Related
so just read up on swap and had a couple more questions. i understand that it changes the way your phone handles the ram different apps use but still not understanding the specifics. if someone could clear that up it would be wonderful also will this affect battery life at all? and last question will this work on the kernel that comes with das bamf remix 1.6.3? ( i think my phone info says dirty by adrynalyne #1 ) or do i need to use the one suggested in the instructions --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1106420 here?
It turns a set amount of your sd card memory into ram essentially, and the less frequently accessed files are written to the sdcard swap partition instead of the ram, essentially freeing up the ram for the more frequently read and written data. I didnt notice any effect on battery life, and i guess the only way it would...was if it drew more power to write to sd...i believe you need to use a kernel with swap enabled like the one by imoseyon
Thanks a ton! that perfectly answered my question as for the kernel i figured as much. does anyone know if the kernel i mentioned supports swap?
Swap is created on internal space, the emmc not the SD card.
sent from a sweet paper weight.
Pretty sure I read from Adrynalyne that his kernels all had swap enabled even though he doesn't believe it works.
Mike
For windows users, swap is like your page file (just better managed). I see very little ever use swap on android though.
ibsk8 said:
Swap is created on internal space, the emmc not the SD card.
sent from a sweet paper weight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off love your signature and after reading some more it is definitely on emmc. which is fine cuz the thunderbolt has like what 16gb of it?
dak_181 said:
First off love your signature and after reading some more it is definitely on emmc. which is fine cuz the thunderbolt has like what 16gb of it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are also whispers going about that doing this "could" stress the emmc too much and cause your phone to an hero itself. The emmc is also possibly the leading culprit in the GB reboot of doom. Too lazy to point to source but seen this about the forums.
Truthfully I don't understand why people are putting their phones through this. EMMC is limited to how many times you can write to it. Just like a SSD drive. The first thing people do with SSD's is to either disable the swap file (page file) or move it to another drive. Putting a swap file on your EMMC is just killing the life of your EMMC even sooner. People say that you'll never kill your EMMC chip within the lifetime of your phone. But the fact is, no one knows how many writes your EMMC chip will take before degradation occurs. It's all up to the user though. Just wish people would do some research and fully understand the technology within their phones.
Carnage9270 said:
Truthfully I don't understand why people are putting their phones through this. EMMC is limited to how many times you can write to it. Just like a SSD drive. The first thing people do with SSD's is to either disable the swap file (page file) or move it to another drive. Putting a swap file on your EMMC is just killing the life of your EMMC even sooner. People say that you'll never kill your EMMC chip within the lifetime of your phone. But the fact is, no one knows how many writes your EMMC chip will take before degradation occurs. It's all up to the user though. Just wish people would do some research and fully understand the technology within their phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1....Adreylane himself declared that he would not create swap on the EEMC. If he does not recommend it, I am not doing it.
I would like to, however, figure how people have so much RAM remaining on their phones safely. I only get about 120/600 free 98% of the times without having to constantly close out tasks. People in the dev forum are reporting they have had 300-400 free on Froyo. We all know GB takes more but I am on Froyo still and only have seen my aforementioned numbers.
id heard of some problems on emmc but didnt realize it was such a big deal. thanks for clearing that up before i tried it out. and im having the same issue im only getting between 100-200 free mb of ram without a task killer. is there something were doing wrong?
First, sorry for my bad English. Hope I make myself clear enough for you to understand me.
Second, to the moderators: feel free to move this topic if I posted it on the wrong session. But as you will see reading the following, I believe that the issue I will describe is directly related with the Neatrom - correct me if I'm wrong, but I have reasons to believe that.
So, here it goes:
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 (i9100), running XXLSJ Neatrom Lite v4.0, and this kernell: 3.0.31-Siyah-s2-v6.0b4+
In december 2012, I bought a MicroSD card (model Sandisk Ultra 32Gb class 10) to install in my i9100, and it rocks.
But 4 weeks ago, when I was playing some games on the phone, I ignored the first battery low warning messages, and kept playing to a point that the phone simply turned off. Completely. I recharged the battery and, after powering the phone on again, it showed a message saying something like "blank sdcard" or something. I had many pictures and important movies on that card, so I decided to not format it; instead, I searched for a way to fix it.
I tried to access the files from my computer - on Windows, no success; on Ubuntu, no success; on Mint, no success. Windows and Linux showed the icon representing the sdcard, but when I tried to open it under Windows, it showed a message saying "this disk is not formated. Do you want to format it?". Linux didn't show any message, and didn't opne a single window to show its content. Nothing. Nada.
