Android Market error on downloading (Error Downloading. There is insufficient space on the device.)
by jimmy on Oct.15, 2011, under English, My Life
[Switch to Mobile Edition]Today suddenly when I want to download an application from my Android tablet, I receiving this error : “Error Downloading xyzxyz. There is insufficient space on the device.”
It’s only displaying the error on downloading application with big size.
After browsing around, I found out that the cache folder (that I assume used by the market) is using small partition (around 20mb in my case).
So to solve this we need to change it to bigger partition.
- You gonna need Android Terminal Simulator or equivalent terminal app. This will also require your Android rooted.
- Type ’su’ (root permission request will be showned, you need to approve it).
- Type ‘cd /’
- Type ‘umount /cache’
- Type ‘mount -o rw,remount -t rootfs rootfs /’ (to set the folder access to rw – read write)
- Type ‘rmdir /cache’ (delete cache folder)
- I personally using root explorer to do point 5-6
- Type ‘mkdir /sdcard/cache’
- Type ‘ln -s /sdcard/cache /cache’ (to link cache folder to /sdcard/cache – which shoud have bigger partition size)
Done.
Try to rerun your Android Market and download big applications
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43 Comments for this entry
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MID7125 works for market but some apps state not a compatible device. How to fix?
April 24th, 2012 on 9:51 am[...] space on my device" is the following and it finally worked for me. Thanks to Jimmy Android Market error on downloading (Error Downloading. There is insufficient space on the device.) … Reply With Quote // « Previous [...]
October 21st, 2011 on 5:16 pm
Hi,
Any workaround for unrooted phones?
Thanks!
October 26th, 2011 on 6:52 am
Whenever I type in umount /cache and hit enter, It says can’t umount /cache: Device or resource busy.
November 21st, 2011 on 12:15 am
@Dragos: mount/unmount will require root access, no idea about workaround for unrooted phone..
@DuckyVader: strange, have you try restart the android then directly go to terminal.. and make sure there’s no service running accessing the folder
November 26th, 2011 on 12:51 am
@DuckyVader
Just do the forced unmount option: umount -f /cache
November 26th, 2011 on 9:22 am
I tried the above steps, I get the error can’t forcibly umount cache: Device or resource busy
November 26th, 2011 on 10:38 pm
@Wrexx
Try a lazy unmount. ‘umount -l /cache’
November 29th, 2011 on 9:37 pm
I tried that too, didn’t end up working for me either… I ended up blowing up the phone and installing a fresh/recent CM7 nightly build for my phone. Then the first thing I ran was this, and all is fine now…
Thank you for the assist though…
December 1st, 2011 on 12:26 am
Whenever I get to the line where I have to enter “unmount /cache”, it says, “unmount: not found”. I have tried with both the -f and the -l, but neither of these work for me. Any ideas?
December 1st, 2011 on 2:36 am
@AD3
Yes sir, it is umount, not unmount! Hope this helps!
December 1st, 2011 on 5:37 am
Thanks so much for the correction!
It works now!
December 8th, 2011 on 10:20 am
Thanks man. Great solution very clearly laid out for linux noobs like me
well, actually 20 years ago I knew my way around unix… but have been since Redmondofied
December 8th, 2011 on 3:48 pm
Hi I’ve tried this, and now I am unable to pull updates from Android Market, it just closes down, or it says theres a download error, and after that, the programs I have tried to update is listed under uninstalled programs in the market, despite they are still installed on my phone. Do you have a solution for this?
December 8th, 2011 on 11:26 pm
@Bjarke:
is it happen to all application?
how if you reinstall the application?
December 8th, 2011 on 11:48 pm
I suppose it has happened to all my app’s, so far it has been alle the app’s i’ve tried to update.
December 12th, 2011 on 5:53 am
Hi,
This worked.
… then however, A week later I had the same error come up. I repeated the steps above and it fixed it again.
Can you think of anything that would have reset the settings? I wonder if “Market” does it?
December 14th, 2011 on 5:58 am
Thank you! This fixed my issue with the “insufficient space” error. Thanks so much!
December 23rd, 2011 on 11:47 pm
@Bjarke:
Not sure how to solve it since I don’t experience that. Update on my Galaxy Tab 7 is normal
@Damien:
Same as above this issue might on specific device/rom only
January 26th, 2012 on 6:33 pm
guys all went gud for me bt im unable to go thru 6th step.
whenevr i got thru rmdir /cache it always says rmdir failed for /cache,Read-only file system.
can any1 help me on dis plz…
im facing dis problem for so long tried everything written on other posts but cudnt find a solution.
plzz help!!!!!
February 6th, 2012 on 11:43 am
Do I need to type the symbols too? arghh…It makes me crazy enough! All I have type and I press enter it says: not found. someone please help me TT
April 3rd, 2012 on 10:20 pm
It worked temporarily. After the reboot, same problem again. Any permanent fix for this?
