Develop Bugs

[Q] How does APPS2SD *actually* work?

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.

[Q] Any uses for /system folder? (Rooted Phone)

I've a strange question that might or might belong in the development thread, but figured since it's a question, I'll try here first.
I'm using a Stock DeOxed Rooted Rom on my EVO.
I recently installed a few more apps and saw this pesky little warning about low on space.
When I went into my "SystemPanel" app to see how much space was left exactly and noticed that my /data folder only had around 30megs out of it's 428M available.
Ok.. time to delete some apps I thought, but then I noticed that my /system folder (Where I presume pre-installed apps live) had almost 1/3 of it's space still available (115 out of 350megs available).
So I'm wondering.....
Is there some method that I can use to install Apps directly to this folder instead of the standard /data that apps appear to go to when installed?
Is it as simple as moving the APK file with Root Explorer, or are there some under the hood items in apps that prevent this sort of thing?
I've a few rather large apps that I cannot move to the SD card due to widget problems and the like but would be perfect for the system folder if I can find a way to move them there easily.
Thoughts?

DroidGnome said:
I've a strange question that might or might belong in the development thread, but figured since it's a question, I'll try here first.
I'm using a Stock DeOxed Rooted Rom on my EVO.
I recently installed a few more apps and saw this pesky little warning about low on space.
When I went into my "SystemPanel" app to see how much space was left exactly and noticed that my /data folder only had around 30megs out of it's 428M available.
Ok.. time to delete some apps I thought, but then I noticed that my /system folder (Where I presume pre-installed apps live) had almost 1/3 of it's space still available (115 out of 350megs available).
So I'm wondering.....
Is there some method that I can use to install Apps directly to this folder instead of the standard /data that apps appear to go to when installed?
Is it as simple as moving the APK file with Root Explorer, or are there some under the hood items in apps that prevent this sort of thing?
I've a few rather large apps that I cannot move to the SD card due to widget problems and the like but would be perfect for the system folder if I can find a way to move them there easily.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/system/app is where system apps are kept. If I remember correctly, any app can be installed into there, but you have to do through flashing an update.zip if I'm remembering properly. You may be able to take the apk that's in /data/app for the app you want to move and move it to /system/app, but I'm not sure if that will work properly or not. Someone who cooks ROMs might know more.
Also, you can partition your sd card and use true apps2sd with most ROMs. Its a little bit of work and will shorten the life of your card, but that gives you a lot more room if you need it.

I don't know that there's a way to move user apps to system. It's very possible there is a way, I've just never seen any posts about it. Apps 2 SD is usually the way to go.
ps. 30 megs?!?! Geez, how many apps do you have?
Sent from my SUPERSONIC

Easy peasy
First, use a true apk backup tool to backup e apk files you want to move. Titanium backup will NOT work because it compresses and distorts, and we need true apk files. I recommend file manager by adao team. Just go to applications, check what you want, and hit backup. Next, get the apk files on your computer by mounting sd and copying files from backups folder. You will lose all app data, but what can you do? Next, adb push the files to system app folder while in recovery mode (just say so if you don't know how to do this and i will tell you) and reboot. Done. Tell me if it works well.
By the way, 30 megs???

Doesn't froyo install to the sdcard if you tell it to?
I thought a2sd was obsolete

You can put apps there after changing the folder's permissions but I wouldn't recommend it. Just not a good idea to put regular apps there.
Just install them to your SD card instead
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

go into the android app manager and go through all your programs and click on move to sd card...
they will all still occupy some space on your nand, but not nearly as much.

Thanks for the advice, I thought it might not be as easy as moving them, oh well, just seems a shame for there to be over 100 megs I cannot do anything with.
I already had moved all I could to the SD card prior to posting this, but thanks for that advice as well, I'm sure others forget they can do that with Froyo.
As for the 30 megs I had left.. we'll it's back up to about 70 free which should be plenty for a while. (Remember we only have about 420 to start with).
Some of the big ones which could not be moved to the SD card are:
Swype (Deleted, took over 17megs)
TouchDown (12 megs.. must keep for tasks sync sadly)
Google Maps update (7.6 megs)
Documents to go (8megs)
A few various games that cannot yet be moved to the SD card at around 5megs each..
The rest are just lots of little apps.. I'm sort of an app junkie You should have seen my old Palm Centro... it was amazing!
According to Titanium, I currently have 194 'User apps', though I think a few are simply widgets, icon packs and the like.

[Q] Remove OrangeUK Bloatwear (after root)

The Memory on the Desire is very limited. Orange have not helped this. I want to remove UNO, Tetris, That bowling game, The Traffic camera etc. In order to claw back that precious 10Mb or so, and be rid of the low disk space icon.
I've just rooted my phone. (can see and open the superuser icon). I followed this, and it worked: http://www.thedroiddemos.com/2010/0...desire-with-unrevoked-3-21-video-walkthrough/
Was under the impression that this would allow me to uninstall the Pre-loaded Orange apps. Clearly not. SO...
Installed titanium backup. Tried to uninstall UNO, Didnt work. Tried to Force uninstall uno, didnt work and scared me to death with a strange android logo + exclamation mark.
My phone is fine, but UNO is still there clinging to that precious Mb of space.
Please can someone explain how to get rid of this bloatware? Preferably without having to flash a new ROM.

Best thing is to just debrand the phone and put a stock WWE ROM onto it. then you can re-root that and have some fun.
Just download a stock ROM from HERE (I recommend 2.29.405.2), make a gold card and run the RUU file with the gold card in the phone and HTC Sync showing connected on the PC

Sorry to burst your bubble, but uninstalling those apps wont give you ANY extra space you can use, neither will flashing a different rom.
The orange bloatware is on the system partition, you want space on the data partition.
The only way to get more space is apps2sd. I recommended flashing a custom rom that supports olschool apps2sd and partition your sdcard.

