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Hi,
Recently rooted my hero after losing impatience waiting 6 months for htc to get their finger out.
Used cronosdroid and now using villianrom 10.2 final but will no doubt try out modaco in some point too.
Anyway, I would like to know if it is possible to save and run my apps from the sdcard?
I hear this will be possible using 2.2 but have heard that something called a2sd allows this functionality also?
If so, could anyone point me in the right direction to get a total noobs guide to installing and using a2sd and how I would then go about deleting the apps from the phone's internal memory and just running them from the sd card?
Many thanks for any help and advice you are able to share,
Cheers.
So you have already installed Amon Ra 1.6.2 yeah?
Check out BTDAG's guide in my signature,... The apps2sd bit is about half way down the 1st post, in grey writing.
I downloaded something called quick system info from the market and it says that a2sd is there giving me 457mb total and 423mb free.
I went through that long drawn out procedure (as a result of being on t-mobile uk) and used amon ra and created a gold card etc.
My Problem is, I dont know how to "use" this a2sd functionality.
I want to basically download from the market and save to the sdcard and run the apps from the sdcard and am unsure how to do this?
It doesn't do it automatically as I get to the usual memory low message after downloading 50-100 apps, so presumably the apps are still saving to the phones internal memory.
Basically, I want to know how to save and run from the sdcard and delete from the phones memory if thats possible as I think is the whole point of a2sd?
dazzer1975 said:
I downloaded something called quick system info from the market and it says that a2sd is there giving me 457mb total and 423mb free.
I went through that long drawn out procedure (as a result of being on t-mobile uk) and used amon ra and created a gold card etc.
My Problem is, I dont know how to "use" this a2sd functionality.
I want to basically download from the market and save to the sdcard and run the apps from the sdcard and am unsure how to do this?
It doesn't do it automatically as I get to the usual memory low message after downloading 50-100 apps, so presumably the apps are still saving to the phones internal memory.
Basically, I want to know how to save and run from the sdcard and delete from the phones memory if thats possible as I think is the whole point of a2sd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you followed my guide correctly it will be working. You can check that with the other script in my guide. If you're still running out of memory it is because the dalvik is still stored on the SD card.
Ok,.. So you need to be using a custom ROM with apps2sd enabled. Then once that is on your phone, you just need to partition the SD (like it says in the guide)... thats it!
btdag said:
If you followed my guide correctly it will be working. You can check that with the other script in my guide. If you're still running out of memory it is because the dalvik is still stored on the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I move the dalvik to the phones internal memory?
I presume I followed the guide correctly as i've come from t-mobile touch g2 on 1.5 and am now using 2.1 villain rom and cronos rom before that but am still running out of memory, even with partitioning my sd card.
presumably then its the dalvik located on the sd card?
dazzer1975 said:
How do I move the dalvik to the phones internal memory?
I presume I followed the guide correctly as i've come from t-mobile touch g2 on 1.5 and am now using 2.1 villain rom and cronos rom before that but am still running out of memory, even with partitioning my sd card.
presumably then its the dalvik located on the sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah thats because you didn't flash either Dalvik Cache to the SD card or Dalvik-Cache to /cache thats why your phone still taking internal memory .. try this for solution :- http://www.villainrom.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Apps2SD
Hope it Helps
wicked cheers for that mate!!!!
Goofy problem but every rom I have tried will not update tweetdeck properly in the background with the screen black, except for xtrsense. Even the original stock rom does not work properly at doing this. Has anyone else had the same problem? Is there a fix?
I would love to be able to go to one of the 2.2 or 2.3 roms but i need tweetdeck to update properly on my accounts.
Side question - will there be a 2.2 or 2.3 for xtrsense?
Side question 2 - I am going to be searching for this but figured i would throw it in just incase I can not figure it out. I loaded the gscript for the apps2sd but I cant get any apps to the sd card. It is not even an option when I go to the manage apps. Like I said, I am going to search for this one but while I was typing I figured I would throw it in.
Tweetdeck is one of my key apps and I have no trouble at all with it on CELB Froyo or GSB. The only ROM I had an issue with was a later version of Nonsensikal. For some reason, that had an Autokiller-like aggressive memory setting and Tweetdeck would not stay open in the background.
Unlike many other twitter clients, Tweetdeck has no way to autostart and seems to have no server component to get updates, and aggressive memory settings will close the app when it is in the background. If you are using autokiller or something like it, using the optimum preset seems to work pretty well. Just vanilla GSB settings are just fine.
KnightRid said:
Side question - will there be a 2.2 or 2.3 for xtrsense?
Side question 2 - I am going to be searching for this but figured i would throw it in just incase I can not figure it out. I loaded the gscript for the apps2sd but I cant get any apps to the sd card. It is not even an option when I go to the manage apps. Like I said, I am going to search for this one but while I was typing I figured I would throw it in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gscript for Apps2SD? I never heard of a GScript for that capability. There's an Apps2SD flashable zip which adds the Apps2SD script to your phone, if that's what you're talking about, but you don't use it in GScript.
Technically and completely literally, there never can be a 2.2 or 2.3 version of xtrSENSE because xtrSENSE is (currently) based on the July OTA 2.1, so it's a heavily modified version of THE official ROM for the Eris. There is no official 2.2 or 2.3 for the Eris, so there's no 2.2 or 2.3 stock ROM with Sense to base a new Eris ROM on.
Devs have worked on 2.2 and 2.3-based Sense ROMs based on stuff from other phones, but none of them are as stable and "finished" as the original stock ROM, or even xtrSENSE. Things don't work such as Wifi and Camera, and possibly some other difficulties. They haven't given up but they've been beating their heads against the wall for months for Froyo Sense. At this point, there's probably a marginally better chance that we'll ever have a port of a Gingerbread Sense which has everything working, over Froyo Sense.
doogald said:
Tweetdeck is one of my key apps and I have no trouble at all with it on CELB Froyo or GSB. The only ROM I had an issue with was a later version of Nonsensikal. For some reason, that had an Autokiller-like aggressive memory setting and Tweetdeck would not stay open in the background.
