Database Info

[DEV] /cache converted to swap

So as we all know /cache is used for OTA updates which, when you have your phone rooted is useless.
What I'm wondering is why we can't use /dev/block/mtdblock4 (aka /cache) as a permanent onboard swap partition. Granted it will only give us an additional 30MB but the speed of this swap will be higher than that of our sdcard.
In order to test this we'll have to:
convert this partition to a linux-swap partition.
mkswap /dev/block/mtdblock4
update init.rc to no longer mount this as yaffs2
add this new swap space to the swap script
The issue is of course being able to run a partition utility on the phone. Second, if this doesn't work we don't have a way to format /cache back to yaffs2 (that I know of).
If you have experience with any of the issues I listed above please comment/post. If you don't have a clue please don't post so we can keep this thread clean. I would appreciate only experienced devs responding.
If this is possible it would benefit Hero/MotoBlur ROMS which are memory intensive.

For your second concern, why would we need to change it back to /cache? Just make it a disclaimer when people attempt this operation.
More importantly, I think the primary issue is that this is rom space is it not? Doesn't this portion of the memory have a limited amount of times that it could be written to?

Hmm why not trying "parted /dev/block/mtdblock4" in recovery? ;-)
rest would be easy.

Couldn't we use mkyaffs2img (in recovery /sbin) to turn it back into yaffs?

persiansown said:
For your second concern, why would we need to change it back to /cache? Just make it a disclaimer when people attempt this operation.
More importantly, I think the primary issue is that this is rom space is it not? Doesn't this portion of the memory have a limited amount of times that it could be written to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well my concern was if there was some adverse effect of removing /cache from the system we'd need a way to revert back.
I am not aware of any MAX amount of times that /cache can be written to.
*Edited*
Due to unintelligent comments and moronism prevalent in this thread, I removed a line from this post to keep us on track of what this thread was meant to discuss.

There's another thing:
Recovery can't be used without /cache !
So we need to convert back each shutdown and convert to linux-swap each startup..

dumfuq said:
Couldn't we use mkyaffs2img (in recovery /sbin) to turn it back into yaffs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't checked in the recovery img for any yaffs2 utilities. But if that indeed does exist then this will be possible.
So then the issue would be, is this safe to attempt long term with the amount of writes being done to internal flash?

maxisma said:
There's another thing:
Recovery can't be used without /cache !
So we need to convert back each shutdown and convert to linux-swap each startup..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I see recovery is using it but the only thing in it is the recovery logfile. Could we modify the recovery to read/write the logfile to system/sd/recovery or something, or is the cache used for other stuff as well?

Another idea:
Instead of using it as swap, what if we could find a way to use it as compcache space? That way we don't sacrifice any of the internal ram for compcache and still have compcache running

maxisma said:
There's another thing:
Recovery can't be used without /cache !
So we need to convert back each shutdown and convert to linux-swap each startup..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What part of recovery needs /cache ? Does the recovery img mount the /cache partition? I'm wondering if the recovery img could be modified to write to the ext2 partition such as /system/sd/cache .

persiansown said:
Another idea:
Instead of using it as swap, what if we could find a way to use it as compcache space? That way we don't sacrifice any of the internal ram for compcache and still have compcache running
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is actually a good idea and it'd be interesting to see which way would benefit us more.

shafty023 said:
What part of recovery needs /cache ? Does the recovery img mount the /cache partition? I'm wondering if the recovery img could be modified to write to the ext2 partition such as /system/sd/cache .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you activate an option in recovery, for example install update.zip, it writes the command into /cache/recovery and does a "quick reboot", which reads out the command and does this.

