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Hi Guys,
I've had my XDA-IIs for quite sometime now and recently upgraded the ROM - thereby started playing with the Extended_ROM also...I just thought I would like to share my experience with all here - which may be usefull or just another waste of time - for gurus out there..
Firstly - let me explain - I got this idea as I dont experiment a lot with my unit - so hard re-setting my unit quite frequently was out of the question, secondly I recently dropped my IIs and realized how - valuable it is to keep all settings, software and other information intact - as after i got it back from the service center - it was all gone.
Then was the major issue of Space - I found that the 16MB Extended_ROM was a waste as it is only required - When you Hard Reset...so why not use it ?
So i played with it a while and I got this solution : Please let me know If I am plain stupid or just wasted time on somthing simple by re-inventing the wheel !
First - thing I did was to clear all the clutter from my Extended_ROM by removing all the un-necessary stuff from the default CAB files (Thank you XDA-Developers)...
This reduced my Extended_Rom Contents to roughly 9MB - Then I added some of my MUST INSTALL cabs to the same and modified the Config.TXT file to execute them - This made the total Size to 12.4MB...(I still have space for more..in case i Need!)
Then - I made a CAB-File for myself (using CAB Wizard) - with my Shortcuts, Registry Settings, and all the other files I needed - Like my Games, Regularly used applications like BetaPlayer, noteM, VX-Util, PHM Regedit, etc...a complete list is provided below for reference..
Now - for my hard reset - I take the following steps :
1. I do a soft reset - to close all programs and remove from memory..and Since my Extended_ROM is always open - I just format the same using storage tools...
2. I copy the Contents of the Extended_ROM from the Storae Card into the Extended_ROM area...
3. I lock/Hide the Extended_ROM and give it a Hard Boot (No Pun) !
4. All the default and memory based CABS get installed - with no hassels.
5. Unit Automatically boots - So i just open the Extended_ROM and reformat the same...now using Explorer - Click on the Personal CAB that I made...This installs all my Other applications - Those I did not want to install on the Main Menory - the location for Installation is "Extended_ROM" and it also updates the registry for settings, Creates my Shortcuts etc.
6. That's It I Soft re-Boot - I just give a random check to see if all my settings are there...and start using my unit...Whole process takes NO MORE THAN 3-5 Minutes !
Now tell me am i stupid and wasting time ?
Oops - Forgot - abut the items the list is as follows :
In the Extended_ROM Folder (On Storage Card)
----------------------------
-- Filtered Default Installations
AIS_ALL_100104.CAB
Album_BlueAngelAKU26_Generic_WWE_RC20.CAB
AutoConfig.txt
AutoRun.exe
BandSel_BAWWE_140921.sa.CAB
BA_O2Asia_Camera_Driver_Patch.sa.CAB
CAB-Customization-BlueAngel-O2ASIAAIS-19May05.CAB
CAB-MMS-2.0.0.21-BlueAngel-O2Asia-ENU-01Jun05.CAB
Caller_ID_BlueAngelAKU26_Generic_WWE_RC20.CAB
CameraWizard_BlueAngelAKU26_O2Asia_WWE_RC20_Customize.CAB
Config.txt
CW-Album-Association.CAB
default.sa.CAB
Java_V10.1.2.49_BA_WWE_0901_unremovable.CAB
MIDI_RTPI_BA26_RC21.CAB
O2Asia_patch_140921.sa.CAB
O2Auto.sa.CAB
O2_Base_09240402.sa.CAB
RemoveWiFiLogo_140921.sa.CAB
SetButtonLock.exe
STK2240_Ecall_O2Asia.CAB
Version_BA_140.sa.CAB
-- My Personal Programs Installed on Main Memory (Via the Config.Txt File - During Hard Boot)
D_CabInstall.cab
D_ceremote.CAB
D_CrystalBlue_skin.cab
D_DTSysView.cab
D_FullScreenKeyboard.CAB
D_GPRSMonitor.cab
D_IntelliDialler.CAB
D_MyUtils.cab
D_PhonePlus.CAB
D_Regedit.CAB
D_SmiliesPanel.cab
D_StorageTools.cab
D_SysCleaner.CAB
D_ThemeMaster.CAB
D_TotalCommander.cab
D_XTNDUnlocker.cab
In My 10MB Personal_App Cab File - Which I execute Manually After the above are installed !
