Back in 2012 android police made a report that defraging your phone didn't help any.
Fast forward to today I don't know if that's still the case. I see apps like SD maid have RAVE reviews from Nexus 6 users on the play store review section https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.thedarken.sdm&hl=en
But is it actually worth using?
Does clearing cache and dalvik do the same in TWRP?
I am asking these questions because I have moved around 24 GB's of data the past 2 weeks into different folders and deleted alot of stuff off the phone. I want to make sure my available memory is displaying correctly now.
I don't think defragging would do anything for performance on a mobile phone with flash storage. Defragmenting a hard drive is done to improve seek times and general performance, and I believe it's specifically with FAT/NTFS file systems where this is most useful.
Like SSDs, seek times aren't affected by file fragmentation. I'd imagine any perceived performance boost is placebo.
You don't need to defragment flash memory...you just don't. You're only burning readbwrite life by doing so.
SD Maid can be a useful tool but it has nothing to do with fragmentation and it works differently than clearing the caches in TWRP.
datajosh said:
SD Maid can be a useful tool but it has nothing to do with fragmentation and it works differently than clearing the caches in TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does Maid work then? I guess I am confused how Maid cleans up my storage.
CCJ22 said:
How does Maid work then? I guess I am confused how Maid cleans up my storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says in the description how it cleans up your storage:
Apps you have already deleted, sometimes leave data behind.
The system constantly creates logs, crash reports and debug files you don't really need.
Your SD-card is collecting files and directories you don't recognize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It also looks to have a file explorer, app manager, and some other things.
Defragmentation brings no improvement on flash based storage and can actually be harmful, not only due to read/write cycles but also because in some instances it can counter wear-leveling.
edit: Actually see here for a better explanation: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=58004678&postcount=9
CCJ22 said:
How does Maid work then? I guess I am confused how Maid cleans up my storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD Maid cleans up your storage by deleting files.
Which files are deleted depends on what tool you use.
See here: http://sdmaid.darken.eu/help
TL;DR
CorpseFinder tool for app remains, SystemCleaner for general clutter such as log files, AppCleaner for cache-like files (meaning files that don't contain user generated content and will be recreated if necessary).
exactly what @Dark3n said..
great app btw, been using it for years. no, it doesnt defragment
Fragmentation can occur on non-magnetic storage, as the file is fragmented into multiple, non-contiguous chunks which lead to excessive metadata. The less contiguous the data, the more metadata needed to string it all together. While the performance hit of this type of fragmentation on flash storage is far less than on magnetic storage, it exists nonetheless and general cleanup can help. While it pertains to how Windows handles fragmentation of SSDs, the following article by Scott Hanselman sheds a lot of light here.
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/therealandcompletestorydoeswindowsdefragmentyourssd.aspx
Regardless, moving around data of that size probably doesn't matter. It's more the TRIM function you should be interested, which is enabled in Android since 4.3. That helps the system know which blocks of memory truly have nothing in them for a faster and more even write.
Related
I was surprised to see my wife's N1 only had 20 MB of internal memory. She is running Enomther's Rom, which runs great.. I don't think the issue is tied to that.
She has hardly any apps on her phone, and rarely does anything other than work emails (Touchdown) and Facebook/Twitter.
Considering how little she has on the phone, and how little she does with it I, was just really shocked that she would have so little internal memory. She called me just now and stated she has a notification that she missed a text message because she did not have enough memory.
What the heck could be taking up so much memory?
What's the fix? There isn't really anything to delete (that I'm aware of)....
Search seemed helpess with "internal" and "memory" there were WAY too many posts. Please help if you can!
Browser cache might be huge, if she has many sites opened in many browser windows.
Her "not many" apps might be "many" enough for a phone with limited internal memory like Nexus - having ~200MB for apps, data and cache together.
There are exactly 3 solutions:
1) Keep browser in check. It's always a good practice.
2) Use native Froyo method and move apps to SD.
3) Use Apps2EXT method and move apps to SD. You can also move Dalvik-cache to /cache.
Hmm, she has MAYBE 10 apps?
I downloaded a cache cleaner and ran that, it removed maybe 8 MBs? That was this past weekend, and she got that message about low memory today. I doubt she has even opened the browser since then to be honest. Very light user.
