This problem is an enormous FAIL on the part of HTC. This is why Apple eats everyone's lunch. They will continue to support customers after the sale.

HTC puts out the phone with up to 12GB of memory, yet limits app data space to a minuscule 150MB. And if you run out, there's little help in understanding what the problem is and how to deal with it.

Worse, HTC doesn't make any attempt to fix it.

I had considered going to the HTC Thunderbolt, but I'm seriously disliking the way HTC is handling this problem.

I've had lots of problems since the Froyo update. Not impressed. Most annoying is that my ringer only rings once, sometimes only a partial ring. Why? I do NOT have the option set to turn down the ringer if the phone is moved.

There is very little that HTC CAN do to fix it after the fact. Any fix would have too high a failure rate to every get through the OEM's or the carriers' QA department. They would either need to repartition the internal storage, or do some form of symlinking (which is far more complicated, and has a fairly good chance to get messed up).

 

[mrspeedmaster]

This is really starting to get annoying.

I've moved all my apps to the sdcard.
I've removed the biggest offenders - Google Earth, Firefox and facebook altogether. This is my work phone.

I get lots of emails w/ 8-9MB PDF attachments. I'm certain I've set my attachments to store on sdcard. However, I get the low-memory error message every day.

My solution has been to delete my IMAP work email and re-create it. I also have to go into the cache directory and delete everything.

This is silly and stupid on Google's part. 150MB for app caches? What about power users who use their phone for work.

I have to reset my phone once a month. I also have to delete and re-create my IMAP email every other week.

 

[DevHead]

Yep, I just saw the warning on my phone a few minutes ago. It's the first time I've seen it.

 

[blam03]

Please excuse the "stupid" question here, but I'm upgrading to the Incredible tomorrow from the ERIS, and was super excited to see that there was 8GB internal memory vs. like 300MB on the Eris....therefore I thought I could have more than about 10-20 apps on the new phone - which is when I started getting low memory alerts on the ERIS. It sounds like this in not the case at all...?
What does clearing the cache do? I looked thru my ERIS and the most data on there was from my Angry Birds games. If I clear a cache, what exactly does that do/what will that do to the apps? What is the point of having 8GB of memory if it can't be used??

Thanks,
Beth

 

[hgoldner]

This is really starting to get annoying.

I've moved all my apps to the sdcard.
I've removed the biggest offenders - Google Earth, Firefox and facebook altogether. This is my work phone.

I get lots of emails w/ 8-9MB PDF attachments. I'm certain I've set my attachments to store on sdcard. However, I get the low-memory error message every day.

My solution has been to delete my IMAP work email and re-create it. I also have to go into the cache directory and delete everything.

This is silly and stupid on Google's part. 150MB for app caches? What about power users who use their phone for work.

I have to reset my phone once a month. I also have to delete and re-create my IMAP email every other week.

If you're going to the trouble of a regular factory reset, you may as well root the phone and end the problem once and for all.

 

[JoeSchmoe007]

If you're going to the trouble of a regular factory reset, you may as well root the phone and end the problem once and for all.

How does rooting save the problem once and for all?

 

[offanairplane]

If I only have about 25 or 30 apps, will I have this problem?

 

[hgoldner]

How does rooting save the problem once and for all?

1. The problem stems from a directory \data\data which is completely hidden unless you have root.

2. The problem arises when the 150 megabyte \data\data directory has less than 10% free.

3. With root, you can run Cache Cleaner which cleans up stray data in this partition.

4. With root, you can run "Not Enough Space" (available in the marketplace) which enables you to move some data out of \data\data to make more room.

The other "solutions" reported in this thread and elsewhere, for the most part, only address the symptoms. They do not cure the "disease" which is the 150 megabyte limitation of the \data\data directory.

 

[hgoldner]

If I only have about 25 or 30 apps, will I have this problem?

Maybe. It's not just about the # of applications. You could have the problem if you have 2000 messages; lots of emails in the HTC mail app; 1000's of contacts, and install Google Earth and Google Sky. It's all about which applications dump what in the \data\data directory.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

If you're going to the trouble of a regular factory reset, you may as well root the phone and end the problem once and for all.

My phone is rooted. I also run AAcleaner and Cache cleaner. No luck. See screen shot. The low message took only 4 hours from reset to pop-up.

After a reset. I downloaded about 1/2 a days worth of emails.
I opened 8 PDFs
I open 1 8MB excel file
I opened 3 large jpegs.
I did a 20 minute navigation route
I watched 2 short videos from my local tv station and BAM... out of memory.