But flashing a stock ROM will at least get rid of them!

Well... thats me a bit gutted then.
Does this mean that all the ringtones/notifications are also on the System Partition?
The low disk space icon has been a real pain. My contract is only a tenner a month. Might just wait till after xmas and get the new Desire HD.
Was watching a video on Youtube about root explorer, and how that might be an option to remove preloaded guff, but I guess it was a different carrier.
Cheers for the help guys.

Yes, the internal memory is for apps you download and data for apps you use on the phone

Look in the forum for " HOW TO: Delete System Applications On Rooted Phones"
They can be deleted and it does get space back !...
I got rid of all the odd demo's etc... and the media ( rigntones etc )... fab... and yes my phone is fast once more !!...
A new rom ...if you want .. no need ...
but you have to be ROOT !!! ( unrevoked + gold card )

It does NOT get the space back, System apps are on the /system partition which downloaded apps aren't saved to

You might get some space back (if your lucky) by going into application settings and clear data for these apps. Will probably only be a small amount though.

Cheers m8, have been through and done that.
One other question... if its not possible to delete these apps to get more space and be rid of the "low disk space" notification... is there a way to stop the notification showing so early? It seems to pop up once I get to about 15mb... it doesnt really need to be there till im down to the last 5mb does it?

It's true that you won't get space back by deleting apps form /system but you can move apps (that don't update often) from /data to /system to fill the system partition again and gain some space back in /data.

[Q] System maintainance, SD card decluttering.

From what I've read Android pretty much looks after itself but just wondering if there's any system maintainance that should be done from time to time? (i.e is defraging the SD card OK? Any other things worth doing?)
I've stuck with the stock 2.21 ROM but after installing JIT/Deodexed, debloating, overclocking, and scaleing the phone is running along sweetly. Thing is, about 2 1/2gigs of my 16G card is taken up with various System Recovery backups and I've got .apk files in various places. Can the .apks all be put into the same directory and if so where? I've backed the goaprev folder up to my PC and was going to delete all but the last backup from the phone. Basically, I don't want to do anything stupid now the phones nicely sorted out! Thanks in advance.

Since the seeking time on flash memory is so close to instant that fragmentation does not cause any noticable delays, I see no reason to defragment internal memory or my microSD card.
Furthermore, defragmenting a flash disk/drive, a device with a limited amount of writes, may actually shorten its life-span. In that sense, it may actually be a bad idea.
Backing up is always a good recommendation, when working with any electronic system

Thanks. Any idea if it's ok to move the .apk files? (Could be my OCD but I like things tidy!!) Also, wondering what the situation with ota system updates now I've hacked the phone?...leave well alone or okay? Cheers.

Move apk files - from where to where? Out of /system/app? You could move apks you are certain of you will never need, but the only thing you will gain is - at most - a few megabytes of free space. There's no real performance gain to be had, that I've experienced, just the possibility of losing hair if you remove/rename something you need.
As for OTA updates, you can rename FOTA.apk - that's the package that takes care of those updates.

Got several .apks in the root of my sd card- quite happy to leave them there, I guess and I should avoid ota updates...also is it worth clearing out caches once in a while? Just looking to keep my phone as streamlined and snappy as pos without screwing anything up! I'm new to android so still learning the ropes ! Thanks again

Ah yes, apk files are just installation files. You can move them where-ever you wish, though I would not move them to internal storage.
I do not clear out cache, as I prefer features I use regularly, to be cached already, instead of having to load them from scratch. I have not noticed any performance degradation because of it.
And since I do not share my phone with others, there is no privacy issue to speak of. I do not mind sharing my browsing/twitter/market/auto-complete behaviour with myself.

[Q] ISE fix - post 1 click root fix

LG TRIBUTE m#LGLS660 - VM
AV 4.4.2
KV 3.4.0+
BUILD # KOT49I.LS660ZV5
I did the 1 click root fix via http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/general/guide-root-lg-firmwares-kitkat-lollipop-t3056951
Generally it worked fine , the problem is that i did this with the explicit goal of only fixing the SD writing and storage issues
the phone only has roughly 2 gigs and 80% kitkat soaks up and not that im like app happy or anything but it makes app installation even weaker than an older cheaper phone thus killing a lot of the reason to have this fairly nice phone except for the camera which is fundamentally a non-prime reason to have this phone just a bonus.
So i installed the NextApp SDfix from the app store and applied its fix , and nothing especially changed , i also then installed link2SD
for further memory management. I can see a lot of info and i see how the system basically has the primary system memory with a legacy/emulated storage space as 2 seperate but basically same partition.
Then it recognizes as a entirely seperate ext memory the sd card , now since having tweaked with both these apps and everything generally running fine , i've moved this and that and dont have barely the basics installed i.e instagram/twitter/ ect ,... the system has about on the system drive some 300mb free obviously not a lot space in this age it is being very selective of what it will install and download from the app store , i was luckily able to reinstall CLEANMASTER after uninstalling it but i can't reinstall FACEBOOK
or download and install next to anything else that i've tried i keep getting the same error , the SD card is nearly entirely free with plenty of space soooooo
long story , made longer How can i adjust this , How can i maybe fool the o/s to think the SD card is the primary partition or something similar can i undo this? (not the root i know i can undo the root and or just start fresh from a hardreset or something
Any Input is appreciated , i am as the name so obviously suggests a new rooter not very experienced in android sw , though i was able to tweak around with iphone3s and jailbreak them which admittedly was rather fun.
Im only wanting this just so i stop getting that blasted insufficient storage error blasted google
this is technically a repost as i did post this in that said thread above but i wasnt sure if it was the right place for the inquiry.