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[Q] 'Reserved space and content from other computers'..WHAAAT???

Hi,
I have been searching around but cannot find an answer to this...my WP7 in Zune is coming up with 2.77GB of 'reserved space and content from other computers'....now that seems like alot especially when I only have 8GB in the first place!
Now I've read things saying...reduce the amount of space reserved for apps in Zune and I've done that its down to 1% but still it is showing this huge amount of space reserved.
I have spoken to Zune Support on Twitter and their answer was to do a factory reset and re-install all my apps one by one. Does this sound right to everyone else? Should I really have to do all that?
Lastly (and sorry about the mini-rant) I have a Zune Pass and I have also read that by resetting my phone it will make Zune recognise it as a brand new device and therefore reduce the amount of devices I can use my Zune Pass on....is this correct?
Thanks for all you help everyone

Do you have a lot of apps etc?

You Silly!
Just go to Zune device settings (on top of the zune client, of course, you need to have your phone connected), and then go to the "Reserved space" link from the list on the left side. Then reduce it to whatever percentage of your phone's memory you want. Basically, reserved space is a certain percentage of the storage on your phone that is put aside for app installs, pdfs, docs, etc. So when you fill up your phone with pictures, music, and videos, you would have some space for ... other things.
There is no reseting required whatsoever.

I dont have that many apps.....and I have done what you said already (reduced to 1%) and still I have this huge amount of space taken up...its just annoying!

I completely understand the problem of sergoiacobucci.
On my HD7 (16GB) there is also 1.36GB reserved space for "content of other computers", even though I reduced the reserved space in the settings to 0%.
If I play around a little with the percenteges the reserved space goes down from everything I have left on my device to 1.5GB at 1% and 1.36GB at 0%.
Meaning I also can't get it any lower.
Of course your problem is 4 times more annoing than 8% gone on a 16GB device, but I'd still like to know whatfore this space is used/how to use it for myself.

kapanak said:
You Silly!
Just go to Zune device settings (on top of the zune client, of course, you need to have your phone connected), and then go to the "Reserved space" link from the list on the left side. Then reduce it to whatever percentage of your phone's memory you want. Basically, reserved space is a certain percentage of the storage on your phone that is put aside for app installs, pdfs, docs, etc. So when you fill up your phone with pictures, music, and videos, you would have some space for ... other things.
There is no reseting required whatsoever.
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He stated in the OP that he's already lowered this to 1%.

OP have you ever synced with more than one computers?

Pretty sure the reserved space includes space taken up by anything outside of media. I just downloaded a game and my reserved space went from 1.22 GB to 1.32 GB. I wouldn't worry about it too much, it sounds like you just have a lot of non-media data on your phone.

I don't know about the reserved space thing but as for Zune Pass. You can remove devices from your 4 devices in the settings. So adding a new device wont take up your 4, just remove the old one from the list
Settings > Account > Computers and Devices

sayonical said:
OP have you ever synced with more than one computers?
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are you suggesting this might be causing the issue? i'm syncing with 2 pc's and my available space has gone from 3.02GB to 2.12GB with only a few apps installed and 1GB of music. i'm not concerned about the "shrinking space" now, but would like to know how it's used/allocated.

Hi everyone and thanks for the replies.
I have only ever connected it to one computer.....i just un-installed about 3 games and it has reduced the reserved space from 2.77GB to 2GB...so maybe the games take up alot more space than I realised...
Bit of a worry though to be honest, as more and more good apps/games come out I am going to quickly run out of space!

it depends on the games tbh. most games are small, but the big ones which we all like take up quite a bit (e.g. need for speed and guitar hero).

The Gate Keeper said:
it depends on the games tbh. most games are small, but the big ones which we all like take up quite a bit (e.g. need for speed and guitar hero).
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It says on the marketplace page how much space each application/game takes up. It's down near the bottom where it says "released dd/mm/yyyy, version x.x.x.x, xxMB".
For example, "The Sims 3" is 113MB, "Guitar Hero 5" is 201MB, and "Monopoly" is 24MB. So, there's a good range of sizes.
I can't find this info in the Zune software, though, so I think it's only in the marketplace on the phone.

yeah, I've got a lot of games on my phone and even though I have it set at 5% (I think the standard setting), it is reserved at about 4gb of stuff. But I have about 20-30 games (about 12 xbox live titles), like harvest, need for speed, etc.
I don't worry about it. I don't put a ton of music on my phone since I have zune pass.

I know exactly what you mean and here's an article explaining it as well as how to somewhat resolve it. http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2009...content-from-other-computers-if-any-quot.aspx

That explains a lot. Thanks for sharing that!

okay. so far so good. but i experience some problem about this reserved space: i am not able to change it. i can move the bar so i get different percentages but it does not take any effect.
this is frustrating because im not able to put anything new to my device...
any ideas?

