Database Info

[Q] Apps to SD

Refering to this post Apps to SD, I have some doubts.
1. Is this similar to the 2GB inaccessible partition on Nexus S ?
2. Is that partition ext3 ?
3. Do apps get installed directly on that and I don't have to install apps on sd as explained in that post ever ?
4. If no, will creating partition and installing apps on it slow down the phone ?
I installed lots of apps from market yesterday so thinking of these things as I have read that installing many apps may slow down the phone.
please clarify my doubts

Have you gone to Settings, Applications and checked how much of your internal memory you're actually using? There's a little bar graph at the bottom of the first screen.
I've got over 130 apps installed and still have almost 600mb free. For most users, on the NS, app storage space isn't going to be a concern. We've got 1gb internal for that.
Also, many apps can be pushed to your sdcard without any hacks required.
The old school apps2sd involves repartioning your sdcard, formatting part of it ext4, then creating symlinks to move apps to the sdcard.
Seems like a lot of work unless you're really short of space already.
All partitions on the internal storage space are ext4 or yaffs2...no ext3 on the NS stock,

Thanks. So I shouldnt be really about that
But will installing many apps slow down my phone ? How do I stop some apps from starting automatically in the background ?

suhas_sm said:
Thanks. So I shouldnt be really about that
But will installing many apps slow down my phone ? How do I stop some apps from starting automatically in the background ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't worry about it until it becomes a problem, if you know what I mean. If you install a lot of BIG game applications that don't let you move to sdcard from the Applications manager, you might start to run out of room, but I've only seen one person in this forum state that he was filling cramped, and he has 300+ apps, including large games if I recall correctly.
Having a bunch of apps installed should not slow down your phone just because they're installed.
If a bunch of them are active in the background either intentionally or not, that might cause some slow down, but it's just not a real problem on Android 2.2+ in my experience.
Android's memory intentionally loads apps up in advance so they're ready and waiting when you want to use them. They usually just sit there using zero cpu until you give them something to do. It is best to avoid TASK KILLERS, they will screw you up more than help you in general.
If you really feel the need to stop certain apps from being loaded automatically at the phone's discretion, there's an app called AutoStarts in the Market that lets you block apps from loading automatically. There are other apps like that one. They require you to be rooted to use them.

[Q] freeing up space on galaxy s 4g

I know this issue has been more or less beat to death, trust me one google search proves that. and after 2 1/2 days searching and researching I have come up with an idea to rid us of this limited application space problem once and for all. At this point I am stuck realizing that android doesn't use an fstab file like any ol' standard linux install....so what's the android equivalent?
a little explaination....
I came across a solution used on another phone where via a custom rom someone was able simply hardlink /data/app, /system/media, etc... to a copy stored on a ext2/3/4 partition on the sd card, I guessed roughly 2~3 gb of space would be sufficient. I created the partition, copied the folders, and just before I was going to start hardlinking things, I realized I had to manually mount the ext2 partition, it wasn't done automatically, and therefore won't be done at boot. So...this is where I'm stuck. if I could figure out how to get the ext2 partition to mount at boot then problem solved
Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, etc would be appreciated. I apologize in advance if I may have missed something someone may seem as "obvious"....I've been at this for over 2 days reading more webpages than I care to recount and quite frankly my brain is fried.....so please keep the "flaming" to a minimum...

dude just overwrite the FOTA files and it will free up 250mb.

Are you sure you searched these forums? It's in the dev section.

did the fota fix, got about 290mb free (already done before I posted this). call me greedy but ~300 mb just seems not quite enough.....my solution sounds simple enough if I could only fix that blasted mount on boot issue....
as for searching, I apologize but I viewed so many pages yesterday that I couldn't possibly list them all, but fota was one of them and already done.....I'm looking for a more permanent solution (assuming that ota updates will become available for this phone before it becomes obsolete)

Wouldn't that have to be a script initiated by the kernel? I could be way off, but it seems like thats how they fixed the problem with the G1 app mem issue using cm. You might read on cm+G1. Like the way your thinking though!
Check THIS out. I think it's along the right lines, if it could be ported.

