[Q] Software RAID on WP8? - Windows Phone 8 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I don't know if what i'm saying it is just immagination or it is an hint where to start from for expert guys...
I've an HTC 8S which like everyone knows has only 4GB of internal memory and just 1GB where to install apps. I've bought then a 32GB SD card which is totally unuseful since it is not possible to install Apps on it, but it is used just for multimedia content. (maybe Microsoft is thinking about let apps being installed on SD?)
Since WP8 is more near to Windows desktop systems like never before, do you think is possible to create a software "RAID 0" volume between the internal memory and the SD card and create a unique volume "playing" with the phone partitions from Linux?
if yes... well... i'd like to receive many thanks

To my knowledge there currently isn't a way to get that kind of access to the inner workings of WP8. Given the inconsistent access behavior of different SD cards that already led to problems with WP7 devices that used them as internal storage I currently also don't believe that Microsoft will allow moving Apps there anytime soon.
Put bluntly: even the Lumia 620 has 8 GB of internal storage which makes a lot of sense given how much space WP8 takes up and HTC simply screwed it up with the 8S's small flash memory.
That aside: if someone manages to get elevated access permissions we might be able to find out if the functionality necessary for a software raid has been left in the WP8 version of the NT Kernel or if it was removed. If it is there it might be possible but I honestly believe that we're quite some time away from finding out about that.

Related

Getting Android to USE swap (Cyanogen 5.0.7) 32B

I know this is as beaten as a dead horse, but I have to ask it anyways.
I've setup both Compcache and a swap partition on my Class 6 SD card, but I'm finding myself endlessly frustrated by the fact that Android is still killing stuff after just dipping it's toes in the swap.
Someone at HTC should be shot for making these phones with this little memory.
I'm aware the performance may be terrible and it may (will) murder my SD card, but how can I force Android to see all of the memory space as available?
As far as Linux is concerned there's 52MB of free memory (Meaning Android hasn't allocated it at all), including 16MB of physical swap that hasn't been touched (of 16MB). Android's still killing stuff (like my terminal session).
I'm aware that Android's management is supposedly more elegant, but I'm finding many apps and programs don't properly save their state and don't restore seamlessly, and I tend to multitask a lot and, well, this isn't working well. I at least want to see what a swap-heavy setup runs like, but Android won't let me!
There is a search button. There are plenty of howto's.
Hint: userinit.sh
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

Why android dont have drive install choise?

Well I mean... even symbian have an option if you want to install on C or D if you know what I mean. why Android dont have this option when installing new app? why is this so complicated? is there a reason?
The idea is that these are "post-PC" devices. Choosing which drive to put it on is an implementation decision. Post-PC devices try not to have the user worry about implementation and just take care of it. Notice the complete lack of a file explorer in the OS.
In practice this is still a little shaky. Android has allowed you to install apps to an external drive since 2.2, but at the time manufacturers weren't including mass storage chips on the phone, and relied exclusively on SD cards for media storage. The Galaxy S line changed that, and the Optimus 2X takes some cues from that by having a large amount of storage built into the device (the Nexus S doesn't even have external storage). The only place to mount that and have it show up properly when you connect to a PC is /mnt/sdcard/ (/sdcard/ is just a symlink). Some apps are able to recognize when there are multiple mass storage cards available, but most still assume just the SD card.
thanks for answer, its like linux the mnt folder. I hope it gets better
What do you mean hope it gets better?
i guess he means this ^^
keyboardr said:
Some apps are able to recognize when there are multiple mass storage cards available, but most still assume just the SD card.
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[Q] Apps on SD with Interop Unlock?

