Hi there!
Does any1 know of any apps that would shred / clean the free space of the device with a good multipass algorithm? I have found lots of apps that do just that in the store, but none of them that would be possible to schedule while charging.
In other words, schedule it to wipe the device every day at 2AM if the charger is connected.
Any ideas? The device is rooted, so it might be a xposed module...
Thanks!
Do you know IFTTT (IF This Then That)? Maybe you can handle the problem with this app..
dfunkbv said:
Do you know IFTTT (IF This Then That)? Maybe you can handle the problem with this app..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, will have a look... I am also looking at automate as well...
By the way, my edge+ is rooted... does any1 know of any shell tool / command that would to that? That would be easy to implement with automate...
Euh ?are you a president ? You know, mobile phone don't use physical hard drives. Once the data is erased, you can't recover them like on an ssd.
It's totally useless, even you want to erase your forbidden porn files...
And more reason to not do this : flash memories don't really love intensive write/erase process, it's the best way to kill your phone rapidly.
xTremePower said:
Euh ?are you a president ? You know, mobile phone don't use physical hard drives. Once the data is erased, you can't recover them like on an ssd.
It's totally useless, even you want to erase your forbidden porn files...
And more reason to not do this : flash memories don't really love intensive write/erase process, it's the best way to kill your phone rapidly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess this is a looong debate.
Once you can´t encrypt (at least for now) a rooted edge+, my files are there, in the open. When you delete something, the file will still be there in the storage, no matter if it is a mechanical / magnetic disc or a SSD / flash. Only the first pointer to the first sector of the file is freed.
A tool like a cellebrite UFED can easy retrieve and rebuild what is stored in the "free space" of your device.
So, until I can encrypt my phone, I will try to use any means necessary to make it as secure as possible, like using tools that employ encryption by themselves and using any tools to rewrite the "free" space.... any suggestions are appreciated too
Related
I have been wondering if it is possible to modify where programs store their external data on the SD card, but have not been able to find an answer yet.
Example...
I have the program "FolderOrganizer" and it stores it's backup data to /mnt/sdcard/FolderOrganizer. Now what I would like to do is to clean up my SD card a bit by moving all my program saves to the /mnt/sdcard/Android/xxxxx folders. This way I know where all my backups, skins and etc are located at while keeping my file structure clean.
I have been using Root Explorer to poke around and see if I can find any indication of where these programs set their external save directories at (xml files etc), but I have not been able to figure it out yet.
I bet it is something easy that I am just missing. Can anyone help out or point me in the right direction?
djstaid said:
I have been wondering if it is possible to modify where programs store their external data on the SD card, but have not been able to find an answer yet.
Example...
I have the program "FolderOrganizer" and it stores it's backup data to /mnt/sdcard/FolderOrganizer. Now what I would like to do is to clean up my SD card a bit by moving all my program saves to the /mnt/sdcard/Android/xxxxx folders. This way I know where all my backups, skins and etc are located at while keeping my file structure clean.
I have been using Root Explorer to poke around and see if I can find any indication of where these programs set their external save directories at (xml files etc), but I have not been able to figure it out yet.
I bet it is something easy that I am just missing. Can anyone help out or point me in the right direction?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No... it's not something you're just missing... there is no standard and as a result it's almost impossible to achieve what you're aiming for. I too wish for the same, everything simply under <sdcard>/android/ ...
Some apps are hard coded in their code, some allow the user to select, some store in /data/data/xxx/shared_prefs/ - it's a lottery.
djmcnz said:
No... it's not something you're just missing... there is no standard and as a result it's almost impossible to achieve what you're aiming for. I too wish for the same, everything simply under <sdcard>/android/ ...
Some apps are hard coded in their code, some allow the user to select, some store in /data/data/xxx/shared_prefs/ - it's a lottery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response. That is a bummer though, I was really hoping to be able to tell everything where to write to. I currently have a ext4 partition on my SD and that is where all my apps install to... if I can't tell the apps where to save on my SD partition, it would be nice to at least move it all to the ext4 partition.
There is crap all over on my SD card and my OCD is starting to kick in!