Then, my cousin (a geek genius) took my card to test it on his own notebook. He made some long research on the net, and installed a software called TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk - linux version) to try to recover the partition (or the MBR, I don't know exactly the tech name of this stuff...). He even entered on the software the number of cylinders, sectors and all that stuff to try to achieve sometuing... But after almost two hours reading tutorials, and trying hard to bring that card back to life with no success, he finally gave up, telling me to RMA the sdcard.
Then, I took the card from his hands, and put it aside, giving up too. Half an hour later, accepting the fact that my files was gone forever, I decided to try to format the card on my phone, to see if it would work after being formated. So, I put the card on the phone again, and powered the phone on... And, for my surprise, the card was back to life! For no reason, it decided to work again! With all the movies, all the pictures, all the games, everything was there, untouched!!!!
So, it worked great in the last 4 weeks, fast and nice - recording long HD movies, taking hundreds of pictures, installing huge data games, etc. It worked fine - until two days ago.
Because, two days ago, I was playing again, and again I ignored the low battery warnings, and it happened again! In the middle of the game, the battery ran out, and the phone turned off. Guess what? Yeah, after recharging it and turning it on again, there came that same message, telling me that my sdcard was blank! Again, no success trying to access it from Windows or Linux. And no geek cousin nearby...
(Of course, I had a backup of my files, created just after that first "death").
so, I sent an e-mail to my cousin, asking him about the software he used, and how it used it. He told me about that testdisk software. I downloaded the Windows version of the software, and give a try - no success. The program didn't recognize the drive letter of my "blank" sdcard, because the filesystem was simply not listed by the program. So, I went to the site, and I read that, under Linux, it was possible to force Testdisk to try to repair filesystems that was not shown in the list, by using a command line telling the software to look for the device through this mounting point (a folder inside /dev/). Linux stuff, I wont go any deep on this here.
So, I decided to restart my notebook, to boot on Linux to try that method. Guess what again? Suddenly, Windows recognized the sdcard again! I just ran the TestDisk utility, with no success - no command was used, I just ran the program, and since it didn't recognize the card, I closed the program. Nothing was done.
But, given the fact that the card was dead twice in the exact circumstantes (battery wearing completely off), and given the fact that the card came back to life after a simple run of the software TestDisk, I refuse to believe that it was a simple coincidence; I am not a geek, not a linux or android expert, nor a hardware wizzard, but my little experience tells me that it is possible that the android system locked the SDcard filesystem in a way that, after a sudden energy cut, it needed some sort of "logical shock" (made by TestDisk, even without any changes or command being called by the user, thats me).
I believe that this issue is part NeatRom's (or maybe kernell's) fault, because in stock roms, the system would close the app and close all sdcard access before turning the phone off to prevent issues like this one.
Again, I must repeat: I am not a technician, not an expert, so chances are I am wrong - very wrong. But I believe that my suspicions makes some sense, and woths to be investigated - or cleared out. And, of course, chances are that the card is deffective - and I already called RMA service from Sandisk. And I made another backup right now. But, I insist: everything is working: no movie corrupted, not a single file is corrupted... So, I still have a doubt here: was this issue cause by a deffective card, or was it cause by the sudden turn-offs?
Before you ask: no, I didn't test playing to the end of battery using another sdcard. By the way, I will never play to this point anymore. And yes, the card is still working!
Sorry for the VERY LONG POST. But I think that this testimonial may be of some value to the rom and kernell developpers.
I can honestly say i have never heard of a Rom or Kernel damaging a memory card, could be yours just developed a fault??
Galaxy s2 said:
I can honestly say i have never heard of a Rom or Kernel damaging a memory card, could be yours just developed a fault??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not the rom itself, but possibly some "features" of this or any other rom related to how it handles battery. I will try to make myself as clear as possible...
I know that in stock roms it is not possible to shoot photographs using flash when battery level is under 15% - this is to prevent sudden turn-off of the phone. And I know that some roms uses some tweaks that allows the user to take pictures using flash under this 15%. This is a thing that most users can think is an improvement - but we know that it is dangerous to use battery in a not-so-controled way. The history I told on the first post is a prove of it!
So, my suspictions is that, in some way, some rom configurations (or kernell configurations) may be allowing the user to play a high-power-demanding game or app to the end of battery charge - when, instead, it should close all the apps after the first warning, and before shutting down the phone. In other words, some roms let the decision up to the user - and if the user is (like me) distracted with some game, and forgot or bypass the first warning, he becomes a victim of this own distraction, wearing all the juice without thinking about closing the apk and shuting down the phone in the correct manner.
So, the question is: are there some rom tweaks that could POSSIBLY be the reason for this kind of issue?
Hope I made myself clear now, despite my horrible "engrich"...
I've been searching for days now, I can't find any mention of the same problem. So I finally thought I should just ask here...