Unlike many other twitter clients, Tweetdeck has no way to autostart and seems to have no server component to get updates, and aggressive memory settings will close the app when it is in the background. If you are using autokiller or something like it, using the optimum preset seems to work pretty well. Just vanilla GSB settings are just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use advanced app killer but i do not let that run all the time, I just start it when I want to manually kill apps.
It is just so weird with tweetdeck not updating in the background right, except on xtrsense. I just dont get it
roirraW "edor" ehT said:
Gscript for Apps2SD? I never heard of a GScript for that capability. There's an Apps2SD flashable zip which adds the Apps2SD script to your phone, if that's what you're talking about, but you don't use it in GScript.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, he has a gscript script built in to xtrsense that you can just load and run to do it.
I will have to redo my sdcard again and see if that fixes it. I still like how 2.3 lets you move the apps though. It is a WHOLE lot easier.
KnightRid said:
Side question 2 - I am going to be searching for this but figured i would throw it in just incase I can not figure it out. I loaded the gscript for the apps2sd but I cant get any apps to the sd card. It is not even an option when I go to the manage apps. Like I said, I am going to search for this one but while I was typing I figured I would throw it in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not how it works with xtrSENSE. With xtrSENSE, you first need to partition your SD card to add an ext3 partition to store your apps. Then, as you noted, you run a gscript to activate apps2sd. This will move *all* of your user apps to the ext partition - you cannot choose to keep some internal. You either have your apps internal and not on SD, or you have your apps on SD and not internal.
The original post in the xtrSENSE thread explains this pretty well. The relevant portions are here:
Apps2sd and Cache2sd:
I have revamped my implementation of apps2sd to use simpler and better organized scripts. For apps2sd to work you must first complete the listed prerequisites and it is a good idea to read through the "things you may want to know about apps2sd" section. Although it can provide gobs of space for apps, Apps2sd is not for everyone as it ties the stability of your phone to your SD card... If you do not need the space I would recommend that you keep the default of DISABLED; if you want to try you can always disable it again however there is always the chance of issues.
To enable/disable apps2sd and cache2sd just run the appropriate GScript and reboot your phone (Quick Boot makes this easy!).
Prerequisites
If you have not setup your SD card (for those new to Apps2sd) as per tkirton:
BACKUP YOUR SD CARD TO YOUR COMPUTER. Can't stress this enough, as partitioning will wipe the entire card.
Reboot into recovery
In Android System Recovery, select Partition sdcard
In the Partition sdcard menu, select Partition SD
Follow the instructions on the phone to partition your SD card. Most folks seem to recommend using the default values however you can go larger or smaller use values 256, 512,768,1024. You will also be asked to set a swap size; I stayed at 32mb (anticipate future ROM options to allow moving swap to sd)
Once the partition is initially created you must then convert to ext3 - In the Partition sdcard menu, select SD:ext2 to ext3. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Press the back button on the phone to go back to the main menu.
Your SD card is now ready to work with an Apps2sd supported ROM.
Things you may want to know about apps2sd
Bootloop protection is built in if your SD card is corrupted or is removed from the phone with Apps2sd enabled. Your apps will go away but your phone will boot .
There are 3 subsets of data associated to an app when it is installed and run on your phone.
1) /data/app/ (and /data/app-private) - actual .apk files we think of as the applications that are not system apps (i.e. installed on /system/app)
2) /data/data/ - the files produced by ALL apps (system apps and market apps) during installation that are used by the Android system to run the app
3)/data/dalvik-cache/ - app cache file and work space for ALL apps (system apps and market apps).
From root explorer (or similar) you can browse to the /data/app OR the /system/sd/app folders and you will see the same thing, both will tell you how much space you have used and have left. The way apps2sd works is by "linking" the /system/sd/app to the /data/app folder so that the Android system thinks it is accessing the /data/app it is really at /system/sd/app.
I have seen using Apps2sd cause issues with some.zip flash updates as they try to write directly to the /data/app folder which no longer "physically" exists
If you get into a bootloop issue using apps2sd boot into amon_ra recovery and try one of the follow:
1) from the Other menu option select the Fix apk uid mismatches
2) from the Wipe menu option complete a)Wipe data/factory reset b)Wipe Dalvik-cache c)Wipe SD:ext partition
Apps2sd and Cache2sd Basics
When you run the apps2sd or cache2sd script, upon reboot, it will move ALL your existing apps or cache to the sd card ext partition and ALL future apps and cache will be installed and stored on the sd card ext partition.
Running the apps2internal or cache2internal script, upon reboot, it will move ALL your existing apps or cache to the /data block of internal storage and ALL futures apps and cache will be stored in internal storage.
With HTC based ROMs it is all or nothing and you cannot move individual apps like in the CyanogenMod ROMs.
So how do I know Apps2sd is on? - You can run the GScript report_system_stats which will give you a printout of what fileblocks are used as well as a “true/false” value for Apps2sd On. You can also go to menu>Settings>Sd card and phone storage - when on space available under Available storage will go down at a VERY slow rate when new apps are installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note the parts that I bolded.
KnightRid said:
I use advanced app killer but i do not let that run all the time, I just start it when I want to manually kill apps.
It is just so weird with tweetdeck not updating in the background right, except on xtrsense. I just dont get it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works fine for me on xtrSENSE. Try uninstalling advanced app killer for a while and see if tweetdeck works better. Also, run the gscript set_memory_balanced or set_memory_stock. I have had Tweetdeck work just fine in xtrSENSE4.6.5 with both of those settings.
doogald said:
That's not how it works with xtrSENSE. With xtrSENSE, you first need to partition your SD card to add an ext3 partition to store your apps. Then, as you noted, you run a gscript to activate apps2sd. This will move *all* of your user apps to the ext partition - you cannot choose to keep some internal. You either have your apps internal and not on SD, or you have your apps on SD and not internal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not explain well, I did do that but the apps still would not move over. I thought i had to manually move the apps after the ext3 partition and such but there must be something little I am missing. I will go back through the steps again and see what happens. I still like how 2.2 and 2.3 move the apps a lot better and I wish xtrsense would be based on 2.2 or 2.3
As for tweetdeck, it DOES work right in xtrsense just not in any other rom even the stock rom.