---------------------------
Games : Monopoly, BubbleBuster, PocketPegs, NeoTiles
Utilities : Unit Conversion, Lamp, Tray Launcher, Off, Reset, Run, Space Detective, Suspend
Ring Tones : My Default and Favorite Rintones placed in the Rings Folder
Alarms : My Favorite Sounds placed in the windows folder
Applications : BetaPlayer, eWallet, Games, Globe, MobiPocket, Repligo, Syscleaner
Registry Settings: Notifications, Sounds, owner, Device ID etc.. etc..and other default application settings like Tray Launch, SPBGPRS Monitor, Notem, Camera, Repligo, Mobipocket, etc..
Shortcuts : to All my Applications - Placed in \Start Menu\Programs and also on the "Start Menu' - Place my regularly used Softwares.
Stupid Question
---------------
But still wondering ? - Why did i create the separate Cab file for the Personal Applications and not just place them in Extended_ROM to execute ?
Well- For one thing - The Extended_ROM has a limit of 16MB and All my applications put together - along with the defaultones were crossing 23MB! So I could not placethem on the Erom and hard boot - I had to find an alternative - secondly I wanted to use the 16MB to install programs !
Also i found it a better option to install my programs on the Extended_rom rather than waste expensive space on the storage and the storage Card was just used for mp3's, videos, etc etc..
That way I could use the Extended Rom for my Installed Programs, The Storage for My Documents etc...and the 1gb Storage Card - For my videos, etc etc. Hence even if I changed my Storage Card - I really did not need to worry abt the setup within. As most of my stuff was saving on the unit.
So thats what I did - Stupid or otherwise - whatever it is - Now when I re-set my machine - It takes me less than 5 minutes to get back on track !
I am attaching some screenshots of the Space after installation and execution of the above...Check it out..
Extrom.jpg - Shows the Items placed inside the Extended_ROM
inside_backup_folder - This is the backup folder inside the Storage Card. It has the folder for Extended_ROM - Which I just copy and also the personal Application CAB installation file.
Space - The Total Space available on the Unit after a fresh Install
Storage - The items On Storage - All my Documents etc Go into the "My Docments" Folder
StorageCard - Contains the "Backup" folder which has my Extended_ROM and also the "My Fun' Folder - Which holds my Movies etc..
Last Question - What happens if I need to Hard Re-Boot and My Storage Card Does Not work !
I keep and alternative - 64MB Card with me all the time along with my credit card etc - this has a replica of the backup folder. I have also uploaded the files on my Google Mailbox - Just being paranoid god knows why !
That's my experience...Too Long a Note ! I hope someone has the time to read this...and tell me I am not stupid !
Rgs/DD
Stupid or not...
Good note mate - can't stop wondering why you copy it all back to the extended rom before hard reset...
you could just as well just have them all run directly from the backup folder on the storage card... That would save the time copying and formatting every time...
Since you know how to do a custom cab file, my guess is, you also know how to add a registry setting (or shortcuts in start) to run thoose cab files at the existing location on the storage card at first boot...
(all cabs must be readonly however - otherwise it's a one-shot... and they are all gone)...
In the extended rom, you can just leave one tiny little cab with the regsettings/shortcuts, autostart.exe and config.txt running... That leaves all the rest free... Or - wondering... why not just change the paths in the config.txt file - or - wondering... the kernal might even look for autostart.exe in the root of the storage card??? Might be worth testing...
My cab file includes TomTom3 and settings, but now that tomtom5 is out, the setup is so simple that i didn't bother messing with it... Also, a custom written application for entering orders with replication, ending up in Navision Attain...
(Just showing off, but i like it )
Now see what you did... this note also became too long... can't stop writing when first getting started...
Oh - btw. - you have used a LOT of time making what you did - thanks for the notes, making me think of the above idea - might use that some day too...
Jan
Certified Stupid !
Thanks JanR,
Guess I now need a Hammer on the head to come back to senses !