ok first dont even try it would one
reduce life on nand
cause issues with flashing
slow down any thing accessing the nand.
to the person thinking the ram is using flash. you must have never been to high school cause even typing class explains what ram is. plus g1 has memory write speeds of about 120mb/sec thats sdram. swap will never replace ram 120mb/sec versus 6 is huge

if you want real improvements you must change the code to something more efficient.
less bloat
more native code
fewer clock cycles
improved app states(cache on sd that would save the state by dumping part of ram to load later reducing clock cycles and reducing ram)
and my favorite rewrite system libs and apps to include more native code and reducing ram usage.
btw native code is about 10-100x faster than android java. that means 10%-100% more speed(or less load)

you could make a swap file and put it on there and just mount the file...........

yeah what he said!
zenulator said:
you could make a swap file and put it on there and just mount the file...........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounds like a good idea, altho we would have to get compcache working with backing swap file.
do we know if the /cache speed is compaired to Class 6 microSD?

good luck hardheads

jokersax11 said:
ok first dont even try it would one
reduce life on nand
cause issues with flashing
slow down any thing accessing the nand.
to the person thinking the ram is using flash. you must have never been to high school cause even typing class explains what ram is. plus g1 has memory write speeds of about 120mb/sec thats sdram. swap will never replace ram 120mb/sec versus 6 is huge
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude honestly get a life. I have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. And I could code in Intel Assembly accessing each and every register in memory while you're left googling what Intel Assembly code means. Maybe you should keep up with the latest technology. If you did you'd know there are all-in-one memory chips that support NOR, NAND flash, and RAM.
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800466798_499486_NT_ab9e537f.HTM

jokersax11 said:
if you want real improvements you must change the code to something more efficient.
less bloat
more native code
fewer clock cycles
improved app states(cache on sd that would save the state by dumping part of ram to load later reducing clock cycles and reducing ram)
and my favorite rewrite system libs and apps to include more native code and reducing ram usage.
btw native code is about 10-100x faster than android java. that means 10%-100% more speed(or less load)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what type of "native code" are you referring to? And do you have any idea what type of memory the G1 uses for RAM? Go back to your typing class.

Shafty did you see Zenulator's idea? That seems like it could work.. Does the phone ever format the cache partition?

[SWAP] Swap on Internal * v0.5 alpha *

SWAP on internal
Extend your RAM with very quick internal SWAP
v0.5 alpha​
For the moment, the script is confirmed to work only on ROMs with the chinese x-part (or data2ext) by Atroy script only (read at the end of this post for alternative).
The only ROM I am aware of using this script out of the box is the excellent MIUI XJ x-part.
However, I intend to develop a non-loop based version shortly. It should will be compatible with most ROMs, so stay tuned.
What and Why
I decided to make a script that places the swap file on internal memory. Many people place it on SD card, but to me it seems somewhat pointless, as it hardly offers sufficient performance.
However, placing it on the internal memory makes it a much more interesting concept, because it has much better random read/write performance than even the fastest SD cards.
Warning: placing SWAP on internal memory will subject it to frequent read/write operations which in theory shortens lifespan of internal memory chip which you cannot replace. This is because flash memory has limited number of write/read cycles to it. So, consider yourself warned.
HOWEVER:
1 - although true, in reality I have been unable to find any case of this actually affecting anyone's phone. There is very limited amount of data documenting real-life effect of that process, but most likely your device will be long gone before the internal memory will show any signs of wear.
2 - the script recreates the swap file on each boot using different physical blocks of memory - this means not the same blocks are always used. More on this in 'Do it right' section.
Do It Right
1. 16-32 MB of swap should suffice. If you think you need more, you are probably wrong. NEVER use all available internal space. The larger the proportion difference between swap size and total free space on the internal data partition, the more breathing space your internal memory gets, as this allows the swap file to be moved around upon every reboot, which, in turn, will make it use the same blocks more rarely, and thus extending memory chip lifespan.
2. Get rid of bloat you don't use from the system partition, ie: ringtones, live wallpapers, useless system apps. Then create a custom
hboot with smaller system partition and larger data partition. You can do it using this (also attached to this post).
3. Play around with swappiness parameter. Still, the default set by the script should serve you well. But if you are paranoid, you can use it to further decrease how often system will write to swap.
Removal
Disable execution flag on the scipt in /system/etc/init.d and delete swap.img from internal data directory (on x-part scripts it is /mnt/asec/mtddata/ )
v0.5 alpha
* first public release
* loop device version only
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
x-part Impacted script (80% chance of rendering your ROM unbootable)
I attached a data2ext script which should offer better performance and battery life than some other a2sd scripts.
You are free to try and flash it on your ROM, but there is a good chance it won't boot any more - this is a very alpha version and I am not working on it at the moment.
Do not post complaints about it here. I only want to hear from you if it works!

