Clear Android's Internal Memory

With today's need for data and space, you can never have too much internal memory. Whether you have a 150 MB internal memory space or have a 64 GB internal storage, you will always find yourself running out of memory the longer you use your phone. Old applications, photos, duplicate music and video files, movie files, document files and otherInsert non-formatted text here files will eventually fill up your phone's storage leaving you with messages such as "insufficient internal memory", "phone memory full", or "internal memory low". We will tackle the ways on how to clear your Android's internal memory below.

There are several ways and methods of clearing your device's internal storage. Here, we will discuss the five most common and easiest ways of clearing your Android's internal memory space. Every method will be explained more in each respective section.

One of the reasons why one buys a smartphone, in your case an Android phone, is its ability to capture pictures and videos which you can later on view from your phone. Phone companies are always getting their devices' camera features on top-notch. This is the reason why the more high-end phones have at least 8 megapixels camera. A picture with that high-pixel quality will take a greater amount of space since it will be naturally have a bigger size. If gallery files are filling up your phone's internal memory, transfer your photos, movies and other gallery files into an external drive or into your computer. To do that, follow these procedures:

1. 1
   Enable USB debugging on your phone by going to Home > Apps > Settings > More > Developer options > Switch Developer options switch to ON and put a check mark on the USB debugging tick box.

   • Note: This step may differ depending on your phone but it should be similar in a way. USB debugging is always on the Developer options under you're the device's Settings.

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2. 2
   Using a USB data cable, connect your phone to your computer's USB port.

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3. 3
   Wait for your computer to install the correct drivers for your phone

   .

   If you are having a problem with installing the drivers for your device, you can download and install the right drivers for your device depending on its manufacturer. The next section has the list of the USB drivers for most phones.

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4. 4
   Once connected, go to your My Computer and locate the new drive on your computer

   .

   The drive should be named similar to your phone's name. When you locate the drive, click on it to open your phone's storage.

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5. 5
   Locate the gallery files that you want to transfer into your computer

   .

   By default, photos are stored on folders named Camera, Photos, Images, Pictures or DCIM. Movies and other video files are stored on folders named Movies or Videos. If you have some third party application such as Camera360 and similar applications, gallery files may also be saved on each application's respective folders.

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6. 6
   When located, select the files that you want to transfer and do a "Cut" command

   .

   Do not use a "Copy" command as it will retain the original files into your phone. We want to remove these files from your phone and into your computer to free up some of your phone's internal memory space.

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7. 7
   After cutting, go to a folder on your computer where you want to transfer the files and do a "Paste" command

   .

   Wait for the process to be completed, it may take a few minutes to some hours depending on the total file size and the transfer rate.

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8. 8
   You are done with backing up your gallery files on your computer to free up some of your device's internal storage space.

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The following are the list of Android USB drivers for most Android devices. If your device is not on the list, try to download and install Google's Generic Android USB Driver on the bottom list. If it does not work for your device, write the name of your device in the comment section so we can add it to the list.

• Samsung Android USB Driver
• LG Android USB Driver
• Sony Xperia Android USB Driver
• Acer Android USB Driver
• Asus Android USB Driver
• Dell USB Driver
• Huawei USB Driver.
• HTC USB Driver
• Intel USB Driver
• Lenovo USB Driver
• Motorola USB Driver
• Micromax USB Driver
• ZTE USB Driver
• Google Generic Android USB Driver

Your device stores data into its internal memory so that the next you access the same set of data, it won't have to be downloaded but would just be loaded based on what is stored on your phone. This process helps you surf the net or use applications faster. The resulting data saved on your phone is termed as "cache". Cache can be good but most of the time, some of your phone's cache are only used for one time and may stay on your phone for a long time if not used. Time to time you need to clean your cache to get rid of unused cache and give more space for new data. Follow these procedures to clear your cache.

1. 1
   Go to your Home Screen.

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2. 2
   From your Home Menu, tap on the Apps icon.

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3. 3
   From the list of applications on your phone, tap on Settings.

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4. 4
   From Settings, go to Application Manager

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5. 5
   Open each application on the list and tap on Clear Data and Clear Cache

   .

   • Note: You can sort your applications with the app with the largest size first. Most of the time, applications with the largest size have larger application data and cache.

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6. 6
   You have just learned how to clear your application cache and data

   .

