The ‘C:’ device represents the very small, primary internal flash memory present on the phone. The secondary storage device, usually ‘D:’ or ‘E:’ is much larger (in my case 32GB), but unfortunately not everything can be installed to the mass storage. For those applications that truly need to be installed on the primary drive, they can use a great deal of the limited space.

Here are a few tips I discovered on how to help clear out the primary drive’s space. You’ll know if you need to do this if you are receiving constant reminders that your phone is out of space on drive ‘C:’.

1. Any applications previously installed on C: that could be installed on E: should be uninstalled and reinstalled on the larger storage device.
2. Install third party web browser, such as Opera Mobile, to the mass storage and then delete the ‘C:\System\Cache\’ folder belonging to the default Nokia web browser.
3. Change the default ‘Messaging’ storage to mass storage. To do this, open the messaging application and then go to Options > Settings > Other > ‘Memory In Use’.
4. Uninstall any of the uninstallable default applications and widgets that you do not use. I removed the ‘Facebook’ home screen widget and now just use the mobile web version of Facebook.
5. Make sure the Ovi Store is set to install to mass storage by default. To do this open the Ovi Store settings at Options > Account > Settings > Installation Preferences, within the Ovi Store application itself.
6. If you are using Nokia Messaging or Nokia Messaging for Exchange, delete and reconfigure your accounts and this will clear out a significant cache. Alternatively, if you do not mind, remove the Nokia Messaging application entirely and use a web-mail alternative (if possible).

In my case, removing Nokia Messaging was the most helpful. Anyone else had this problem, if so, how did you clear your N97′s main memory?

If you liked this post, you may be interested in these:

1. How to uninstall default applications on Nokia N97
2. Opera Mini being released on the iPhone
3. Facebook – Privacy changes (December 2009)
4. British Space Agency (UKSA) – It’s here!
5. The Scale of Space or ‘You are Tiny’