How Do I Clear Internal Storage On My Android Phone

If you have any old documents, videos, or other files on your Android device that you could live without, get rid of them. To do so, go to Settings Storage and take a look at the different. Hi my phone thinks it’s about 5 phones in one I have 4 to 6 of the same app tried everything put back to factory settings but it didn’t work as the phone when I reset and not backup the phone.

How To Clear Space On Android Phone
How Do I Clear Internal Storage On My Android Phone Using
Increase Storage On Android Phone
How Do I Clear Internal Storage On My Android Phone

Imagine not being able to download a new song shared by your friend or an email attachment. Why? You get a notification saying that the Internal storage space is running out. Woah!!!

Click the button Storage and Clear Cache; If you're running Android 6.0 Marshmallow on your device, like my Huawei Android 6.0, simply click on Files and then Clean up.
Clear out all cached app data. Clearing out cache won't save a ton of space at once but it will add.

That’s not the end of the story. If you try to close the notification by swiping on it, it won’t go away. Faced a situation like this? You are not alone. Android devices with internal storage of 16GB or less than that usually face this problem. So what do you do?

Well, the easiest solution is to hide the notification but that’s not a proper solution. You have to get to the root of the problem. And the problem basically is that your device is running out of internal space, which is evident from the notification. All Android devices require at least 500MB-1GB free internal space to function properly.

So to fix it, you need to free up some internal storage. Once you do that, the notification will vanish automatically. Here are some of the ways to do it.

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Clear Device Cache

Step 1: Open device Settings on your phone and navigate to Storage.

Step 2: Under Storage, look for Cached data. Tap on it. You will get a confirmation pop up. Tap on Ok.

Note: Clearing cache will only delete temporary files on your device. It will not remove any data.

From Android 8.0 Oreo onwards, Google removed the option to clear device cache. However, you can still do it. All you need to do is clear the cache individually for every app. Painful but the only safe option for now.

To do so, under Settings, go to Apps and notifications. Then tap on each app and hit Storage. Under Storage, tap on Clear Cache. You can follow our guide to clear cache in Android 8.0 Oreo phones.

Disable Bloatware

Most smartphones other than those running stock Android come preinstalled with many additional apps which are commonly called bloatware. For instance, I recently purchased a device from Amazon. Guess what? The device has an Amazon app preinstalled on it.

Apps like these occupy storage space. Even though we cannot uninstall them, we can always disable them. Here’s how.

Step 1: Go to device Settings and tap on Apps and notifications > App Manager > Installed Apps.

Step 2: Tap on the app name that you want to disable. On the next screen, you will get the option to disable it. Tap on it.

Sometimes, you will find the Uninstall updates button instead of Disable. So first uninstall the updates and then disable the app.

Delete Unwanted Data

If you use WhatsApp a lot, I’m pretty sure your phone must have collected a massive dump of videos, photos, and other files. Maybe you forgot to disable auto-download option for the WhatsApp groups. Similarly, your device will have unused data from other apps too. So, it's better to delete such files regularly.

To do that, you will need a File Explorer app. Once you have it, launch the app and navigate to the folder that has the maximum amount of data. Usually, you will find it in the subfolders like Media, Audio, Video, etc.

Pro Tip: Check the Downloads folder too. You will find a heap of unused files there.

Use an App to Find Biggest Folders

While it’s easy to identify WhatsApp and media apps for taking up space, but difficult to figure out which other apps or folders also hog a lot of space.

To find such folders, you need to download an app that shows your storage usage. One such cool app is DiskUsage, which takes just 180KB. The app shows folders that occupy maximum space. Once you know the biggest folders, you can easily delete data from them to reclaim the internal storage.

Download DiskUsage

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Switch to Lite Version of Apps

If you have a device with 16GB of internal storage or less than that, you should try switching to Lite or Go versions of the apps. Most of the popular apps now have the lite versions which occupy very less space.

You can try Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite, Maps Go, etc. Just search for the name of an app followed by either Lite or Go in the Google Play Store. Of course, these apps will have some features stripped off.

Disable Notification

If you are fine with your device having low space and don’t want to remove anything except the notification itself, you can do that too by hiding the notification.

To disable the notification, long press (hold) on it. Then tap on App Info. On the next screen, you will get the option Show notifications. Uncheck it.

Get rid of the junk!

These were some of the best ways to manage the internal storage and get rid of the storage space running out error. Do let us know if you were able to fix the problem.