Both my wife and I have an S3 i9300. Mine is 15 months old, my wife has had her S3 for only three months now. Devices are not rooted. On my previous Galaxy S phone I have mucked about a lot with custom ROMs. but this phone works so well I've not found it necessary to interfere.
However, for some time now, the Device Memory of my wife's phone has been almost completely filled up.
Out of 16 Gb she has about 650 Mb left (my older phone still had 6.3 Gb). So with 4.6Gb of System memory and some Cache and Misc., there's over 10 Gb of "stuff" on her phone. In Android 4.3 (previous, 4.2.1(?) wouldn't even calculate it) the Storage tab told us there was almost 10Gb of photos and videos on the phone as can be seen in the attached photo.
In the Gallery it showed a 1000 Picasa pictures. Too round a number so it might be more. My wife threw those out of Picasa on the PC and afterwards closed the sync options on the phone. Then we stopped the gallery, emptied the cache and deleted the data. Now the Picasa pictures are no longer in the Gallery, there's about 60 pics left in there, Can't be more than 200 Mb. But according to the Storage tab there's still 10 Gb of photo's on the phone! Not only is this phone slower than mine, it sometimes even crashes. We rebooted the phone a number of times.
I can't find those files! They're not in either SDcard, not in the level up from there marked "/" in the file manager. As the phone is not rooted and my wife doesn't want it mucked about with, I can't go further than that.
My phone is a year older and I take way more photo's than her and I have 120Mb of 'em on my phone. Other sections of the memory like the System Memory are comparable to mine in size, or way smaller, like she has less than half the number of apps I have.
My wife is an MD, she uses the phone often for patient calls. She is very dependent on it. So she doesn't want me to muck about with it. Doesn't want it rooted. Also she doesn't look forward to doing a factory reset and reinstalling the lot. Especially redoing the homescreens. She has a lot of them, which seems to work for her, but is timecomsuming to redecorate. Then there's re-freezing the apps Google and Samsung seem to deem necessary to have on there that we don't use. Without option to remove. And it might not even work, since factory reset usually leaves your personal stuff (music, documents, photo's, etc) alone.
Does anyone know how to find/remove these files?
You can use the storage manager in either File Manager or ES File Explorer to see exactly which folders take up the most space.
shivadow said:
You can use the storage manager in either File Manager or ES File Explorer to see exactly which folders take up the most space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Is that SD Card Analyst in ES explorer? I'll go take a look.
Double post. Delete won't work? Pressing delete sends me to the edit post window where there is no option to delete.
Yes sd card analyst is another term..
Widdly said:
I've been searching for days now, I can't find any mention of the same problem. So I finally thought I should just ask here...
Both my wife and I have an S3 i9300. Mine is 15 months old, my wife has had her S3 for only three months now. Devices are not rooted. On my previous Galaxy S phone I have mucked about a lot with custom ROMs. but this phone works so well I've not found it necessary to interfere.
However, for some time now, the Device Memory of my wife's phone has been almost completely filled up.
Out of 16 Gb she has about 650 Mb left (my older phone still had 6.3 Gb). So with 4.6Gb of System memory and some Cache and Misc., there's over 10 Gb of "stuff" on her phone. In Android 4.3 (previous, 4.2.1(?) wouldn't even calculate it) the Storage tab told us there was almost 10Gb of photos and videos on the phone as can be seen in the attached photo.
In the Gallery it showed a 1000 Picasa pictures. Too round a number so it might be more. My wife threw those out of Picasa on the PC and afterwards closed the sync options on the phone. Then we stopped the gallery, emptied the cache and deleted the data. Now the Picasa pictures are no longer in the Gallery, there's about 60 pics left in there, Can't be more than 200 Mb. But according to the Storage tab there's still 10 Gb of photo's on the phone! Not only is this phone slower than mine, it sometimes even crashes. We rebooted the phone a number of times.
I can't find those files! They're not in either SDcard, not in the level up from there marked "/" in the file manager. As the phone is not rooted and my wife doesn't want it mucked about with, I can't go further than that.
My phone is a year older and I take way more photo's than her and I have 120Mb of 'em on my phone. Other sections of the memory like the System Memory are comparable to mine in size, or way smaller, like she has less than half the number of apps I have.
My wife is an MD, she uses the phone often for patient calls. She is very dependent on it. So she doesn't want me to muck about with it. Doesn't want it rooted. Also she doesn't look forward to doing a factory reset and reinstalling the lot. Especially redoing the homescreens. She has a lot of them, which seems to work for her, but is timecomsuming to redecorate. Then there's re-freezing the apps Google and Samsung seem to deem necessary to have on there that we don't use. Without option to remove. And it might not even work, since factory reset usually leaves your personal stuff (music, documents, photo's, etc) alone.