The_Chiller said:
okay. so far so good. but i experience some problem about this reserved space: i am not able to change it. i can move the bar so i get different percentages but it does not take any effect.
this is frustrating because im not able to put anything new to my device...
any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd suggest wiping the system like I'm going to. I have 2.67GB of reserved space that I can't get rid of, and I followed the instructions from that link. Wiping it might do the trick.

I'm having this problem as well. What is the point of having a reserved space?! Why can't the space just fill up like usual and let me delete stuff when it gets completely full? There is no reason for a reserved space (in my mind) that can't be removed without starting all over.
My reserved space has filled up to 2.5gb and says I have 0.0 free space on the zune software. When I go check my phone however, it says I have 565mb free. So this means I can't sync anymore music even though my phone says it has 1/2 gb free?

Thanks for the link!
I always had this problem whenever I sync with my mac after syncing with zune on windows 7. However I did figure out a work around. I use the "I choose" sync method and simply drag all my playlists to the hd7 icon. Whenever I the reserve space issue occurs, I simply re-drag back the playlists and the sync groups are essentially recreated without having to resync the music.

[Q] RAM observations

I have my Nexus S for over two weeks now, and I'm incredibly happy with it. Theming is a lot of fun, and you can do very cool stuff even without root and custom roms!
However, there is one (strange) thing I've noticed. It's about the RAM.
For your information: I use Go Launcher which has a tab in the App Drawer with running applications, and a button to close all (you can exclude certain apps). When I boot up my phone, I have 170-180 MB free RAM. The following programs (and widgets) are running in the background (I have excluded them from the close all list): Go SMS Pro (widget, notifications), WhatsApp (notifications), Lookout, Extended Controls (widget), Wiget Locker (I made it look like the MIUI lockscreen) and Clockr (widget).
There are two more apps that are on constantly, and those are the Miren Browser and PlayerPro. I don't know why Miren Browser keeps turning itself on. When I check how much MB it uses, it says 0,00 dB... As for PlayerPro, I use a widget called Phantom Music Control, a widget that hides itself when no music is being played. I also use it on my lockscreen. This widget controls PlayerPro, so that is probably why PlayerPro has to be running all the time (so that it can start up quickly when needed).
There are some Google apps that turn themselves on, like Gmail and Places, and they actually use RAM according to Go Launcher. I don't want them to be running, and synchronization is turned off with Gmail. When I want to know if I have mail, I open Gmail. It doesn't have to be running all the time. I've never used Places, and I never will use it, so I don't know why that has to be running all the time.
Every once in a while I hit Close All (with Go Launcher). However, I've noticed that over time my free memory keeps lowering. When I boot up my phone it is around 175 MB, but at the end of the day the free memory is 100 MB, 70 MB or even 50 MB, and yes, even after I've hit the 'Close All' button.
I know I don't use my phone very efficient, with programs like Go SMS, Widget Locker and that Music Control widget, and I will flash a custom rom later. My RAM memory will probably increase then (I've read something about Supercurio's kernel including a boost RAM management). It just bothers me that I don't have control over what programs are running (Gmail and Places), and that my free memory decreases over time. I haven't noticed any slow downs, I'm just worried. Or shouldn't I?

I don't know about the rest, but you shouldn't be concerned about free memory.
Android is designed in a way that all programs keep running (sleeping actually) in the background even when you don't use them at the moment. They are automatically killed when the system needs memory for something else. Any program that is sent to the background (e.g. by pressing back or home) can be killed by the system at any time and is (should be) ready for it.
Basically, the less free memory you have, the better. That means that many of the apps you use are running and you can return to them without delay.
There are some articles floating around the web about the architecture of android and process/application life cycle. They explain that better then me, and in more detail.

cgi said:
I don't know about the rest, but you shouldn't be concerned about free memory.
Android is designed in a way that all programs keep running (sleeping actually) in the background even when you don't use them at the moment. They are automatically killed when the system needs memory for something else. Any program that is sent to the background (e.g. by pressing back or home) can be killed by the system at any time and is (should be) ready for it.
Basically, the less free memory you have, the better. That means that many of the apps you use are running and you can return to them without delay.
There are some articles floating around the web about the architecture of android and process/application life cycle. They explain that better then me, and in more detail.
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First of all, thanks!
So I don't have to be afraid of any slow down? And what about Gmail and Places turning themselves on every time, even if I don't use them?
And why does the free memory decrease over time, but increases again when I turn off and boot up my phone?

