There are two symptoms when the internal memory on the phone is sorely lacking:

1. Applications and Android is slow,
2. The phone displays a message that you need to take action and release occupied space.

The internal memory of the phone has a fixed volume, and it (seemingly) cannot be increased. However, in the guide we will tell you how to clear the internal memory of your phone from unnecessary files and applications.

By increasing the free space in Android memory, you will save time and stop noticing lag on your phone and tablet. The entire “cleaning” will take about 20 minutes.

Error: Insufficient memory on mobile device

Android usually displays this message if a process or application is missing free space in the phone's internal memory.

Lack of memory can make itself felt by constant freezes. If this is not noticeable when buying a phone, then over time, after installing dozens mobile applications and the accumulation of “garbage” you begin to notice it.

The question involuntarily arises: do the phone’s characteristics “lie”? If not, then why does the same smartphone/tablet work stably for others?

Checking the amount of free memory on Android

When a notification appears about insufficient internal memory, the question arises: how much memory is available, what part of it is occupied?

You can check your free space through settings mobile phone. To do this, go to Settings – Options – Memory (Settings – Device Maintenance – Storage – Storage settings – Device memory). We carefully study the data, paying attention to the following figures:

• Total space – the amount of internal memory of Android
• System memory - the minimum amount of space reserved for system operation
• Available space – how much space is left in the internal memory.

Accordingly, if the built-in memory is not enough, you need to increase the memory on the phone to the size of System memory so that the system does not display the corresponding error.

In the following chapters, I will tell you how to clear the internal memory on Android.

Clearing your phone's internal memory

You can remove unnecessary things using built-in tools operating system and through third-party applications. They analyze occupied space and help identify files that can be safely deleted.

Removing applications from Android system memory

There are probably applications installed on your phone that are hanging around like dead weight and are not being used for their intended purpose. Their size can reach hundreds of megabytes (including cache).

You can remove useless programs through the standard Application Manager: Options - Settings - Application Manager (Settings – Apps).

In Android 8, it is convenient to use to calculate unnecessary applications free utility FIles Go. For other OS versions it is available for download via Google Play.

How to delete unnecessary applications in FIles Go:

1. Go to the Unused apps section,
2. We sort applications by modification date or size,
3. To remove, mark unnecessary programs with checkboxes and click Uninstall.

Video instructions for deleting applications:

Transferring files to a memory card

The internal memory of the phone, as already mentioned, has a fixed volume, so you need to constantly check whether there is enough free space for correct operation applications and OS.

In general, Android memory is divided into internal and external. External memory It’s easy to “expand”, fortunately, SD cards are inexpensive today (for $25 you can buy a 256 GB memory card).

Actually, you can transfer files through any file manager– via phone or PC.

Moving unnecessary applications from internal to external memory card

As an alternative to CCleaner, it is convenient to use the aforementioned Files Go application.

How to increase memory on Android manually

Any file manager is suitable for manually clearing your phone memory. We recommend ES Explorer or Total Commander.

Be careful and delete only unnecessary user files in the internal Android memory, which you created/copied yourself.

So, open the file manager, go to the root of the internal memory, start searching and deleting what is unnecessary.

Which files should you delete (transfer to a memory card) first:

1. Photos, videos, voice recorders and other documents saved not on SD, but in internal memory;
2. Documents received by mail or through social media(most often they are saved in the Download folder);
3. E-books and other files saved third party applications to the device memory;
4. Contents of the DCIM, bluetooth, sounds folders.

We use Storage Analyzers (for clarity)

For clarity, we recommend using the Files Go application or any other storage analyzer for Android, which will show which files take up the most disk space and where they are located in the form of a diagram. Among these applications we note:

Transfer photos and videos to Google Photos service

It is photos and videos that “eat up” the most space on your phone, so you can quickly free up space on your memory card or built-in storage. If your phone doesn't support a memory card, move files you don't access often to the cloud. The best app for this is Photos, or Google Photos. It automatically uploads photos to the service, where they are available in their original quality through a browser or application.

In addition to Google Photos, you can pay attention to alternatives such as Dropbox, Flickr or Microsoft OneDrive.