Yeah, I know the SD card can get messy... it's really stupid and annoying... Unfortunately, there is no SD card data saving guidelines for developers... and writing to an ext partition is completely out of scope for market apps because not all users have ext partitions... it would be nice, though, to have apps save data under one common folder... say /sdcard/data or /sdcard/Android... maybe we need to petition developers or Google!!
I agree with the saving to and ext partition. I just think it is silly that you can't at least specify a directory to save external data. I know some apps allow this, but I guess that if Google forced a change then everyone would have to change their code.
I wonder what would happen if you took out your SD and tried running those apps. Where would they write to then?
djstaid said:
I agree with the saving to and ext partition. I just think it is silly that you can't at least specify a directory to save external data. I know some apps allow this, but I guess that if Google forced a change then everyone would have to change their code.
I wonder what would happen if you took out your SD and tried running those apps. Where would they write to then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps that require the sdcard for storage will usually either give an error when run without an sdcard or just not work at all.
I am also pretty anal about my storage and neatness, and I have given up on my sdcard being organized. What I have done is create folders with capital first letters to bring them to the top of the listing when browsing by default sort, at least I can find what I want easily without sifting through all the data folders..
That is pretty much what I have done. I guess it it better than nothing. If I knew more about programming I would try and build something to look for and modify those paths. I just never really understood/got into the whole programming thing... that is why I ended up in Infrastructure. lol
djstaid said:
That is pretty much what I have done. I guess it it better than nothing. If I knew more about programming I would try and build something to look for and modify those paths. I just never really understood/got into the whole programming thing... that is why I ended up in Infrastructure. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you there, long time (20+ years) building and repairing pcs, 0- years programming.
As far as building something to modify the paths used by programs accessing the sdcard in Android, that seems a nearly impossible feat. Each program would have to be modified, requiring reverse-coding (baksmali) each one individually, modifying the code, and recompiling (smali). This would also require re-signing and reinstalling each application, making updating from the market impossible, and would take a lot of work.
Due to the fact that applications are "sandboxed" (so to speak) in Android, I wouldn't think there was a global %externaldata% path variable that can be modified from /mnt/sdcard to /mnt/sdcard/Android, I am pretty sure that path is set in each application.
Though, I could be wrong. However, it is worth noting that if it is a global variable, changing it would result in applications that are already properly coded to use /mnt/sdcard/Android/%appname% or /mnt/sdcard/data%appname% to instead attempt to write the data to /mnt/sdcard/Android/mnt/sdcard/Android/%appname% as they would append their string to the global variable.
I believe, all we can do is petition developers to use a more structured data path in their programs, and learn to live with disorder!
daveid said:
I believe, all we can do is petition developers to use a more structured data path in their programs, and learn to live with disorder!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lmao!
this is true though... at least I know that I am not alone. haha
I am definitely with you all on this. I found this post after having the same epiphany just now. There needs to be more structure to the use of external storage. These little things are what set our OS apart from say, the "forbidden" iphone...
I have actually tried digging into different apps to see where the store locations are set at and have had no luck. I guess if I knew how to program or at least modify that one part of the app I would have more luck.
Problem with that is if I modify something in an app and it gets updated, I would have to do it all over again. I guess that is the gift and curse of having such an open OS. I will post back here if I figure something out though. I have been digging into the Android OS a little more, but I am still having problems understanding how it all works underneath.
Dear all,
first of all I wish to thank everyone in XDA that with his contribution helps us to make our devices blazing fast and really snappy.
Since I installed JPY firmware and I backed up every application I had the warning "Database almost full, please delete messages, contacts etc..." and in fact I have only 20Mb free.
I saw that Samsung to perform this big improvement in the software moved some application data in dbdata partition that is formatted to have only 128Mb!!
The problem is that at moment the maximum number of installable applications is limited due to dbdata space and this could be a big problem.
In other posts I read that other people had my same problem but no possible solution to fix it has been find out.
Is there any chance to fix this limitation?
Thank you for your awesome support
paky79 said:
Dear all,
first of all I wish to thank everyone in XDA that with his contribution helps us to make our devices blazing fast and really snappy.
Since I installed JPY firmware and I backed up every application I had the warning "Database almost full, please delete messages, contacts etc..." and in fact I have only 20Mb free.
