Related
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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".
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
franciscofranco said:
Why move apps to sd card instead of /ext? doesn't make any sense............. No wonder **** happens...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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 :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Hey there guys...
To start with i have my S3 two days now and i absolutely love this phone...:')
But,after installing lots of games my internal memory has gone full and i can't download any data in-game because i have low storage space...
My external sd on the other hand is around 10gb free but when i try to move the data to the same folder on the external the data isn't identified by the game and it asks me to download again?
It has become really frustrating,it seems i can't do anything about it...
Any suggestions to try?
Cheers,George
As the system now uses unified storage all apps will remain on internal memory; moving the data alone to an external SD card will have no use without altering the application to look for that location for its data. i.e. in the GS2 you had a move to SD option since the phone was partitioned. With the S3 however this option is not there which means that when an application is downloaded all of its information needs to be stored on the internal storage. When the "Move to SD" option was selected within the S2 or prior phones, it informs the application that its new location is within x folder rather than the folder it was originally downloaded too. Since this option is no longer there then the application has no way of being told where its new location is.
Maybe move to SD could be an add-on with a mod/hack but I am not sure if this is possible. Maybe check with a developer?
Have you got a prior Android phone? Maybe install the application on to it; use the "Move to SD" option and see if that will allow it? It's just a suggestion; if you don't have a different Android phone I can try it for you.
Edit: Just tried it; the phone itself doesn't even check for applications stored within an external SD. Sorry man - the only way around it would be a mod/custom/hack (if possible).
T__ said:
As the system now uses unified storage all apps will remain on internal memory; moving the data alone to an external SD card will have no use without altering the application to look for that location for its data. i.e. in the GS2 you had a move to SD option since the phone was partitioned. With the S3 however this option is not there which means that when an application is downloaded all of its information needs to be stored on the internal storage. When the "Move to SD" option was selected within the S2 or prior phones, it informs the application that its new location is within x folder rather than the folder it was originally downloaded too. Since this option is no longer there then the application has no way of being told where its new location is.
Maybe move to SD could be an add-on with a mod/hack but I am not sure if this is possible. Maybe check with a developer?
Have you got a prior Android phone? Maybe install the application on to it; use the "Move to SD" option and see if that will allow it? It's just a suggestion; if you don't have a different Android phone I can try it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank's for the answer...
In my galaxy s 1 i had no problem having the games data on the sd card,i havent moved and application to the sd but i had the data on sd and everything worked great...now...i don't get it....:/
nfsmw_gr said:
Thank's for the answer...
In my galaxy s 1 i had no problem having the games data on the sd card,i havent moved and application to the sd but i had the data on sd and everything worked great...now...i don't get it....:/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did check for you; the S3 physically doesn't look for application data in the external SD (I edited original post after testing few things).. There probably are ways around it as mentioned but you would need to speak with developers for further insight.
If worst comes to worst application developers may have to implement a look in x location first, if no data found, look "here" in to their applications.
As the phone is unified storage you can store applications in the full ~12GB storage space (All the ones I have, have roughly 11.3GB after OS and all is on it) so have you used the phones storage itself for only applications; and the SD for media etc?
I am interested to know how you have managed to fill at least 11GB of space with applications; how many do you have? How is the performance of the phone with this many applications on it? Any lag navigating (I know there shouldn't be with quad core processor - but it's interesting to know if hundreds of applications cause lag between screen scrolling).
You can use an app called directory bind to link the game data on the SD to a mounting point on the internal SD. Search for it and you'll find it, not sure if I got it here or the play store.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Yup, there's directory topic on forum, as well as working 'gl to sd' app in play store. It is not just for gameloft games.
Sent from my SGH-I747M
Thank you all guys!!
Well i filled it with lots of games that's why i don't have much space available!
No the phone is flying,it doesn't lag at all!
I use Dragon Ics rom and Siyah Kernel...no oc....
I'll try directory bind and post back soon!
To put applications on the sdcard, you could use symlinking (confirmed this works myself).
Install the application, then go to /data/app and move the apk file to your sdcard (/mnt/extSdCard) or inside a folder on your sdcard.
Then type ln -s /mnt/extSdCard/your-apk.apk /data/app/your-apk.apk
Hi there, noob speaking... (at least in terms of Android)
Let's start with the fact that I bought rooted phone with Cyanogenmod alredy installed which is my 1st Android device. That way I omitted few steps of learning how to root, how to flash it, etc. not to mention that I'm not a Linux guy, so even the way system handles folders and files is new for me. As the problem is more phone-related than system-related I'm posting it here, on XDA.