I sent enomther a tweet, his reply was:
RT @enomther @CallipH need to implement either dalvik-cache-2-/cache or apps2ext in SpareParts (DataStorage options) ... sysdc-2-/cache is default on cm6
okay, so option 1 is to move dalvik cache to sd, which I think you do in Advanced > Amon's recovery, right? Any ill effects from doing this if I switch roms?..
Option 2, apps2ext... she does not have an ext partition and frankly surprised this is needed... is the nexus that low on memory? My Vibrant has 1.6 GBs. same question, any ill effects if moving to another rom with the apps on the ext? I did that a lot back in the day with the G1. I remember having some issues and having to do fix permissions a lot.
Thanks for all the help man.
Check, what's using the memory. Just go over the apps.
You can't do Dalvik-to-SD, because it requires EXT partition, which you don't have. You can do Dalvik-to-Cache.
There is no hassle in having apps on EXT whatsoever. The only hassle is getting them there.
ROM has nothing to do with application data usage either.
Have you tried wiping the Dalvik cache? Worth ago in case there's some built up crap I spose.
^^ thanks.
^ I did before flashing the rom. Will do it again.
I know it's relative, but how much internal memory would you expect someone to have when they just have about 10 apps?
Depends on the apps. I can count 2 - Google Earth and Motonav, for example - that take together 50MB of space without even counting the cache part. Another 4 apps like that, and you're out of memory (if you don't move them to SD using Froyo's method or old Apps2SD-EXT method).
There's also numerous games that are > 10MB, can easily add up.
I'm curious if Touchdown (Exchzange work email) is doing something funky... I know the apps on her phone and they are all very small. Thank you guys all for the posts.
I think I may format her card and partition it and move the cache to the ext partition and see what her memory looks like after that.
Any issues you guys can think of with that, or other ideas?
Download DiskUsage, and it will give you a good idea of what the problem is...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
From the Link2SD FAQ:
Link2SD does not link application's private data files that are located in /data/data directory, they remain in the internal storage. Thus each app you install will still have some data on the internal storage so you can still potentially fill up your internal storage even if you are moving all of your apps over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is this the case? There are other Linking apps which do move /data/data files. Why would Link2SD not do this?
I wish to ask this before I go bothering the application author. I figure there is some well-known issue here which I am not aware of.
I may have to switch linking apps because my /data part is getting too full, mostly due to Google's crappy maps and browser apps, which are horrifically fat.
Data Linking ?
jmomo said:
From the Link2SD FAQ:
Why is this the case? There are other Linking apps which do move /data/data files. Why would Link2SD not do this?
I wish to ask this before I go bothering the application author. I figure there is some well-known issue here which I am not aware of.
I may have to switch linking apps because my /data part is getting too full, mostly due to Google's crappy maps and browser apps, which are horrifically fat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have this issue, and am now running low on internal space (mainly due to the huge data\data folder) ...
Can you tell me the name(s) of the other apps that provide linking the data folder ?
I believe app data isn't moved, because it will make your phone laggy as hell. Guess the dev chose for finding more space, but not at the cost of speed.
tommert38 said:
I believe app data isn't moved, because it will make your phone laggy as hell. Guess the dev chose for finding more space, but not at the cost of speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This makes no sense at all. In many cases, newer SD cards are FASTER than the internal flash on older phones.
Please don't guess wildly about stuff you don't understand.
d_bizzzz said:
I too have this issue, and am now running low on internal space (mainly due to the huge data\data folder) ...
Can you tell me the name(s) of the other apps that provide linking the data folder ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S2E does it, but from what I've seen, it's only for Cyanogen.
jmomo said:
This makes no sense at all. In many cases, newer SD cards are FASTER than the internal flash on older phones.
Please don't guess wildly about stuff you don't understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sustained write/read speeds don't tell the whole story, as you may know (probably not). You probably believe the more megapixels a camera sensor has, the better? Also, the phone must support those faster µSD cards. Seeing you've only been here for half a year and you've only contributed with a dozen posts, I can say for certain that you've never read any warnings for not moving app-data. It's not your fault.
Unfortunately, I noticed that all the new people coming here have no respect or decency and think they know everything already. Guess what: you don't know **** . So, like I already said before, drop the attitude.