Androyed said:
So I don't have to be afraid of any slow down? And what about Gmail and Places turning themselves on every time, even if I don't use them?
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More like the opposite: your RAM is being put to good use.
When your PC get's low on RAM it will start swapping and trashing around. Your smartphone has no swap and is optimized for it. If it get's low on RAM, it will just kill some stuff in the background. All this happens without you noticing anything (if the app is programmed correctly).
I don't know about Gmail and Places. Most likely they are running because they registered broadcast receivers or something.
Androyed said:
And why does the free memory decrease over time, but increases again when I turn off and boot up my phone?
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Every app is running in its own dalvik virtual machine process. Since creating a new VM process is expensive (in terms of processing time), the VM processes are reused to some degree. One app is unloaded, the new one is loaded.
There is more stuff going on behind the scenes, of course. There are likely some spare VMs sleeping in the background waiting for an app to use them.
However, the heap (dynamically allocated memory of a process) of a VM can only grow and never shrink (don't ask me why). So after a few apps or so a VM process is restarted, too.
To come back to your question: When your device boots up, only the processes needed for boot are running. That will be the launcher, some widgets and so on. So basically, this is the moment with the most free RAM. However, this is also when your device is slowest, because every new app you launch has first to be loaded into memory and executed.
While you use your device, many of the apps you used will be kept around in the background, so when you start them again, they will reappear instantly, because the whole "create vm process --> load app from storage --> execute and initialize app" chain has already happened.

"Free memory is wasted memory."
When you open an app, the system loads it into ram. When you close it, the system should not bother to remove it from ram because there is a good chance you will use that app again and having it pre-loaded makes it open significantly faster.
Just because ram is "used" doesn't mean it can't be re-allocated for something more important.
That being said, it is entirely possible that some of your apps have memory leaks. Does it get worse after two days, or three days?

d-h said:
"Free memory is wasted memory."
When you open an app, the system loads it into ram. When you close it, the system should not bother to remove it from ram because there is a good chance you will use that app again and having it pre-loaded makes it open significantly faster.
Just because ram is "used" doesn't mean it can't be re-allocated for something more important.
That being said, it is entirely possible that some of your apps have memory leaks. Does it get worse after two days, or three days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I turn my phone off every evening, so I don't know. It's not a problem by any means, I'm just curious.
I've left my RAM alone today, and I didn't noticed any slow down. It was on 110 MB free RAM when I left it alone, and when it was at 35 MB RAM, I decided to hit the close all button (there was no slow down btw). Guess what? My RAM went back up to 140 MB! Not as much as when I boot my phone up, but it's still strange: when I hit close all when the free RAM is very low, I get more free RAM then when I hit close all when my free RAM is around 100 MB (I only get 5 or 10 MB free RAM extra then).
Thanks by the way, good first post!

Android device running slow? Here’s how to speed up your phone

Delete and disable unnecessary apps
You can do this by using the app manager in your settings, or by long-pressing apps in your drawer and dragging them to the “Uninstall” section.
Clear the cache data
The issue is that cache can build up and become pretty heavy on your smartphone’s internal storage. Try to clear it from time to time, as it can also get old. The option is available for individual apps through the app manager, or you can look for a cache cleaning application in the Google Play Store.
Clean your device storage
Got too much music, videos and other files around? Filling up your internal storage can affect performance, so try to keep your phone memory as tidy as possible. Go through all your files and decide what you will actually use and what is just taking up space for no good reason.
Get rid of widgets!
Try to limit your widget usage as much as possible. Of course, don’t sacrifice your whole experience either; after all, widgets are among of the coolest things the Android OS offers. Just keep it limited to what you will actually take advantage of.
Dump the live wallpaper
Live wallpapers sure are fun, but they affect performance and battery life. Unless you are willing to sacrifice a bit for those fancy animations, just go grab a regular image.
Keep your phone’s software up to date
Make sure your phone’s software is always on the latest version available.
Rooting?
If you really want to go nuts and unlock the door to a whole other series of possibilities, you can root your phone. Once you get total access to your device you can install cleaner ROMs that will keep your phone running smoother. It’s even possible to overclock the processor and make it work extra hard for you, hence making the phone faster.
Perform a factory data reset!
The option is in your phone’s settings under “Backup and reset”. There’s also ways to do a factory reset using the recovery menu, but the steps are different for every phone. Google is your friend!

