Discuss internal Android hardware as well as accessories such as GPS receivers, keyboards, memory cards, cables, etc. here.
Jan 22nd, 2020, 8:07 am
I have a Samsung Galaxy J2 Prime w/ a 116 gb SD card. The card still has almost 100 gbs of space left, but I get the "storage space running out" warning. Internal storage (not the SD card) shows 7.7 of 8 gbs in use, but deleting any files from internal storage also removes them from SD card, which I don't want. How can I free up the internal storage space without also losing the SD card files? Thank you for any help.
Jan 22nd, 2020, 8:07 am
Jan 22nd, 2020, 4:17 pm
Try using an apps2sd application to move apps from your phone`s internal storage to the SD. Make sure you run a clean up app like Ccleaner/SD maid to free up more essential space.
Jan 22nd, 2020, 4:17 pm
Jan 23rd, 2020, 4:36 am
Thank you, wiffle.
Jan 23rd, 2020, 4:36 am
Oct 11th, 2022, 7:23 am
Solution 1: Clear App Cache to Free up Space on Android
In general, the lack of working space is probably the main cause of having insufficient storage available for Android users. Usually, any Android app uses three sets of storage for the app itself, the app's data files and the app's cache.

If the cache is too large in size, it will occupy a huge part of the space although it is reported that the occupied space is the free space on Android device. In this case, emptying your app cache is a useful way to fix the Android insufficient storage error.

How to clear the app cache? Follow the steps:

Open Settings firstly from the home screen and then go to the Applications or Applications manager
Then you can see all the downloaded apps on your Android device are listed as well as how much storage space they are taking up.
Tap Menu or More to sort these apps by size so as to check which one takes up the most storage.
Tap the specific app to see the storage space occupied by the app, its data (the Storage section) and cache (Cache section).
Tap Clear Cache to empty cache to free up some space.
Repeat the same process for each app.
Tip: Here, you can also tap Clear Data to remove all the app files.
Additionally, you can also delete all the cache files for all your Android apps together. To do this, navigate to Settings > Storage > Device Memory. Then tap Cache data and Delete to wipe all cached data from all your apps.

After finishing the operations above, you won't complain to us "my phone says insufficient storage but I have space".

Solution 2: Transfer Photos/Videos from Android to Computer
If you find that your Android device is having insufficient storage available, one of the best solutions is to move some large files including photos, videos, audios, etc. to your computer so as to free up Android storage. To do this, you need a piece of third-party data transfer tool.

Luckily, this free Android data recovery software - MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android which is developed by MiniTool Team is worthy of being recommended. This free tool can be not only the Android data recovery software to recover deleted files but also the data transfer tool to save the existing files to a computer.

Besides, it can be used in all Windows OSs including Windows 10/8/7 and supports multiple Android phones and tablets, for example, Samsung, Huawei, Sony, LG, Google, etc. Now, it's up to you to download this freeware for data transferring to fix the insufficient storage available issue.

Free Download

Step 1: Open MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android Free on your computer.

Which one module you need to choose from the main interface, Recover from Phone or Recover from SD-Card? Both of them are OK. If your photos, videos or music files are saved to Android internal memory, please click the first section.

recover android phone
Step 2: Connect the phone having the Android storage space running out issue to the computer via a USB cable. Then, analysis operation to your Android device will be performed.

Note: Don't start any other Android phone management software when using this freeware.
connect
Step 3: To save your photos, videos or other data to a computer successfully, you need to enable USB debugging by following the instructions based on corresponding Android version.

And then you should allow USB debugging on the computer. We suggest checking the Always allow from this computer option to avoid authorization next time.

Tip: To scan the files on your Android device, you need to root your device. This help document - How to Root Your Android Device shows you some details.
Step 4: Choose one scan method.

Quick Scan can be used to scan your Android device in a fast way but it only allows moving contacts, short messages and call records to a computer.
Deep Scan is designed to scan the entire device so that more files can be transferred but this way costs much time.
Here you should choose Deep Scan to scan and save photos, videos, and audios to your computer in case of insufficient storage available.

Step 5: Then, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android will start scanning your device. Afterwards, you can see all the found file types are marked in blue. Just choose the file type you want to extract, check all items and click Recover.

After getting the license, click register in the scan result interface and register this freeware.

Step 6: Click Browse to specify a storage path or directly save your selected files to the default place in your computer by hitting Recover.

path
After finishing all the above steps, enter the Android phone and delete all the files you have saved to the computer. Then, the insufficient storage error can be solved.

If lots of pictures or videos are stored on the SD card, causing insufficient space on external storage, you can also use the Recover from SD-Card feature to save deleted and existing files to your computer.

Connect the Android SD card to your computer.
Select the target card to scan.
Choose the pictures or videos to save them to the specified path.
Or you can connect your SD card to a computer and directly move files on the SD card to it.

Regards,
Rachel Gomez
Oct 11th, 2022, 7:23 am