Does anyone know how to find/remove these files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look here :
Go to /data/media
You should see three folders
0
legacy
obb
Leave these three folders alone and MOVE all the other folders (which you will notice are all your missing folders and files) into the 0 folder. The only folders that should be left behind are the 3 mentioned above.
You will need a root browser to do this
SE analyzer crashes every time. No doubt because the card is so full.
I'll try the "0" method, thanks!
/ Data folder shows empty. No files. I have turned "hidden files" on.
The phone isn't rooted...
I love Android and it's come a long way, but apparently it is still messy.
Widdly said:
/ Data folder shows empty. No files. I have turned "hidden files" on.
The phone isn't rooted...
I love Android and it's come a long way, but apparently it is still messy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said in my post you need a root browser to see these files The file explore you are using will not see them because you are not rooted:crying: ...Seriously though you need to root your phone to see and move/remove these files there is no other way.
tallman43 said:
Like I said in my post you need a root browser to see these files The file explore you are using will not see them because you are not rooted:crying: ...Seriously though you need to root your phone to see and move/remove these files there is no other way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess so... As much as I love android, it still is rather odd that on google android, with a stock samsung phone, upgraded by samsung ota, I need to root it to clean up a mess probably made with a google service... I'll never go Apple, but this wouldn't happen on an iPhone. Otoh, if it did I'd really be sol. Walled up, bunkered in iOS won't let you do anything.
Well, at least I have an idea where to look now.
Thanks all!
I'll go find a rooted kernel and a stock one to get back.
Widdly said:
I guess so... As much as I love android, it still is rather odd that on google android, with a stock samsung phone, upgraded by samsung ota, I need to root it to clean up a mess probably made with a google service... I'll never go Apple, but this wouldn't happen on an iPhone. Otoh, if it did I'd really be sol. Walled up, bunkered in iOS won't let you do anything.
Well, at least I have an idea where to look now.
Thanks all!
I'll go find a rooted kernel and a stock one to get back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you see wat happened to the ios 7 update? Apple screwed it up. Did you see wat happened to apple maps? Apple screwed it up too. Oh. Ios 7 coppied from windows, android and other mobile phones.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
I actually own an ipad 4. Didn't notice any more discomfort than usual on it after the iOS 7 update. Yes, there was a bug fix or two, but I had no problem.
Neither do I have a large picasa stash so my phone is fine while my wife's exact same phone is gasping for air. But probably my phone has these stray files cluttering the space as well, but since there aren't as many, I don't notice.
Keep running into walls on the iPad, though, cause of the apple prison. It's a magnificent piece of hardware, but apple treats their customers as infants and most of them seem to love it. I guess if you have no qualm with only doing what the prison guards let you...
I have it for the music apps. Music reading apps, remote control of the digital mixer for my monitor mix. Those things aren't available on android or all the apples in my house would be edible.
I especially hate the absence of Swiftkey on iOS. Or anything similar. Apple keyboard is so stupid. Such a waste of fantastic hardware ...no apple fan here.
But consider this: here we have a google os, being completelly filled up with files by a google service called picasa, and the only way to get rid of it is breaking the warranty on a three month old phone. Or shipping it back to the store where my wife will be going without for weeks. She is an MD, needs it for patient calls away from her own office. Being without a phone for weeks is not an option. It's ridiculous.
Widdly said:
I actually own an ipad 4. Didn't notice any more discomfort than usual on it after the iOS 7 update. Yes, there was a bug fix or two, but I had no problem.
Neither do I have a large picasa stash so my phone is fine while my wife's exact same phone is gasping for air. But probably my phone has these stray files cluttering the space as well, but since there aren't as many, I don't notice.
Keep running into walls on the iPad, though, cause of the apple prison. It's a magnificent piece of hardware, but apple treats their customers as infants and most of them seem to love it. I guess if you have no qualm with only doing what the prison guards let you...
I have it for the music apps. Music reading apps, remote control of the digital mixer for my monitor mix. Those things aren't available on android or all the apples in my house would be edible.
I especially hate the absence of Swiftkey on iOS. Or anything similar. Apple keyboard is so stupid. Such a waste of fantastic hardware ...no apple fan here.
But consider this: here we have a google os, being completelly filled up with files by a google service called picasa, and the only way to get rid of it is breaking the warranty on a three month old phone. Or shipping it back to the store where my wife will be going without for weeks. She is an MD, needs it for patient calls away from her own office. Being without a phone for weeks is not an option. It's ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Picasa though I have nvr used it, I suppose it works the same way as dropbox? The files dun actually take up place in the phone. And picasa pictures definitely doesn't take up gbs of space.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
I thought so too. But the phone says there's 10gb worth of photos and videos on it and I can't find it.