Even when the photos are only available on the server, you can easily access them if you have a working internet connection. And most importantly, it is really convenient and quick way free up a couple gigabytes of internal memory!

Memory clearing: questions and answers

1. The phone did not have enough internal memory, I sent half of the photos to the SD card, after that I open it, and they are all kind of cloudy. I tried to transfer it back to the internal memory of Android, but the photos are the same. How can I get my old photos back? so that it is as before, cleaned up without any distortions.

2. I didn’t have enough internal memory on my phone, so I wanted to clear it. I transferred the data (photos, music) to the memory card. Now the files cannot be read, although the phone sees the card. How can I get at least a photo back?

3. Samsung A5 phone. I didn’t know how to increase the internal memory, so I used my laptop to move folders with music and files from the internal memory to an SD card. After that, when opening the folders, they all turned out to be empty. Neither the phone nor the computer can see the files and music. The internal memory of the phone did not seem to decrease after this. How to find these files?

Answer. You probably copied sketches, not originals, to the memory card. The original photos may have remained in the phone's internal memory. If this does not happen, the DiskDigger program will help you.

If there is not enough space in the device memory, you should copy the files to your computer (make backup copy) and only then move it to the memory card. It will be useful for you to read the instructions on how to clear internal memory on Android (see text above).

I have a phone Sony Xperia, when I go to the Play Market, I want to download some program, the system says that there is not enough memory on Android, although the flash drive is 16 GB! What to do?

Answer. Most likely, the “insufficient memory” error on Android is due to the fact that there is not enough internal memory - this is where the installation files are downloaded from Google Play.

1. Transfer the largest files from the internal memory of Android to your SD card.
2. Remove unnecessary applications using a file manager or Files Go.
3. Use the CCleaner utility to clean up unnecessary files in your phone's memory.

I cleaned my phone's memory and deleted many folders. And now I can’t view the gallery through Android, it says: “The storage is not available.” How can I get it back?

Answer. During cleaning, you probably deleted the folder with photos on the memory card (SDCARD/DCIM/CAMERA). You can recover files from there using CardRecovery or PhotoRec programs.

IN new version Android 6.0 Marshmallow introduced the Adoptable storage option, which combines internal and external flash drives (MicroSD) into one logical partition. The memory is one array, and the OS itself will distribute which partition to put it in. installed applications. It is worth recalling that before this, memory cards were assigned a modest role for storing multimedia files, without the ability to transfer applications or cache, as a result of which the internal memory was clogged with 1-3 massive games.

Activation of Adoptable storage

There is no need to look for the option in the settings; the system itself will offer memory consolidation as soon as it detects MicroSD. To protect the information on the drive, data encryption (protection) is used, and this requires formatting the card, which will delete the data, so be sure to make a backup copy. After agreeing to the cleaning, wait until the operation is completed and do not remove the card while formatting.

After formatting, the system will offer to transfer multimedia content (photos, pictures, music, videos, etc.) to the MicroSD section. At this moment, the exact amount of memory that will be freed after the data transfer will be displayed. Perform the move immediately or postpone it until later.

Features and consequences of Adoptable storage

1. The option will make the internal and external storage, so when connected to a PC\MAC, only one disk will be displayed. At the same time, in the device settings you can see how much memory is used by each section.

2. Games and programs will be installed in the internal memory by default; to move to the external partition, open the application options in the settings and select the SD card.

3. Use only high-speed UHS-I Class 10 cards as this will affect the performance and speed of the device. If MicroSD is not fast enough, the system will report possible failures and long-term transfer of information.

4. When combining memory, the SD card is formatted, so save before starting the process important information in the other place. Also, due to the use of data encryption, the drive will not work in any other device, only after the next formatting, which will lead to the loss of all recorded files.

5. After resetting to factory settings, MicroSD card will stop working, which will lead to another formatting. Therefore, be sure to take care of the settings Reserve copy information.

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In the new Android versions 6.0 Marshmallow, the Adoptable storage option appeared, combining internal and external flash drives (MicroSD) into one logical partition. The memory is one array, and the OS itself will allocate which partition to place the installed applications in. It is worth recalling that before this, memory cards were assigned a modest role for storing multimedia files, without the ability to transfer applications or cache, as a result of which the internal memory was clogged with 1-3 massive games.