I'm trying to learn how to partition an "internal SD card" to make it work with Link2SD. I've found lots of tutorials how to do this with an external memory card, but there is not much info about doing the same with internal storage. I've found a tutorial for a diffrent phone, but I'm worried that droid devices seem to be very diffrent and simply retyping everything without understanding what I'm actually doing may cause more harm than good.
My biggest objection is the fact that I'm alredy using my internal SD and beside various media files (photos, music, etc.) there are lots of system, or app related stuff there. There are folders like .android_secure which as I guess store app-related files (or even parts of apps that I moved to SD with build-in feature). If this was Windows, I'd simply back up everything, format it, partition into "general storage" and "app memory" and put backed up files back directly onto new partition only worrying to keep correct letters assigned to new partitions. I'm preety sure that doing same in Android (by copying everything to PC and back to phone) would not work because all those permisions, or am I wrong?
Anyway - Any advice how to do this?
Additional question is related to accessing whole phone memory via PC connected by USB. I know that Android phones are made with security in mind and "system" partition is hidden when connecting USB, but there should be some other way than browsing everything from some phone apps with root permissions. I'd really like to browse my phone both for educational reasons and to check what really takes up space on my "system storage". I'm suspecting that some app went crazy eating lots of space, because once every time I uninstalled something my storage after few minutes was again at 20mb level and it continiued for some time.
BTW: Is there any reason why having about 200mb empty space for apps is not enough to install or update some small applications, while other install even when just 100mb is left?
Tl;dr:
-How to partition internal SD to make it work with link2sd while there are some system/app files on internal SD alredy?
-How to browse "system memory" from PC via USB?
-Why some apps don't install when there is still 200mb+ free space?
I'm not by any meaning a technology, software, programming expert, please forgive my beginner language.
I have the LG P769 20h
I have rooted my phone
I have partitioned my SD card
I have installed Link2SD and App2SD
I receive an error message when I try to move apps to my SD card using Link2SD "App2SD is not supported by your device. Because your device has primary external storage which is emulated from the internal storage. You can link the app in order to move its files to your SD card"
I have successfully "linked" apps to my SD card but that hasn't created any additional storage space. I still can't download apps due to insufficient storage.
Please help!! I'm reaching the end of my sanity in trying to figure this out! I'm about to just go buy a new phone, but this one isn't even a year old yet!
Also, please respond in layman's terms, since i'm not a guru in this arena.
THANK YOU!!!
ZanyAL711 said:
I'm not by any meaning a technology, software, programming expert, please forgive my beginner language.
I have the LG P769 20h
I have rooted my phone
I have partitioned my SD card
I have installed Link2SD and App2SD
I receive an error message when I try to move apps to my SD card using Link2SD "App2SD is not supported by your device. Because your device has primary external storage which is emulated from the internal storage. You can link the app in order to move its files to your SD card"
I have successfully "linked" apps to my SD card but that hasn't created any additional storage space. I still can't download apps due to insufficient storage.
Please help!! I'm reaching the end of my sanity in trying to figure this out! I'm about to just go buy a new phone, but this one isn't even a year old yet!
Also, please respond in layman's terms, since i'm not a guru in this arena.
THANK YOU!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi ZanyAL711
You've pretty much done the proper steps to try and get apps to work. The reason that it's not working is that the phone, android version (not supported after 4.0+), most of the downloaded user apps and device system apps, just really doesn't support this feature.
The L9 has only 4gb total memory, which most of that is used by the "/system" partition and leaves a very limited user usable internal memory on the "/data" partition of something only like 1.6gb to 1.8gb of user stirage. Which barely leaves any room for the user to store user apps and or data on the device.
To kind of break it down to you in simple terms...
As i mention above, in android there are 2 main partitions on the devices internal memory:
The "/system" partition - This is where the OS, system apps, etc... are stored. No user data is stored on this partition.
The "/data" partition - This is where all of the user data is stored on the device.
Inside the "/data"partition you have -
"/data/apps"
"/data/data"
"/data/apps" Is where Downloaded user apps are stored and intalled to.
"/data/data" This is where the user "System settings", things that you have changed on the device (ringtones, wallpaper etc) are stored.
Also there are a several other minor partitions on the device but these really have no use to the topic at hand.