With Interop Unlock, there's any chance to install or move apps on SD cards?
Currently testing this out. Games won't work too well on an SD card unless you own a class 10
Could you post which registry key to change to install on SD?
Its not simply a registry key.
It's not even about wether it is class 10 or not. WP7 devices had huge problems with their internal SD cards due to the fact that the random access time was terrible. The SD card class tells you only about transfer rate though.
StevieBallz said:
It's not even about wether it is class 10 or not. WP7 devices had huge problems with their internal SD cards due to the fact that the random access time was terrible. The SD card class tells you only about transfer rate though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep. random access is worse on most (big) class 10 cards afaik
It should be possible. You might have to install the app on your phone. Create the directory on the SD card and move the files to the SD card. And find a way to redirect all entries from the phone to the SD card. Access time shouldn't be a big factor, because windows phone apps load into the phones memory. This is all speculation though. I don't think you can install from the store to the phone. Unless there's a way to change the install path of apps in the registry. Again, all speculation.
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 8 App
Access time was a huge issue with SD cards on WP7. And it was "supported" there. I don't assume it would have become less of an issue on an OS that does NOT support it.
aclegg2011 said:
It should be possible. You might have to install the app on your phone. Create the directory on the SD card and move the files to the SD card. And find a way to redirect all entries from the phone to the SD card. Access time shouldn't be a big factor, because windows phone apps load into the phones memory. This is all speculation though. I don't think you can install from the store to the phone. Unless there's a way to change the install path of apps in the registry. Again, all speculation.
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 8 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got the same thought recently. If it would be possible to create a junction link in Phone\Data\programs, then it should work, cause windows doesn't really "know" that junctions are only links, it handles this as a directory...
on a "normal" Windows it must be a shell command like
mklink /j C:\Data\programs\{GUID from App} D:\{copy of the entire GUID-App-Directory from C:\Data\programs}
sorry for my "poor" description, but maybe someone got an idea...?
You all are missing a really critical problem: apps (unless they have ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL or similar) cannot actually access the SD card (ID_CAP_REMOVABLESTORAGE goes through an out-of-process RPC service; the app itself still can't access the card). Trust me, moving an app's binaries and data files to a location that the app cannot access does *not* end well (in related news, I can't launch Calculator on my phone anymore).
Oh, by the way, symlinks require some registry tweaks (in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem) to work. Otherwise, you get these nasty and useless error messages about the link being "disabled" if you try to do anything with it (creating it works, but not much else). This probably won't affect hardlinks or junctions, though.

[Q] How is the Z3C without root? Can backups and moving apps to SD be done?