KnightRid said:
I did not explain well, I did do that but the apps still would not move over. I thought i had to manually move the apps after the ext3 partition and such but there must be something little I am missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you run that gscript that I highlighted above (report_system_stats), does it say that you have apps2sd enabled? If it does, then you do. After you partition your card and run the gscript to enable apps2sd (called apps2sd), there is nothing that you need to do manually - the apps will move to SD. All new apps that you install will go to SD. You cannot pick and choose - apps are either on SD or internal.
I will go back through the steps again and see what happens. I still like how 2.2 and 2.3 move the apps a lot better and I wish xtrsense would be based on 2.2 or 2.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, I think that this method is better. For one thing, you can back up your ext partition on your SD card; unless you use Clockwork, you cannot backup .android_secure. Also, when you connect your SD card to your computer, it dismounts the SD card from the phone, making those apps unavailable until you re-mount the SD card to the phone. Because you cannot dismount the ext3 partition (without trying really hard, that is), your apps are always available. Widgets can run from those apps. Lastly, there is no this app is internal, that app is on SD - they are either all on SD or they are not. Plus, of course, you don't have to move apps one at a time.
doogald said:
When you run that gscript that I highlighted above (report_system_stats), does it say that you have apps2sd enabled? If it does, then you do. After you partition your card and run the gscript to enable apps2sd (called apps2sd), there is nothing that you need to do manually - the apps will move to SD. All new apps that you install will go to SD. You cannot pick and choose - apps are either on SD or internal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, it just doesnt move anything for some reason - Really isnt that big of a deal just would be nice with me being a packrat for everything so I wouldnt have to uninstall as often lol
Thanx for the help!
I am still wishing and hoping for xtrsense based on 2.2 or 2.3 though =)
doogald said:
That's not how it works with xtrSENSE. With xtrSENSE, you first need to partition your SD card to add an ext3 partition to store your apps. Then, as you noted, you run a gscript to activate apps2sd. This will move *all* of your user apps to the ext partition - you cannot choose to keep some internal. You either have your apps internal and not on SD, or you have your apps on SD and not internal.
The original post in the xtrSENSE thread explains this pretty well. The relevant portions are here:
Note the parts that I bolded.
It works fine for me on xtrSENSE. Try uninstalling advanced app killer for a while and see if tweetdeck works better. Also, run the gscript set_memory_balanced or set_memory_stock. I have had Tweetdeck work just fine in xtrSENSE4.6.5 with both of those settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an app called Link2SD which allows you to use old-school Apps2SD with the ability to only move what you want to move. Haven't tried it but reports are positive about it. Creates symlinks or some such for individual apps instead of for the whole data/app folder at once.
doogald said:
When you run that gscript that I highlighted above (report_system_stats), does it say that you have apps2sd enabled? If it does, then you do. After you partition your card and run the gscript to enable apps2sd (called apps2sd), there is nothing that you need to do manually - the apps will move to SD. All new apps that you install will go to SD. You cannot pick and choose - apps are either on SD or internal.
To be honest, I think that this method is better. For one thing, you can back up your ext partition on your SD card; unless you use Clockwork, you cannot backup .android_secure. Also, when you connect your SD card to your computer, it dismounts the SD card from the phone, making those apps unavailable until you re-mount the SD card to the phone. Because you cannot dismount the ext3 partition (without trying really hard, that is), your apps are always available. Widgets can run from those apps. Lastly, there is no this app is internal, that app is on SD - they are either all on SD or they are not. Plus, of course, you don't have to move apps one at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a couple of apps on the market, Dual Mount SD (used to be called SD Share, I think) and Multi Mount SD, which now, not only allow you to mount your SD card to both your computer and your phone at the same time, they also both have the option to auto-mount your SD card to your computer when you plug it in to the USB cable, which is now what I do. Multi Mount SD had that feature first, Dual Mount SD copied it just recently.
Also, Titanium Backup (paid, don't know about the free version) will allow you to batch move as many apps as you like to and from the SD card.
roirraW "edor" ehT said:
There's a couple of apps on the market, Dual Mount SD (used to be called SD Share, I think) and Multi Mount SD, which now, not only allow you to mount your SD card to both your computer and your phone at the same time, they also both have the option to auto-mount your SD card to your computer when you plug it in to the USB cable, which is now what I do. Multi Mount SD had that feature first, Dual Mount SD copied it just recently.
Also, Titanium Backup (paid, don't know about the free version) will allow you to batch move as many apps as you like to and from the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know, but I still like the "old school" apps2sd kludge more than the official kludge that Google added with Froyo. I've had more problems with apps2sd (when I tried it) with Froyo than I ever had with xtrROM before cache2cache was added to that ROM.
doogald said:
Good to know, but I still like the "old school" apps2sd kludge more than the official kludge that Google added with Froyo. I've had more problems with apps2sd (when I tried it) with Froyo than I ever had with xtrROM before cache2cache was added to that ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The absolutely only thing I don't like about, now that Link2SD is out, is that it's difficult to use the old Apps2SD under Froyo and beyond, requiring special partitioning arrangements, concerning where the particular partitions are and making it difficult to mount all the Fat32 partitions to both the phone and the computer, unless there's been progress in those areas I haven't been made aware of.
Even though there's some things which won't move to the SD card in a friendly way with Froyo's move to SD, almost everything will move if you use an app such as Titanium Backup to move them. As I said, there's still some apps it won't move but it moves almost all of them for me. I guess I wouldn't like it if I was stuck with Google implementation of it, but as long as there are third party apps to make up what it's lacking, it works great for me.
I also like that since I "only" have an 8GB SD card, that I don't have to partition it, the apps that are moved to SD will only take up as much space as they need to, no partition with space that'll never get used because I want it at least large enough to cover my worst case scenarios.
