Optimizing Surface, removing unneeded files/programs - Microsoft Surface

Hey guys,
Has anyone managed to free up more space on the HDD of Surface yet? Are there any unneeded programs, old updates, etc that we can delete to get a bit more room on the HDD? I read a tweet the other day and someone had managed to free up quite a bit of space without removing any functionality, I was out and about at the time and forgot to favorite the tweet so I can't find out anymore information.

Related

Today plugin and SIP memory

I'm having trouble with this shared memory. I can't get stuff like calligrapher to load up about half the time. I have using SKTools DELETED completely many today plugins, and all other SIPs from HTC. My today screen is also completely empty. Still I have trouble loading anything other than the keyboard. Even transcriber won't load sometimes. Any ideas how to find out what's taking up today memory? Or how to increase it?
Any luck on this?
I'm curious, too. Granted, Calligrapher, PCM keyboard, Ultimate Launch eith PhoneAlarm, Weatherpanel, and a bunch of other smaller plugins might be too much to ask, but I seem to get the best results when I ask just a bit too much. I'd gladly sacrifice some program memory to have all my sips at the ready. I'd even take a walk though a kitchen & build my own rom if i could increase this tiny memory pocket reserved for sips & today. Anyone care to be a hero & explain it?
Calligrapher only, load with lnk
but still empty today screen.

'Not enough storage is available to complete this operation.' <-- Lies :/

OK im annoyed now - i flashed a new rom last month and it was beautiful up until last week ish when all my streaming apps just stopped working claiming that 'Not enough storage is available to complete this operation.' - i get this error message (or variations) in rss hub, windows media player, TCPMP, the streaming media app, youtube video just fails, and others. really starting to p*** me off now as i cant do anything with my phone
i have over a gig free on the storage card and over 200mb free of internal flash - what the hell is going on!?
if anyone can shed some light on this i would be most grateful
cheers
fusi
ok well i give up forum searches have suggested the only 'fix' is to hard reset. lol that totally sucks i havent figured out whats causing it - one day it was working - the next it wasnt im gonna flash genesis tonight sod it so im banking on that clearing it out - hope this doesnt happen again
Edit - nevermind.
Dunno what's going on, but maybe you needed to check your temp folders. I've found big files in \windows\temp before after streaming hulu and other videos.
Get a memory management software like Memaid or Advacnced Config. and be sure everything except for PIE cahes to your storage card.
Then clean your system.
Thanks for the suggestions guys - i re-flashed in the end but if it happens again ill do as you suggest - though im pretty sure i had loads of space free on the flash and sd as well as ram
cheers!
Are you sure the message was for storage memory and not just memory? You can run out of virtual program memory pretty easily on a lot of roms (just read the 6.5 thread in hacking), even if you have plenty of free ram.
the message i got was exactly as is displayed in the topic of this thread - nice and vague isnt it ^^;
im pretty sure there were no memory issues of any kind on the device at the time of the problem - everything worked apart from streaming - pretty sure the OS got itself confused somehow - hohum!
Try creating a folder in \windows called "cache". Then see if junk appears there (it may require a reset to work). In sk tools, it shows \windows\cache as a junk directory, but I think you have to create the folder to see it.
thats quite an ingenious suggestion - if it happens again ill have a look and report the findings ^^;
cheers
fusi
Don't get too excited yet, lol. Yesterday, I downloaded some youtube vids to main memory and then cut and paste them to my sd card. But the memory wasn't released for whatever reason, even though the files weren't showing up anymore. I deleted them with sk tools, but didn't think of making the cache folder til later. I haven't been able to replicate the un-released memory since then.
Ok, so I was messing around with youtube (watching Danger Island, lol). I found that if I opened total commander w/o closing youtube (used voice command), there are a bunch of temp files in the windows\youtube folder. There was a 3 MB .dat file and a 10 MB temp.3GP file. The latter was clearly the video. When I closed youtube, all the temp files disappeared. I suspect that something is going wonky with your temp files clearing out, or that watching big streaming vids dumps a massive file into main memory that gives the errors. The only way to find them is to look while the streaming app is running. (You can pause it, I'm sure).

[Q] Android Developers, why are you treating my SD card like a garbage can?