Not sure what you think needs more than a few hundred MB in the "real" mount of /data.
Several ways you can install other apps on the SD card, both native using package manager (pm), as well as using tools like app2sd without a custom kernel and boot sequence.

Issues with sdcard vs _EXTERNALSD

I know that LG chose to have this stupid method of utilizing there internal memory and naming it (sdcard) and then making our ACTUAL sdcards (_ExternalSD), but I'm getting super annoyed at the issues that are occurring due to this ridiculous method of partitioning.
Main Issues:
> Apps not looking at the correct place
> ROM manager only able to access ACTUAL sdcard but things are put in "sdcard" not _EXTERNALSD
> Files don't transfer between the two places (sdcard v _EXTERNALSD)
This is just a big cluster F#$*.
Does anyone know if there is a way to partition the "sdcard" internal phone memory and make the ACTUAL sdcard used the way it is on other phones?

I found a temporary solution. If you go into X app, X being whichever app uses storage or the ACTUAL sdcard, you can switch the storage to sdcard instead of phone.
Apps that have option:
> Browser (stock)
> Titanium Backup
> Camera App (stock)

I thought it was just me.. but i hate this implementation. This is my first phone having built in storage and I actually thought that was the way it was supposed to work.. and thought it was pretty lame. So when I switched to a CM7 rom.. i was totally thrown. LOL. but I agree. the whole "_External..." thing is lame..
DOPE phone otherwise tho.

Not a big deal for me
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

It really is highly annoying. Especially since I am coming from an HTC Inc.
I don't know what genius thought this was a good idea.

I agree and also think its cause some of the issues when loading rom's back and forth with CWM

As you can see from my sig, I've been almost exclusively HTC and this was a super weird thing for me to get used to. I'll flash CM7 once it's RC or stable, just because of this.

hekticpr21 said:
As you can see from my sig, I've been almost exclusively HTC and this was a super weird thing for me to get used to. I'll flash CM7 once it's RC or stable, just because of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ditto.. i've always love htc hardware man. quality stuff. I came off of a G2 and bought this thinking it would be a big step up (you know.. dual cores n all).. it's an incremental update with some drawbacks. don't get me wrong.. i like the g2x.. but it has some flaws. meh. I'm here now... nothing I can do about it.. cuz i'm certainly NOT going to sell it to go back to the g2 just for netflix when the future of smartphones is clearly headed the g2x direction.

I also agree...it isn't a deal breaker, but it certainly is a strange approach.

I can only assume they wanted the internal storage to be the "main" and any external just to be extra space that the phone wasn't dependent on.

the GOOD thing about it is that is doesn't wipe when you format the phone.. the bad thing is... you can't get to it in CWM

I haven't fought with CWM, but how is this different than other Android phones?
My G1 had nothing, so no issue. But, the Vibrant did essentially the same thing - it had a different naming structure, but the effect was the same.
-bZj

down8 said:
I haven't fought with CWM, but how is this different than other Android phones?
My G1 had nothing, so no issue. But, the Vibrant did essentially the same thing - it had a different naming structure, but the effect was the same.
-bZj
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On my HTC Inc., they were completely separate. The external SD card's path was not through the internal. When you downloaded an app., all files for that app. went on the external SD card and not on the internal. It left the internal clean for music, photos and videos.

has anyone figured out an appropriate method of sorting this out,
i have a few apps which rely on content that is stored on my actual sd card about 10gb of content, but the internal memory takes the /sdcard ,, while the sd card is /sdcard/ext this is so aggravating, are there any customs build which target this?

