I have no real knowledge of the workings of the Android OS, so please forgive me if I'm asking stupid questions.
I'm on MM, internal storage reports that the Android system is taking up 9.42GB of space.
However, after deleting various Sony and Google bloat in /system, I found that it STILL reports 9.42GB used.
I am positively sure I deleted hundred of MB of files, so I highly doubt that's the real number.
I presume that 9.42GB is actually just the size of the partition reserved for the Android system, as opposed to the actual size of files taking up space.
If true, then there must be lots of potentially wasted free space on there that I could use.
How do I reclaim the unused space? Is there a tool to easily do it? I couldn't find any information related to Xperias, most were discussing Nexuses.
I'm rooted, so I don't have FOTA concerns. I don't necessarily need to reclaim every single bit that's not used if it's wise to leave a certain amount of free space for the OS to work with.
But if say it's only really using 4GB, and needs 1GB extra, then I'd like the remaining 4GB back.
If it affects or prevents me from updating to future stock firmware releases, please also let me know.
Thanks!
Related
I'm way out on a limb right now checking out a few different things for v0.30. A lot has been learned with v0.20 and will be applied.
So my question is:
If I can find a way to eliminate Extended Rom and turn it into either Storage Memory or Program Memory (or both) which is preferred?
BTW, I've already been able to increase Storage Memory to over 60MB (See attached Image)...
kyphur said:
I'm way out on a limb right now checking out a few different things for v0.30. A lot has been learned with v0.20 and will be applied.
So my question is:
If I can find a way to eliminate Extended Rom and turn it into either Storage Memory or Program Memory (or both) which is preferred?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Program memory is sufficient; go for Storage
Olipro said:
Program memory is sufficient; go for Storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, I always run short on Storage and have enough program
Storage is the first to run low.. same as the above.
-mix
I don't agree with all of you Storage can be buyed but program memory is limited. Who knows the memory requirements in future WM6 programas.
My vote for program memory!
I'm with Viva. Low on storage? Move programs over to the card. Low on RAM? You're screwed. I say move it over to Program memory. That seems to be the most logical.
TaurusBullba said:
I'm with Viva. Low on storage? Move programs over to the card. Low on RAM? You're screwed. I say move it over to Program memory. That seems to be the most logical.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many are having problems running programs from Storage Card too, some think this is the root of some sleep lockups too. How many people ever runout of Program Memory? Maybe we should do that poll. I have a hard time keeping more tan 7MB free in storage., but I have at least 15-19MB free in Program.
Hi kyphur,
i think an additional 10mb of storage memory wont be sinifcant as the 60mb you have achieved in wm6 is suffice. if we need additional storage memory we have the sd cards to take care of it.
10mb of PROGRAM MEMORY is significant as we only have under 30mb free on a fresh hard reset and after a day of use this drops to about 24mb or less. the extra 10mb will allow us to run, well in my case, many apps with ample program memory and not worry about bogging down the system.
Therefore my vote goes to program memory.
But I have one concern with using ROM storage as program memory. RAM and ROM differ signifcantly in terms of technology and the ROM has much slower access rates than RAM. Would this have a signicant impact on performance?
Nonetheless, id still prefer it to be program memory.
Alot of programs run better from internal storage than from a storage card.
As already mentioned I havent run out of progam memory yet. But there again I have never run out of storage space either.
So my vote is for two thirds storage one third programs as apposed to half and half just to be different.
By the way keep up the good work kyphur, it is much appreciated.
kyphur said:
BTW, I've already been able to increase Storage Memory to over 60MB (See attached Image)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest you max out that storage to see if it actually is valid or not.
Olipro said:
I suggest you max out that storage to see if it actually is valid or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is true too, if there are any doubts as to reliabilty, stability then go with storage as well.
50 - 50 Split for everyone.
I have an Ultra 1 Gb SD Memory card Fitted (Faster than std SD) and I have Not loaded any programs on the Phone. (Everything is on the SD) but I am starting to see that my Program memory is getting Low. So I would benefit from more program memory.
I don't know if the Ultra Card makes a difference but I have very few if any Lock ups / Freezes.
I do agree with most on max the storage to see how stable it is...., but I would like both. An option to do either on the fly would be even better.
kyphur, lots of thanks for the great Roms you're cooking and developing! one question though, if Extended Rom gets eliminated in the next version, then will there be some way left to make programs like theft alert survive hard resets?
no no... I mean fill the storage up completely and then soft-reset the PDA to see if it's actually *real* space.
Program seems to make the most sense to me
Program is a good idea so is storage so that is why i vote 50/50. I am running out of both of them anyway.
I know I can use an SD card but it is not the same. SD installed apps causes the device to lock up at times.
Thank's a lot kyphur.
