Does anyone out there know what causes 4EXT CWM and Amon Ra all (with custom tools) all to fail in regards to seeing a formatted cache partition on EXT-2.
I have DONE EVERYTHING I can possibly think of, from using Gpart in Ubuntu, to the phone itself. Many times in the past I have made it would just leave my 2 Gig cache partition empty because NOTHING works EVER!...
Did I miss something, can you even have 4 separate functional partitions with the Nexus 1 ?
The closest I have come to something really functional is with 4EXT, it seems to go through all the stages but when I check alignment I only get the first 2 partitions (fat-32 and EXT-1) EXT-2 says it is unformatted for some odd reason! This has been performed using a full card wipe on an external source. Even still everything is seems to go as planned until I check the card. With 4EXT I attempt to force a ext3 or 4 format and it restarts the recovery ! When I check A2SDGUI it says I only have 15 megabytes for cache.
I have used black rose and set it to 220/15/201 (dla5244), tried the latest versions of 4EXT and wasted many hours before posting...
CAN ANYONE HELP !!
Download SD Formatter from here, run the program and choose under Options:
FORMAT TYPE: FULL (OverWrite)
FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT: ON
This will format your µSD (be sure to backup your important stuff). When finished, try to make an ext4 partition with 4EXT recovery. You only need one ext4 partition (so no 2nd) and no swap.
Thank you for the fast response but I have tried that. Except I want this phone to work optimally and I have figured everything else out so it is hard to settle for mediocrity. I mean I know that 1 SD-EXT partition works... Even 1 + fat32 and SWAP but I can NEVER have the phone identify the SD-EXT2 partition... no matter what... In partition magic (terrabyte bootit) and of course Gpart in Ubuntu all indicate that everything is great. Except the phone doesn't use the partition and like I was saying before the 4EXT shows it as unformatted after it's format. When I force a format on the partition the software reboots !?!... And if I leave it claiming it's unformatted even though we may think it is, QND's MIUI can only see 15 megabyte cache partition !
But then why not just go back to stock roms and one partition? To your point it's hard to step back and use something less inclined for performance when it should work ? no ?
I know I am a NOOB BUT I also know that it seems like no one out there can offer CLOSURE on the matter. like "ohh that's because the N1 cannot identify a EXT2 partition" or "ohh... that's your SD card's fault it isn't aligned right etc."
I mean I can see others have had this problem and gave up, I don't want to give up unless it is a limitation of the hardware (?sd card?)
Another way to look at it is although beautiful and helpful for most... 4EXT should be focused on getting that to work, I would think... To your point everyone is confused and shouldn't have more than 2 partitions ? Doesn't seem right to me.
Anyways if you have any other ideas OR anyone else can think of a solution lets do it I want to invest time into this and make it work !!
Sincerely! !
Why should you have more than 2 partitions on your µSD? 1 fat32 for your pictures and videos and stuff, and if you don't have enough space for your apps, 1 ext4 for A2SD (maximum 1GB).
Swap is not necessary and in fact slows your system down. A thread about swap is somewere to be found here.
And why the 2GB cache partition? You already have a 15MB cache partition on your phone.. 220/15/201.
You really don't need more than 2 partitions on your µSD.
?
I am willing to accept that you are right that it isn't needed. But I am not using A2SD, I am using XPART. According to the guides I am read, the best way is with 3 or 4 partitions (Swap being the option). The Cache partition on the other hand makes sense because even with titanium backup I can see my 60 or so apps are storing a couple hundred megs in cache. So this way a dedicated partition for processing things once instead of multiple times would provide the fastest solution. Being that the n1 is not the top performer anymore (still my fave though ), any extra speed should help when I am using my phone day to day.
The QND MIUI mod by jbbandos has the following about XPART :
"You can use it with one FAT32 and one ext4 partition, as A2SD, which seems to be the more stable setup, but the recommended setup for speed is one FAT32, one large ext4 (for your data partition), one smaller ext4 (cache), and a swap partition. I'm not that much of a fan of a swap partition, as I am always afraid it will wear out the SD card precociously, but most people report it working well, and I prefer the single ext4 for stability, but YMMV. "
you can read more here :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1084726
.......