Off topic, it's unbelievable how much "crap" I get on my SD card, from all the apps I've stopped using but never deleted any respective folders for from the card. Mostly because I replaced the app with something better.
Hi,
I am new here and did my best searching but couldn;t find a conclusive answer so i just need some suggestions about a way forward.
So far using Froyo's move to SD implementation I have managed to gain some space on the phone for more apps but i am still running out. I also have to use the slow Apps 2 SD application.
So my problem is I want more space for apps. Using adb, setting the install location to SD card helps provide some more but i have hit that limit too.
So, from what i've read so far, there is another symbolic link based method, that creates a partition on the SD card and then the phone appears to think its still on the phone.
I have a stock ROM and would prefer not having a custom ROM for now. What would be the suggested way of getting Apps2sdext functionality? I mean like installing a package after rooting.
I have read about rooting, and apps2sdext also seems to need root. But i'd really appreciate if somebody could drop some links as to what I could do. Here are my thoughts of what they might be:
Root phone
Format SD card with partitions
Install a2sd
Another question: is there no way of using Gparted, etc to resize partitions and create the ext4 partition on pc? As in before taking it to the phone? that way no need to reinstall some apps.
Ok so for now I see I can use Z4Root to root my phone. So i've sorted that part out.
I also saw on DarkTremor apps2sd page that stock roms need a custom init.rc. Where are the instructions for that?
gontadu said:
Another question: is there no way of using Gparted, etc to resize partitions and create the ext4 partition on pc? As in before taking it to the phone? that way no need to reinstall some apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not quite sure. I'm not an A2SD user. But, here are my hunches/ideas/opinions:
I suggest you partition with the partitioner in the recovery image. A2SD may have trouble finding the ext partition when the layout is quite different from what it expects, though I'm not quite sure.
As for not having to reinstall apps, this is what I did prior to installing A2SD:
Move all apps to phone memory
Backup
Partition SD
Flash A2SD
Install A2SD (yes, I had to manually launch a2sd scripts --')
Done
Works as intended, but I've found that there wasn't a significant increase in free phone memory storage, but I'm very sure a2sd was applied.
So I went back to native A2SD.
Which leads me to say: I suggest flashing a custom ROM with A2SD integrated
Idk, maybe I just didn't give A2SD some time. Just try it out.
Hmmm interesting! Still digging up more info as i go along...
Ok so far I installed, z4root and it installs fine and does the whole root and restart thing.
Now when i browse from adb shell i still get the $ prompt and not the # prompt. But when i go into z4root it provides options for re-root and un-root...
UPDATE: well i found out that once the shell opens as $, you type su. When you do that look at your phone and accept the superuser request, otherwise permission denied appears on the pc screen. now i have the # prompt!!!
UPDATE: Got Clockworkmod running now! and exploring a2sd... i give up. cannot find a concise thing that says here's the script that you use after doing the clockworkmod. what do i do???
Hi,I came from megatron rom and is using CM7 rom now.Not sure partitioning of sd card work on stock rom but you can try.
Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for anything that happens to your phone! Below is what I did.
Instructions: Download DarkTremor Apps2sd.zip file.
Then,Backup all your sd card contents on your PC.You MUST backup as partitioning of sd card will wipe the whole sd card.
Reboot in recovery and select partition sd card > Partition sd card again> Swap Size:Choose 0 (I'm not sure what the other numbers will do.) > Then 512mb for the next option.Then it will start partitioning. > After you're done,upgrade ext.2 to ext.3 > Then upgrade ext.3 to ext.4 > After that,connect usb or take out sd card and put DarkTremor apps2sd.zip file in the root of your sd card and then flash it!
DONE AND PROFIT!
Your internal storage should decrease very slowly because your apps are now 'tricked' into being installed on your sd card Hope this helps!
Sorted my problem out!!
Gonna post details asap! So excited
gontadu said:
Sorted my problem out!!
Gonna post details asap! So excited
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you did my method or what?
Nope actually not. Found a simpler method that's easier for noobs.
So here goes in very short since I don't have links
1. Split memory card into two partitions. I used 1GB. I did the partitioning on Ubuntu as it was much easier to just resize the partition using gparted. I am not sure what file systems are supported for the apps but i used ext3 for the 1GB. Backup should not be necessary but you are welcome to be careful
2. Root phone with z4root, very straightforward process
3. Install Link2SD from Android Market.
4. Once its installed, it'll prob ask for root permissions. Grant them.
5. Open Link2SD and in the list, one by one for each app you'd like to move, select and it opens a page with some details. Just click on create link, and in the next page an option for moving cache also shows. Select that too. Then the app gets moved in the background and slowly your space starts increasing.
6. I did not move any preinstalled apps that came with the phone. Just moving the apps I installed gave me plenty of space not to worry with App 2 SD (froyo method) or anything. Also with this method, mounting for USB Mass Storage also gets quicker.
What's there not to line?
Always do a nandroid backup! I didn't as i didn't think much of an app.. my phone went into continued android logo loop. After several tries of battery pull,I managed to get into the phone but many of my apps went missing.. sighz...
Running Stock rom
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
yanuk said:
Always do a nandroid backup! I didn't as i didn't think much of an app.. my phone went into continued android logo loop. After several tries of battery pull,I managed to get into the phone but many of my apps went missing.. sighz...
Running Stock rom
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the backup option that is there in clockwork mod recovery menu right? I screwed up the files once and the backup came in real handy!
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
It may not help you but I was using megatron rom froyo 2.2 and had barley any memory space on my phone and since I flashed CM7 rom from milk I have tons of space I have twice as many as many apps and stol 100 megabits left
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA Premium App
Just curious, on a scale of 10 how hard is it to get cm7 onto your optimistic? And any clue whether existing settings are lost? Any other benefits? And features missing? It would be nice if we either got more battery life or better performance if not both
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
I use a stock ROM (2.2.1) and I have rooted and installed "Move2SD Enabler" from the market and moved all the apps to SD (except for widgets) in the plain simple old fashion. I currently have over 150 apps installed with about 90MBytes of internal memory free.