Picasa is all I can think of with this phone. I'm extremely sure my wife didn't take this much photos in three months or at all. Come to think of it, I can't even imagine she had that much in picasa. We do have pretty large Dropbox accounts, but her account doesn't have much photo's. Mine does. I put our entire photo collection on there in my account which is not shared with hers.
I hope I get some time today to root her phone and finally see what it is. I hope I can undo the rooting damage with CF's triangleaway app.
I thought so too. But the phone says there's 10gb worth of photos and videos on it and I can't find it.
Picasa is all I can think of with this phone. I'm extremely sure my wife didn't take this much photos in three months or at all. Come to think of it, I can't even imagine she had that much in picasa. We do have pretty large Dropbox accounts, but her account doesn't have much photo's. Mine does. I put our entire photo collection on there in my account which is not shared with hers.
I hope I get some time today to root her phone and finally see what it is. I hope I can undo the rooting damage with CF's triangleaway app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I alr said dropbox do not use ur phone memory even though ur dropbox acc is large. I have over 20 gb used. And my phone is not even half full and it is only 16 gb internal no external. Picasa works the same way as dropbox too. The pics is in the server, not ur phone.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
JellyYogurt said:
I alr said dropbox do not use ur phone memory even though ur dropbox acc is large. I have over 20 gb used. And my phone is not even half full and it is only 16 gb internal no external. Picasa works the same way as dropbox too. The pics is in the server, not ur phone.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I said I believed that too. At least I used to.
But unavoidably there is 10Gb of files on the phone.which the storage says are photos and videos. Storage then puts you through to the gallery, where the greatest number of pics by far were in the picasa folders. It's the only place I can figure out where they could have come from. There's nothing else on the phone! And the DCIM folder is empty.
Apparently there is no way to root it and unroot it again without wiping the phone or setting of some protection or counter.... So, whichever way my wife is faced with needing to reinstall and/or configure all her apps again, which will be another couple of hours. She is about fed up with this on android. She had a sgs1 and an sgs note before, and this is the so-many-est time something is wrong with an android phone. If it happens again I'm going iPhone, she says.
Anyway, ill phone the store tomorrow. I don't want to risk the warranty in case anything more serious happens to it. They better tell me what to do.
Thought I'd let y'all know, a factory reset cleared it all up. Her photos and whatsapp messages and some other stuff are gone, but it isn't a big deal. It's a couple of hours work to get the phone back to where it was. Which is a drag. But the phone is nice and clean again now.
So glad I didn't need to root and flash stuff.
Thanks for all the help and I hope this might help others.
hey i am new to android and got myself a acer liquid e2 as was told it was a good phone for the price etc, i do find this phone very surprising and i am totally happy with it apart from 1 problem i come across about 20 times a day, "storage space" i have plenty of space on my sd card it is the phone that is the problem, and every day i need to keep clearing my data and cache as it shuts all my emails etc down when the space has run out which is annoying when it is servral times a day, i have apps on my phone which i dont use and dont need but cant delete these, ive been reasearching this now for a few weeks and everything that i have came across says root and delete, its not that simple is it? i would say that i can be quite good at this sort of stuff as ive made quite alot of my stuff to operate the way i want it, but every time i see anything about rooting it always say your phone can be bricked and i cant afford it to be bricked, i need it beleive it or not, anyway this site seems to have alot of very brainy and smart people on it, hence why i joined :good: can anyone help me with this problem, easy and safest way, will be most appreciated, i was just about to go down the kingo app way but decided to do more reasearch on it before hand and that has put me off it as people are saying there is stuff about spy cams and malware etc iplease help thanks. oh i ment to say i manage to turn my developer options on by total mistake and playing around with my phone so i have that on , if that helpsnetwork 3 in uk cheers guys.:cyclops: p.s. i have jelly bean 4.2.2
bazzaboy1 said:
hey i am new to android and got myself a acer liquid e2 as was told it was a good phone for the price etc, i do find this phone very surprising and i am totally happy with it apart from 1 problem i come across about 20 times a day, "storage space" i have plenty of space on my sd card it is the phone that is the problem, and every day i need to keep clearing my data and cache as it shuts all my emails etc down when the space has run out which is annoying when it is servral times a day, i have apps on my phone which i dont use and dont need but cant delete these, ive been reasearching this now for a few weeks and everything that i have came across says root and delete, its not that simple is it? i would say that i can be quite good at this sort of stuff as ive made quite alot of my stuff to operate the way i want it, but every time i see anything about rooting it always say your phone can be bricked and i cant afford it to be bricked, i need it beleive it or not, anyway this site seems to have alot of very brainy and smart people on it, hence why i joined :good: can anyone help me with this problem, easy and safest way, will be most appreciated, i was just about to go down the kingo app way but decided to do more reasearch on it before hand and that has put me off it as people are saying there is stuff about spy cams and malware etc iplease help thanks. oh i ment to say i manage to turn my developer options on by total mistake and playing around with my phone so i have that on , if that helpsnetwork 3 in uk cheers guys.:cyclops:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately removing the preloaded apps won't help your storage issues at all. Those apps are located in a different part of the system (/system/app) than the apps and data (/data/app + /data/data) that you add. You can (if rooted) move apps to the /system/app partition, but they don't always work or update correctly from there as it requires special permissions to run from there. But there really isn't much to do besides rooting it and doing some modifications to your set up. They don't call em budget phones for nothing.