Hi everyone. I'm heavily considering getting a Xperia Z3 Compact, but I have a few hangups that I would like to get some feedback. I've been rooting my devices since I've been using Android. When my Galaxy S4 Active was updated to Android 4.3 and I lost root for 3 months, I hated it. But it's an ongoing battle that I'm tired of fighting and I've found that there are only really a couple apps that I really need root access for. Plus, if I really need to, I can unlock the bootloader and root the Z3C, but I don't want to lose the DRM keys and degrade my device for only a couple programs if I don't have to. So I'm wondering just how necessary they are and whether I can work around this.
The first application that I use all the time is Titanium Backup. I've been using it since my very first Android device and it has been a valuable tool. I've used it to backup applications that I didn't have room for and restore them later, to remove or freeze bloatware, and to upgrade system apps with new versions to save room. These things were a necessity with my old Xperia Play. However, the main function that I really need is the backup of app data. Anything can restore the installed apps, but very little will backup the actual app data.
Or at least so I thought. I've been using Titanium Backup for so long that I didn't really consider switching to any other applications. Plus the GS4A was my first phone on Android 4.x, so I didn't know about the included ADB backup feature built into it. From what I understand, Helium can do an ADB backup without root access, correct? Has anyone used this with the Z3C? I've read that some Sony phones don't support it. Although I've also read that all Motorola phones don't support it, and the GSM version of the Droid Turbo (aka "Moto X Play" last I read) is my other contender against the Z3C.
The next app that I use right now is FolderMount and this one is a bit trickier. Back on the Xperia Play, space was incredibly limited. I used Link2SD to save more space than moving apps to the MicroSD card through the Application Management. I could probably have used it on the GS4A, but I found FolderMount to be much easier to work with. It was also necessary because all moving apps to the SD card did was move them to an emulated SD card on the main device storage, which defeated the entire purpose.
I still don't understand why this is so stupidly designed now and why Google keeps trying to kill off the SD card. Or for that matter why device manufacturers still include only 16GB with SD card expansion (and no way of moving apps properly) or only 32GB without. Neither is enough room for games that can consume a gigabyte or two for massive .obb files. And in all honesty, those .obb files are all that I want to move, which is why FolderMount works so well for that.
So that brings me to the question that I think I already know the answer to: Has anyone found a way to move the .obb files to the external SD card without root access? Either that, or to change it so that the shared storage is the SD card and all the .obb files get downloaded to it by default? I suspect that the answer is still "not without root" here. It just seems asinine that Sony not include this feature if they are going to include an inadequate amount of storage space.
Aside from those issues, I could probably run without root access for most other things. Although root does make it much handier. I just hate needing it to fix or workaround poor design decisions on the part of manufacturers or Google themselves.
Info
MechaBouncer said:
Hi everyone. ...
Can backups and moving apps to SD be done?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
without Root >> NO
:good:
So that goes for using Helium as well?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=312768077
Helium does work with Z3C without root. Switched from my old HTC One to Z3C with Helium. Restored most of the apps without a problem. Not all apps do work though, but this seems to be a problem with adb backup itself, not Helium itself.
MechaBouncer said:
Hi everyone. I'm heavily considering getting a Xperia Z3 Compact, but I have a few hangups that I would like to get some feedback. I've been rooting my devices since I've been using Android. When my Galaxy S4 Active was updated to Android 4.3 and I lost root for 3 months, I hated it. But it's an ongoing battle that I'm tired of fighting and I've found that there are only really a couple apps that I really need root access for. Plus, if I really need to, I can unlock the bootloader and root the Z3C, but I don't want to lose the DRM keys and degrade my device for only a couple programs if I don't have to. So I'm wondering just how necessary they are and whether I can work around this.
The first application that I use all the time is Titanium Backup. I've been using it since my very first Android device and it has been a valuable tool. I've used it to backup applications that I didn't have room for and restore them later, to remove or freeze bloatware, and to upgrade system apps with new versions to save room. These things were a necessity with my old Xperia Play. However, the main function that I really need is the backup of app data. Anything can restore the installed apps, but very little will backup the actual app data.
Or at least so I thought. I've been using Titanium Backup for so long that I didn't really consider switching to any other applications. Plus the GS4A was my first phone on Android 4.x, so I didn't know about the included ADB backup feature built into it. From what I understand, Helium can do an ADB backup without root access, correct? Has anyone used this with the Z3C? I've read that some Sony phones don't support it. Although I've also read that all Motorola phones don't support it, and the GSM version of the Droid Turbo (aka "Moto X Play" last I read) is my other contender against the Z3C.
The next app that I use right now is FolderMount and this one is a bit trickier. Back on the Xperia Play, space was incredibly limited. I used Link2SD to save more space than moving apps to the MicroSD card through the Application Management. I could probably have used it on the GS4A, but I found FolderMount to be much easier to work with. It was also necessary because all moving apps to the SD card did was move them to an emulated SD card on the main device storage, which defeated the entire purpose.
I still don't understand why this is so stupidly designed now and why Google keeps trying to kill off the SD card. Or for that matter why device manufacturers still include only 16GB with SD card expansion (and no way of moving apps properly) or only 32GB without. Neither is enough room for games that can consume a gigabyte or two for massive .obb files. And in all honesty, those .obb files are all that I want to move, which is why FolderMount works so well for that.
So that brings me to the question that I think I already know the answer to: Has anyone found a way to move the .obb files to the external SD card without root access? Either that, or to change it so that the shared storage is the SD card and all the .obb files get downloaded to it by default? I suspect that the answer is still "not without root" here. It just seems asinine that Sony not include this feature if they are going to include an inadequate amount of storage space.
Aside from those issues, I could probably run without root access for most other things. Although root does make it much handier. I just hate needing it to fix or workaround poor design decisions on the part of manufacturers or Google themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup doesn't work because it is built in a way that requires root to work. On the other hand Helium uses ADB therefore it works without root but requires the device to be connected to a computer for the backup. Tested and it works flawlessly. I heard that the Sony compagnon isn't bad either but it doesn't work with encryption.
Also you can do manually full ADB backups including the APK without any software or root.
You cannot move apps to the sd card but I would say that you don't need too either since the apps can store their data on it.
Thanks -Vulture- and difto. That confirms what I was wondering about Helium. I knew that Titanium Backup wouldn't work without root, so it's good to know that Helium still will for most apps.
And I figured root would be necessary to move apps or their files to the SD card. Unfortunately, a lot of games I have still won't write to it on their own, which is why I've had to resort to FolderMount. It's quite frustrating. I feel like any application that needs to download external files should be able to move those to the SD card.