So this allocates a part of your internal memory for random access? Nice.
I personally don't need more RAM, but this could be useful.

This sounds really good to my ears :good:
I will keep an eye on it.
Edit:
A small question:
So is it possible to use this for any rom if you are using data2ext for it?
Or atm only for miui xj?

Androidmarketuser said:
A small question:
So is it possible to use this for any rom if you are using data2ext for it?
Or atm only for miui xj?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to use Atroy's data2ext, which is virtually impossible to obtain because it was developed as part of chinese MIUI rom and never released as a separate script.
However, I have been working on it and I am attaching an alpha version of my adaptation of this script to the first post
Let me know if it works, but there is a good chance your ROM will not boot any more.

impactor said:
However, I have been working on it and I am attaching an alpha version of my adaptation of this script to the first post
Let me know if it works, but there is a good chance your ROM will not boot any more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer
I tried to install it on CM10 by vj but it didn't work. Here are my steps:
Wiped everything except sd
Installed rom, then data2ext script and finally the swap script.
I'm on a ext4 partition if it matters.
I think (not really sure) one script has created two folders: /data/ and /data-app/ on sdcard.
Or did I just install it the wrong way?
Edit: The problem was as you expected that it stucked at HTC bootlogo.

Androidmarketuser said:
Edit: The problem was as you expected that it stucked at HTC bootlogo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to try x-part script, then do not flash swap script until you confirm the x-part rom works.
Try with some GB rom. Maybe you'll have more luck.

impactor said:
If you want to try x-part script, then do not flash swap script until you confirm the x-part rom works.
Try with some GB rom. Maybe you'll have more luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try it out that way on JB first (I am addicted to the new design, can't go back:crying, if it doesn't work I will try it out with 2.3 anyway.
---------- Post added at 08:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:31 PM ----------
Ok on JB the data2ext script doesn't seem to work, I can't boot.
I will try it out later with a GB rom, propably EuroSkank

Hmm still doesn't work.
I tried MW7 on Redux2 but stucks at boot logo...

Custom hboot maker link from thalasmus blog is dead!
Can someone plz attach it here!
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda app-developers app

vasili_defy said:
Custom hboot maker link from thalasmus blog is dead!
Can someone plz attach it here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Attached.

Don't have swap on internal! The number of read/writes will just kill your nand by creating loads of bad blocks.
Just my 2 cents
Kind Regards
Dave

topgeardave said:
Don't have swap on internal! The number of read/writes will just kill your nand by creating loads of bad blocks.
Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And pray tell, apart from hearsay, what else do you have to support the claim that it will occur within foreseeable lifetime of the device?
I'd love to learn.

impactor said:
And pray tell, apart from hearsay, what else do you have to support the claim that it will occur within foreseeable lifetime of the device?
I'd love to learn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After flashing ROMs on my Desire for nearly 2 years I'm starting to get bad blocks on my nand. Having a swap partition on internal would accelerate the process of getting more bad blocks. That's what I think anyway. Check your recovery.log for bad blocks next time you wipe your phone.
Kind Regards
Dave
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda app-developers app