Above the hood
Well today I intended to answer voyager's problem which was stated in the interactive data2sd thread located here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23744977#
and then i think that after i have gathered so much information from the other parts of the world into this little post it would be a waste if it is pushed away by regular posts in the thread. so, i opened this thread here in the general forum so all people with similar confusion can read about it.
YES, there are SO MANY WORDS TO READ. but in order to use a2sd+ or data2sd+ you MUST read them all
you will never know how frustrated i was when i was encountering the bootloop problem for the ENTIRE month.
my report thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1239063
my help-seeking in the darktremor thread which was answered by famous developer temasek - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=17232233
my target was originally voyager the person but now its to all of you, please ignore my incorrect pronouns, if there are any
OH FINALLY i luckily found the very useful reference that i have read before!! after reading these you will understand everything
tobydjones said:
Some phones, eg the Desire, don't have enough internal memory (NAND). A2SD and other 'init.d scripts' fool Android into storing various things on the SD card instead of internal memory to free up space. They can move either apps, the Dalvik cache (a pre-compiled copy of each app) and/or app data. And they can move them to either the 1st (only) partition of the SD card (formatted as FAT or FAT32) or a 2nd partition of the SD card (formatted as ext3 or ext4).
As there's so many different scripts doing different things, I had to make a table to sort it all out. Please let me know if I've made any mistakes, or if you can answer any of my questions in italics.
script ................ apps . Dalvik . data .. comment
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A2SD pre Froyo ........ SD ... int .... int ... Made to move app data to SD {or was it already ext?}
Froyo A2SD/"move to SD" SD<1>. int<9> . int ... Built in
Gingerbread A2SD ...... SD.... int .... <6> ... Built in. As Froyo but a bit more space.
apps2sd app (on market) ....................... App to make Froyo/Gingerbread "move to SD" easier, not a script
Force2SD (on market) .. ....................... As apps2sd + move system apps>SD {does apps2sd also do this?}
A2SD/AS2D+ (or apps2SD) ext<8> in/ex<2> int ... Various implementations<7> some move Dalvik (manual/auto)
Darktremor A2SD/DT-A2SD ext .. in/ex... int ... Move Dalvik. Used to be auto, now command line (or use A2SDGUI)
MIUI_Au PC-A2SD ....... ext .. ext .... int ... Allows android to boot if SD Card broken/removed. With logs
Link2SD (on market) ... ext .. ext .... <6> ... Moves apps individually
Sibere DATA2SD ........ ext .. ext .... ext<3>. Moves whole /data folder to ext for more space <4><5>
DATA2EXT .............. ext .. ext .... ext ... {another implementation of DATA2SD? how does it differ?}
data2whatever/DATA2WE . ext .. ext .... ext ... Can use ext2-4 plus variety of unusual filesystems eg B(RT?)FS
Notes:
<1> The SD card is mounted very late in the boot up process, so background apps and widgets won't work. Also apps on SD aren't available when SD card is used as a disk ('mounted')
<2> Dalvik on SD/ext may wear out SD card a bit quicker {not a big issue compared with int memory wearing out?}
<3> Data on ext wears out SD card faster because of data writes {how much of an issue is this?}
<4> Data2SD on Sense ROMS - possible corruption during battery pull or forced reboot
<5> Data2SD on ASOP ROMS - corruption when turning off phone due to unclean dismount {or is this fixed now?}
<6> GB doesn't move all of data, but does move app libs (/data/data/<appname>/Lib)
<7> There's a lot of confusion what AS2D, AS2D+ and apps2sd refer to, and the distinction between them, as those names been used for many things, including an app on the market! The + appeared after Froyo was released and often means the Dalvik cache can be moved (not always automatically)
<8> Unlike moving apps to SD, you can move widgets to ext, and apps are available when SD card is used as a disk
<9> If Dalvik cache is on int, number of apps is still limited as pre-compiled copy of each app held in cache
Updated 01/10/11. Thanks to rootSU, fllash & rmcsilva for corrections and additions
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neoKushan said:
Ok, so here's the deal, in a very longwinded way that should hopefully explain everything and answer ALL questions.
You have an SD card in your phone and, a bit like normal PC Hard Drives, you can "partition" them (split them into two or more sections of different filesystems). Normally, your SD card is just one big FAT32 partition, which is fine for storing your pics, messages, emails, etc.
Now, other then your Phone's SD card, your phone will have its own internal flash memory (or "NAND") storage. Tradditionally with Android, you could only install applications to this NAND storage, you cannot install them onto your SD card. So if you have an empty 32GB SD card, but only 5Mb of internal phone storage, you still wont be able to install many apps, if any at all.
This was done to protect the apps from things like piracy - it's not easy to access the location where apps are installed on your phone's internal storage (normally impossible without root), so you can't for example buy an app, copy it, refund it, then install it again.
Still, this is no good for those of us who like to install lots and lots of apps, legitimately, as we run out of internal storage very quickly.
So Google came up with a way to install apps to the SD card. A folder is created called something like .android_secure and this stores (I believe) encrypted versions of applications, but there's a few catches:
1) Apps aren't automatically stored here, you have to manually "move" them
2) Not all apps are capable of being moved, in fact most apps aren't, the developer needs to update their app and allow it. Some apps aren't and wont be updated and some developers may not want to allow it for whatever reason.
3) Not all app data is moved, most of it is but some data is left on your phone so many people still run out of internal storage quickly.
4) You can force ALL apps to be moved to this area by default, but it breaks incompatible ones - such as Widgets, which are unable to load due to the SD card not being "prepared".
So that's Froyo's version. Before Froyo existed, some very clever people came up with a thing called "Apps2SD". Remember I said that your SD card normally is one big FAT32 partition? Well, Apps2SD works by having your SD card patitioned into TWO filesystems. A normal FAT32 partition for your usual stuff and a secondary "EXT" partition. EXT is just a filesystem, like FAT32 or NTFS, but it's the filesystem used by Android internally. The SD card is normally FAT32 because it's a "universal" filesystem, that just about any machine will be able to read, whereas EXT filesystems are generally Linux only, but I digress.