I am having issues with this as well. When I boot into CWM to flash a kernel for example CWM only sees what is on the External SD not the internal so I have to transfer kernels that I have downloaded on the phone to my extern SD. The only problem is every time I try and copy and paste something from sdcard to External SD Astro tells me there was a ' move error' and I am unable to move anything....
anyone have this problem?

Make sure you are copying and not cutting (moving). Android doesn't like to move things between file systems.

[poll]Do you want A2SD (apps2sd)?

Figured it would be good to see how much interest there is in it so maybe a dev will see the point of taking it on.....

Whether I personally use enough apps to fill up internal memory or not, A2EXT is a nice option to have and I miss it. I remember in the past, when implented properly, I had apps on ext and when I would install a rom the apps I had on ext would already be waiting for me on first boot rather than having to wait for them to redownload from the market or restore from Titanium. My vote is yes, if a dev is willing to spend some time to bring that feature to us it can only enrich our experience and would be welcome.
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using xda premium

while we are wishing
Id prefer a data2ext that also takes none vital system app files and places them on a partition in the sd card, and ability to make the extension around 2 or 4 gigs, for those of us with 32 gig sdcards that can afford the lost space. with dual mount sd card function should never have to worry about removing or mounting the sd card to where its unreadable to the system. thats my vote

I've never really used A2SD even with my G1, however, having all my apps on a fresh install does seem like a nice feature. Personally, the internal memory is more than enough for me.
I guess its more of a nuisance than anything though (regarding installing apps on fresh boots).

Yes.
1) Make easier backups with A2EXT.
2) A2EXT loads faster than the laggy A2FAT.
3) You can always resize the partitions via Gparted.
4) Unlocks the full potential of Android devices.
Anyone who has an argument against A2EXT should stick with the iPhone.

Absolutely A2EXT,Data2EXT is very nice. being able to have all the apps and data ready to go for the same 15-40 apps with data i use on every rom.
depending on which rom im using equals more or less, but that would make things alot faster.
but its still fun individually installing each one.
Ive had this phone for a couple months now and have been doing more reading and research and have just begun to flash all the roms. having a few of them now, it would be nice to have A2EXT,DATA2EXT.
I thank everyone for their hard work and have a great day!! (baby cries gotta run)

sorry for the newbish question, but in Settings->Applications->Manage Applications, what does the "Move to SD Card" option do? Is that only to move the app's data to the SD Card? I've never used it before.

mat_oli said:
sorry for the newbish question, but in Settings->Applications->Manage Applications, what does the "Move to SD Card" option do? Is that only to move the app's data to the SD Card? I've never used it before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cyanogen explains it best. A2SD is where you move it to a part of the SD card formatted to EXT format. What Google calls "A2SD" is the result of a symlink-at-best feature that forces a placeholder for each app on the phone's internal memory with the added drawback that (unlike the real A2SD), when mounted to the hard drive, the apps on the Fat partition are unusable.

There was actually a "no" vote? What does it matter to the people who don't want it?

[email protected] said:
Absolutely A2EXT,Data2EXT is very nice. being able to have all the apps and data ready to go for the same 15-40 apps with data i use on every rom.
depending on which rom im using equals more or less, but that would make things alot faster.
but its still fun individually installing each one.
Ive had this phone for a couple months now and have been doing more reading and research and have just begun to flash all the roms. having a few of them now, it would be nice to have A2EXT,DATA2EXT.
I thank everyone for their hard work and have a great day!! (baby cries gotta run)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No rom I've flashed has wiped /data.

certainly not a top priority but why not?

verne2k said:
certainly not a top priority but why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm thinking.

Same here
Sent from my Senseless Doubleshot using xda premium

I'm surprised people actually care enough to vote "no." If you don't want A2EXT, let the grown-ups who know how to set it up partition their own SD cards and run the apps off of the EXT partition.

[Q] Swap, ext2/3/4(?) guide?