I tried this on Alex-V 1.8 and nothing happened
probably did something wrong
I'll try again later

topgeardave said:
After flashing ROMs on my Desire for nearly 2 years I'm starting to get bad blocks on my nand. Having a swap partition on internal would accelerate the process of getting more bad blocks. That's what I think anyway. Check your recovery.log for bad blocks next time you wipe your phone.
Kind Regards
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads-up. But I gave a clear warning about in the first post. After two years, my desire has 4 bad blocks, which amounts to less than 0.5mb of internal space (less than 0.1%). Everyone should make a concious decision about using internal swap.
It will degrade the memory chip, yes, but is the degradation significant enough to care? Everyone has to decide for himself.

impactor said:
Thanks for the heads-up. But I gave a clear warning about in the first post. After two years, my desire has 4 bad blocks, which amounts to less than 0.5mb of internal space (less than 0.1%). Everyone should make a concious decision about using internal swap.
It will degrade the memory chip, yes, but is the degradation significant enough to care? Everyone has to decide for himself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how can I check if it's running on my rom...?

Balino said:
how can I check if it's running on my rom...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into terminal and run "free"

impactor said:
Go into terminal and run "free"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says swap 0... I think woh's roms doesn't support swap....

[Q] Explorer partition size

I apologize if this information is available elsewhere. As you can see I am new to this. I HAVE searched endlessly through these forums but cannot find a definitive answer. You who know lots (if not all) please help.I have put JaggyRomV4.1 on my explorer. The instructions all say (in strangely identical wording) not to make your first (FAT32) partition larger than 2GB. For me that leaves 30GB for the sd-ext partition.
It would appear to me that it would make more sense the other way round. The sdcard partition is the only one read by a PC or phone's music player, so 2GB is nothing like big enough.
Assuming it is a good idea to increase the size of sdcard partition do we trust Mini tool's Partition wizard to re-size with no damage to data?

/SD ext partitions should not be greater than 2GB.
That was what it was saying
cm10 htc a310e k2.6 w /smooth of butter & broke Cam/corder

ptcpayme said:
/SD ext partitions should not be greater than 2GB.
That was what it was saying
cm10 htc a310e k2.6 w /smooth of butter & broke Cam/corder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me all the instructions read that /sdcard should not be greater than 2GB and that /sd-ext should be the rest. What you are
saying seems much more sensible.
Is Mini Tool Partition Wizard safe to use to resize, or will I lose my data and have to start again?
What are the dangers of a massive /sd-ext partition? It works fine at the moment.
Thanks for your reply

anyoneinracks said:
To me all the instructions read that /sdcard should not be greater than 2GB and that /sd-ext should be the rest. What you are
saying seems much more sensible.
Is Mini Tool Partition Wizard safe to use to resize, or will I lose my data and have to start again?
What are the dangers of a massive /sd-ext partition? It works fine at the moment.
Thanks for your reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No dangers,
It said that, because that Rom user dta2sd scripts, which will not be able to handle more than 2GB of /SD ext(if filled with apps). I assume you haven't filled it with apps. Even if you did,not much danger.
I don't know about mini tool. Take it's user guide and read. But it doesn't hurt to take a backup of /sdcard and a nandroid.
New to forum?
cm10 htc a310e w/ smooth of butter and broke Cam/corder

ptcpayme said:
No dangers,
I
I don't know about mini tool. Take it's user guide and read.
New to forum?
cm10 htc a310e w/ smooth of butter and broke Cam/corder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again. Guide does say it is safe to resize partitions without loss of data, but I wondered what experience people had had.

Blah. Now I find Mini Tool Partition Wizard does not work in Ext4!:crying:

anyoneinracks said:
Blah. Now I find Mini Tool Partition Wizard does not work in Ext4!:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wth do you need ext4? Just try ext3.
I do prefer cwm recovery partition (if I had a backup. )
Always do a nandroid before you attempt anything.
New to forum?
cm10 htc a310e Smoother than butter and broke Cam/corder

anyoneinracks said:
Thanks again. Guide does say it is safe to resize partitions without loss of data, but I wondered what experience people had had.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've partitioned mine with mini tool. It didn't make me lose my data. If you have free space on card, resize it and create ext using the UNused space. It'll not hurt your data on fat32.(in my case it didn't).
But it's recommended to backup.
Hit "THANKS". It encourages me.