EXT has several different versions. The most common one you'll see is ext3. The main difference between ext2 and ext3 is "journaling", which is just a fancy way of saying that should an operation (such as copying, writing or reading) be interrupted unexpectedly (say, by you turning your phone off), then no data should be lost or corrupted. You know how when you turn your phone on, it says "preparing SD card"? It takes a few minutes, but what it's actually doing is checking that the FAT32 partition hasn't been damaged, because FAT does NOT have journaling. If you used a computer back in the Windows 98 days, you may remember that lovely blue "Scandisk" screen that had to run every time you didn't shut your computer down correctly - that's the same thing. But then Windows 2000/XP came along with NTFS, which also has journaling, meaning you had less chance of loosing data. But I digress once more.
So you have your SD card partitioned into EXT and FAT32. Generally it doesn't matter if it's ext3 or ext4, but you don't get any real advantage with ext4 over ext3 in this instance. Apps2SD then runs a special script on your phone which "symbolically links" the folder from your phone's internal storage where your apps are normally stored, to the ext partition on your SD card. A symbolic link is a bit like a shortcut for folders, except it's transparent to the OS: In other words, Android doesn't know that when it's installing it's apps to the internal phone storage, it's actually being stored on the SD card. This effectively boosts your internal phone memory from the previous 5mb that you had in my example above, up to whatever size you made the ext partition on your SD card (often 512Mb or 1Gb, but it depends on how many apps you install).
Plus, because it's "journaled", it doesn't need to be "prepared", meaning it's ready to go as soon as the phone starts - so your widgets and apps work immediately (unlike "forced" Froyo Apps2SD, where widgets disappear).
The catch with Apps2SD is that whatever space the ext partition takes up is taken away from the SD card. So if you have a 4Gb card (with something like 3.5Gb of actual storage) and you make a 512Mb ext partition, your SD card will "shrink" to 3Gb. The space isn't actually lost, it's just being used by the ext partition. If you reformat your card, you'll get it back.
Finally, there's a difference between "Apps2SD" and "Apps2SD+". Remember I said that your apps are stored on a special folder inside your Phone's NAND storage? Well, that was a bit of a lie. It's actually stored in TWO places. There's a second area which is called the Davlik Cache. You don't really need to worry about what this is for (Hint: IT's to do with the Java runetime your phone uses to run apps), all you need to know is that apps use it to store data, which also eats up internal phone memory. Apps2SD+ moves davlik cache to the ext partition on your SD card as well, freeing up even more space. Some people believe that this may come at the cost of performance, as the internal NAND memory should be faster than your SD card (Which is why you also get people arguing over which "class" SD card is better for Apps2SD - the logic being that a faster SD card means less impact from this move), but the truth of the matter is that your applications will be running from your Phone's RAM anyway, so performance isn't really impacted at all. Since most apps are only a few hundred Kb's in size, or a couple of MB at the most, it's a non-issue.
Finally, any recent version of Apps2SD/Apps2SD+ should work with an SD card that is or isn't formatted with an ext partition. It'll check for this partition when your phone first boots and if it's not there, just use internal phone storage.
Having an ext partition WITHOUT Apps2SD+ shouldn't cause any issues, either, so you can format your SD card whenever you're ready.
So in summary:
Apps2SD "fakes" your phone's internal memory and puts it all on a hidden section of your SD card.
Apps2SD+ pushes even more content to the SD card, freeing up even more space on the phone itself.
"Froyo" Apps2SD has various limitations that "old" apps2SD does not, but is much easier to handle as it doesn't involve any kind of "partitioning".
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Click to collapse
first, please consider the wording "app2sd+" used above can also be applied to "data2sd+" which should be the main purpose of this thread, because they are similar as they both use the sd-ext partition to store things. the only different is that app2sd+ only moves /data/app and dalvik cache but data2sd+ moves the entire /data partition
now based on my experience of how did i solve my bootloop problems even i install over 300 apps, is, not to integrate Froyo app2sd and app2sd+(or your data2sd+) then things will be fine.
as ive seen that voyager you have "moved all apps to sd" with froyo app2sd while you are TOGETHER using the script of app2sd+(or data2sd+). from the above explanation, your apps and data are now SHARED among /sd-ext and /sdcard/.android_secure which MAY lead to problems on our phones when it enters the process system after going through the bootanimation.
still remember the days and things we have discussed? it was in november when we first known each other i think my founding still applies to data2sd+
voyager20021 said:
For bootloops on Miks CM7 fist post he says
If you get bootloop or stuck at LG logo do next:
Sometimes Recovery can't format /system so you need to clear /system manually. You can do it with this zip (flash as always in recovery), or in mounts menu (clockworkmod recovery only), or with adb:
1. Mount /system in recovery.
2. adb shell rm -rf /system/*
You get 1 error. This is ok.
Will update if I found this bug.
Anyone tried that zip or adb fix? I am not so familiar with adb shell. The zip i think is incompatible or smth.
Franco, do you know if this has something to do with random reboots caused by moving too many apps to sd?
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Miasmic said:
me.
that successfully wiped system partition and 2 months ago i did full wipe (including /system) and reinstall everything then do the same thing, and i got the same results - bootloop
please go to darktremor's main thread (nexus one dev forum) and scroll a few pages back, ive been yelling there for help and they did a lot to help me especially temasek(u know who? a famous n1 developer)....
but finally we got no conclusions trying everything, even switching to s2e had ****ed up my phone.
what solution i can tell is that
fk kernel + mik + dt a2sd script 2.7.5.2-1
+ apps staying on /EXT (shown "on phone")
= no problems
fk kernel + mik + dt a2sd script 2.7.5.2-1
+ apps staying partly on /EXT and partly on /android.secure (shown "on SD card")
= after booting (seen lockscreen) for about 3mins, the phone goes back to bootanimation and boot again
[im sure voyager is asking about this]
p.s. fk kernel + mik + dt 2.7.5.3 beta4
will result in LG logo stuck every 2 reboots. wipe /system no help.
hope my info is useful and yeah, take alook at the dt thread
until now the only solution is not to move apps partly to /android.secure
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA Premium App
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franciscofranco said:
Why move apps to sd card instead of /ext? doesn't make any sense............. No wonder **** happens...