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

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PAGE CONTENT:

Media Storage on Android FAQ
4 Ways to Recover Deleted Media Storage Data on Android

What Is Media Storage on Android

Media Storage is a system process that is needed when you view, download, play, and stream images, videos, audio files, and other media files. As a system service, it is not available from your phone desktop. Then where is Media Storage in Android? You can access it from your phone:

Step 1. Go to 'Settings' > 'Apps'.

Step 2. Click the 'More (three dots)' button and choose 'Show system processes'. (the options may be slightly different on different phone models).

Step 3. After you open 'Media Storage', there are always several options shown, like Disable and Force Stop (when 'unfortunately app has stopped' error occurs, you can try to force stop it). If you click 'Storage', you will see another two options: Clear Data and Clear Cache.

Without knowing the details about these options, some users attempt to disable Media Storage or clear data in Media Storage, aiming to free up space on Android or save battery, only to find that their device cannot work properly or some files are missing. Can you disable Media Storage? Will clear data delete your photos, videos, or audio files? Read on to get the answer.

Frequently Asked Questions About Media Storage on Android

Many users feel confused about the options in Media Storage, here we will explain some of them in detail.

1. Can You Disable Media Storage?

No, you can't. As mentioned, this system process is needed when you download, play, or stream media like videos and audio files. If you disable the options, you won't be able to do things like viewing photos/videos, playing videos/music, and taking photos. Therefore, you cannot disable Media Storage with the purpose of extending the battery life of your device.

2. How to Enable Media Storage on Android?

If you have disabled Media Storage on your Android phone, you should re-enable it to make sure you can use your device as normal.

To enable Media Storage on Android:

Step 1: Go to 'Settings' > 'Apps' (> 'Apps').

Step 2: Click the three dots in the top-right corner and choose 'Show system processes'.

Step 3: You can search for 'Media Storage' and click the option.

Step 4: Click 'Enable' to re-enable the service.

3. Will Clear Data Remove Your Media Files?

No, it won't. When you click 'Clear Data' in Media Storage, all the app's data, including the files produced during the using of the service, settings, accounts, database, and more will be deleted permanently (if you want to recover the deleted files, you can use the Android data recovery software - EaseUS MobiSaver to have a try). It WON'T remove the media files stored on your device like your photos, videos, and audio files. If the media files are gone or missing after you choose 'Clear data', it's probably because you have accidentally disabled Media Storage. Have a check on the option and make sure Media Storage is enabled.

How to Recover Deleted Media Storage Data on Android?

If you are sure that your media files are lost after your misoperation under Media Storage, don't worry. You still have the chance to recover them. Here we've listed 4 methods, try them one by one to recover your deleted Android data.

Method 1: Restart Your Android Device

If you're trying to get back all the sounds, simply restart your phone and this will bring all ringtones and gallery pictures back. It's a matter of the Android OS restoring metadata during the restart.

Method 2: Sync Lost Data from Your Google Account

Tap on 'settings' > 'Applications' > 'Accounts' > 'Google account', uncheck the boxes for sync and check the boxes again. In this way, the cleared data is synced again and will reappear in Media Storage.

Method 3:Find Cleared data in lost.dir folder

If reboot your Android device does not help you find lost data files back, you can try to locate lost.dir folder and look for the lost files there.

Method 4:Download Android data recovery software

Still, none of the methods above finds your lost media files? It's time to apply the best Android data recovery software to recover deleted files from media storage.

Option 1: Recover Lost Files from Android SD Card

How do i clear internal storage on my android phone

If the files lost are saved on your Android SD card, you can apply the hard drive recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover them.

Step 1. Run SD card recovery software and scan the card.

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your PC and select your SD card. Then click 'Scan' to start finding lost data on your SD card.

Step 2. Check found SD card data.

After the scanning process, you can click 'Filter' to quickly find wanted files.

Step 3. Restore SD card data.

You can check and preview found files by double-clicking each one of them. Then click Recover to save found SD card files to a secure location on your PC or external storage.

Option 2: Recover Lost Files from Android Internal Storage

To recover your lost photos, videos, or songs from the internal storage of your Android phone, you will need the Android data recovery software - EaseUS MobiSaver. (The prerequisite to recovering data from your Android device is that the phone has been rooted.)

How To Clear Space On Android Phone

Step 1: Download and install EaseUS MobiSaver for Android on a Windows PC.

Step 2: Connect your Android device to the computer with a USB cable.

Step 3: Run EaseUS MobiSaver for Android and click 'Start' button.