You are right - Since I already have the CABS in the backup folder - I could have run the same directly from there by leaving the config.txt and the Autorun.exe on the Extended_ROM itself..and maybe a few critical CABS is necessary.
I wonder why the lightening did not strike me then. Please Punch me the next time I try to give out such Grande experience ideas on this forum !
Will change the script to accommodate and see how it works out.
Till then...cheers!
You could just create a self executing sprite backup of everything as you want it and put it in ExtROM and call it from the config file. That's what I did and it works fine on XDAII and MDAIII. Just Hared Reset and its all done in a minute or two.
Once again suggesting...use SPB Clone software......it is bestg back up tool
spb clone
Don't you think it's a bit pricey for your average user?
I totally agree..
Some of these softwares are "Nice to have..but not really necessary" if you can find work arounds.
What i started of from a complicated process has by far progressed and reduced itself trementously and - i can thankfully say I dont need nothing more....
I have achieved the initial objective of using the Extended_ROM for installing softwares, keep all my docs are in Storage - so I could Switch Cards without issues...
...and that my friends, thanks to all of you here in XDA-Developers have been achieved.
Devdarshan
My Wallaby (with Windows PPC 2002) is too central to my life for me to risk losing it by daring to flash it with a new ROM. This means that new tools, ringtones and things have to go into its mere 32 MB of RAM. On the other hand, this RAM is also cluttered up with "skins", sounds and things (including a version of Windows Media Player that has always resolutely refused to work) that Microsoft, HTC et al. have decided I must have. Mostly if I try to delete them, either using its native File Explorer, or via the cradle with Explorer from my computer (Windows XP Pro SP2, local adminstrator account on the PC), I get an error message, "File in use or write protected", that sort of thing, i.e. I'm not allowed to delete them.
Can anyone help me with the following?
- An explorer tool which will let me see and change attributes and permissions where necessary, and delete unwanted files from RAM?
- Any information on possible Windows PPC 2002 equivalents of accounts, local, administrator, etc.? My unsuccesful attempts to delete files have a distinctly "not local administrator" feel.
Another thing that would be marvellous, would be the option to use the (currently 128 MB) SD card as a sort of hard drive, i.e. to put large executables on to that and start them with something like a shortcut, so that they only load into RAM when they're actually needed. Can anyone tell me any more about whether this is possible, and if so how?
Thanks to all in advance.
you cant delete files in rom of the device and even if you could it would not add more program memory or storage on wallay you can only access the rom at flashtime
and at all other times it's readonly and dont take up any of the ram of your device
Thanks for your reply, Rudegar, but I'm looking to delete things from RAM, for instance \\device\program files\windows media player\*.* Am I wrong to think all this stuff loaded from ROM into RAM after the last cold reset?
Oops, I just discovered I can delete the files mentioned above (and did), from the native File Explorer. However, when I tap and hold \\device\windows\player (the media player executable, presumably player.exe) the "delete" option is greyed out in the context menu.
total commander is way better then file explore
I installed Total Commander, with thanks to Rudegar, and to Lumpistefan for being able to use his site as a hop. It's certainly a better tool for file management, but I'm not yet able to delete files I want to.
Roaring guitar.wav is a sound I particularly hate, and a colleague at work is already using it as his ringtone. Therefore there is no way I want to keep that ringtone in RAM. Total Commander lets me see the attributes, which are Read only, System (and in ROM, grey of course). It seems as if I can "greytick" and untick Read only and System, but when I come back to the file these attributes are there again. If I try to delete Roaring guitar.wav using Total Commander I get the message "Warning! Could not delete 1 file(s)!".
As I said, all this has a very "not local administrator" feel to it.
I tried searching the registry for "roaring" but the string was not found. I also cautiously experimented with switching the values of the following keys between 0 and 1:
HKLM\ControlPanel\AdminPassword\Group
HKLM\ControlPanel\Password\Group
but neither had any discernible effect on the behaviour described. Of course Roaring guitar.wav is just an example (and no offence meant to my colleague), I would like to remove a number of sounds and wallpapers I'll never use, and free up some more of my poor Wallaby's hard-pressed 32 MB RAM for everyday use.