Anyways that is what I want, and I will invest the time to get it. I believe that 4EXT is primarily in development to perform this function. But I have a problem, with the results. I realize that it may not be necessary but I would like to know the WHY as to why this doesn't work.
AS ALWAYS thank you for you help none the less..
Never used XPART, I didn't know they recommend this. I never used apps to ext scripts longer than a few days.
This is because I'd rather install 10 crappy apps less, than having a slower system. Then again, if I would use an apps to ext script, I would definitely go for stability .
Unfortunately I don't know what you could do now..
I found my previous QND build with XPROT using blackrose was good for like 7 months !!! I just wanted to update and get it working properly. I would HIGHLY recommend it as you phone sees like 1 gig of internal mem so all apps that have widgets are useful and don't need to go to SD. In my opinion it was more stable than stock !!! Honestly, great tool.
OH yeah and it is also much faster I have found !
Hey guys, I haven't been keeping up to date with the development of our Motorola Milestone recently, it's been almost 3 or 4 months since I last visited here.
So yesterday, I was just checking what's new and it seems our Milestone has started a new era of development with the 2ndboot! I'm not a developer or expert of any kind so I'm not sure what this does, but from what I've read, all I know is that this is a good thing for our Milestone
Anyway, I'm still running CM 7.2.1, I have FuFu's Minimod OpenRecovery v0.08 and want to upgrade them both to the latest versions. The thing is, I'm confused by the instructions, I have no idea what the swap config thing does, apparently we have to partition our SD card in order to work with the latest CM 7.2.4 or something, and apparently the rom comes pre-packed with a custom kernel so I'm not sure if I can just flash it just like usual or is there a special step to it etc.
As for the recovery, there's FuFu's OpenRecovery;
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1091787
As well as this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1897048
So i'm not even sure which one to use. Currently, I'm using FuFu's MiniMod v0.08 so simply updating to v0.22 seems straightforward, but then there's kabaldan's post on that recovery for 2ndboot so I'm confused by which one I need......
Lastly, there's this swap config thing I was talking about:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1951983
So ya I'm not sure what to do.
Can anyone please post some simple instructions? Thanks.
Fufu's minimod is based on kabaldan's 2ndboot OR which fixes writing to some sdcards, has battery charging... so it sould not make a big difference (fufu's recovery also has touch interface, etc). You can use either or try them both to see which one suits you better.
To update CM7 you simply Apply update in recovery. Then reboot (cm10 requires full wipe and an ext partition to be present or it won't boot)
The script allows you to configure swap file size (for now) and enable startup script to start swapping on boot. Don't use too high swap partition size or swap file size (this will probably require some experimenting). Or use zRAM/compcache (in cyanogen settings) to use part of RAM for swap. Or go without swap (again, will need some experimenting to see what configuration gives best results)
mrvek said:
Fufu's minimod is based on kabaldan's 2ndboot OR which fixes writing to some sdcards, has battery charging... so it sould not make a big difference (fufu's recovery also has touch interface, etc). You can use either or try them both to see which one suits you better.
To update CM7 you simply Apply update in recovery. Then reboot (cm10 requires full wipe and an ext partition to be present or it won't boot)
The script allows you to configure swap file size (for now) and enable startup script to start swapping on boot. Don't use too high swap partition size or swap file size (this will probably require some experimenting). Or use zRAM/compcache (in cyanogen settings) to use part of RAM for swap. Or go without swap (again, will need some experimenting to see what configuration gives best results)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi mate, thanks for your reply!
Yup I know about the basics of flashing/updating a rom from the recovery, but what I was asking in my question was about those specific steps (like creating the ext partition that you've mentioned, as well as the setup for the swap configuration). The previous versions didn't have this so flashing/updating was pretty straightforward. But now, we need to to these specific steps in order to make the ROM flash or work successfully on our phone, so I'm not sure how to do it.
I know what ext partition is, but how do I create one? I've seen many instructions out there but I'm not sure they work specifically for this ROM, is there a particular size I need to create, etc etc?
Same goes for the swap configuration, what's the recommended setting that most people use without any problems?
No need to partition
chaoscreater said:
Hi mate, thanks for your reply!