Where did all my storage go

I have used a reported 6gig out of 11 on my /sdcard0, and yet when I run sd analyst in es explorer it doesn't add up as you can see in the attachment.
Sd analyst seems to be correct because I don't have any huge games installed. So where did all my storage go?
Its all the apps Samsung puts on there that you cant delete.
If somebody starts a class action lawsuit on this device like they did with the iPad I am all over it. Its not even remotely fair that a 16gig device has 8.9gig free because of 3+ gigs of bloatware you cant delete.
I have an SD card, but the lack of app space is concerning me.
Except I'm not running touch wiz. I'm running a CM12 ROM. Any way if I'm reading it right, this is just counting /storage/emulated/legacy the user data partition. Very weird.
barth2 said:
Except I'm not running touch wiz. I'm running a CM12 ROM. Any way if I'm reading it right, this is just counting /storage/emulated/legacy the user data partition. Very weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does not make sense? I hope one of the Devs can come up with the answer to this mystery!
Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't it that if you root your device and get a rom let's say CM, as far as I know CM doesn't eat up a lot of space meaning depending on the contents of that rom, that 3gb bloat ware should be gone right?? Also this is what frustrates me with Samsung, we just can't have the option to write over to SD cards which I know can be a liability but look at the what we need to deal with. There's no 32gb version in my country so I'm always cramped up for space and I hate it, having to remove apps and games just to get by.
Sent from my SM-T805
Well I wiped my internal memory (drastic measure) and started over and now it looks correct. Not sure what was behind it.
More information would be great here. I know there's an incredible amount of Google bloat on these devices, but perhaps there is some information missing from the ES File Explorer results. I'd recommend downloading a dedicated app cache cleaner and a dedicated storage analyst app to get an accurate idea of all the things that are taking up storage. Some of the biggest offenders are browsers, but the one I've seen eat up a whole gigabyte on unknowing users' phones is usually the sneaky Google+.
Storage analyzer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.levelokment.storageanalyser
1Tap Cleaner
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.acc.free
steelbrachen said:
with Samsung, we just can't have the option to write over to SD cards which I know can be a liability but look at the what we need to deal with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, with Google Android Kitkat, it was decided that apps should only be allowed to write to their own sandboxed folders on the SD card anyway. Samsung has always been pretty good about at least allowing file management via a first party app, and even managing which apps can use the SD card are listed in the application manager, so I fail to see how Samsung is at fault here. (Meanwhile, in addition to demanding restrictions across the board to SD cards in Kitkat and then Lollipop, Google's more focused on forcing a social network on their users than writing a file manager for all the devices that DO have SD cards... or providing any decent AOSP apps in general.)
Sent from my Galaxy S5
Without going into too much detail the amount of available space is affected by the partition layout of the device. Esp with cm or custom rom that only takes up a couple hundred mb; the system partition ends up with a lot of unused space. If you were willing the modify your default partition table you could reclaim some usable space. Though I would place this in the advanced user grouping and would not recommend attempting it.

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