Ok first off hope everyone had a great holiday (or Christmas, as the case may be )
I have come to realize that alot of my issues may/may not have been caused by factors outside my phone or the rom I was attempting to install and use. I will give myself credit tho in that in all but one case I have managed to follow instructions to a "T" and have not experienced many/any of the issues that others have. Anyways, I got a new wireless router, and also a class 10 SD card. Some of my earlier connectivity issues are very rare now, and camera issues seem to be minimal also (assuming that the issue there was write speed to the card).
So I've really come to like a few of the roms, in particular one I'm liking right now VERY MUCH is MIUI 1.11.9. What a nicely put together package that is. I would really really like to stay with it.
However, it's huge. With that and two apps (Gmail and Facebook), I'm lucky if I have 14 mb left over. Obviously, this causes crashes and reboots left right and center. Camera usage is almost impossible. But, I'm willing to admit, the problem is likely my fault, because I have not done anything to manipulate swap/ext/etc on my sd card. I have the phone, and I have a formatted 16 gb class 10 sd card.
I've looked through 10 pages of threads and to be honest I'm finding it hard to know where to begin. I'm convinced, however, that if I can learn what swap ext/ext2/ext3 do, and how to create/use them..and whatever else, that MIUI and probably a few of the other roms will be amazing for me.
So is someone bored over the holidays here and can help either point me in the right direction of a Guide to do this, or maybe even write a bit about it for me? Assume I know nothing about how to create a swap, an ext, link2sd, any of it. I don't know how to use terminal emulator, modify or execute scripts...but I can learn!!
I realize that I'm asking for info that is probably obtainable by reading numerous other threads..but I can't find anything truly comphrensive..it's too bad threads couldn't be "stickied"...this subject seems crucial to me in order to get some of these roms to run ok. Many of them operate the same way: they take up 100 mb or so, and they don't allow for easy moving of apps to the SD card.
Anyways many thanks in advance if you can help. I'm sure there's a few others who could probably use a refresher in this also.

I'm learning alot about this and hope to update this thread with my own tips for how to do this in the coming days.
That is, if anyone is interested. If so, hit me with a msg.
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App

internal upgrade?
can someone tell me how to upgrade the internal memory because im getting very low in phone memory.. are there any solutions like using the 1GB for the internal memory of my 8GB card?

Well, you cant physically expand the memory but you can virtually via an extended primary partition and an app like link2sd.
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App

Hey acrobat69
I am pretty much the same boat as you. I have tried a bunch of ROMs, and I am still on 6.3 rc3 now.. went back and tweeked after learning some things and this is the least buggy for me at the moment.
I also do not use swap at the moment.. but this is also something that those in the know here on the Xt720 forums have debated.. how useful is it???
I would love to try swap.. or any other tips you might have.. so I at least will be listening.
I would like to get FM radio working on 6.3 rc3 too.. no luck so far.
I have found that when you overclock.. some speeds and Vsel work better in some roms.. or applications.
I saw one fellow who was running 800/48vsel - overall nice and great for battery usage.. but camera would not work at 48vsel.. would crash it .. running several highpower apps like wifi tether and gps at the same time would crash a low vsel set phone..
SO I know there are many factors that you can tune to make a rom work best for you.
James

When I get back to my PC, ill type something up on this for you as well as archer's other thread similar to this Q.

FYI, FM radio works since 6.3.0 RC4. Well at least as much as FM radio "works" on any of the non-stock-based ROMs at the moment-- volume control is difficult/problematic.
I think 6.3.6 is a good choice if you don't mind disabling the hardware button lights. And if it does bother you, I can make a patch that puts the lights back as the were in RC3 (but would disable notification leds).
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using xda premium