Yup I know about the basics of flashing/updating a rom from the recovery, but what I was asking in my question was about those specific steps (like creating the ext partition that you've mentioned, as well as the setup for the swap configuration). The previous versions didn't have this so flashing/updating was pretty straightforward. But now, we need to to these specific steps in order to make the ROM flash or work successfully on our phone, so I'm not sure how to do it.
I know what ext partition is, but how do I create one? I've seen many instructions out there but I'm not sure they work specifically for this ROM, is there a particular size I need to create, etc etc?
Same goes for the swap configuration, what's the recommended setting that most people use without any problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been updating without changing anything like partition. Its working fine just apply the update thru recovery... as a matter of fact I have not even switched to 2nd boot recovery...
i try to hold my MiniMod OR up to date, so if nadlabak released a update of 2ndboot OR i merge it in my MiniMod OR
if you want to create ext/swap partition on your sdcard, you can just use my MinoMod OR, i include there a new menu called SD Tools, there you can resize the sdcard, so no data will be lose.
but safety first befor lose some data create a backup from the sdcard
in sd tools menu i also include my latest 98swapon script, it activate the swap partition an cm7/10 if there a extra partition, if not it creates a swap file to use for swap
I have this good old Nexus One for a long time and it does what it does .
Now I'am looking for something that is still on CM7 but just with the mail/contacts/calendar and the Play Store in it. More is just not necessary, I think.
When I look in the GApps archive for this Android version can I delete files which are not in relation to these services in this archive?
I tried newer roms and there were quite slow so I got back to the CM rom.
And if everything is slimmed, the partitions could be resized, too. So that there is more data storage available.
I partitioned the 8GB SD Card so that mounts2sd (or any other program for that case) can use this space. But as long I don'T use the other androids and stay on 2 that shouldn#t be neccesary. Just my opinion.
After many ROMs (ICS, JB and KK) installed on my N1 I reverted to GB. Now I use the phone in car (I have the original car kit) for GPS and video recording and only GB have the video camera fully functionally. So this is what I use Silverbot2 ROM
Thanks. But there is no feature list in which I can take a peek?
Unfortunately there is no log list... But try last version from 23.10.2013 and you'll see the features.
Can I "Blackrose" it to make more space for the Data partition?
Resize the System and Cache partition maybe?
Yes, I have 240/10 and rest but i think it´s working and 220/8
Taken from CM12 thread as this started to become off-topic. The issue I'm trying to address is how to stuff a huge Lollipop ROM directly into internal storage, without creating a virtual slot, to increase system performance and have overall cleaner solution. Original inspiration: @Mentor.37's custom Safestrap for unused partitions, which has way too small /data for me unfortunately. (explanation)
sd_shadow said:
Septfox said:
This in mind, is there any way to repartition the internal (stock) storage to decrease the size of /cache/ and create a larger /data/ partition, or is it not possible without modifying the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code for mounting the unused preinstall and webtop partitions to SD storage http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=59253593
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This allows you to mount the partitions either as a new storage or to a specific directory only, in other words it does not merge the storages, just adds a mount point next to (or possibly if modified a bit on the top of) other storage. While this may be useful for taking some inherent load off /storage/sdcard0/ (i.e. mounting /dev/block/webtop to /storage/sdcard0/Downloads) for people not swapping their sdcards, it doesn't help in Septfox's intention of enlarging /data/.
I face the same problem as Septfox: I'd love to use the storage intended for running system for it, not virtually mounted storages created in the storage intended for storing media and support data. However, the outline of the storage is intended for way older and less robust system so even the /system/ is not quite enough (667 MB, which tightly fits CM12 with a small GApps package) and /data/ is also not enough for heavier use (3.22 GB). Therefore I would like to merge it with currently unused partitions: maybe join preinstall to system and webtop to data, making both big enough.
