Low available memory

[Phone_fan]

Ordinarily I?m all for Windows Phone. I think it?s an outstanding mobile OS. But I ran into a problem with my Lumia 1520 involving limited memory. WP doesn?t manage memory properly. A message popped up on the display saying the internal memory is very low and I looked and it had about 220MB remaining out of the 12GB of usable memory. I knew that couldn?t be right because I didn?t have that much installed. Nevertheless, I deleted all but the most used apps and games and all music and video that were on the phone. Made no difference. The system memory was still showing much less than a GB of space left.

After doing a full reset, and after all the apps and data reinstalled from before deleting, the available memory was about 11GB, which is normal.

I had to do a hard reset to resolve the memory issue. The problem with that is, I have one particular accounting app (Checkbook Metro) that I use as a means of keeping my finances in order and its OneDrive backup system doesn?t work and the dev won?t respond to emails or queries. I couldn?t backup 2 years worth of transactions. If it weren?t for having to reset the device to correct it, I wouldn?t have lost the data I needed.

 

[MDK22]

In the future, try :

• a soft reset
  
• check Storage Sense to find the memory hog
  
• check Temp files (& hit delete 2x to free up OTHER) try it, it works !
  
• move media (pictures, music, vids (porn) to an SDcard
• with a memory card, you can easily move apps, media, etc. back & forth (phone to card, card to phone) to attempt to remediate future issues
• clear your browser cache, periodically

I just cleaned up 200mb from OTHER to verify these directions !
I'm on Lumia Cyan with Dev Preview update 1, I assume your AT&T phone has the latest updates. :wink:

 

[Phone_fan]

In the future, try :

• a soft reset
  
• check Storage Sense to find the memory hog
  
• check Temp files (& hit delete 2x to free up OTHER) try it, it works !
  
• move media (pictures, music, vids (porn) to an SDcard
• with a memory card, you can easily move apps, media, etc. back & forth (phone to card, card to phone) to attempt to remediate future issues
• clear your browser cache, periodically

I just cleaned up 200mb from OTHER to verify these directions !
I'm on Lumia Cyan with Dev Preview update 1, I assume your AT&T phone has the latest updates. :wink:

A soft reset did nothing and the system didn't show what was using the memory. I went through all that. The false memory usage was over 10GB. There was nothing on the phone using that much memory. If I didn't need to do a hard reset, I wouldn't have.

Yes, AT&T with Cyan.

 

[MDK22]

Ordinarily I?m all for Windows Phone. I think it?s an outstanding mobile OS. But I ran into a problem with my Lumia 1520 involving limited memory. WP doesn?t manage memory properly. A message popped up on the display saying the internal memory is very low and I looked and it had about 220MB remaining out of the 12GB of usable memory. I knew that couldn?t be right because I didn?t have that much installed. Nevertheless, I deleted all but the most used apps and games and all music and video that were on the phone. Made no difference. The system memory was still showing much less than a GB of space left.

After doing a full reset, and after all the apps and data reinstalled from before deleting, the available memory was about 11GB, which is normal.

I had to do a hard reset to resolve the memory issue. The problem with that is, I have one particular accounting app (Checkbook Metro) that I use as a means of keeping my finances in order and its OneDrive backup system doesn?t work and the dev won?t respond to emails or queries. I couldn?t backup 2 years worth of transactions. If it weren?t for having to reset the device to correct it, I wouldn?t have lost the data I needed.

Just trying to help, offering advice - never happened to me.

Bolded comment, hmmmm ?

 

[Tigerinc]

Phone_fan,

Do you take photos? If so that may be what is reserving your memory. It was for me! Kind of confusing because while you'd think that manually deleting photos on your 1520 phone could help...it doesn't. At least not for me.

Once I linked it to my PC, I soon realized ALL the photos (from the beginning!!) were actually still there. So, I manually moved them to my PC & then manually deleted them from my 1520 via my PC. It seems to have reserved 3 of every single photo ever taken! That consumes a LOT of memory. No problems after that. Although I did get a micro SD card now.

Never had to do any kind of reset. Hope this helps!

Safe internet travels.

 

[EHJ851]

Were you copying large files and something interrupted the transfer? there was a WP7.5&wp8 bug about disappearing storage ....

 

[Phone_fan]

I use a memory card and keep all photos on it along with videos and such. And now I have apps set to install to the card.

I've been watching Storage Sense, observing the amount of system memory being used. After reset the memory was 3.19GB. A subsequent check a few days later showed 3.21GB. And just now it's up to 3.25GB. And nothing has changed - no pics or videos taken, no apps installed etc.

The way WP is acting with memory makes me think of Windows on a PC, how it will use memory for "Restore". It can build up to a significant amount over time.

 

[Phone_fan]

No. Never had that happen.

 

[Phone_fan]

I've been watching Storage Sense, observing the amount of system memory being used. After reset the memory was 3.19GB. A subsequent check a few days later showed 3.21GB. And just now it's up to 3.25GB. And nothing has changed - no pics or videos taken, no apps installed etc.

The way WP is acting with memory makes me think of Windows on a PC, how it will use memory for "Restore". It can build up to a significant amount over time.

Quoting myself, please forgive...

Just checked storage and the system memory is now up to 3.46GB. Still no change of apps or pics or videos etc.

 

[MDK22]

Quoting myself, please forgive...

Just checked storage and the system memory is now up to 3.46GB. Still no change of apps or pics or videos etc.

' ... apps or pics or videos etc ...' have their own slot (if you will) under Storage Sense, they don't show under SYSTEM.

The fact that system is growing, is unusual, mine (& most on here) stays static (currently 3.18gb) ...

your ' ... accounting app (Checkbook Metro) ... ', check it under STORAGE SENSE >> APPS + GAMES >> click CHECKBOOK METRO and see if the data portion of the app is growing commensurately with your observations. The data may be stored in some SYSTEM designated file (if you had two years worth ?) like a .log file or .sql ...

Check Battery Saver, it'll show which apps have the most usage, at least as a metric of battery consumption.

We don't know a lot about WinPhone filesystem (as it's hidden / buried), each different event lends itself to discovery.

and If your accounting app is simply a web wrapper for a website, clear your Internet Explorer cache & see if / how that affects it ... or cached streaming music, or ...

 

[Phone_fan]

My error. It isn't "system" storage that's growing. It's "Phone" storage. And it's up to 3.49GB today. "system" storage is currently, and has been, 2.97GB. "apps+games" is 438.27MB currently. "email+messaging" is currently 67.36MB.

The only thing else that shows any content are "maps" at 15.29MB and "other" at 8.25MB. I will keep an eye on the specifics rather than the main "Phone" storage.

One thing else - I have everything set to install to the SD card...and have had it set that way since the hard reset.