Managed it OK.
Backed up /sd-ext, deleted that partition, used mini tool to expand /sdcard and make smaller /sd-ext partition (ext3).
recovered data into this new partition and all happy. Shame about the 32GB limit on the card as I have filled most of it with music!

I think we can go to 64 as well,even though not supported, I think.
CM10 HTC A310E ?>? & ??
▶LâTêS†↭ⓛⓘⓝⓚⓢ™◀

ptcpayme said:
I think we can go to 64 as well,
CM10 HTC A310E ?>? & ??
▶LâTêS†↭ⓛⓘⓝⓚⓢ™◀
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, never seen one that big - would probably cost as much as the phone at the moment

32 itself creates a problem for me.... opening gallery takes a lot of time.. I wonder what will happen with 64!!

m using the htcsense 4 build #8...so how do i mount my sd-ext and use it as internal...link2sd shows device in use and does not create the mount script

[MOD]TURBO BOOST - Dual Swap Space in Cache and Data Partition...

I just found this very interesting MOD on the HTC Sensation Forum and wanted to share it with you, since it's also available for our DS!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2145133
Basically they offer a script with which you can use your cache partition (and even the data partition) as swap and hereby boost your phones speed!
From the original Thread:
"The HTC Sensation has 768 MB ram and 4 GB internal eMMC memory. The eMMC is separated into several partitions (e.g. /system, /boot, /data, /cache). In former times of Android, the /cache partition was used for caching. Nowadays, in ICS times, the applications are using the /data partition to save information, libraries and cache data. So /cache is no longer used by the operating system or applications.
Therefore, this partition is empty except 4ext-logfiles, last recovery-log and an obligatory and empty lost+found directory. So we have got another 114 MB of space that can now be used as fast swap space for the kernel. As this is internal memory, it is faster, than a swap area on the sdcard!
TRY IT – YOU WILL BE CONVINCED AT ONCE!
If you are afraid of too many read/write requests to /cache, which may harm your eMMC memory of your phone, then don’t read further – we are not afraid, because there are also a lot of read/write requests to the /data partition as well and this is in Android “by design”."
Please post your questions, suggestions and problems in the thread above! Hope this Information might be useful
All Credits to delta-roh & Harbir! Thank them!

thanks

thanks for the introduction to our family. It could be better if you can leech a few paragraphs from that thread to this thread. and ye, put credits.

Swap support?
I have installed this mod but i cannot turn on the swap. The amidabuddha's kernel have swap support? I have read the topic but only z-ram support was pesent and z-ram support are disabled..

Can't turn swap on too,I use ROM is VierSaga 2.2.0,just report the results.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda app-developers app

Guys, I don't think this should be the support thread. Go to the original thread for help
Sent from my supercharged :tank:

thanks ...

Help, Need some advice for a good friend's GS2+

Hello everybody, I come from the Xperia arc forums, been on xda for a few months now and to be honest im still kind of a noob even if i learned a little bit about ADB and rom/kernel/mod installing.
A good friend of mine recently decided to switch from an iPhone 4s to a GS2+ but has no clue about root roms ect so he asked me to tweak up his phone and i want to show him the full android potential on samsung's great hardware (without bricking anything hopefully)
I know the "what's the best" discussions are not allowed but since my friend will pass me the phone for no more than a day i dont have all the time to test every rom out there so i want some advice on the following:
What are the most stable and successful roms for GS2+? What great features do they have?
What are the most successfull and most of all SAFE kernel for GS2+?
Are GS2 roms compatible on GS2+?
I was planning on partitioning the internal memory and add a 512mb swap partition, i wanna avoid swapping sdcard cause of lower speeds and sd lifetime issues. is it reccomended to swap internal memory?
is there anything in particular about this model that i should keep in mind to avoid bricking this phone?
are most of the internal partitions EXT4 or do i need to convert them in order to increase performance?
Any other advices? i've already flashed with a Note and a Galaxy ACEi but im new to this phone.
Any quick help would be greatly appreciated, he's gonna gimme his phone in a couple of days...