One alternative would be to mount the 1.4 GB webtop as /data/app, which currently makes about 2/5 of occupied space of my /data. Is this possible? At which point of system startup is the script in /system/etc/init.d executed (is it done by Safestrap or the ROM itself?), and at which point might the system first need to access /data/app that contains the APKs of user-installed apps? All the really needed stuff (compiled executables) is in the /data/dalvik-cache, right? Here I'm on a really thin ice, don't know much about Android's architecture, so sorry if this is a major bullsh*t - just throwing my idea in Technically what I'm talking about is such modification of the script:
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
mount -o rw,remount /data # Not too sure about this
# - depending on whether /data is already rw or not.
# For that I would need to know when is the script
# executed. I'm almost sure this is not necessary
# though. In original script this was done to allow
# writing into /storage/.
mkdir /data/app
#mount -o ro,remount / - unnecessary, see above
#mount -t ext3 /dev/block/preinstall /storage/preinstall
# I don't see any use for small preinstall partition.
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/webtop /data/app
chmod 777 /data/app # not sure about this either,
# probably should be 771
Clean version:
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
mount -o rw,remount /data # Unnecessary?
mkdir /data/app
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/webtop /data/app
chmod 777 /data/app # Possibly 771 instead.
Is that possible to run, or will it bootloop, what do you think?
Even better IMO would be to delete preinstall and webtop and shrink the Stock data down to maybe 200 MB so the original Stock system is still present, preventing the phone from bricking and accommodating Safestrap. The remaining space could be divided between Safe system (say 800 MB) and Safe data (over 4 GB). Are we able to do this somehow, maybe by customizing Safestrap a bit more? Or are partitions in /dev/block locked by bootloader? Also are all these and Internal storage located on the same physical chip, or are there two separate memories in the D4? Attached proposal of repartitioned layout Sizes taken from here and here.
Developers and experienced users, I would love to hear your opinion, mainly on whether repartitioning internal storage or at least mounting webtop to /data/app could work on D4. Thanks!
Addition to the original post:
I have a spare D4 with shattered screen and not working SIM slot that I bought for spare parts. Apart from GSM (or telephony altogether? I didn't try, as only option would be emergency call which I don't want to abuse, and we don't have CDMA networks here) it works fine though. I can try meddling with formatting/partitioning - it won't be too big deal if it gets bricked beyond possibility of SBF restore.
Replies so far, taken from the original CM12 thread:
sd_shadow said:
I don't think repartitioning is possible without high risk of hard bricking the device, and yes the locked bootloader does limit what can be done.
This is quite off topic, and you should start a new thread if you are going to continue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good call, started new thread
lucize said:
tried to change the type of preinstall partition and the device would boot into fastboot: (invalid cg hab (cg: ebr, status: 0x0056)
so a recovery is needed, I'll try a resize if I can compile the tools in safestrap. but I think it would not work
later edit: used fdisk to resize in safestrap and it broke again so it can't be done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for trying! What do you mean by changing type?
As I added here in the first post, I have a spare shattered but mostly working D4 I wouldn't be too sad to see bricked - I can try out more dangerous stuff if you point me in the right direction. I'd like to help testing different approaches to repartitioning if you have some potentially harmful ideas that you wouldn't try on your own phone.
Curious question aside: where is bootloader (and fastboot) stored? Is it sitting on some other small partition? Can we mount it to be read, or even to write there? What/where is that protection that keeps us from unlocking the bootloader?
Also, concerning mounting the free partitions to other system partitions: do you think it's possible to mount them as a folder in /data (whichever we use)? Does it matter what filesystem the partitions use? What part of boot-up runs the /system/etc/init.d/ scripts? Do you think attached proposals 2 or 3 are feasible? It would still have the stock system untouched for an emergency use and Safestrap storage, but its data would be shared with the safe system, with webtop mounted as /data/app or /data/data (1.4 GB should suffice I hope) which would leave us with nice 3.2 GB for the rest. Of course, preinstall's 600 MB for /system is hardly enough for CM12 with Pico version of PA GApps so the rest of used Google apps would inflate /data a bit - but still this is probably the best option we have now.
Actually, I find the stock /system/ to be adequate. Yea, it's a tight fit, but CM12+PA Micro Gapps slots in with 30-someodd megabytes to spare, and there shouldn't be any real need for additional space on top of that. Though, I suppose there could be trouble if CM starts including larger apps.
Init.d is done by the ROM itself, and has to be enabled at build time; CM12 actually has it shut off for whatever reason (Slimkat did as well, I would imagine CM11 also did). There's an app called "Universal Init.d" in the Store, but by the time it can get around to executing the scripts, it's obviously way too late to be screwing with vital partitions : \
Worth pointing out that Safestrap appears to have proper ADB access, you might be able to do something with partitions thataway. I don't know enough about partitions and mounting in Linux to take a jab at it. Woop, looks like that's already a no-go. Maybe the bootloader does a check or three to make sure the partitions are all in order, and throws a critical error if not.