   You can automate also the procedures by download third party applications like App Cache Cleaner and Cache Cleaner Easy.

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Check on the list of applications on your device right now. Now ask yourself, "When was the last time that I used this?". When the answer was a month ago, or you already forgot the last time, then it is an indication that the application won't be needed on your phone. Of course, you can install it again by the time that you need it but for the meantime, you need to uninstall these stalled applications. To uninstall applications, follow these procedures:

1. 1
   Go to your Home Screen.

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2. 2
   From your Home Menu, tap on the Apps icon.

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3. 3
   From the list of applications on your phone, tap on Settings.

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4. 4
   From Settings, go to Application Manager

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5. 5
   Open the application icon of the app that you want to uninstall and tap on Uninstall.

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6. 6
   You have just learned how to uninstall unused applications on your device to clear internal space on your Android device.

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• You can also uninstall application directly from the Application list. You can either tap and hold on the application and tap on the X button above the application icon to uninstall it; or tap on the menu button and choose to uninstall, select then the applications that you want to uninstall.

Most Android devices have a slot for an external memory card. You can insert a micro-SD card into that slot to give more storage space for your phone. To transfer files from your device's internal memory space to a micro-SD card inserted to your phone, follow these procedures:

1. 1
   Go to your Home Screen.

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2. 2
   From your Home Menu, tap on the Apps icon.

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3. 3
   From the list of applications on your phone, tap on Settings.

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4. 4
   From Settings, go to Application Manager

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5. 5
   Open the application icon of the app that you want to move to the SD card and tap on Move to SD card.

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6. 6
   The application will now be transferred to your SD card, wait for the process to complete.

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7. 7
   You have just learned how to transfer application to your external SD card

   .

   You can also use third party applications to automate the process. Recommended applications are AppMgrII, Apps 2 SD, MovetoSD.

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If there is no important data on your phone or Tablet, you can easily Perform a factory reset on Android Device. If there are data that you want to retain, you can Backup Data on Samsung Galaxy S5 before proceeding with the reset instructions. To reset your device, follow these procedures:

1. 1
   Go to your Home Screen.

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2. 2
   From your Home Menu, tap on the Apps icon.

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3. 3
   From the list of applications on your phone, tap on Settings.

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4. 4
   From Settings, touch Backup and Reset

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5. 5
   Tap on Factory data reset to start the reset process on your device.

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6. 6
   Upon completion of reset, all the data on your phone will be deleted and it will be restored back to its original factory settings.

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7. 7
   You have just learned how to reset your phone to clear internal memory space.

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Citations:

• List of all Android USB Drivers for Windows | Android USB Drivers.2014. [1] Accessed (April 10, 2014)

• How to Speed Up, Clean Up, and Revive Your Android Phone.2014. [2] Accessed (April 10, 2014)

• Clear Storage Space on Your Phone Without Rooting.2014. [3] Accessed (April 10, 2014)

How can I totally clear my internal storage?

Please help me with this..I'm having trouble deleting my apps in my internal storage. I kept clearing data or clearing cache but still no change. Still low storage or full internal storage. I can't receive messages, and also I can't download. I really don't know what do to.

You may not want to totally clear your internal storage, as you want to continue using your phone.

• Start off by making sure that the phone has an SD card. Locate the SD card slot and see if there is an SD card. If not, buy one.
• Then, start clearing some space for extra programs that you will need.
• Go to applications, go to "Settings", and then go to "Application Manager".
• Tap each software and tap "Move to SD card" and "Clear Cache" if it is available.
• If you do not use the application, then just tap "Uninstall".
• Now, install any and only one memory or data cleaner like Clean Master (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard&hl=en) and run it to optimize your system.

Now, you will have some space to proceed with moving media files from your phone to your computer, for example.

For incoming message also it is showing no internal memory. Samsung Galaxy Y?

For incoming message also it is showing no internal memory. Samsung Galaxy Y

When you have little or no internal memory, messages will not notify you as well. Follow the steps below to free some space.

1. 1
   If you have not already, purchase a compatible SD card and install it into your phone.

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2. 2
   Uninstall applications, clear cache, and move applications to the SD card

   .

   • Do these by locating and tapping the "Settings" cog icon.
   • Tap on "Applications".
   • Tap on "Manage applications".
   • Now, tap on each application.
   • If you do not need an application, tap on "Uninstall" and switch to the next application.
   • Tap on "Clear data".
   • Tap on "Clear cache".
   • Tap on "Move to SD card" (if it is not grayed out).