I'm democratic so 50 & 50 but, how wrote Olipro, before real test.
Well,split it even might be logical as few apps need to be installed in phone memory for better performance...........
My vote will be to :: release 2 ROMs ,one with more program memory and one with more storage memory and the users will decide which one to vote ...(will it be too much work releasing 2 ROMs??,if yes then Program memory wins!!)
Kyphur,
if you build two different ROMS, one with maxxed out program memory and one with maxxed out storage id like to run SPB benchmark and post the results for a better polling result....
edit... i would like more storage but dont want to lessen the performance...
Hey guys i think this should be an important challenge to overcome maybe find out where all the ram is going and get it back without reseting our precious moguls. My experience its something that Task manager doesn't show up because when i end task on my DCD 3 1 2 ROM i dont get all of my memory back like right after reset. Also this causes inconvinient problem of starting GPS after few days of RAM going down to 8mb and not having enough to lunch TOMTOM.
Oxios doesn't not regain full mem only one third of it.
Can we some how make a better task manager or maybe purge RAM?
Writing a driver to consider our FLASH cards as constant RAM?
I would gladly sacrifice remove ability of my MicroSD for extra 4 gigs of ram and would let my memory leak on a period of roughly 4 years of constant usage.
Please lets get organized and stop hoping the next ROM upgrade will solve this issue.
This is one of the biggest downfalls of the mogul
I would suggest looking into how RAM works before making this thread.
First off, most of our ram appears to be lost due to memory leaks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak
And since, at least in my experience, most of the memory leak comes from Windows 6 (and so much worse in 6.1), you can't exactly end the windows task unless you...
restart the Mogul.
So no, an application, or task manager, wont do you any good. Not until they fix windows 6.1 up to not be lord of memory leaks. That is why new roms are often so desired, because only a rom release with some decent version of 6.1 with hopefully some patched memory leak holes could help our problem.
Second, you can't use a flash drive as ram, at least its not reasonable. You think the Mogul slows down now? Wow, just wait to you see it moving at the blistering pace of a microSD card.
Ram is so small, and so expensive, largely due to its speed. Thats why you can buy a 500GB HD for about the cost of 4GB of RAM on your computer.
Also, running from the MicroSD would be similar to the page file on your home computer. It runs from, in most cases, your C drive, its a fairly large file, getting even larger when you run multiple tasks on a low RAM system.
It is slow as a dog, and is one of the worst causes of system slowdowns. I also believe that MicroSD's have a limited number of read/writes. While not an issue so much for everyday use (taking pictures, running an app from time to time), if it were used as a swap file, it would probably wear out that SD card pretty quick.
So no, short of an amazing, simple amazing, piece of software engineering on Microsoft's part on a new Windows Mobile, someone developing some sweet, easy to install ram upgrade, or the new replacement for the Mogul coming out with more ram than we know what to do with.
You will be restarting your Mogul.
It should be possible to wright a Driver to USE RAM for swap file and some of main drivers but MicroSD card to be used to run all the extra features and programs. Also why our team of coders cant plug the memory leaks or find out the runing programs not seen by Task manager and have option to close them?
PS
Thanks for confirming my worst dream about the limits of our mogul. Also I notice that PPC on palm trios seems not to have these memory leaks.
This is maybe possible if we can build a tool that can reboot the shell without rebooting the actual OS. It can be combined with the command to free the memory when the OS is unloaded. This is my theory, i think that we can recover memory like this
VulnoX said:
I would suggest looking into how RAM works before making this thread.
First off, most of our ram appears to be lost due to memory leaks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak
And since, at least in my experience, most of the memory leak comes from Windows 6 (and so much worse in 6.1), you can't exactly end the windows task unless you...
restart the Mogul.
So no, an application, or task manager, wont do you any good. Not until they fix windows 6.1 up to not be lord of memory leaks. That is why new roms are often so desired, because only a rom release with some decent version of 6.1 with hopefully some patched memory leak holes could help our problem.
Second, you can't use a flash drive as ram, at least its not reasonable. You think the Mogul slows down now? Wow, just wait to you see it moving at the blistering pace of a microSD card.
Ram is so small, and so expensive, largely due to its speed. Thats why you can buy a 500GB HD for about the cost of 4GB of RAM on your computer.
Also, running from the MicroSD would be similar to the page file on your home computer. It runs from, in most cases, your C drive, its a fairly large file, getting even larger when you run multiple tasks on a low RAM system.
It is slow as a dog, and is one of the worst causes of system slowdowns. I also believe that MicroSD's have a limited number of read/writes. While not an issue so much for everyday use (taking pictures, running an app from time to time), if it were used as a swap file, it would probably wear out that SD card pretty quick.