If absolutely all else fails, there's still symlinking large apps into the newly-accessible partitions that can be done, either manually or with Link2SD/similar apps. It's a bit of a hassle, but an option nonetheless.
Well, stock /system is fine but I want to keep it untouched - mainly because I don't want to install CM12 as an update over stock JB, and also to keep myself from SBFing (at least in the long run) because of trivial issues. When this option is off the plate, the remaining partitions don't seem to offer enough space to run CM11 in a non-virtual slot (as Mentor.37 offers with his modified Safestrap with a "Safe" slot with 600M system and 1.4G for data).
Symlinking is an ugly solution - used it for a while, never liked it, mainly because symlinks broke once SD got unmounted or mounted as Mass Storage, with problems remounting afterwards.
Since we can modify the system freely, I'm sure that if necessary, we could make a neater solution than using an app to create symlinks after boot. Question how early in the boot process can we add some scripts (by flashing some zipped patch over the ROM) goes to more knowledgeable devs though...
first time I just used t option in fdisk to change partition type to whatever without changing size, the second time I resized some of them and every time after 1st reboot the M logo would appear for 1 second and from now on it would go straight into fastboot without M logo, so it seems that something in bootloader is verifying the layout or something and if is not good it would stop.
I don't think that it's possible to brick it for good, use rsd to recover
Regards
Thanks to @lucize for his trying, sadly it seems we can't repartition at all
@Mentor.37, is there a source to your customized SS 3.75 available? I'd like to try and mess around with it to put the Proposal 3 from my second post's attachment to work.
Could mounting and symlinking be done from Safestrap, or does the ROM do it itself? I have ideas of various cross-linking of folders on the partitions to kind of emulate repartitioning - but I'd have to try if it works and it would need to be done either before the system boot or shortly in the process. See attachment - that's a first draft I presume for this that the user keeps stock system only for keeping the phone bootable no matter what happens in other than stock slots, so stock data would be utilized only for root and safestrap, leaving most of its 3.2 GB free.
LuH said:
Thanks to @lucize for his trying, sadly it seems we can't repartition at all
@Mentor.37, is there a source to your customized SS 3.75 available? I'd like to try and mess around with it to put the Proposal 3 from my second post's attachment to work.
Could mounting and symlinking be done from Safestrap, or does the ROM do it itself? I have ideas of various cross-linking of folders on the partitions to kind of emulate repartitioning - but I'd have to try if it works and it would need to be done either before the system boot or shortly in the process. See attachment - that's a first draft I presume for this that the user keeps stock system only for keeping the phone bootable no matter what happens in other than stock slots, so stock data would be utilized only for root and safestrap, leaving most of its 3.2 GB free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that it's impossible because symlinking "works" after kernel is loaded and safetrap take place (is loaded) before a kernel is loaded....
If I'm not mistaken, symbolic linking is a filesystem thing, something like a shortcut only more complex (after all, it's completely transparent to anything accessing it). ADB probably has commands to make links, terminal emulators in Android definitely can. I think the problem you face is making sure the mountpoint, path, etc are exactly the same both in SS and Android.
Probably better to just do both the mounting and symlinking under Android, so you can be 100% sure that everything matches. We already know /cache/ is unused most of the time under LP, and can (probably) even be unmounted while booted if needbe; why not experiment with it, rather than going straight for the other more important partitions, until you're sure what you're thinking will work?
Edit: Wikipedia has a big ol' writeup on symlinks under various systems, looks like a fun read.
rblanca said:
I believe that it's impossible because symlinking "works" after kernel is loaded and safetrap take place (is loaded) before a kernel is loaded....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess then this could be implemented in some early booting stage of the system by some custom .zip being patched over, kind of the way Mentor.37's ramdisks are. Unfortunately I don't have nearly enough knowledge to do it.
What I hope could be done more easily is altering SS to maybe use not only shared cache but shared data as well - then webtop could be used for safe system, leaving more then enough space for it, and we still would have fairly usable 3.2 GB data for it. Maybe we could even assign preinstall as stock data? @Mentor.37, I'd really love to hear your opinion on this, or maybe even get your alternated safestrap's source so I could try it myself
Sorry guys, I'm dropping this. I tried CM12 in stock slot and it doesn't help the system as much as I hoped for, so there's no need for this from my side.