April 5th, 2012 on 3:44 am
it worked with my HTC Inspire but it effected my “Aptoide” application, it stopped downloading, until i rebooted the phone when the Android Market stopped working again and got my “Aptoide” back. any idea how to fix it permanently (even after rebooting)and keep both markets ?
April 7th, 2012 on 11:05 pm
@yoong: you can try hacker keyboard or other keyboard that have ‘tab’ it will help you autocomplete the command/directory name
@bking007 & @3la2: what’s your phone? From the comment I see some is experience like you guys, it got reset after reboot which I don’t experience.
Not sure about this Aptoide application strange behavior though
April 17th, 2012 on 4:20 pm
I have an HTC Evo 4g, and started receiving this problem two weeks ago(had myy phone for over a year). The steps above work wonders, but like bking007, I have to repeat this after a reboot, and am also wondering of a permanent fix.
This didn’t start for me until I upgraded to the “Google Play Store” from the “Android Market.” Could it be coincidental?
May 29th, 2012 on 11:51 am
Thank you Sir! I’ve been looking for a solution for this problem for like 2 months, but nothing was realy helpfull as you tip up there. Worked like a charm in my Coby Kyros 7022. Much apreciated.
June 15th, 2012 on 6:24 am
Thanks, your solution worked for me, much appreciated.
July 20th, 2012 on 6:50 pm
i tried this and it worked. but after a reboot, google play went back to the same error.
should i do this every time i turn on my phone?
July 27th, 2012 on 9:49 pm
At final step (ln -s /sdcard/cache/ /cache) I got this error: link failed File exists
August 5th, 2012 on 7:07 pm
@Mgeas: You need to remove /cache folder or file. have you execute rmdir /cache (or try rm /cache)
@hardk: I’ve received comment these kind of issue happen to some device. I think the solution is to create script to create symbolic link everytime android boot up.
August 7th, 2012 on 12:17 am
thanks for your solution. i have reposted it with credits on http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/27083/google-play-error-downloading-app-insufficient-space
for future reference, with backlink to your blog post. Hope you don’t mind.
August 23rd, 2012 on 9:08 pm
Hello,
I have a rooted my HD2 (originally comes with WinMo, currently running Android 2.3.2).
Using another app I saw that my cache partition is only 10MB so I can not install even applications like Skype
I tried the suggested fix in your post above – everything went smoothly, no errors while executing commands. Tried running the Market, but when I started downloading an app it simply crashed (Force close). Cleared data/cache – same. After a reboot the changes reverted
September 9th, 2012 on 4:01 am
df -h
says that /cache has only 52,0K free, so it’s obviously a large error here
I had the constant problem with umount /cache failing because it was busy.
It seems like it’s enough to do:
cd /cache
mv download download-old
mkdir /sdcard/cache
mkdir /sdcard/cache/download
ln -s /sdcard/cache/download download
This will redirect the /cache/download to your sdcard.
November 4th, 2012 on 1:55 pm
I am stuck on the last step! It keep saying In: not found when i type in the code In -s /sdcard/cache /cache ! Help me
November 13th, 2012 on 7:06 pm
Thanks A LOT man!!! It Worked
November 25th, 2012 on 11:18 pm
done but still not working. cache in sdcard and removed from root and pointing to it. still not working when trying to install angry birds star wars…. any thoughts?
December 27th, 2012 on 11:15 am
Thanks a lot. This helped me go through 3 days of research trying to flash and reflash ROMs to get it working on Optimus Max v2 ROM. U rock…
December 28th, 2012 on 7:22 am
This works for some time and then again it goes back to same problem.. Any permanent fix?
December 28th, 2012 on 7:52 am
@A.J : you can try installing Lucky Patcher. In its menu select Troubleshooting – Remove fixes and backups. It works for some people.
December 28th, 2012 on 7:53 am
@Mindwin: sure. you’re welcome
December 28th, 2012 on 7:57 am
@Terry: are you sure you type the command correctly? it’s ‘ln’ not ‘In’
February 14th, 2013 on 3:32 am
hi there thanks for this amazing info it currently says -s not found im on the last step lol any ideas buddy?
cheers mate its a galaxy ace plus :O)
February 14th, 2013 on 3:38 am
sorry about that i missed the ln -s lol anyway for some reason it still says error 498 totally unsure why? any ideas mate?cheers buddy
April 8th, 2013 on 5:53 pm
actually its screwing the phone cahce … have tried many times… i think ill have to reinstall dalvik-cache now.. try keeping dalvik there ??? somehow ? without mobing everything
May 18th, 2013 on 6:27 am
you need to break this down like you would for your great grandpaw for me. I downloaded A “terminal emulator” app and i attempted the commands but i only get ’su’ not found or su not found or “su” not found so please help this old fart…..I really think they program stuff like this so you will just buy a new phone