My email's attachment is stored on SDcard. Check.
The only thing I have installed are :Skype, Connectbot, SSHDroid, Adobe Reader, Office-to-go, KTVU, Layar, Amazon, and a few media players like doubletwist, rockplayer.

The Incredible is NOT suited for heavy enterprise emails. I completely eliminated most play apps.

 

[JoeSchmoe007]

Is this problem specific to Incredible? What is the situation with other manufacturers?

 

[hgoldner]

My phone is rooted. I also run AAcleaner and Cache cleaner. No luck. See screen shot. The low message took only 4 hours from reset to pop-up.

After a reset. I downloaded about 1/2 a days worth of emails.
I opened 8 PDFs
I open 1 8MB excel file
I opened 3 large jpegs.
I did a 20 minute navigation route
I watched 2 short videos from my local tv station and BAM... out of memory.

My email's attachment is stored on SDcard. Check.
The only thing I have installed are :Skype, Connectbot, SSHDroid, Adobe Reader, Office-to-go, KTVU, Layar, Amazon, and a few media players like doubletwist, rockplayer.

The Incredible is NOT suited for heavy enterprise emails. I completely eliminated most play apps.

I would suggest you try Not Enough Space (it's a $.99 app) and see whether you can move some of the fatter apps out of \data\data to solve your issues.

Note that earlier in this thread, the program was still in beta (and the URL's supplied pointed to the xda-developers forum app thread and download site.) That application is now out of beta and in the marketplace.

 

[Dually]

I used to get this warning alot before switching to cyanogenmod. Gingerbread has a lot more apps2sd capability.

 

[DevHead]

I just reset my phone. I hope this will last me a week. =)

 

[Bulldog]

FWIW the biggest offender I have found that gives me the out of space notification was Google Earth, which rams 33mb of crap into the data\data folder. I finally got the breakdown I needed to find this by sorting my apps list in Titanium backup and it gave me a split of app size vs data\data size. Most larger apps like Angry birds are mostly app, with only a couple mb in the data\data folder. I was amazed Earth was at 33mb. Take that for what it's worth, maybe it can help someone.

 

[rushmore]

This is really starting to get annoying.

I've moved all my apps to the sdcard.
I've removed the biggest offenders - Google Earth, Firefox and facebook altogether. This is my work phone.

I get lots of emails w/ 8-9MB PDF attachments. I'm certain I've set my attachments to store on sdcard. However, I get the low-memory error message every day.

My solution has been to delete my IMAP work email and re-create it. I also have to go into the cache directory and delete everything.

This is silly and stupid on Google's part. 150MB for app caches? What about power users who use their phone for work.

I have to reset my phone once a month. I also have to delete and re-create my IMAP email every other week.

Worse than that, since the space error starts at 135mb in the data/data folder. Sad thing is VZW always directs people to reset the phone WHICH FIXES NOTHING and forces people to waste time.

 

[hgoldner]

FWIW the biggest offender I have found that gives me the out of space notification was Google Earth, which rams 33mb of crap into the data\data folder. I finally got the breakdown I needed to find this by sorting my apps list in Titanium backup and it gave me a split of app size vs data\data size. Most larger apps like Angry birds are mostly app, with only a couple mb in the data\data folder. I was amazed Earth was at 33mb. Take that for what it's worth, maybe it can help someone.

On a rooted Incredible, running Not Enough Space will let you move most of that crap to a different partition and remove it from \data\data.

You have to play with stuff, not all apps "play nicely" when their info is moved out of \data\data. Some apps you can move the "\lib" directory, others the "\files" directory; still others the cache. It's a trial and error project, but nothing is irreversible and the benefits are well worth it.

 

[JoeSchmoe007]

Is this problem specific to Incredible? What is the situation with other manufacturers?

To answer my own question - Droid X doesn't suffer from this problem:
http://androidforums.com/droid-x-al...roid-x-suffer-low-space-data-data-folder.html

 

[euph_22]

To answer my own question - Droid X doesn't suffer from this problem:
http://androidforums.com/droid-x-al...roid-x-suffer-low-space-data-data-folder.html

But just because it's not an issue with one specific phone by one specific OEM doesn't mean it isn't a widespread issue among manufacturers (I don't that however, since I generally haven't found complaints about it). I did com across some issues with this on various Archos forums.

My best guess is that this is not in fact a general problem with Android, but is not exclusively a Droid Incredible problem.