Activation of Adoptable storage

There is no need to look for the option in the settings; the system itself will offer memory consolidation as soon as it detects MicroSD. To protect the information on the drive, data encryption (protection) is used, and this requires formatting the card, which will delete the data, so be sure to make a backup copy. After agreeing to the cleaning, wait until the operation is completed and do not remove the card while formatting.

After formatting, the system will offer to transfer multimedia content (photos, pictures, music, videos, etc.) to the MicroSD section. At this moment, the exact amount of memory that will be freed after the data transfer will be displayed. Perform the move immediately or postpone it until later.

Features and consequences of Adoptable storage

1. The option will make the internal and external drives common, so when connected to a PC\MAS, only one drive will be displayed. At the same time, in the device settings you can see how much memory is used by each section.

2. Games and programs will be installed in the internal memory by default; to move to the external partition, open the application options in the settings and select the SD card.

3. Use only high-speed UHS-I Class 10 cards as this will affect the performance and speed of the device. If MicroSD is not fast enough, the system will report possible failures and long-term transfer of information.

4. When combining memory, the SD card is formatted, so save important information elsewhere before starting the process. Also, due to the use of data encryption, the drive will not work in any other device, only after the next formatting, which will lead to the loss of all recorded files.

5. After resetting to factory settings, the MicroSD card will stop working, which will lead to another formatting. Therefore, be sure to take care of setting up information backup.

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Rate it and support the project!

The problem of lack of memory is one of the fundamental ones for both PCs and mobile devices. With a small amount of free memory, the system usually begins to slow down, freeze, and is unstable and unreliable. This is especially true for Android devices, many of which initially have a rather small amount of main memory (the so-called “Internal Storage”). In such a situation, some users may have the idea of ​​trying to use an external SD card as the main memory on their Android device. In this material, I will tell you how to make an SD card the main memory on Android gadgets, and what methods will help us with this.

Let's look at how to make an SD card the main memory on Android

To accomplish this task, you will need a high-speed SD card (preferably class 10 or faster). Cards of 6, and especially 4 and 2 classes are not suitable for such purposes; your system, due to their use, will significantly slow down its operation, which is unlikely to please any of the users.

It is also important to understand that the lifespan of such an SD card due to the active load on it will be significantly less than if the load on the card was in standard mode.

Method No. 1. Changing the contents of the Vold.fstab file

The first of the described methods involves changing the contents of the system settings file “Vold.fstab”. After making these changes, the Android OS will read your SD card internal memory devices, please note that a number of previously installed applications may stop working.

It is important to know that this method only works on rooted devices running Android OS below (!) than version 4.4.2. In Android OS versions 4.4.2 and higher, most likely you simply will not find the specified file.

Also note that there is a bug in the implementation this method(in particular, adding extra characters to the required lines) can have a very sad effect on the performance of your device. Therefore, carefully weigh the possible risks, and if, after all, you have made a decision, then proceed to implement it.

So, to implement this method, do the following:

For example, these could be lines like this:

• dev_mount sdcard/storage/sdcard0 emmc@xxxxxx
• dev_mount sdcard2/storage/sdcard1 auto/xxxxxx

To make the necessary changes, we need to swap the path in the specified lines, that is, simply put, instead of 0, put a 1 in the first line, and in the second, instead of 1, put a 0.

After the changes, these lines will look like:

• dev_mount sdcard/storage/sdcard1 emmc@xxxxxx
• dev_mount sdcard2/storage/sdcard0 auto/xxxxx
  

Save the changes you have made, and then reboot the gadget.

Another option on how to make a memory card the main one on Android:

Method number 2. We use the settings of Android OS 6.0 and higher

In addition to the first method, in which I looked at how to switch the phone's memory to a memory card, there is another method that works only on the settings of Android OS 6.0 (Marshmallow) or higher, and allows you to use the SD card as the main one for saving files and working with them . To implement it, I recommend making a copy of the data from your SD card (if any on it), since this card will be formatted by the system.