I keep getting storage errors but I have plenty of free space, what is safe to remove from internal storage?

Question

I keep getting these errors:

^{Screenshot #1: install errors (click image to enlarge)}

But according to the storage settings I should have plenty of free space:

^{Screenshot #2: free space (click image to enlarge)}

I'm assuming, from reading similar questions, that it needs more space to perform the install even though I've moved every app possible to the sd card. I have cleared the browser cache and went through and cleared the cache of every other app, bringing me up to ~15MB. I used Ti to integrate 2 updates into the ROM, and that freed up enough space to update Dropbox. I installed the DiskUsage app, and this is what it looks like:

^{Screenshot #3: disk usage (click image to enlarge)}

Is there anything else that I can do about the 160+MiB of Data or 80+MiB of Applications? (I misunderstood how the app works, it looks like the data for Dialer Storage is 12.7MiB and Browser is 11.9MiB, what would I lose by deleting those?)

Update: Here's a screenshot from App2SD:

^{Screenshot #4: app2sd (click image to enlarge)}

Update #2: here are screenshots showing the Browser app and its caches cleared:

^{Screenshot #5: browser cache: cleared, #6: settings: browser cache cleared (click images to enlarge)}

Update #3: As a long term update, I think this is partially a permissions issue with apps that I've moved to the SD card. I can move an app at a time back to the phone, and the update will succeed and then I can move it back to SD. Is there some sort of recursive chmod I can run to allow it? Here's a snippet of the ddms log when updating an app:

01-29 10:50:18.420: I/PackageHelper(16890): Size of container 2 MB 400941 bytes
01-29 10:50:18.428: D/VoldCmdListener(1156): asec create smdl2tmp1 2 fat {} 10096
01-29 10:50:18.428: E/Vold(1156): ASEC file '/mnt/secure/asec/smdl2tmp1.asec' currently exists - destroy it first! (No such device or address)
01-29 10:50:18.428: W/Vold(1156): Returning OperationFailed - no handler for errno 98
01-29 10:50:18.436: E/PackageHelper(16890): Failed to create secure container smdl2tmp1
01-29 10:50:18.436: E/DefContainer(16890): Failed to create container smdl2tmp1
01-29 10:50:18.631: D/dalvikvm(1298): GC_EXPLICIT freed 15097 objects / 741152 bytes in 173ms
01-29 10:50:18.662: D/Finsky(16687): [25] 1.packageInstalled: Package install status for "null" is -18
01-29 10:50:18.694: D/Finsky(16687): [1] InstallerTask.cancelCleanup: Cancel running installation of jackpal.androidterm

Update #4: After going through a somewhat tedious process of partitioning the SD for Link2SD, then moving items to phone, and linking them to the new SD partition, the Google Play store was finally able to update the apps. I'm still really low on space though, I'll have to try clearing the browser data and the MMS messages again.

Answer 1

If you already have APP2SD and it says there's no app to move then there's no more app to move. I get this problem also when my I update and install new apps. I assume you are not rooted so you have less options. The only things you can do are:

• Clear cache (install cache cleaner app)
• Clear data of non-critical apps like Browser, Games, etc. (Manage Applications > Select Application > Clear Data)
• Uninstall apps you rarely use, install them only when needed (e.g., I rarely Skype on my phone so I just uninstalled it)
• Try a hack which will extend/squeeze the capability of APP2SD: http://www.bongizmo.com/blog/moving-all-android-apps-to-sdcard-apps2sd-froyo/ (this works well if you are rooted, if not there's still a few apps it can move).

Answer 2

Available space

11.61 MB

You're correct that that's the problem. The Market uses internal storage when installing apps (even if it's installing to the SD card) so you need to free up some internal storage. IMB's suggestions are good for that. I also recommend using Titanium Backup to incorporate system app updates into your ROM, which should free up some space by getting rid of the second version of any system apps (the original version is kept by default). You ought to have more than 2 to integrate?

Answer 3

I assume you haven't rooted? If you have, SD Maid is a great app to clean up system partition.

Answer 4

You can clear your dalvik, either through recovery or straight from Titanium. Through Titanium, it will tell you what needs to be removed and how much space it will clear.