This has been bothering me for quite a while, so I conjured a little story to help sooth my frustration.
Lets say my Android device is the new tenant of a nicely formated loft, this loft being 16gb of square space. To commemorate this new exciting space my device throws a house party. Most of the Apps he invites are pretty well behaved, but some start spilling drinks, then puking on the carpet, then having an orgy, then bukkake-ing the root directory. After discovering such acts, the device politely requests the disruptive guests force quit and leave. "I need more space on my phone." the device replied as each questioned on their way out. To his disbelief, NONE of the Apps cleaned up their mess! Even worse it seems some of the classier Apps, though more organized seem to have been influenced too. Unfortunately the device is forced to live with it, as the police force stopped responding to calls in his neighborhood. One man tries, but it always returns to a mess.
I hope that entertained someone.
i know exactly how you feel... there is at least 7 unused folders just wasting space on my phone. not to mention random mp3's hidden deep within my phone...
PhxkinMassacre said:
i know exactly how you feel... there is at least 7 unused folders just wasting space on my phone. not to mention random mp3's hidden deep within my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you understand about the unused folders and NOT the bukkake-ing!!
hello, nice story!
I won't say that I am even close to being a developer but I do develop some apps and the thing that I wan't to point out is that apps do not run when they are installed or uninstalled. It's not each application job to clear up the mess it may have created but package manager's which apparently leaves some files be just in case you would like to reinstall the app later(?)...
I would propose to look for a more efficient package manager or doorman/janitor for your loft
That's why I don't invite the guy whos only existence is to make farting noises!
Very good point. However, one thing I don't know is if uninstalling through the market cleans up the SD card better than using a third party mass uninstall app. Something you may want to experiment with.
Back at it again...
Here I am again, and I still don't flippin get it!
After reading some of your comments I realized my main point kind of got glazed over(no pun intended @Scudderb)
My big issue is that there's no hierarchy in place for this crap. In windows, program files are stored in the 'Program Files' directory. In Android (and I credit google and the developers for this sloppy BS) Apps are just throwing all their **** in with my stuff on the ROOT.
How is this acceptable. Seriously, HOW? And if its all cache files and/or temporary documents than WHY THE **** ISN'T ALL THIS CRAP BEING PUT INTO A TEMP/CACHE FOLDER.
I'm PISSED! Why does every app I install get to put their own folder on the ROOT WITH the FOLDERS and FILES that actually matter to me ex: like my music, pictures, movies, documents (OH and by the way, a lot of apps developers do a REALLY ****ty job with their NAMING CONVENTIONS so the folders being created may or may not even look related to the app that put it there!)
::end rant::
My apologies for the colorful language, folder structure and hierarchy are something I design as a web designer so when I see this crap going on in my phone like the inmates are running the asylum... I get angry.
Today I was cleaning up my SD card for the umteen'th time, and found that Foursquare was dumping its temp files directly onto the root of my directory. I blew my top and had to get it out of my system... so..
A MESSAGE TO ALL THE APPS PULLING THESE SHENANIGANS: GROW UP!
The problem here is that it's hard to do it right
For custom data, files are supposed to be saved into "/data/data/com.appname/blah" (that's from the top of my head, could differ slightly). That's the directory to use for data files, but there's one big issue with it: it's on the internal memory storage. We all know that internal memory on Android (without custom ROMs) is.. limited. That's probably why most devs are using SD for larger files.
There's also the "Android/data/com.package_name.blah/blah" directory on the SD card. This directory should be used by apps to store files into and is automatically deleted when the user removes the associated app (but only when you're running Froyo or greater).
The issue with this approach is that users (and developers too, when testing the app) will lose all their data when removing an old version of a specific app. Let's say there's a bug with the Market again and the app suddenly gets uninstalled. User will have to reinstall, result: data will be all gone. That's only one of the many doom scenarios.