I also mistook the process of installing ROM in Stock. I thought I have to upgrade the stock system to the new ROM in order to keep Safestrap in it, but it turns out it's independent and when "wiping" stock /system it leaves the Safestrap there, so I can easily do a clean install of a new ROM in the stock slot
LuH said:
I tried CM12 in stock slot and it doesn't help the system as much as I hoped for, so there's no need for this from my side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About that, could you compare the difference regarding performance between CM12 on the safe slot and CM12 on the stock slot?
I currently got it running on safe slot but I'm thinking about trying to install it to stock slot, now that I sold my Lapdock and don't need Weptop mode anymore.
But I only would do it if it increases the performance of the D4.
Shani Ace said:
About that, could you compare the difference regarding performance between CM12 on the safe slot and CM12 on the stock slot?
I currently got it running on safe slot but I'm thinking about trying to install it to stock slot, now that I sold my Lapdock and don't need Weptop mode anymore.
But I only would do it if it increases the performance of the D4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really remember unfortunately, been running it from stock slot for a while now. Before it definitely was way more laggy than now, but that's also when CM12 for D4 was in a VERY early phase.
It definitely increases the performance, I'm just not sure how much. I don't see any reason why leave original system in stock slot though, so no reason to run CM from the safe slot. I don't like the idea of mounting the ext fs with system running from it from fat storage, it's bound to generate some unnecessary overhead.
In case of any major screw-up, sbf is your friend and AFAIK can't get messed up itself It's a good idea to have the factory cable available though, just in case it for whatever reason dies on you with low battery.
Ok, still good to know, thanks! What's sbf?
Well when I got my D4 a few months ago, I thought installing on the stock slot would be dangerous (in terms of bricking) and since I had the Lapdock, I wanted to keep the stock ROM.
But since then I've read that many users have CM12 running on stock slot, so now I want to do that, too. It's just so annoying when the whole phone freezes for half a minute or so and I think that's mostly due to the limited memory (although I have 170-300 MB free most of the time).
Do I have to consider anything special or different while installing than on an install on safe slot?
Shani Ace said:
Ok, still good to know, thanks! What's sbf?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see
Q12: What is a SBF?
Shani Ace said:
It's just so annoying when the whole phone freezes for half a minute or so and I think that's mostly due to the limited memory (although I have 170-300 MB free most of the time).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, I suspect it's also connected with throttled data transfer requests of multiple apps at once, but the RAM is IMO the biggest factor. In Linux RAM is almost always full and the "free" space is occupied by cache (filesystem cache or whatever else app's cache) ready to be deleted - maybe the phone is stuttering when freeing the "free" space for other use.
Weird is that my brother with almost vanilla L 5.1 on Nexus 4 has system consuming about 100M less RAM than my CM12 - device-specific drivers maybe?
Shani Ace said:
Do I have to consider anything special or different while installing than on an install on safe slot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you mean on stock slot, just remember that you need to have some system installed there even in order to boot into safestrap - delete old, install new and ONLY then reboot, otherwise you're facing sbf Learned the hard way It doesn't brick your phone (meaning you can unbrick it), but it's lengthy and annoying...
@sd_shadow: Thanks, now I know. Feels kinda stupid having asked one of the FAQ's - can't remember when that happened before.
LuH said:
Same here, I suspect it's also connected with throttled data transfer requests of multiple apps at once, but the RAM is IMO the biggest factor. In Linux RAM is almost always full and the "free" space is occupied by cache (filesystem cache or whatever else app's cache) ready to be deleted - maybe the phone is stuttering when freeing the "free" space for other use.
Weird is that my brother with almost vanilla L 5.1 on Nexus 4 has system consuming about 100M less RAM than my CM12 - device-specific drivers maybe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah that's interesting, didn't know that about Linux before. Well I always imagined that when there's little memory left, the drive somehow gets slowed down because there would'nt be enough space for some temp files or executions. But I don't really have a clue.