Ok so to answer a few of the above questions, I'll try to break it up into sections. Ext2/3/4, Swap and basic memory management.
Ext partitions: since our XT's are so low on memory, a fair while back some scripts were created to make it so that when you downloaded an app, it went into your ext partition and not to the internal. Remember that this was when we had 2.1 and Froyo was only a dream. As you know Froyo has the native App2sd function where you can move most of the app's data/function to your SD card via the .androidsecure folder on your card. Since this was not a function on 2.1 we needed a bypass. This was done by creating a EXT partition on your SDCard to bypass/hijack the installation process and "force" the apps to install to the SDCard rather than the meager internal memory. Since the grand old days, we have evolved that function from app2sd to app2ext where now the /cache can be moved over to the partition as well, in addition to apps like Link2sd with one-click UI to do it for you.
This is how to do it.
1 Make sure your ROM supports app2ext-it should be in that ROMs OP.
2 You need to use GParted or Minitool Partition Wizard to create your Ext2/3 partitions (do not create an Ext4 with either of these b/c they won't work correctly, most ROMs don't support it and you can convert it from 2/3 to 4 in MZ's open recovery).
3 You have a 16gb card and are asking what size should I make my partitions. They need to be in this order-FAT/EXT/SWAP from L->R. FAT is what it sounds like. It is your biggest sized one (and make it Primary/Bootable in your partition wizard). Your Ext is going to be up to you on the size. I usually recommend 350-450mb. Anything bigger is really wasted space. In fact, I chorgle to myself when I see people with 1gb Ext partitions b/c your average size app is usually about 7-12mb (with something like Angry Birds at a meaty 18mb). Remember that 1gb=1024mb. 12mb vs 1024mb-see what I am saying here?
4 So now you have your partitions set up. How do you activate it. You flash your ROM and let it settle down. Get ROOT and open a file manager and go to the ROOT. You will see a folder labeled SD-ext. Open this folder and make another folder called App (not Apps-no S) or if you are using Link2sd, you would put a folder called Link2sd (not LinkS2sd-again no S). Reboot and BAM!!!once it boots up, all your apps that you had will be in there and any new ones will be installed there saving you tons of internal space.
I'll cover Swap tomorrow b/c I am tired of typing for now but here is a thread on some unknown types of memory management that you can do on your own.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to make it as general as possible so that it wasn't too technical.

Woodrube thank you very much for that, indeed very helpful and to the point. Ill hit you with a thanks when back on my laptop.
James: debates nothwithstanding, I can't see how its possible to install one of these Roms and actually use it...and any decent number of apps with stability, without using the extended partition. I have not had any success until I learned how to do this. Therefore, were absolutely not going to debate it, just do it!
To Woodrubes excellent instructions I will add these tips, learned from Mio7's advice and trial and error:
- do any partitioning before you install your new rom, and do it via a card reader inserted into your computer, not by plugging the phone into the computer via usb.
- do not make the second partition fat. In some threads people said it worked however it never works for me. Create the second partition as ext2 , then go to open recovery and convert it to ext3
- use root explorer to create the folder in sd-ext as Woodrube advised. Make sure root explorer is in R/W mode not R/O or you wont be allowed to
- install Link2sd first of any program. It's when you're running link2sd it seems that you can't create the link for certain applications check the market to see if to the downloadable version then uninstall the app from the phone and reinstall it yourself then when you go back into linksd youll be able to create a link. I'm still experimenting with just how much I can rip out of the system and then reinstall myself so as to be able to move over to the sd card. Btw if the rom app manager wont let you uninstall, use the uninstall function in link2sd. It works, even tho it says "Failed" when done.
See the signature at the bottom of my thread that should be all you need to know about whether not the advice in this thread is good because I'm posting from my phone and I'm using voice to text
Next up I'm going to try installing other roms like MIUI or 7.1 to see you what ones this can be used on. I will post my successes and failures in this thread
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App

With regard to milestone overclock settings I'm currently running 900 and 60 and have achieved general stability with no crashes during picture taking or video recording
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App

Mio: Nooo don't disable LED its great the way it is. Who needs those backlights anyways the keys are far enough away to not need a light to tell my thumbs where to go by now
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App