Both of these main partitions "/system" and "/data" are on the internal nand flash memory or eMMC (Embedded MultiMedia Card)
The whole data partition is used for user apps and system data only. Which leaves no where for music, movies, photos, documents etc. to be stored on the device.
This is where the external SD card comes into play and allows you to store music, movies, docs etc. off of the devices internal memory. The problem here is that, eben though the L9 has an external/removable SD card, it also has a small internal nand flash memory and it doesn't allow for much user data to be stored in the device and is causing the problem that you have, which is really the phone's lack of internal memory.
So there's not very many more options for you to try other than maybe the following.
You could try the method where you edit the build prop and run a script that allows you to add the feature to move apps to the SD card in "settings/apps/" menu
This can allow you to move some apps to the SD card. Again thought it's not a solution to the problem, but might help.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2372172
Another option and probably the best one... Would be to install kuma82's stock modified ROM/backup. It's not custom ROM... It's slightly modified stock ROM and has extra apps, features and it's themed. Looks great too, way better than the complete stock ROM look. It also has an internal/external memory swapt script. You can read about it in the 2nd post of the ROM thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2468880
It's a simple process, doesn't require the bootloader to be unlocked and kuma has directions for what you need and how to install it, in the 2nd post.
I personally have kuma's ROM running on my wife's L9 and no way would I go back to 100% stock ROM after running his.
Anyway hope this helps!
Hi guys, so I've got this tablet for free with my new contract and I want to root it to play a bit with it . Do you guys have any idea how to do it ? I haven't managed to find any tutorials on the web .
Vonino Onyx QS root request
+1 on this issue.
I too have a Vonino Onyx QS tablet running on Android 4.4.2. The device is decent enough, but storage management is awful! Despite being advertised as an 8 GB tablet in terms of storage, the Onyx QS runs aground at about 900 MB of installed apps (including related data and cache) and starts yelling that there is "Insufficient storage available". This renders the tablet virtually unusable after installing just a few essential apps. Emails stop working, apps will no longer update and data-intensive apps such as Google Earth will simply refuse to run. The 32 GB external SD card I've added makes no difference. It's almost like the OS has no clue what to do with it.
I suck at Android. However, after a lot of digging for pieces of information I've come to undersand that these devices use separate partitions for the apps and other files. Some folks have also hinted towards the fact that the puny 0.9 GB app partition can be resized on a rooted device by means of a partition management app. Or apps could at least be moved to the SD card right before their installation (making use of an app such as Link2SD and, again, a rooted device).
This bring us full circle back to the OP's request: could someone please create and explain a rooting method for this tablet?
Just so you know, these are fresh screenshots of this fresh factory reset configuration. Thought it would fix the problem, but it didn't.
SilentGTX said:
Hi guys, so I've got this tablet for free with my new contract and I want to root it to play a bit with it . Do you guys have any idea how to do it ? I haven't managed to find any tutorials on the web .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Muravey said:
+1 on this issue.
I too have a Vonino Onyx QS tablet running on Android 4.4.2. The device is decent enough, but storage management is awful! Despite being advertised as an 8 GB tablet in terms of storage, the Onyx QS runs aground at about 900 MB of installed apps (including related data and cache) and starts yelling that there is "Insufficient storage available". This renders the tablet virtually unusable after installing just a few essential apps. Emails stop working, apps will no longer update and data-intensive apps such as Google Earth will simply refuse to run. The 32 GB external SD card I've added makes no difference. It's almost like the OS has no clue what to do with it.
I suck at Android. However, after a lot of digging for pieces of information I've come to undersand that these devices use separate partitions for the apps and other files. Some folks have also hinted towards the fact that the puny 0.9 GB app partition can be resized on a rooted device by means of a partition management app. Or apps could at least be moved to the SD card right before their installation (making use of an app such as Link2SD and, again, a rooted device).
This bring us full circle back to the OP's request: could someone please create and explain a rooting method for this tablet?
Just so you know, these are fresh screenshots of this fresh factory reset configuration. Thought it would fix the problem, but it didn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try with Kingo ROOT. You do it at you'r own risk.
Successful rooting of Vonino Onyx QS tablet
Paget96 said:
try with Kingo ROOT. You do it at you'r own risk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Paget96! Thank you so much for the solution!
I'm writing this to let you, the OP and everybody else know that Kingo Root did it! I have succesfully rooted the tablet and the process itself was quick and merely a matter of installing the software on my PC, connecting the tablet via USB and clicking my way through.