Respectfully, you are simply wrong.
Modern SD cards are faster than the internal flash on older phones, which are the phones that need apps like Link2SD. I don't know about more modern phones.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=934087
Bonnie++ is the best way, that I know of, to benchmark a flash storage devices, but it's not for noobs
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1169910
I remember running bonnie++ against my Nexus One and a cheap 16GB card about a year ago when that above post was made and my SD card was faster than the internal flash in almost every way, and that was then.
Yes, my post count is low. XDA Devs is full of loud noobs who think writing a java app or rooting a phone makes them a leet technical resource. I've been writing software and managing unix systems for over a decade.
Well, sir, you go ahead and put your app-data on your µSD . Benchmarks are for [random word].
Did I also mention that somehow some new members are bragging about what they have achieved and are capable of, while they haven't made themselves useful in any way? If not, now I did.
Is there still no possibility to move also the data folder (e.g of games)? Most of my applications are rather small and most space is taken by the game data folders.
tommert38 is correct here.
Because there is no guarantee, that if your sdcard is fast, it'a also faster than your internal flash. There are more dependies than only the speed of the card. What are the specs of the nexus one sd-reader? This could be an popotentially barrier.
At least: Which size supports the nexus one for sd-cards?
I agree with the OP about this. If it is a worry about the speed, i'm sure mr. bulent akpinar can at least provide an option in the app to enable/disable saving /data/data to the link2sd partition. everybody happy!
here's a link to the original link2sd thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919326 maybe the app author can take note of it as a suggestion for future updates
One other benefit of not placing /data/data on the SD card is for the case if your sd-ext partition fails to mount for some reason (e.g. failing a file system check). If /data/data was on the SD card, then most of your application settings will be gone, including for builtin apps like the launcher. It will look very similar to a factory reset.
With /data/data on internal storage, your settings will be still be visible in this scenario and it will only be the downloaded apps that disappear. This should be somewhat easier to recover from.
RealCrogge said:
Is there still no possibility to move also the data folder (e.g of games)? Most of my applications are rather small and most space is taken by the game data folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Consider all the risks and if you are willing to take them you might find this thread usefull. Just be sure you know what you are doing
LINK2SD v3.4.1 - No links data/data
apologies for posting to an aged thread, but just today LINK2SD has been updated to include linking of the /data/data
I'm already enjoying the new found space made available, it seems to work very well so far ...
d_bizzzz said:
apologies for posting to an aged thread, but just today LINK2SD has been updated to include linking of the /data/data
I'm already enjoying the new found space made available, it seems to work very well so far ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I ask you if you noticed a lag or performance slow down? I also love link2sd but I fear to upgrade to the latest version cause I don't want to compromise the reliability of my system, which so far, has been excellent.
I have read that moving the /data files could slow down the phone or cause overheating of the sd card. Actually I have a class 10 ultra II Sandisk.
Thanks for any report and opinion.
ik8vwa said:
May I ask you if you noticed a lag or performance slow down? I also love link2sd but I fear to upgrade to the latest version cause I don't want to compromise the reliability of my system, which so far, has been excellent.
I have read that moving the /data files could slow down the phone or cause overheating of the sd card. Actually I have a class 10 ultra II Sandisk.
Thanks for any report and opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done any benchtesting or anything but haven't noticed any slowdown or battery drain what-so-ever.
My phone runs just as good as before.
I only link my game apps to SD because I expect one day the SD card will fail (like most media storage devices) and most of my essential apps are un-linked and stored on the internal phone mem.
d_bizzzz said:
I haven't done any benchtesting or anything but haven't noticed any slowdown or battery drain what-so-ever.
My phone runs just as good as before.
I only link my game apps to SD because I expect one day the SD card will fail (like most media storage devices) and most of my essential apps are un-linked and stored on the internal phone mem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I have linked all my apps and it is now almost an year. I was very curious about the possibility to move the data too but was a bit on the standby, because if you check on the play store, there are some complaints. Now, I don't know what to do, maybe I'll give it a try.
Thanks for your kind reply.
ik8vwa said:
Thanks, I have linked all my apps and it is now almost an year. I was very curious about the possibility to move the data too but was a bit on the standby, because if you check on the play store, there are some complaints. Now, I don't know what to do, maybe I'll give it a try.