Options include swapping the internal and external mount points so it reads your external as your main internal storage, creating a partition on your external and using a script to link your /data/app and/or /data/data folders to that partition so it reads as one big space (however big you make that partition), or using an app like Folder Mount to create a link between big folders on the internal to the external (mostly helpful for big game data). All of these require a bit of knowledge, but nothing that some time and reading can't help you with. It is not exactly rocket science. Knowing what update you are on though is important, both so you pick the right rooting method (there are multiple options if not on 4.2.2 yet) as well as, if, worst case happens, you know what version of the software you need to reload. You can find this info under Settings / About Phone. Make note of not just the android version, but the build or system version as well as there can be mini updates to software that changes things but not the actual android version.
As far as Kingo, I've never read anything other than hearsay about any potential malicious activity on their part. The reason you see most people freaking out about it is because when it first was introduced, it was known to send IMEI info back to their servers in China. Kingo never tried to hide the fact, explained their position about why they were doing it (diagnostics), and promptly changed how that was done. Now, by nature of what it is doing (root = gaining admin access to the operating system), it needs to download closed sourced scripts and files to gain this access . They don't want to disclose their sources for 2 reasons: 1) if the manufacturers of the phones that don't want it rooted see how it is done, then it's much easier to patch that on the next update and 2) so other people don't steal their work. Makes sense to me, but some people are concerned about closed sources (even though many apps already installed or that you download are closed source as well). I've used it on quite a few devices and have never had problems. You can uninstall the companion app it installs (it does this for some devices to help gain access through a backdoor) and update the SuperSU app and binary it installs via the Play Store, so don't really see it as an issue.
bazzaboy1 said:
hey i am new to android and got myself a acer liquid e2 as was told it was a good phone for the price etc, i do find this phone very surprising and i am totally happy with it apart from 1 problem i come across about 20 times a day, "storage space" i have plenty of space on my sd card it is the phone that is the problem, and every day i need to keep clearing my data and cache as it shuts all my emails etc down when the space has run out which is annoying when it is servral times a day, i have apps on my phone which i dont use and dont need but cant delete these, ive been reasearching this now for a few weeks and everything that i have came across says root and delete, its not that simple is it? i would say that i can be quite good at this sort of stuff as ive made quite alot of my stuff to operate the way i want it, but every time i see anything about rooting it always say your phone can be bricked and i cant afford it to be bricked, i need it beleive it or not, anyway this site seems to have alot of very brainy and smart people on it, hence why i joined :good: can anyone help me with this problem, easy and safest way, will be most appreciated, i was just about to go down the kingo app way but decided to do more reasearch on it before hand and that has put me off it as people are saying there is stuff about spy cams and malware etc iplease help thanks. oh i ment to say i manage to turn my developer options on by total mistake and playing around with my phone so i have that on , if that helpsnetwork 3 in uk cheers guys.:cyclops: p.s. i have jelly bean 4.2.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
es0tericcha0s said:
Unfortunately removing the preloaded apps won't help your storage issues at all. Those apps are located in a different part of the system (/system/app) than the apps and data (/data/app + /data/data) that you add. You can (if rooted) move apps to the /system/app partition, but they don't always work or update correctly from there as it requires special permissions to run from there. But there really isn't much to do besides rooting it and doing some modifications to your set up. They don't call em budget phones for nothing.
Options include swapping the internal and external mount points so it reads your external as your main internal storage, creating a partition on your external and using a script to link your /data/app and/or /data/data folders to that partition so it reads as one big space (however big you make that partition), or using an app like Folder Mount to create a link between big folders on the internal to the external (mostly helpful for big game data). All of these require a bit of knowledge, but nothing that some time and reading can't help you with. It is not exactly rocket science. Knowing what update you are on though is important, both so you pick the right rooting method (there are multiple options if not on 4.2.2 yet) as well as, if, worst case happens, you know what version of the software you need to reload. You can find this info under Settings / About Phone. Make note of not just the android version, but the build or system version as well as there can be mini updates to software that changes things but not the actual android version.