I can't speak for other developers, but that's more or less the reason why I started to use a common directory outside of the preferred ones when I was doing apps. It's not a great situation, I fully agree. But would you rather have your data accidentally deleted?
If anyone knows a good way to get around this issue, I'd love to know more about it...
orly
Thanks for the reply @Stripeymilk
I can think of multiple solutions:
#1 Development community adopts a universal directory for files deemed 'User' or 'Save' data that should be stored for future use. (or Google creates this for developers)
#2 Development community adopts the practice of allowing users to pick the directory users want to store an apps data in. (prompt at app's first start)
#3 Store files/data in the cloud.
#4 Users dump trash in the lobbys/living-rooms of developer's and see how quickly they find a solution.
#5 USE THE "Android/data/com.package_name.blah/" FOLDER WHEN ALL YOU'RE REALLY DOING IS STORING CACHE/TEMP FILES!!!
BOTTOM LINE: Its not hard to do it right, Its just hard to get people to do it.
You make it sound so easy
1) I'm all for it, but Google needs to put its weight behind an approach like that because otherwise people will say "I like /Data better than /data or /Mydata or /MyData". It's a bit like coding conventions: everyone wants to be different.
2) Good for techy people, not so good for "normal" users. Could make it easier with a small "file manager", but that's too much work for indie devs. Could be a nice idea for a new open source project though.
3) Great idea, could actually work if the associated account would be created automatically (like in Cut the Rope for Android with Scoreloop), but:
- The backup functionality in Android for storing data in the cloud is available for API level 8 and greater, making it of not so much use when you're targeting API level 5 or 6 and greater. Could be fixed by using something like Google Storage combined with Jets3t instead, but that would be useless for apps written in C++, like many games are.
- Cloud storage isn't free. Developers can't pay for that as it would be too expensive. If every Android user would've gotten free cloud storage from Google it could be a nice alternative, but (yeah, there's always a but) most current users don't have that.
4) If you're prepared to send your trash by plane to another country, go for it!
5) Agreed. Useful for temp data.
I'm not trying to make it sound easy, believe me I know how it isn't. I'm trying to make it sound simple, because really.. it is...
In response:
1) I agree and this is exactly what I mean by the real hard part is getting people to do it. This requires widespread endorsement by developers big and small - that this is a 'best practice' that should be adhered to. I think the gate swings both ways though.
example: Twitter didn't invent hash tags, their users did, and with its widespread adoption, Twitter adopted/implemented it too.
2) Another good point, though this process can be curated to drive the user in the right direction (holding their hand). The XBOX 360 does this for every game you play, the first thing it does is ask you which storage device you want to use for game saves.
example: in combination with solution # 1, the default folder the app saves to could be '/data/theAppsName' and the prompt could say "This app saves files to your SD CARD in '/data/theAppName'. Would you like to choose a new location?" [Yes] [No] [?]. The [Yes] option brings up a simple file manager, the [No] option uses that location, the [?] option brings up an easy to understand write up on what its asking and why its asking it.
3) We'll get there eventually, my point really was if you've got the resources, why not. Its a solution better than #1 and #2
4) I plan on sending human clones to create trash individually and exponentially
5) AMIRITE~!
In all seriousness though, thank you @Stripeymilk for taking the time to go in depth and have a conversation about this. I seriously think it doesn't take an act of Godogle to solve this (to what I beleive) is a big issue!
I can't agree more with you.
As developer (Windows, iSeries) I try to make my programs as structured and readable as possible. The same goes for the files and folders used used by the programs, but sadly, even with all the available resources, some people (colleagues) make a complete mess of it, cause "that's not/less important", as long as the program does what it's intended to do ...
It's all about the resources and people using them the right way!
Cool, didn't know about the hash tags on Twitter
Well, we're on a great site here with developers on it. If everyone here would adhere to the same standard, it could at least be a nice push to make the Android SD card world a better place.
What's the directory we're going to settle on? Any pros and cons?