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3. 3
   Delete all of your SMS messages

   .

   • Follow our tutorial on how to delete SMS messages.

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4. 4
   Follow the instructions in our VisiHow video on how to change the default download folder.

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5. 5
   Move all of the media files to the SD card

   .

   You can do it with a utility called Xplore.

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6. 6
   Restart Samsung Y.

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My mobile's memory is full and when I try to erase the data it goes and then still there is a message of low space?

Please help. My phone is not working properly because of that

When you have followed all of the recommendations and nothing helps you, you will have to hard-reset your phone.

1. 1
   Backup contacts, calendar, another data

   .

   To do that, follow our tutorial on how to back up your contacts or how to back up data.

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2. 2
   Take out the SD card to save all of the data

   .

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3. 3
   Perform a factory reset.

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4. 4
   Insert the SD card back in.

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5. 5
   Boot up your phone.

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I did a backup to SD card and erased the phone memory, now it is 16.0MB phone memory and available 16.0MB but it is still insisting that "Internal storage is running out, the application has been stopped. Please free up some space and try again"?

It insists on saying "Internal storage is running out, the application has been stopped. please free up some space and try again"

Unfortunately, you will have to perform a factory reset of your phone.

As you have backed up all of your data to your SD card, it is safe to remove it. Please take out the SD card (to help you with that, we have tutorials on how to remove and insert SD cards for specific phone models). Perform a factory reset of your phone. If you need help, follow the instructions on this page. Insert the SD card back in and boot up your phone.

Hi, I cannot move my applications into external memory, as the option has been disabled!

Can you please help me out. Appreciate if it is solved

Please check if you have an SD card with actual content on it on the phone. If you do not have an SD card on the phone (it is usually under the battery), then buy and install it. If you have an SD card and you are not sure that there is some content on it, then it might need formatting. To do this, tap on the menu button, "Settings", "SD & Phone Storage", "Unmount SD", then mount the SD card again, and tap on "Format SD". Also, make sure that your phone supports the specific volume and speed of the SD card.

Not all applications support moving to the SD card. It depends on whether the developer decided to implement the feature. Check if you can move around all of the other applications. Please note that some content will remain in the phone memory even after you move the application.

There are some extra solutions like exchanging the phone memory and SD card memory, but they all depend upon a specific phone model.

How to fix storage problems with ZTE Straight Talk phone?

My ZTE had insufficient storage problems, I copied my audio, video and pictures over to my SD card. When I went back into my internal storage setting to delete the files, it now says unable to delete some documents. What is going on with it and how do I fix it? It doesn't explain why the files were in fact moved to my SD card but then it still shows storage error. I have tried: I ejected the SD card and cleaned out the media files from phone, entered the SD card and the problem insisted. I think it was caused by: I copied the files and they multiplied right back to my internal storage

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I have a few photos on my Android phone internal memory. How can I delete them without clearing off the entire internal memory?

I have already emailed the photos to myself and saved them on my PC so my photos are in a safe place but because my internal memory is so small I would like to now delete them from the internal memory to give my phone more space to operate and apps. My phone is an LG Optimus Dynamic. Thanks, Dee. In your article and all other articles I have found online they all say to delete the entire internal memory then you have to reset it to factory settings then put all of your other stuff back on. I just want to delete a few photos.....that's it. I have tried: Nothing.....I'm afraid of messing up. I cannot find the setting that would tell the phone to save all pics taken on the SD card. I cannot find a setting whereas I could just transfer the pics from the internal storage to the SD card. So I emailed them to myself and that worked. My phone has limited internal storage so the phone doesn't work as it should because of the photos taking up so much of the limited space. I think it was caused by: When I bought the phone I thought phones just automatically put any pics you take with the phone onto the SD card........but apparently this is not the case. Then someone asked me if my phone settings is set for the pics to go on the card but I could not find the proper setting. So I could not do that.

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My phone is slow and the battery takes forever to charge but no time to use?

Help? see above. I would like to increase the battery charging time and decrease the time in which to process. I'm not able to find the correct information so I may do it myself.

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All applications are not having the option to be moved to SD card is Samsung j7?

Most f the applications including WhatsApp and Facebook has no option to move to SD card. Most of the apps are not having options to be moved to SD card

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If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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