Thanks for your kind reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess some reviews may be on different phone models.
All I can advise is check the gppd & bad reviews and the phone model. Also to have a titanium backup of your older link2SD so you can roll back if needbe.
Worth just linking a few & see how it goes.
No complaints on my Galaxy S3, works fine & has done for the past 2 years
d_bizzzz said:
I guess some reviews may be on different phone models.
All I can advise is check the gppd & bad reviews and the phone model. Also to have a titanium backup of your older link2SD so you can roll back if needbe.
Worth just linking a few & see how it goes.
No complaints on my Galaxy S3, works fine & has done for the past 2 years
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I downloaded the new version (I have the plus option) but I don't understand how to move the data to sd since in the options it is specified that only future installs will be moved (if I flag the option).
Back to the original question. I use Mounts2SD for my Nexus One. I check to move Apps, Data, Dalvik, and Libraries. The rest I leave alone. I have no problems with space with this set-up. Speed is decent, I think the issues I have are probably related to the various custom ROMs I've been using but I can't be 100% sure.
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.
lately i've noticed that my "system" keeps growing in size as seen through storage sense. it's a slow, but steady, growth.. after a factory reset i believe it was around 2.60gb, and now it's grown to 3.04gb. i've heard elsewhere that anything above 3.0gb is "abnormal" -- what would cause this to grow like that? is this normal, and is there any way to clean it up? i have 8.1 GDR2 with full fs access.
It's normal for windows phone though... It does grow a bit as time being. You know, in Windows 10 Mobile my system partition grows up to 4gb, which eats up all my left space. After a clean up, I only have 1.4gb left internal storage. I guess only a reset will solve the problem.
Applications Data , Uncompleted Store and Phone Update Downloads and unknown files you have stored on your phone (like mkv , xap , appx , appxbundle , mpg and any other file types it's unknown for the system ) may increase system and Other storage size . you can use storage cleaner app by GoodDayToDie to clean up a bit but maybe not too much helpful .
cpshelley2 said:
lately i've noticed that my "system" keeps growing in size as seen through storage sense. it's a slow, but steady, growth.. after a factory reset i believe it was around 2.60gb, and now it's grown to 3.04gb. i've heard elsewhere that anything above 3.0gb is "abnormal" -- what would cause this to grow like that? is this normal, and is there any way to clean it up? i have 8.1 GDR2 with full fs access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Real System partition can't grow. The only increasing thing on it is registry. So, those are system files on user partition. It can be even IE cache.
would you have a link? can't find it in the store..
cpshelley2 said:
would you have a link? can't find it in the store..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
storage cleaner by gooddaytodie is not a store app . search it here on Development and hacking forum in Windows Phone 8
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2655458
Hello fellow Earthlings,
I have a curious query that I hope you can shed some light on
Last week I flashed stock ROM on my S3 mini, thus resetting the phone to its original state. There was no data on the phone, such as applications, music and photos. However, I realised that my internal storage was rather clogged, 4GB/4.75GB was being used. I acknowledged that the system itself and bloatware uses this memory, but surely not over 90% of my internal storage. Closer inspection of the storage settings allowed me to discover 'miscellaneous files', which showed to be using near enough 4GB. Like an idiot (without considering the consequences) I deleted these files because it allowed me to, and now I have 3GB of free internal data(horaaay). I thought I might have deleted something important, however, my phone's running smoothly and all applications appear to be working.
Any idea what could've been using all that storage? I'd like to point out that I had no nandroid back-ups on my device.
Temporary files perhaps. Google & XDA search bar are your friends too
mauam said:
Temporary files perhaps. Google & XDA search bar are your friends too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did have a look on Google, but those that have been in a similar predicament were unable to delete the files, whereas I was.
It just seems puzzling, what do you mean by temp files, like cache?
Seems a bit excessive considering it was dictating 4GB.
Pinda007 said:
I did have a look on Google, but those that have been in a similar predicament were unable to delete the files, whereas I was.
It just seems puzzling, what do you mean by temp files, like cache?
Seems a bit excessive considering it was dictating 4GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Temp files from your previous installed ROM. Search better & you'll realize that some people deleted also 4 or 6gb, without problems, so don't worry about that