[Q] Internal Storage Full Issue

So I check my Xoom out this morning and Boom "Low on Space 'Tablet storage space is getting low'. It is impossible that I filled all of the space. I looked at my breakup and i have about 6Gb of music and it says the rest is completely full due to applications. I look at my applications but I only have about 3GB worth of application and data attributed to saves (manually counting). For the most part, besides the stock honeycomb apps, these apps are the same that I have on my Droid1. Which has much smaller storage. Somehow some app is taking up all the space (which i can't identify), the OS is corrupted, or I have a virus. Everything else has been pretty mainstream applications.
I have the OTA update and my Xoom has never been rooted.
Is anyone else having this problem?
A lot of people got this issue. It is being discussed in the Motorola official Xoom forum. But still no one know what's the root cause.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
gogol said:
A lot of people got this issue. It is being discussed in the Motorola official Xoom forum. But still no one know what's the root cause.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the quick response. I guess its good to know I'm not the only one. Hopefully it gets fixed soon.
The link to the issue on the moto forums is
https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/46601?start=0&tstart=30
Hi Everyone,
For those users not yet experiencing this but wants to see whats going on, I made a video. There is also a way to check to see if this is occurring to you by checking out your internal storage on the Xoom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWFeq0Qj3iA
Is there anyone else experiencing this issue on their Xoom?
It happened to me last night while playing WordFeud. I get the two line message "Low on space" and "Tablet storage space is getting low"
There is no way that I am using 25 gig in applications.
Thanks,
Dan
My initial guess is that it is Application specific. My xoom has 628Mb for Applications. I think maybe some app that each of you is using is continuing to pull in data and not deleting it over time. Maybe something like a news stream or something else. I would chat with the others having this problem and see what similar apps you have.
Just a thought. Sounds odd, I agree.. but.. a place to start. Maybe akin to a memory leak.
Thanks for the quick reply, eaglecomm. Your suggestion makes sense. In looking around a little this morning, I see that some people thought it might be the Google Body app, which I had installed. I uninstalled it, but it didn't make a difference.
It turns out that there is a fix coming in the next update.
The thread is at the Motorola Owners Forum titled 'XOOM Storage is Full' problem - 47 apps takes up 27 GB?
Since I am a new member here, I cannot post the actual link.
I thought I would post this info for any other Xoom owners that are have this concern.
I am glad to see it is being addessed.
Thanks,
Dan
My Xoom is not indicating that it is low on storage, but the applications do seem to be taking up an inordinate amount of space. Funky little bug.
On a positive note, it is good to know that the functionality of this device will only get better over time.
Tombstones
Are any of you able to look at the sizes of the files in /data/tombstones? I had the same problem and did some digging and found a tombstone file that is 19 GB. It appears to have been generated by a browser crash. If any of you are having the problem can you open a terminal and go to /data/tombstones and find the biggest file and type cat (name of biggest file) and tell us the name of the process (listed after pid). You may need to be rooted and may need busybox for cat to work. I doubt it's only the browser... I'm curious to know if it's a honeycomb thing with how it tombstones app crashes.
Have you tried using a cache cleaner ? I use 1 Tap Cleaner and Fast Cache Cleaner .
Try using DiskUsage to view what is using up your storage. If you're rooted it gives you even more options to view specific folders. If you've ever used WinDirStat then this is the closest thing android has to it that I've found.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage
Although Moto is promising an update "soon" to fix this, the problem has been getting reported on for over 45 days now. Some people were hit with this early and some more recently - like myself. This one was sort of the last straw for me. I had to do a factory reset on mine (in Settings) in order to resolve this issue; which hasn't reared its ugly head again since. However, between that mess, and no SD card, SMS, etc, I finally got fed up and rooted mine so that I could use the Tiamat kernel and at least add a 32 GB SD card in the slot provided. Rooting also allowed for Clockwork Recovery (which I love) so making modifications is much easier. If and when Motorizon decides to provide us with the 4G update, then I'll flash it back to stock. However, in the right here and now, I needed a tablet for my work and didn't have the luxury to sit around with my hands tied and wait for Moto to finally have pity on us and provide what they hyped us with. The XOOM has become too integral a part of my work and home life. The product answered a lot of needs - some I didn't even realize that I had. I'll just have to do the extra step now of flashing back to stock when (and if) update time finally comes around. Until then, I'm moving forward and I've got WORK to do!! Yippee kyy-yaayyyy!!
I have this problem and looked in my folders trying to find large files using ES File Explorer. I have found a repeating set of folders here:
/sys/module/usbhid/drivers/hid:generic-usb/module/drivers/hid:generic-usb/module
These folders keep going and going and going. I tried to look at the properties of the sys/module folder but the file size kept going and going and going. I ran it all night and it was still running in the morning at 1.25GB and counting. Is it safe to delete the repeating set of folders? Does anyone know what these folders are used for?
Deanne
DeanneJensen said:
I have this problem and looked in my folders trying to find large files using ES File Explorer. I have found a repeating set of folders here:
/sys/module/usbhid/drivers/hid:generic-usb/module/drivers/hid:generic-usb/module
These folders keep going and going and going. I tried to look at the properties of the sys/module folder but the file size kept going and going and going. I ran it all night and it was still running in the morning at 1.25GB and counting. Is it safe to delete the repeating set of folders? Does anyone know what these folders are used for?
Deanne
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks to me like a recursive bug where the folder or device is continually being created inside itself, it would cause everything from unstable os to complete unresponsiveness and even filling up the storage.
Macbots drool as I XOOM through the Galaxy to my hearts Desire.

[Q] NOOB needs help!!!!

ok, I referred here by a friend after explaining what is going on.... my wife has a sharp FX plus... and it has been a problem since day one with the memory... I read the Q & A sticky, but don't know what I need to do in order to fix the problem so once I figure that out I should be ok.
the sharp says storage device is full on phone, if she gets two text messages it is full, she repeatedly daily has to uninstall games and erase all messages the phone does not give the option to move unused apps to the sd card or to erase unused apps, not to mention if she has mms on she can't receive texts and if she has text on she can't download mms.... like I said I'm new to all this... does anyone know how to fix this she loves the phone and the slide out keyboard and hates how big new phones are so I'm here to see if I can find a fix.... please help so I can put a smile on the wifes face!!!!
wow, not even a shot in the dark.... thats crazy.... I know there has got to be something....there is stuff all over the web so I guess I'm off to search.... I've softmodded alot of console so I should be able to get it down pretty quick, just need a direction to go.....
Need more info
basswiigee said:
The phone does not give the option to move unused apps to the sd card or to erase unused apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean here... It sounds like your saying you have to "use" the app first in order for it to be moved or erased? Which im sure is not the case.
Respond with details of what ROM/ android version, build, memory option, etc. These are things needed to know before any help can be given because suggestions vary especially if you are rooted.
... But try this first, go to settings --> Storeage --> Internal memory and respond with either a screen shot or details if privacy is an issue. I would figure you will find the 'heavy' items there to delete... usually multimedia and not apps are the culprit.

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