Afterwards I installed Link2SD Plus to manage the transfer of apps from internal storage to the external SD card (32 GB in my case). The app is dirt cheap and truly what you need, because the free version does not allow you to move app data, only the app itself and its libraries. As I've come to know, data and cache build-up is what ends up killing storage space.
Before installing Link2SD however, one must prepare the SD card by means of a partitioning program. Highly recommend you do this via card reader on an actual PC. Use MiniTool Partition Wizard, it seems to be very popular these days. Delete whatever's already on the card and make two PRIMARY partitions: the first one will be FAT32 and will store the media you consume (like music, photos, videos etc.), while the second partition has to be ext4 (ext2 did not work for me on this tablet) and will hold the apps and their data. You can go ahead and name them "Media" and "Apps" respectively to avoid confusion. Remember: both must be primary partitions, the first one is FAT32 for media, the second is ext4 for apps. I made my app partition 10 GB big. Overkill, you say? Hey, I'm done with insufficient storage space errors, ok? :silly:
While you're at it, you might want to add a third partition for swap space to add more RAM to your device. There are tutorials for it on the web.
Once you're done formatting the card, reinstall it in the tablet, open up Link2SD and choose ext4 at the script mounting prompt. From there on, moving apps from internal to SD card space should be intuitive.
Prior to all this fiddling I suggest you perform a factory reset on your device so you can start clean. Can't tell you anythihg about custom ROMs or stuff like that because I didn't have a need for them. This thing works fine apart from that silly storage limitation.
Phew! I can finally enjoy using my tablet... :fingers-crossed:
Muravey said:
Hi, Paget96! Thank you so much for the solution!
I'm writing this to let you, the OP and everybody else know that Kingo Root did it! I have succesfully rooted the tablet and the process itself was quick and merely a matter of installing the software on my PC, connecting the tablet via USB and clicking my way through.
Afterwards I installed Link2SD Plus to manage the transfer of apps from internal storage to the external SD card (32 GB in my case). The app is dirt cheap and truly what you need, because the free version does not allow you to move app data, only the app itself and its libraries. As I've come to know, data and cache build-up is what ends up killing storage space.
Before installing Link2SD however, one must prepare the SD card by means of a partitioning program. Highly recommend you do this via card reader on an actual PC. Use MiniTool Partition Wizard, it seems to be very popular these days. Delete whatever's already on the card and make two PRIMARY partitions: the first one will be FAT32 and will store the media you consume (like music, photos, videos etc.), while the second partition has to be ext4 (ext2 did not work for me on this tablet) and will hold the apps and their data. You can go ahead and name them "Media" and "Apps" respectively to avoid confusion. Remember: both must be primary partitions, the first one is FAT32 for media, the second is ext4 for apps. I made my app partition 10 GB big. Overkill, you say? Hey, I'm done with insufficient storage space errors, ok? :silly:
While you're at it, you might want to add a third partition for swap space to add more RAM to your device. There are tutorials for it on the web.
Once you're done formatting the card, reinstall it in the tablet, open up Link2SD and choose ext4 at the script mounting prompt. From there on, moving apps from internal to SD card space should be intuitive.
Prior to all this fiddling I suggest you perform a factory reset on your device so you can start clean. Can't tell you anythihg about custom ROMs or stuff like that because I didn't have a need for them. This thing works fine apart from that silly storage limitation.
Phew! I can finally enjoy using my tablet... :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10gb is too big, you will broke your sd.
Better use 512mb.
Paget96 said:
10gb is too big, you will broke your sd.
Better use 512mb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you expand on that one, please? Why am I at risk of ruining the SD card?
Muravey said:
Could you expand on that one, please? Why am I at risk of ruining the SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brcause sd work without stop, that is not good.
SD prob
Hi, i have the same tablet ... and i managed to root it ... but i cant manage to increse the storage . l've done the exact stepts ... installed micropartition deleted my sd card (2gb micro sd samasung) i did the first partition fat32 primary with a size of 800 gb and when i try to make the second one ext4 the program says that windows cant see the second partion on a removable device but i continuued anyways ,,, and created the second one with ext2 and then with ext4 as primary ... my windows and my tablet cant see the second partion ... need a little help ... thx
I heave installed the drivers, and nothing happens. Its not connecting to my pc. I changed the pc too. I heave the error: Unfortunately, Mobile data has stopped. I tryed to repair this with recovery -- Wipe data, factory reset. Not working.