On the other hand, different devices showing different and inconclusive results like that is something I already experienced many years ago. ^^
LuH said:
If you mean on stock slot, just remember that you need to have some system installed there even in order to boot into safestrap - delete old, install new and ONLY then reboot, otherwise you're facing sbf Learned the hard way It doesn't brick your phone (meaning you can unbrick it), but it's lengthy and annoying...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I know, I had read about it before. But you can't really miss all those hints everywhere, so I think the community takes good care of spreading that time-saving information.
Actually thanks for encouraging me, because last night I flashed CM12.1 and everything onto the stock slot! Today I installed and configured most of the things I needed (including int/ext storage swap) and I have to say, it really runs better! It might not be as smooth as with a more recent smartphone, but it's definitely snappier than CM12 on the safe slot was (now it's gone and will rest in peace^^). It may sometimes take a few seconds, but most of the time it's very fluid, a great, noticeable improvement.
Additionally, now that I don't have to household with the memory anymore, I installed all the apps that I had left out on the safe slot install and even installed a couple of huge games from the Play Store (NFS:MW, NBA Jam, Batman Dark Knight, Injustice) onto my microSD card and it still runs almost without any hick-ups! I haven't tested the games yet, though.
EDIT: It really seems to have something to do with the amount of memory left on /system. After all that installing I was down to ~ 200MB (which would've been normal on the safe slot) and the phone started lagging a little bit more. But after moving some games and apps to the SD I have more than 500MB 600MB - okay after deleting the cache it's 1,26GB - free on /system and the phone runs smoothly again.
Shani Ace said:
EDIT: It really seems to have something to do with the amount of memory left on /system. After all that installing I was down to ~ 200MB (which would've been normal on the safe slot) and the phone started lagging a little bit more. But after moving some games and apps to the SD I have more than 500MB 600MB - okay after deleting the cache it's 1,26GB - free on /system and the phone runs smoothly again.
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I guess you're talking about /data, not /system (different partitions, /system is usually read-only and system is installed there with stuff you flash from safestrap, everything else goes to /data or /sdcard). Yup, when /data is becoming full, you're gonna experience some strange behavior.
/data is the first "Internal storage" in Storage settings, /system is not shown there, /sdcard is the second "Internal storage" and /sdcard-ext, or "SD card", is the actual microSD in default CM12 setup. I guess you have the last two switched though.
Can you change the stock partition size on safestrap's stock slot at all? It shows two internal memory slots, one at 3.01gb and the other is 8gb. What is going on with that other 5gb and why isn't it used?
hockeymikey said:
Can you change the stock partition size on safestrap's stock slot at all? It shows two internal memory slots, one at 3.01gb and the other is 8gb. What is going on with that other 5gb and why isn't it used?
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Not 100% sure, but I believe the non-user 8gb is split between /webtop, /cd, /preinstall, /system, /data, /cache/. /webtop and /preinstall alone eat up 2gb of it.
And, no, it can't be changed. Our resident awesome developer gave it a try a while back, and found that apparently the bootloader checks at power-on to see if the partitions are all "correct". If they're not, it pops an error screen, and there's nowhere to go from there; it pretty much soft-bricks the phone until the stock configuration is restored via fastboot image.
If we had an unlockable bootloader, then it's possible that this restriction could be removed. However, we don't - based on some poking at it by another member, it doesn't even recognize commands to pull information for/enter an unlock code - so we're stuck with stock partition sizes and virtual slots.
If you really have no choice but to use the stock "slot", you might want to look into buying a big SD card, getting Link2SD, and devoting part of said SD card to it. If you're using KitKat, the built-in App2SD might be adequate, but for Lollipop/Marshmallow, the 3gb just...isn't enough. App2SD isn't effective enough.
Otherwise, get a decent SD card and write the internal 8gb off as system storage. Make a slot with a 4gb /data size (the biggest we can go), and 700mb-1gb /system size. Install a gapps package that contains anything you would normally go to the Play Store and download separately; this installs them to /system, leaving /data more free for downloaded apps.
For large apps, use App2SD where you can to shift part of them from /data to the internal 8gb.
If you don't plan on flashing new nightlies very often, you can get apps to convert other apps into system apps, storing them in /system as well. The problem here is that they'll be wiped out whenever a new ROM is flashed, so you'd have to devise some method of backing them up and flashing them after the new nightly (ZipMe might work).