Does anyone know how I could do it?
Hate to tell you this, but if TC says the file is in ROM, its in ROM and you can not delete it.
I am not familiar with Wallaby in particular but I guess the file your are attacking is not copied in to RAM. No reason to do so.
Windows Mobile was never designed for multiple users so no 'local / remote' administrator and stuff. Just trust me when I say this, if you can't delete it - it is in ROM.
There are two programs I can recommend:
MemMaid - it will show you exactly what is clogging up your RAM and automatically clean out what it can.
CabInstl - this little free app will let you choose where to install programs so you can put most of your apps on the SD.
Also in ActiveSync, when asked if to install to default location select 'NO' and you will get an option to install to SD.
One more hint:
You can keep all your themes, including the one you are currently using on the SD. Once you selected and installed the theme the *.tsk file is no longer needed.
When my iPaq was my only and primary PPC I also struggled with 32MB RAM (total). I kept everything on my trusty 512MB SunDisk except what I needed on startup.
Hey guys,
Been searching on this for a whle and haven't found the info I'm looking for.
How does the custom APPS2D actually work? By that I mean, what is it really doing? I know it's copying the app(s) to the partitioned ext2/3/4 area of the sdcard, but how does it know *what* part of the app to move as it seems something is always left on the phone.
I'm currently running AdamG's OpenDesire 3.0.5 (nice) and thanks to the script provided by msdl28712 in this thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=748529, I can see that APPS2SD is saving me "188MB". Pretty nice.
But my internal memory is still going down. I started out at about 148MB I think. I'm currently at about 115MB free. Of course, that's fantastic - but it sort of suggests that, even though I've downloaded loads of apps to the sd card, they will always leave some footprint/config/data on the internal memory of various sizes (as I can see it on my info page).
So really, I am still quite limited in the number of apps I can store. Even though I gave myself a nice big 4gb ext4 partition, I'll still hit a limit because of the footprint data left behind on the phone's int memory even after "copying to SD".
Is this right or am I way off?
Although I have no Actual knowledge of what you ask I will say this. The phone needs to be able to function if there is a SD card installed or not and therefore it must have info about the apps installed in the phone memory. I would imagine its very similar to windows and the windows registry. The registry will always be stored on the windows (Phone) storage and the program resources can be anywhere. Therefore when you install an app there will always be a small amount of phone storage required to link to and handle the operations of that program.
All in my opinion.
Some apps, not all, I've found in multiple places on my Eris.
I found it strange that the market wasn't consistently placing them in both places ( actually, that's a good thing, cause it would eat double the space ), but that led me to believe that the developer who wrote whichever particular app that was being stored in 2 location, wrote it to store to additional "backup" location ...
For example, say you download an item from the Android market, and it puts it in the "data\app" folder location. Well, I'd also find another copy in the root of the "cache\" folder ....
The way I found this, was I wondering where the heck all my memory was going, especially since I'd recently installed/uninstalled some various music player apps, but the space wasn't being freed up. I went digging through various folders looking for items, and low and behold, started finding the duplicately stored APK files. I started removing them, and I've monitored that files contents on a regular basis since, which has helped.
- JB
What A2SD? A2SD+, A2SD Froyo?
Found a nice explanation on CM Wiki... can't find it now though...
but there's always short explanation by MIUI Au..if you wanna give it a tryy
http://www.miui-au.com/faq/a2sd/
johnrbrown1968 said:
Some apps, not all, I've found in multiple places on my Eris.
I found it strange that the market wasn't consistently placing them in both places ( actually, that's a good thing, cause it would eat double the space ), but that led me to believe that the developer who wrote whichever particular app that was being stored in 2 location, wrote it to store to additional "backup" location ...
For example, say you download an item from the Android market, and it puts it in the "data\app" folder location. Well, I'd also find another copy in the root of the "cache\" folder ....
The way I found this, was I wondering where the heck all my memory was going, especially since I'd recently installed/uninstalled some various music player apps, but the space wasn't being freed up. I went digging through various folders looking for items, and low and behold, started finding the duplicately stored APK files. I started removing them, and I've monitored that files contents on a regular basis since, which has helped.