As far as Kingo, I've never read anything other than hearsay about any potential malicious activity on their part. The reason you see most people freaking out about it is because when it first was introduced, it was known to send IMEI info back to their servers in China. Kingo never tried to hide the fact, explained their position about why they were doing it (diagnostics), and promptly changed how that was done. Now, by nature of what it is doing (root = gaining admin access to the operating system), it needs to download closed sourced scripts and files to gain this access . They don't want to disclose their sources for 2 reasons: 1) if the manufacturers of the phones that don't want it rooted see how it is done, then it's much easier to patch that on the next update and 2) so other people don't steal their work. Makes sense to me, but some people are concerned about closed sources (even though many apps already installed or that you download are closed source as well). I've used it on quite a few devices and have never had problems. You can uninstall the companion app it installs (it does this for some devices to help gain access through a backdoor) and update the SuperSU app and binary it installs via the Play Store, so don't really see it as an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow thanks very much, a was not exspecting that reply and so quickly, so thanks , well as i said i am new to the android, and the whole rooting thing makes me nervous as i havent done it before, and i dont want to break my phone, i do know there is always a risk in anything really, but would like to know if possible the best for my phone, i am on jelly bean 4.2.2 and kernel 3.4.5 and is it the build number you need or the custom build version? also i dont know if this is important but i actually dont have wifi and use the usb tethering for my pc to get online, is it still possible to do it this way? cheers
bazzaboy1 said:
Wow thanks very much, a was not exspecting that reply and so quickly, so thanks , well as i said i am new to the android, and the whole rooting thing makes me nervous as i havent done it before, and i dont want to break my phone, i do know there is always a risk in anything really, but would like to know if possible the best for my phone, i am on jelly bean 4.2.2 and kernel 3.4.5 and is it the build number you need or the custom build version? also i dont know if this is important but i actually dont have wifi and use the usb tethering for my pc to get online, is it still possible to do it this way? cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2518094
That's a guide with everything you should need to fix the phone if anything were to happen or to just return it to it's original state if wanted / needed. Read through the thread a bit and see where other members were having trouble and the solutions to those. If you get comfortable with that and how it works, then modding your phone becomes much less scary. And once you are rooted, tethering is even better because you can typically hide your activity much more. I don't know if it is a big deal with carriers around where you live, but here, most people have to pay for tethering or make sure to have special plans that typically cost more than ones that don't include it.
es0tericcha0s said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2518094
That's a guide with everything you should need to fix the phone if anything were to happen or to just return it to it's original state if wanted / needed. Read through the thread a bit and see where other members were having trouble and the solutions to those. If you get comfortable with that and how it works, then modding your phone becomes much less scary. And once you are rooted, tethering is even better because you can typically hide your activity much more. I don't know if it is a big deal with carriers around where you live, but here, most people have to pay for tethering or make sure to have special plans that typically cost more than ones that don't include it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much!! a will go have a look at the thread just now, really appreciate your help and time, thanks
I have a A52 5g and a tab S7+ wifi, that are both remotely controled and monitored, and serve as gateway to my home network and basicaly every device connected to it. I noticed it at first and mew NOTHING related to this, didnt even know what open source was. Since then i have come to understand that, somehow, my phone seems to run a custom version of android, my guess is, built from AOSP and designed to disguise itself as oem samsung ui, but in background enables remote access and total takeover of every function. I have discovered, using total commander, that storage has been partitioned in 2 separate locations, and that one folder in there is called root system file, and filled with data/apk/installkits/etc.. this has me asking for help in 2 specific questions:
Am i holding a rooted device or is there another possibility that creates this situation? I was convinced its rooted untill i read here that root prevents from using samsung pass, secure folder etc.. and those seem to work on mine(or is it a version of those apps?) If its indeed rooted, will it wype everything if i flash it with the stock rom? And should i trust a small cell repair store to do that or learn how to do it myself?
2: i have bought 3 brand new phones since august, and made sure not to use my usual accounts, no use backups, not even set it up near my home wifi, and it almost instantly started self installing harmful software in background. I see no other way for it to link itself to be owned by me at initial setup, but for the sim card, new of course, but with my usual phone number and service transfered to it. Is that enough to make a breach and compromise a new device? If so, what would be different after fpashing the stock rom, if everything reinstalls itself? Do i need to change my number? Change cellular service provider even? I know its an unusual request but im a fast learner, i have compiled lots of technical info on specific apps, ip's, servers, build id numbers etc.. that i know would make more sense to anyone more qualified than me, and i am about ready to try and wype/flash the thing myself, i just would feel better with a little help since i have gone this far pretty much alone, since no service provider or manifacturer actualy feels like this is their problem to solve....
