[Q] Removing Apps from /system/app folder - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
I hv rooted my device (Canvas HD). IT has 4GB Internal memory and out of it 1.77 GB is user usable space. And 1GB is ROM. So doe sthat mean the rest are used by The OS?
Anyway I wen to root and browsed to /system folder using the root explorer, it shows 624.67 MB used and 15.94 MB free. Is it normal?
Why the root explorer shows used and free space only for /system folder?
The /system/app folder shows only .apk and .odex version of some apks. So is this folder only a container of these apps. So can we delete these apps or move it to external SD to make more space inside the /system folder?
Am I going to loose any functionality in the device if I delete few apps inside this /system/app folder?
Please help me.

ajaykumarmeher said:
Hello,
I hv rooted my device (Canvas HD). IT has 4GB Internal memory and out of it 1.77 GB is user usable space. And 1GB is ROM. So doe sthat mean the rest are used by The OS?
Anyway I wen to root and browsed to /system folder using the root explorer, it shows 624.67 MB used and 15.94 MB free. Is it normal?
Why the root explorer shows used and free space only for /system folder?
The /system/app folder shows only .apk and .odex version of some apks. So is this folder only a container of these apps. So can we delete these apps or move it to external SD to make more space inside the /system folder?
Am I going to loose any functionality in the device if I delete few apps inside this /system/app folder?
Please help me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from my understanding on the subject, and I'm far from an expert, you can delete the apks in the app folder.
i'm in the process of creating a ROM. on my S4 in the app folder, there is SetupWizard.apk. I don't want this to be installed once I flash this. I delete this apk and it wont be on the phone.
now I have a question, hopefully someone can answer...once I delete the SetupWizard.apk are there any other associated files that I need to delete or modify?

To answer both your questions yes there are various apps in /system/app that can be deleted but many of them can cause unwanted issues. Be careful what you delete and always have a backup.
Moving apps from system to SD isn't always a great idea, actually chances are you don't need to create extra space there if your ROM is up and running, most of the time all additional apps should go to your data partition and yes some times its makes sense to put them on SD fat32 or ext partition.
Deleting the setup wizard won't cause any specific harm but the initial setup your phone business will be gone at first boot of a fresh flash.
Just Google search safe to remove system apps to find some hints on what is safe to delete, of course this varies on every phone what kinds of bloat etc is on there
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Related

Space issues with Omarket

Hi guys,
i downloaded a few apps using the Omarket app and i don't know where it stores the downloaded .cab s
Therefore, all my free space just "disapeared".
I read somewhere that one must find the Omarket folder where it stores but the cab, but i searched all the folders in my phone and no sign of it.
Please help me, i don't want to format my phone again.
Ah, i also uninstalled the Omarket app and there were no changes in the free space.
It loads the cabs into the \cache folder where omarket is stored. The folder is erased when you close the application, so if you just want to recover the cabs, you need to use a file explorer to move them out of that folder while the application is still running.
actually, i want to remove them... but i cant find where they are stored
aparently they are stored somewhere, simply "eating" my free space
I assume you installed the programs you downloaded through Openmarket? Where did you install them? Into device memory? Because that's what really uses up your storage. Openmarket definitely deletes the dowloaded .cabs when you close it after a download. But that does not change the fact that the installed apps need storage space when installed. I would check how much memory the corresponding folder in your device memory uses. Depending on the language of your phone it's called "Program Files" "Programme"...
If it's indeed the mere size of all the installed software in your device memory that uses up all it's capacitiy I recommend you moving some programs onto your storage card.

Recover lost internal storage space

Before turning on usb connect I have about 25MB of internal storage space. Somehow the phone hang when turning on the usb connect and I have to reboot it. After the reboot I lost around 8MB of internal storage space .
I have look through the files using root explorer and did not come across any unusual big files or names.
Is there a program that help to recover the lost space or how can I go about to recover the lost space. I have tried titanium backup dalvik-cache cleaning but failed to recover any space.
Can I delete the log file from the internal storage /data/log directory (see attachment).
curiou5 said:
Before turning on usb connect I have about 25MB of internal storage space. Somehow the phone hang when turning on the usb connect and I have to reboot it. After the reboot I lost around 8MB of internal storage space .
I have look through the files using root explorer and did not come across any unusual big files or names.
Is there a program that help to recover the lost space or how can I go about to recover the lost space. I have tried titanium backup dalvik-cache cleaning but failed to recover any space.
Can I delete the log file from the internal storage /data/log directory (see attachment).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey!
More info PLEASE!
What ROM you use(stock, custom and is it FROYO or GB)? Dose you phone rooted or nope and so on.
Thanks!
CHEERS!
casiocas said:
Hey!
More info PLEASE!
What ROM you use(stock, custom and is it FROYO or GB)? Dose you phone rooted or nope and so on.
Thanks!
CHEERS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using stock ROM Froyo and the phone is rooted.
I think the log files in /data/log directory are text files. I have deleted files which are more than 2 MB and I got back 86MB of space. The phone now seems to response better and has not encounter any issue yet. Why are there so many log files in the first place, using up precious space. I am tempted to delete all the log files. Is it a good idea.
curiou5 said:
Using stock ROM Froyo and the phone is rooted.
I think the log files in /data/log directory are text files. I have deleted files which are more than 2 MB and I got back 86MB of space. The phone now seems to response better and has not encounter any issue yet. Why are there so many log files in the first place, using up precious space. I am tempted to delete all the log files. Is it a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey!
You can delete log files, BUT SOMETIMES they are useful. Of course if you DONT know how to use log files your self, then you can delete them, but some apps(maybe most of them) great them again(log files, I mean).
And if you want some more space, you can move you APPS to SD, with a2sd or link2sd from MARKET. Of course phone acts better, if it hase more SPACE to manage.
CHEERS!
wow that's curious, my log files aren't bigger than 300k, and have only 5 files. :S
casiocas said:
Hey!
You can delete log files, BUT SOMETIMES they are useful. Of course if you DONT know how to use log files your self, then you can delete them, but some apps(maybe most of them) great them again(log files, I mean).
And if you want some more space, you can move you APPS to SD, with a2sd or link2sd from MARKET. Of course phone acts better, if it hase more SPACE to manage.
CHEERS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
Except for those that must be installed to internal ROM, all my apps are installed in SD card. Now I can move all the log files to SD card and delete from the internal ROM.