So no, short of an amazing, simple amazing, piece of software engineering on Microsoft's part on a new Windows Mobile, someone developing some sweet, easy to install ram upgrade, or the new replacement for the Mogul coming out with more ram than we know what to do with.
You will be restarting your Mogul.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
while every single statement you say is true, your only wrong about how long ti takes to wear out a flash device. According to Toshiba, the inventor of Flash memory and one of the top suppliers of Flash memory chips, the 10,000 cycles of MLC [Multi-Level Cell] NAND is more than sufficient for a wide range of consumer applications, from storing documents to digital photos. For example, if a 256-MB MLC NAND Flash-based card can typically store 250 pictures from a 4-megapixel camera (a conservative estimate), its 10,000 write/erase cycles, combined with wear-leveling algorithms in the controller, will enable the user to store and/or view approximately 2.5 million pictures within the expected useful life of the card.
For USB flash drives, Toshiba calculated that a 10,000 write cycle endurance would enable customers to completely write and erase the entire contents once per day for 27 years, well beyond the life of the hardware.
take into note that is only 10,000 write cycles. 100,000 which is common for most flash drive now a days. so no, he wont even be around to see the day his flash drive even wears out. LOL.
Glad to see this post picking up some steam But lets Try and focus on making A solution rather than discussin known facts
the known facts have already pointed out the problem (memory leaks in the OS) and the only solution we have without the source code (restart the OS by rebooting the phone) so what else is there to discuss?
oh yeah, we can talk about ways to get the source code so we can fix it.
well i posted one idea:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2257436&postcount=4
Greetings,
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question or the wrong thread.
I am curious about memory allocation in Custom ROMS. I have an ATT Fuze and the Stock ROM stripped of junk had over 200MB of Program memory available. It seems like most of the Custom ROMs on this forum only start with 120MB or so.
It seems like most of the Custom ROMS all focus on the amount of Storage available rather than Program memory. With SD cards being priced so low that they are almost free, why is there more focus on Storage rather than Program memory? The phone cost close to $1,000 but I have an 8GB storage card that cost me $10.
I have migrated from an eTen X500 where I always struggled to find ways to free up program memory. Here it seems like there is no interest in program memory, only storage.
Not being critical, just curious about what I am missing.
Thanks for any advice.
Doug M.
You are in the wrong thread just so you know for future reference, but I'll answer your question. Many of the cooks do try to get you as much program memory as possible, and if you look on the threads for cooked roms, you'll find that they usually post the numbers for both. Several of the cooks also have a few different versions of their roms, so you can choose a lighter version that gives you more program memory. That being said, the TP already has tons of memory and gives you enough room to install tons of programs, especially if you're running a cooked rom.
There is only so much you can squeeze out of the Program Memory. I may be wrong but the Program Memory acts like memory cache for running programs. About the only way you can lower Program Memory is from removing files from the payload when you dump it and by moving around the different partitions to recover unused space. When I build my ROMs I have been using 16MB pagepool which eats away from the program memory but increases the quickness of windows a bit.
Storage on the other hand is so much easier to gain back...
There doesn't seem to be a lot of real function in the stock rom vs AOSP. The air gestures are a barely working gimmick, the added apps are almost 100% useless but what gets me is the size of the ROMS, almost 2GB for full stock and around 1.2GB for a "debloated" when the AOSP ROMS are from 150-200MB.
As I understand it the size difference doesn't matter though because the partition structure doesn't change when switching roms so the space savings is just wasted.
Is there a way to actually recover this space?
What I would like most is as much space as possible be available as primary and the fake sd card to be as small as possible (so i can really use the 64GB sd card) and the ROM partition to be as small as possible.
Is this just a pipe dream or is this a real possibility?
Uh, so yeah. Pretty sure I'm missing a pretty big chunk of my storage space. I currently have the Nexus 4.4.4 ROM flashed, and I'm only showing about 11 gigs of total storage space, with approximately 6 gigs available. I thought I had removed all of the rom slots in Safestrap awhile back, but perhaps not. I have no backups saved either, according to TWRP.
Is there anyway to determine where this other ~5 gigs of space is tied up, like a partition?
Thanks in advance.
PariahNine said:
Uh, so yeah. Pretty sure I'm missing a pretty big chunk of my storage space. I currently have the Nexus 4.4.4 ROM flashed, and I'm only showing about 11 gigs of total storage space, with approximately 6 gigs available. I thought I had removed all of the rom slots in Safestrap awhile back, but perhaps not. I have no backups saved either, according to TWRP.
Is there anyway to determine where this other ~5 gigs of space is tied up, like a partition?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus rom will show ~11.4Gb total on a 16Gb device. The balance is a fixed allocation (partition) used for system files and can not be easily adjusted. The values will be similar for CM11 and FireOS.
Sounds like storage allocations are as they should be assuming it's a 16Gb model.