Here you can download firmware for your phone and flash with Odin, which you can also download at the bottom of the page, there are instructions on how to do it also.
Make sure to download correct firmware for exact device you have. There are few different A52 5G models.. SM-A526B, SM-A526U, SM-A5260, SM-A526U1, SM-A526W.
You will lose all data after flashing new firmware. After this your phone will be like brand new from Samsung..
If your device is rooted then that means your warranty is void and manufacturers and carriers are under no obligation to help you.
I'm trying to understand your situation but its so conflicting I don't know where to begin.
For example, you say your device runs a custom AOSP with a Samsung UI. Thats exactly how it actually works. Samsung take the AOSP, customise it with their own functionality, then overlay their own skin as the UI. Theres absolutely nothing unusual about that.
I'm conflicted as to whether your rooted or not. If the manufacturer or carrier has physically seen the device and won't repair it then that would suggest your definitely rooted. If you spoke to them virtually and told them your rooted then they will use it as an excuse whether you're truly rooted or not. The partitions you mention could be the internal storage and an sd card which can be seen non-rooted. I dont know what you mean when you mention a "root system file". Is it an actual folder called "root" or is the app you're using just telling you that you've reached the "root" of the filesystem? I can't quite work out what you mean. You also say Knox-powered apps still work which just adds to the confusion.
You stated you have had 3 new devices and they all self-installed harmful software. To get one device compromised is possible. To get three compromised means your either a high profile government target (which I doubt because they wouldn't be so sloppy as this) or your doing something to compromise your own devices such as continuously visiting dodgy websites.
Flashing will fix things but so would having a new device. The only common denominator is you so either you're doing something wrong or you truly are a government target in which case I wish you good luck!
First let me appologise for the long silence, i cut off most online activity for a while and just read your answers. To clarify, i have not solved my prolem yet. But ill try to explain better what you ask about my situation:
About de os version arobase40 got it right. I Asked google play help reps. And a stock samsung version of android would not trigger googles warning about running a custom version of android. So that point to a modified after-the-fact more than to the fact samsung has their propierary version installed.
About beeing rooted or not, ylwhat you are asking is what im not totaly certajn of, also. I know partition can happen without rooting, its seems to have created a "virtual sd card" since its named as such when sd card slot is actualy empty. About the root files folder, i cant say for sure, all i can say is that its holding a large amount of Gigs that dont get taken into account when looking at storage capacity and usage, and accessing that folder gives me a message that root files cant be access from this device. Does it mean my device had root acess privileges revoked to prevent viewing files that hide what is given control of the software remotely, so i dont find out or have the capacity to remove or alter those files?
What is absolutely sure is that if it is rooted, it wasnt done by me. As for the chance the devices were not factory brand new, 1 of them was not, got it opend box from amazon, a saudi arabia version, but my prkblems had started months before getting it, did not keep it more than 2 months, and all others before and since are 100% pure factory new, some directly from my cellular service provider, as financed device came with 2 year agreement of service,(actualy 2 of them i got this way) and the last one is my tab s7+ i got online directly from samsung canada website, on preorder, delivered on release day.
And lastly the fact i cant seem to shake those persistent leeches, is not from having reckless habbits online, but from having careless and uneducated habbits before that all started, usual older lazy dude stuff, like not changing my wifi password after a ruff breakup with bipolar psycho ex gf, or having only a few passwords reused on most my accounts. I have stopped doing those things long ago now that i know better, but i suspect that i could have been unaware something gettnng installed and staying dormant for a while, maybe? The ex had way more opportunities than needed to do something like this and is more than psycho enough to realy do it also. For having the skills to do it, lets say she has "assets" that can easily get her guys willing to help about that. It may also be coming from somwhere else, but as you say im not a super spy or a high ranking gov. Official. Im not even that interesting, and have absolutely no usable id for fraud or anything, my credit history would raise more red flags then there is in all china. So after so long struggling with this still very active, i cant even think of a rational reason to do so much effort into this, theres nothing to gain, i only can imagine that maybe a twisted mind seeking revege, or with a sick way of amusing themselves could see the point to all that, but i dont realy care. I only want to get rid of it.
As for the way it manages to be so much persistent, i can only see one option left i didnt remove from the process, and its through my phone number/account on the sim card, even a new sim on a new phone, still is linked to my cell service. I did initial setup with only that new sim card, accounts freshely created during setup, with no info or anythink linkable to my previous accounts, and even did it sitting outside, far from any building that could get me in range of a wifi network. And it still was no more effective at staying secure.
Thats why i did not yet try to flash a stock rom myself on my device, because it would, at best, become exactly like it was when brand new, and i know that this is not enough to keep it secure, and that means theres still something im missing in the whole picture.