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Miasmic said:
Yea I agree with your point, moving the app only to /ext is apparently a safer method than dividing it into /ext and /android.secure
But however this method (using darktremor together with froyos a2sd feature) can save even more internal storage on our phones because darktremor doesn't move 100% of the "app" to /ext. Except "app data" , a small portion of "app" is also occupying the internal storage when using dartremor.
Say angry birds, despite its ~500kb /data size, when using darktremor, 18mb its "app" is moved to /ext while 2mb of it is staying in the internal storage. When using froyos a2sd feature, this 2mb is moved to /android.secure therefore even more internal space is free-ed.
According to the main darktremor thread, a user named bassmadrigal and even temasek himself, has stated that integrating darktremor "move to EXT" and froyos "move to FAT" does not produce any problems (at least on their nexus one) and can save even more space.
Well its not a problem for me as I only move 4 of my biggest apps to FAT and not having issues now.
I think voyagers attempting to move a lot of his apps (partly as they still partly stay at /ext) to /android.secure (as I tried before) and he got ****ed up like me before.
Hmmph I am not quite sure, voyager have you tried the same procedure (restore titanium and move them to FAT) without flashing Franco.kernel and only with the ROM (ans default kernel) and darktremor script installed? In that way we can see whether the "issue"(not at all but just an disadvantage of not supporting a feature) is about Franco's kernel or about our phones. cheers!!
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA Premium App
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franciscofranco said:
Just don't mess with the part that stays in the phone, if you do you're on your own, it's just too damn obvious to waste my time with it, sorry :/
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Miasmic said:
yea, i definitely dont think it is of any priorities to request you to dig on this stuff and please dont, lol
was just telling my experiences to others and esp. voyager
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA Premium App
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yea, franco also said we shouldn't use the froyo app2sd function when we have already moved stuffs to the /sd-ext using app2sd+/data2sd+
therefore to prevent such abnormal behaviours on our phones we should treat our phones as Android 2.1 or before which does not have the capabilities to use froyo app2sd function to move things to /sdcard/.android_secure instead we should just let them be moved to the /ext partition.
i can confirm that yes there will still be decrease in internal storage because even you got data2sd+, there are something that cannot be moved from the internal storage to /sd-ext and we dont know what. JUST be fuxking sure that all your apps are stayed in "internal storage" (thats a way to fake the phone! you know) and they will be very safe in /sd-ext.
you may also like to install app2sd app but reverse the original concept of this app, i.e. to confirm NO APPS ARE EXISTING IN THE 2nd TAB (ON "SD CARD" with froyo function)
so, to test this out quickly, you may simply:
make proper partitions
wipe properly
flash rom
flash your a2sd+/data2sd+ script
boot phone
run the proper commands (for dt now i would dl a2sdgui and apply stuffs and let it reboot)
now restore titanium backup with INSTALL LOCATION set as "internal storage"
(in CM7 settings > application you may also choose "internal storage" to make sure everything is PURELY moved to /sd-ext instead of sharing among /sdcard/.android_secure with the froyo a2sd function) (however what i can tell you that this CM7 function is not working properly at least with my DT a2sd+ script therefore we have to double check whether it is in "INTERNAL STORAGE" when we install a new app) so now app2sd app came in handy remember is to reverse all apps to internal but not move them to so-called sd which was the original purpose of this app.
ok hope you understand what i meant and now you should not have bootloops
Under the hood
however, some users have reported that they have NO problems at all when they share their apps among /sd-ext and /sdcard/.android_secure. an example was bassmadrigal (located in the darktremor official thread)
maybe, it is phone specific. maybe, they have shared a less amount of apps as i myself can also confirm that the bootloop problems only occur if we SHARE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF APPS among the two places.
and for your safety, at least to first eliminate the bootloops problems before doing any experiments, still follow the above and MOVE ALL OF THEM TO so-called "INTERNAL" (pure /sd-ext)
so you mean to say that keep all the apps in internal memeory and it will be safe in sd-ext with any a2d script rather than moving into sdcard?
There is one script i am tryingvhttp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1342387. I dont have any script installed.But it is still giving me bootloops.
williamcharles said:
so you mean to say that keep all the apps in internal memeory and it will be safe in sd-ext with any a2d script rather than moving into sdcard?
There is one script i am tryingvhttp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1342387. I dont have any script installed.But it is still giving me bootloops.
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Click to collapse
yes, the message i would like to bring is rather simple and easy but most of the users are confused about "move to ext" and "move to FAT" and the BUTTON in the application manager of our phones show "MOVE TO SD" which is moving PART of the app to SD-FAT (android.secure) so they are now SHARED and will produce PROBLEMS.
This important point is what most of the script developers have forgotten to warn their users.
Remember to check your settings and ROM/kernels/partitions/scripts compatibility with each other before regarding the script solely as the cause of any problematic behaviour (best way to prove is to see whether there are someone using the same combination without problems
then, install the script, and start installing apps only into "internal storage" (to fake your phone as they actually goes to /sd-ext) and NEVER EVER touch the button "Move to SD" in the application manager then you should be fine as said in my first post, double check they are in the internal storage after you have grabbed a new app from market it will be fine to move it back to "internal storage" as long as you havnt reboot the phone.
Miasmic said:
yes, the message i would like to bring is rather simple and easy but most of the users are confused about "move to ext" and "move to FAT" and the BUTTON in the application manager of our phones show "MOVE TO SD" which is moving PART of the app to SD-FAT (android.secure) so they are now SHARED and will produce PROBLEMS.
This important point is what most of the script developers have forgotten to warn their users.
Remember to check your settings and ROM/kernels/partitions/scripts compatibility with each other before regarding the script solely as the cause of any problematic behaviour (best way to prove is to see whether there are someone using the same combination without problems
then, install the script, and start installing apps only into "internal storage" (to fake your phone as they actually goes to /sd-ext) and NEVER EVER touch the button "Move to SD" in the application manager then you should be fine as said in my first post, double check they are in the internal storage after you have grabbed a new app from market it will be fine to move it back to "internal storage" as long as you havnt reboot the phone.