Dr.SAM88 said:
What are the most stable and successful roms for GS2+? What great features do they have?
You can check here. Babba ROM and Pandamonium ROM are recommended if you want something stable though not as perfect. I haven't try out Babba ROM and I can't make a comparison. Do check them out.
What are the most successfull and most of all SAFE kernel for GS2+?
I have not tested the kernels, but you can check here and see the review.
Are GS2 roms compatible on GS2+?
No.
I was planning on partitioning the internal memory and add a 512mb swap partition, i wanna avoid swapping sdcard cause of lower speeds and sd lifetime issues. is it reccomended to swap internal memory?
Can't speak for this one.
is there anything in particular about this model that i should keep in mind to avoid bricking this phone?
I guess no, I rooted and installed custom ROM by following the guidelines and everything is ok.
are most of the internal partitions EXT4 or do i need to convert them in order to increase performance?
Can't speak for this one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope these help.

Dr.SAM88 said:
Hello everybody, I come from the Xperia arc forums, been on xda for a few months now and to be honest im still kind of a noob even if i learned a little bit about ADB and rom/kernel/mod installing.
A good friend of mine recently decided to switch from an iPhone 4s to a GS2+ but has no clue about root roms ect so he asked me to tweak up his phone and i want to show him the full android potential on samsung's great hardware (without bricking anything hopefully)
I know the "what's the best" discussions are not allowed but since my friend will pass me the phone for no more than a day i dont have all the time to test every rom out there so i want some advice on the following:
What are the most stable and successful roms for GS2+? What great features do they have?
What are the most successfull and most of all SAFE kernel for GS2+?
Are GS2 roms compatible on GS2+?
I was planning on partitioning the internal memory and add a 512mb swap partition, i wanna avoid swapping sdcard cause of lower speeds and sd lifetime issues. is it reccomended to swap internal memory?
is there anything in particular about this model that i should keep in mind to avoid bricking this phone?
are most of the internal partitions EXT4 or do i need to convert them in order to increase performance?
Any other advices? i've already flashed with a Note and a Galaxy ACEi but im new to this phone.
Any quick help would be greatly appreciated, he's gonna gimme his phone in a couple of days...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are the most stable and successful roms for GS2+? What great features do they have?
Best stable ROM is latest official with k2wl kernel (and don't forget to remove unnecessary apks)
What are the most successfull and most of all SAFE kernel for GS2+?
k2wl
Are GS2 roms compatible on GS2+?
Absolutely NO
I was planning on partitioning the internal memory and add a 512mb swap partition, i wanna avoid swapping sdcard cause of lower speeds and sd lifetime issues. is it reccomended to swap internal memory?
Forget this old method dude. 4Gb of internal space is more than you need for your apks
is there anything in particular about this model that i should keep in mind to avoid bricking this phone?
This model is a rock. the only method for bricked it is... i don't know any method (with odin you can always survive you phone)
are most of the internal partitions EXT4 or do i need to convert them in order to increase performance?
Forget old methods and open your mind

klurosu said:
are most of the internal partitions EXT4 or do i need to convert them in order to increase performance?
Forget old methods and open your mind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New to android and rooted my phone first time through this forum's guide. I wanted to install apps on SD so as App to Mgr failed I went ahead with Link 2 SD and partitioned my SD card. But i created a partition system of EXT2. Does that matter?