how to increase ram of android device

When you've had a smartphone for a while it can start to feel slow, and RAM — random access memory, which is where your phone stores its stuff as it's using it — can be part of the problem. If your phone doesn't have enough RAM it can struggle, but there are ways to address that. You can even create extra RAM without cracking the case or reaching for a soldering iron.
Find out how to increase your smartphone's RAM right here!
How to fix phone lag on Android
Android Lollipop tips and tricks
What is RAM (Random Access Memory)?
RAM is what your device uses when it's doing something. For example, when you're editing a photo both the photo and the app you're using to edit it are in the device's RAM; when you finish editing the photo is then saved to your device's storage so it can't get lost. The more RAM you have the more you can do, so for example you can have more browser tabs open, more apps running or more system features doing their stuff.
The problem with RAM is that it isn't always emptied properly, and apps don't always behave. Some apps and system processes run when you don't need them to, and others don't clean up after themselves when they quit. After a while those issues can produce noticeable results such as slow performance, lagging and stuttering, and the odd crash.
Like internal storage, RAM is a physical component of your device so you can't just stick more in. What you can do, though, is use it more efficiently — or use some clever tricks to create RAM from other kinds of storage.
RAM — shown here in desktop form — is physically limited in every device. Unlike PCs, you can't just stick more memory into your phone or tablet. / © Taringa
How to increase your RAM without root access
Now that you know ​​what RAM is, we'll show you how to preserve it. In this first part, we focus on tips for non-rooted devices. For those devices you can't magically add more memory, but you can make better use of what you've got. As a rule of thumb, the more your phone is doing the more RAM is being used, so if you can reduce what's running you can free up more memory for the tasks that really matter.
Limit widgets and live wallpapers
Widgets and live wallpapers are both pretty greedy when it comes to RAM usage. Many refresh often and occupy bandwidth, while some are continuously active. This can also cause your battery to drain faster. So remember to limit the number of them in effect to optimize your current available memory.
Animated wallpapers can take up a lot of RAM.
How to root your phone without voiding the warranty.
Disable applications
Some applications take up RAM even if they aren't currently being used, so you're getting all the downsides of unnecessary RAM use without anything to show for it. Organizing which apps should and should not be running in the background can take time, but it's worth it to improve your smartphone performance.
To disable an application, go to Settings and then Apps or Application Manager. Next, go to the All tab to get the list of all the applications currently on your device. To disable an application, tap on it, then tap Disable and confirm. Be careful not to disable everything and anything, unless you want to end up with an unstable system, but most apps that don't come pre-installed on your handset are pretty safe to disable (or delete entirely if you never use them).
Head to your device settings menu, then the apps page.
Next, tap on the app you wish to disable and tap Disable.
Disable animations
Animations often steal RAM and are quite inessential; you can manage these in the developer options. To enable Developer Options on your device, go to your Settings, then About Phone and then tap on the build number about seven times until it notifies you that you have become a developer. (Please note that this has no negative effect on your device, it just adds the developer options menu in your settings. You just need

???
tra_dax

Nice copy pasta
This is straight off Android Pit

HMpenguinify said:
This is straight off Android Pit
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Yeah it is not even copied completely. The text is missing the last part

Why don't you post something from your own experience or your own thought, please don't copy from other sites.

I think it's called ram optimization and not increasing the ram. BTW.

max24328 said:
I think it's called ram optimization and not increasing the ram. BTW.
Click to expand...
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https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.swapit.expander.de&hl=en

Can't post from other sources without due credit. Thread closed.
Also given lower post count of OP, this is potentially posted to increase post count.

Storage access bugged

Hey guys, new here, hope it's right to post this here and not in my device's section but it's probably pretty empty in there.. Anyways, i have a very strange problem with my storage access where apps can't properly see contents in my storage (both internal and sd card) meaning the following: apps know folders exist and that space is taken up, but they seem to be unable to actually read or write files somehow. For example the storage tab in the settings shows how much space is free but the categories like pictures, music etc files show 0 bites, except for apps, that section shows up fine. Another example: fx file explorer can't show the amount of used space in the general overview or the folder information tab. But when i actually go into a folder it does show how much space is used and how much is free. I can open a music file in the built in fx music player but when i try to open in an external app it cant play it, shows its at e.g. 116:27:01 out of 5:52 actual play time and that the media format may not be supported. I'd post screenshots but i cant actually make any as the system cant save them.
I have tried restarting, even had a security update from before a few days that i was to lazy to install so i did that, still no change. I also tried removing the sd card to no avail. Since the google play services were using up alot of battery i tried deleting cache, data and even updates for both them and the play store but it seems that this was just another symptom and not the cause. So i think the culprit might be the whatsapp beta version 2.19.365 which crashed at the splash screen for most of it's users. I somehow managed to update it but the problems started when i tried opening it so i don't see what else would be the culprit. I've already contacted their support but tbh i don't ecxpect much help from them.
I'm on an unrooted Honor 7x with Emui 9.1 (based on Android 9).
Does anybody have any idea on what i might try except for a factory reset? I would really like to avoid doing that.
I thsnk everybody who took their time to read and maybe even answer this. Hope your day is going better. Cheers