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Click to collapse
Miasmic said:
yes, the message i would like to bring is rather simple and easy but most of the users are confused about "move to ext" and "move to FAT" and the BUTTON in the application manager of our phones show "MOVE TO SD" which is moving PART of the app to SD-FAT (android.secure) so they are now SHARED and will produce PROBLEMS.
This important point is what most of the script developers have forgotten to warn their users.
Remember to check your settings and ROM/kernels/partitions/scripts compatibility with each other before regarding the script solely as the cause of any problematic behaviour (best way to prove is to see whether there are someone using the same combination without problems
then, install the script, and start installing apps only into "internal storage" (to fake your phone as they actually goes to /sd-ext) and NEVER EVER touch the button "Move to SD" in the application manager then you should be fine as said in my first post, double check they are in the internal storage after you have grabbed a new app from market it will be fine to move it back to "internal storage" as long as you havnt reboot the phone.
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Click to collapse
Much simpler explained. We'll have to test your theory. Only now i use ungaze's script which is something like "everything2sd". The button reading move to sd or move to internal has no influence at all. And still having bootloops at some point. Only now the sd ext is 2Gb max, though it never got to fill it without that damn bootloop.
Thanks again MIASMIC for addressing one of the biggest remaining problems which keep us away from having a PERFECT AND COMPLETE O1, now when we are close to having the stable official CM7 and official or not CM9 which will bring so many and awsome STABLE ROMs based on those 2.
First of all i am not a dev, and the statements bellow are confirmed by devs and known guys from our O1 community like Maktail and Miasmic (thanks guys).
Most of us use a2sd scripts like darktremmor, ungaze, link2sd etc. and many of those are suppose to provide us with practically unlimited sd space for apps and data. But the common problem which allways occures is that after moving one too much apps to sd you will get at some point bootloops. The phone will not be able to load all apps from sdext partition and reboots all the time. So no a2sd script is able to provide what is ment for.
My question of why use a2sd script is related to the fact that moving apps to sd using built in android script which resides in every ROM (even stock obviously), moves to sd the same amount of apps as other scripts mentioned and has the same behaviour of bootlooping when too many apps are moved to sd. The only difference is that other scripts provide more options, like moving dalvikcache to sd. But that doesn`t help either.
So why use a2sd scripts when the result is the same as using stock android script?
A2sd dev dk_zero-cool (thanks) said here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1342387&page=25 that is common knoledge that android cannot handle more than 1GB external data and recommended to use no more than 1,5 GB sdext partition formated with other recovery than CWM which is buggy. Did that and results are the same bootloops. Which means that moving too many apps to sd gives at some point system instability no matter what app or which script we use.
That is why more exepensive phones have more internal mem, up to 16GB in nexus case for example, which is using internal mem even for data games storrage. In that case they use a script to link internal sd data to external sd data (folder mounting), which is of no use for us.
Using DT, ungaze and android built in move to sd option, i could move to sd the same amount of apps before getting bootloops. So why buther using all king of scripts when the resilt is the same?
And now i get to the real questions, which are:
Is there any a2sd script that gives the use of more than 1.5 GB of external data without system instability (bootloops)? (i could move about 1.2 GB to sdext using ungaze) Please post the answer to this after you tested and moved or linked to sd more than 1.5 GB of apps.
Is there a 1 or 1.5 GB limit of external data which android (Linux) can handle before getting instable? If so, can this limit be overcome?
If there is a limit, why the options to create more than 2 GB sdext partitions in recoveries?
Can some nice dev make a script that lets the phone give us a slap on the face when getting close to the point where the system gets instable, if the limit of external space cannot be overcome? It seems that most of a2sd script devs discontinued their work.
my opinion
I have used both ungaze and link2sd... link2sd got unstable when i am using almost over a gig of Ext partition while right now I'm using ungaze with 1.7gb of used Ext partition... It was stable for me... No bootloop or anything...
Using the latest cm7 nightly rom, fk v4...
EveryThing has it's own LIMITATION
amao10 said:
I have used both ungaze and link2sd... link2sd got unstable when i am using almost over a gig of Ext partition while right now I'm using ungaze with 1.7gb of used Ext partition... It was stable for me... No bootloop or anything...
Using the latest cm7 nightly rom, fk v4...
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Click to collapse
Really? 1.7 Gb and stable? Ext 4? Did you use CWM to make it? What card do you use?
New great a2sd mounting folders like disks! Need some testers here guys, please help. Maybe this way we can solve a2sd bootloops.
Must see this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1502893&page=6
based on my experience
Ext 2, used amonra 3.0.6, class 4 16gb transend, faster boot up than link2sd...
amao10 said:
Ext 2, used amonra 3.0.6, class 4 16gb transend, faster boot up than link2sd...
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So nothing special. Close to what is use. Except for ext2. I use ext4. Could ext2 be more stable?
does anyone has proof that internal sd card is better & faster than eksternal sd card class 10?
Is there really need for a proof on that matter? The fact that class 10 is the latest technology doesn`t make it ultimate.
voyager20021 said:
Is there really need for a proof on that matter? The fact that class 10 is the latest technology doesn`t make it ultimate.
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yes but it makes sense if your internal sd card is only class 2 (imagine factory want to cut budget product and add low sd card read & write).
one thing for sure, my quadrant says about 800 using internal sd card, and now about 2000 using eksternal. and if someone say that quadrant score is irrelevant, i only ask, why?
I use link2sd with 512 or 600-700 MB EXT3, and never got a problem, I prefer huge apps/games like NFS shift, in internal memory and data obviously in normal SD partition, and I prefer keeping apps like facebook, camera360 and other [unmoveable by default] apps in EXT3.. this way I can install several apps without any problem
I dont know if this has been asked before and I am feeling lazy to search. Does ungaze data2sd work with ext4 now?