[Q] quick question about app back up please

Hey good people, I had Hot Pursuit running in my device with all its 350 or so MB that you have to download when installing it . I then was going to install a new ROM and for that did both a cwm and titanium backup. Restored all the apps and all it's good except for the fact that now when I tap onto the game it asks to download the whole 350mb again. Shouldn't I be able to restore the whole thing without having to download it again ? Thanks
Many games install aditional files directly into the SD Card. Titanium Backup does the backup of the app itself, not the files on the SD Card asociated to the app.
If you don't delete the internal memory you shouldn't have problems with this, since its usually on /sdcard/Gameloft/... directory. If you need to delete the internal memory, then copy the /sdcard/Gameloft directory to your SD to save the app install files.
AzureusPT said:
Many games install aditional files directly into the SD Card. Titanium Backup does the backup of the app itself, not the files on the SD Card asociated to the app.
If you don't delete the internal memory you shouldn't have problems with this, since its usually on /sdcard/Gameloft/... directory. If you need to delete the internal memory, then copy the /sdcard/Gameloft directory to your SD to save the app install files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate, am still new to Android. I did wipe all the system and data to install the new rom, so will probably have to download the files again, but next time will know what to do. Thanks again.
Wiping system and data doesn't delete the game data saved on the SD card. Only formatting SD card will delete the game data. Check in 'my files' to see if its still there on your SD card under gameloft. Sometimes when you delete the app it needs to re-download only a few mbs, not all.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Internal memory almost full, no idea why

Hi, I have a s3 international version, rooted and cm11 on it. My internal memory is almost full and I can't seem to move apps to external sd card. Also, a few months ago I had 5 gigs of space left, now 900mb... Did a complete whipe and started all over again, but still 900mb free memory. Is there a way I can delete everything, maybe go back to stock an start all over?
Thanks
Camera, or game data files, or changing rom to rom
1.When you switch from rom to rom( like 4.1.2 to 4.2.2) it leaves the previous rom's files in an folder named '0'..
2. when you may put some pirated games, after wipe.. the folder( data files) still exist
3. well, have you been recording a lot of videos or took a lot of pics??
I did have a few '0' folders, but I deleted them al.
Could be a few app folder, but definitely not 4gigs.and I have maybe 50 photos on it and no films.
Would it be bad if I deleted everything on the internal sd?
I also have a folder storage/emulated/0 and storage/emulated/legacy. In both are the same files. Can I delete 1 of the 2 entirely?
Thanks for the fast reply btw
tanghe05 said:
I did have a few '0' folders, but I deleted them al.
Could be a few app folder, but definitely not 4gigs.and I have maybe 50 photos on it and no films.
Would it be bad if I deleted everything on the internal sd?
I also have a folder storage/emulated/0 and storage/emulated/legacy. In both are the same files. Can I delete 1 of the 2 entirely?
Thanks for the fast reply btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be on your place I would install Root Manager from G.Play and carefully looked inside. In acc to result i would be acting next step. And probably you will find another 0 folder. ( personal experience)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer&hl=en
tanghe05 said:
Hi, I have a s3 international version, rooted and cm11 on it. My internal memory is almost full and I can't seem to move apps to external sd card. Also, a few months ago I had 5 gigs of space left, now 900mb... Did a complete whipe and started all over again, but still 900mb free memory. Is there a way I can delete everything, maybe go back to stock an start all over?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use any file explorer (ES file explorer has one) which has storage space analysis tools.
That'll help you to locate the folders which are using most of the space.

Nubia tip.. recover lost space

I found I had over 7GB of junk files on my phone, this is not a nubia issue but an android OS one. There are other threads on this issue but I guess all Nubia users would be affected.
Here's how to check, have a look at how much space these Two directories are using:
Storage/sdcard0/dcim/.thumbnails
Storage/sdcard1/dcim/.thumbnails
(easiest way to do this is connect to pc and mount as storage drive and check through windows explorer)
If you want to reclaim this space then its easy. Must be rooted!
In your root file explorer, go to both directories delete the .thumbnails folders then create a new *file* called .thumbnails in the same directory. Reboot and your done. There is no impact gallery still works perfect!

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