- JB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all you are answering a quite old thread(hint: 8th august)
Second to clarify no, the app is not installed to several locations.. The apk file in the cache is just the one, that the market downloads in order to install it(hint: cache) upon installation the file is placed in the /data/app folder or in case you are using a2sd/a2sd+ it will be placed in /sd-ext/app(the phone still think it is in /data/app, but it wont take up space on the /data partition)
After the installation the downloaded .apk file is sometimes left behind, but as the /cache partition have a fixed size, this won't take up any space for app installs(/data) when the space is needed on the cache partition for another download or something else, the file is eventually deleted.
edit: for people, who want to know the answer to OP, please search I and many others have wrote it over and over again in this very forum.
Hi
I'm a huge file manegament freak.
Switching from a feature phone, I was shocked at the mess on my SD card .
So I ask the question is there anyway to clean up the main directory (tons of Browser, android, adobe, app, bugreports, logs folders). Like Putting all the app folders and android stuff in just 1 folder. Or hiding the files in the phone by putting "." (think this is how android marks hidden folders) infront (which for some reason I'm not allowed in Windows).
Also, is it safe to mark folders as "hidden" in Windows (will android still be able to use them).
One more thing, am I able to acess the 1,5 GB worth of built-in memory on my phone in Windows.
Any other tips are appreciated too!
huge Thanks to anyone able to help me!!
Hi there,
I'm programming something for Windows Mobile 2003. It basically removes and creates files around. One of the files it deletes is special file.reg, which is normally picked up during the hard-reset.
The file gets deleted using "DeleteFile" and very soon after, I force a hard-reset.
The problem is, the special file.reg is deleted from the file system tree, but it is apparently still available from the hard-reset.
I was wondering if there was another function I had to call to "flush" the file system? If not, I need to find a good trick to 1) enforce the file deletion (like rename first, then delete) and to 2) flush current ghost files left around.
The file system on those persistent drives are fat12 and/or fat16.
Thanks in advance for any input,
Simon
The hard reset returns the machine to its first power up state. If 'file.reg' was part of the original build, then the hard reset will restore it from ROM.
Also any programs you have installed to run on startup, will also be lost, so it is going to be a little difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of this file programatically.
Right, but I'm not talking about the ROM.
I'm talking about the persistent memory which are mounted as \Platform and \Application on this device. Those are FAT12 and/or FAT16, and files deleted (normally) do not come back.
In this case, the files are not coming back, they are not hidden either, but the hardreset process is able to pick them up somehow.
I mean, I call it the problem of the "Ghost files", because they are supposed to be nowhere, but they are found during during the hardreset.
(The files are not recreated, they are still not there, but their contents gets loaded. The info in them cannot be placed in ROM as it contains stuff that changes often)
They come back after a hard reset because during cold boot, they're being copied there from the rom or being created by the system. You may be able to delete them afterwards, but the only way to prevent them from being formed will be to re-cook the rom and stop them from being copied/created during boot-up.
The files DO NOT come back, it's gone, I cannot re-delete it. But somehow it is "read" by a program during the hard-reset.
This file is not part of the ROM, it's part of the persistent memory that doesn't get wiped out upon hardreset but is read-write.
I need to wipe out the ghost file that is stuck on the read/write partition... and I need a way to avoid these being created!
I understand that, but clearly the file is being created (or copied from rom) during cold re-boot, otherwise you wouldn't see it coming back. There isn't going to be any easy way to prevent that, unless you can re-cook the rom, or include some sort of user customization that would delete the files prior to using the device. There are lots of ways that the rom could create the files and put them onto persistant storage.
Hi Farmer Ted,
this is not a ROM issue, recooking the ROM will not help. The problem is a FAT12 or FAT16 filesystem that has bogus data in it.
The problem is most likely a bug in the program that reads the persistent folders... It probably reads it in a way that goes around the change made by DeleteFile()...
Changing that program is not possible (in ROM and I don't have the source, it's also necessary). I just need to make sure it can't find the file I've deleted on the persistent directory (not in ROM).