I saw that Samsung to perform this big improvement in the software moved some application data in dbdata partition that is formatted to have only 128Mb!!
The problem is that at moment the maximum number of installable applications is limited due to dbdata space and this could be a big problem.
In other posts I read that other people had my same problem but no possible solution to fix it has been find out.
Is there any chance to fix this limitation?
Thank you for your awesome support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it can be fixed by:
1/. remove/relocate the files under /dbdata
2/. disable the disk full warning (it will show u the prompt if the free space is under a certain percentage)
I still have over 90 MB left. Just how many apps do you have? 100+?
I have ca 80 applications.
Is it safe to move the app data from dbdata? If yes, where do I move the data?
80 applications!?! you a collector?
Any solutions
I've had the problem also till recently when I installed Darky's 9.0 and did a wipe for the sake of cleanness.
I am sure I'm going to encounter it again and I would gladly take some measures now when i have the time to do it before I am constrained by it.
At a rough search I did find some info about it, some even here on XDA, but nobody had a definitive solution.
Is there a way to increase this partition size or keep some info stored there in another place ?
Is there an app that will tend to put big chunks of data there, more than usual?
Hope somebody with better kung fu than us drops by and enlightens us
Every Smartphone has limited space. Every Computer has limited space.
Everything has limited space.
It's a smartphone, not a huge trash container where you can put everything you find at market into.
Only install apps which you are using often and not apps which you're using once a year.
segun_aduba said:
I've had the problem also till recently when I installed Darky's 9.0 and did a wipe for the sake of cleanness.
I am sure I'm going to encounter it again and I would gladly take some measures now when i have the time to do it before I am constrained by it.
At a rough search I did find some info about it, some even here on XDA, but nobody had a definitive solution.
Is there a way to increase this partition size or keep some info stored there in another place ?
Is there an app that will tend to put big chunks of data there, more than usual?
Hope somebody with better kung fu than us drops by and enlightens us
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was a discussion in the cache bug thread about increasing partition size. No one knows for sure because none of these problems popped up until quite recently. Cache is even more troublesome since it means we might not be able to download apps in the future.
But your usage is still unusual. I would suggest going through the app manager and see if any app is hogging up data.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I also have this problem, using right now 45mb of 96mb, that is with only 44 downloaded apps installed...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I have 109 apps installed and have 105mb free in dbdata, go figure.
peachpuff said:
I have 109 apps installed and have 105mb free in dbdata, go figure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have lagfix activated? Are you on 2.2.1 version?
I may be talking rubbish here, but shouldn't it be possible to move some of the folders to another partition and symlink them? This is Linux after all...
I'd try something like:
(THIS HAS NOT BEEN TESTED AND IT MIGHT BREAK SOMETHING)
- Move some of the biggest folders from /dbdata to another partition (if you're lagfixed and care about speed, you should move them to another partition with ext4 or whatever your lagfix uses). In a terminal emulator you could move them with:
mkdir /data/dbdata2; mv /dbdata/databases/com.whatever /data/dbdata2
- After moving them you should be able to symlink them with something like:
ln /data/dbdata2/com.whatever /dbdata/databases/com.whatever
Like I said, this isn't tested and might awfully break something (I'd do a backup and try with non-system programs first), but I'd guess it's worth a try if you really want to have more dbdata space.
EDIT: I just noticed that /system has limited space too, so you'd be better of moving them do /data, which seems to be the biggest partition on the SGS.
If anyone is interested I could try and create a shell script that would move all of the stuff from /dbdata to /data/dbdata and replace the stuff with symlinks automatically. Let me know...
Hey,
Has anyone ever looked into how the Whatsapp Backup is stored? It can be used after reinstalling the app, but not after hard resetting/flashing/etc. So it should be stored on the phone, but not the normal isolated storage of the app since I can reinstall it and use the backup then.
Is there special access necessary or could other apps also access (and modify/export) this backup? I'm asking this because I hope to find a way to make a backup that really is useful, I almost only write via whatsapp because SMS cost way more than internet here. Thanks!
why do you think whatsapp isnt useing isolated storage? shure it is, but you still cant access it - unless you have a interopt unlocked device
the reason you can restore, is that the app id stays the same.. you could try to deploy an older (uncrypted) whatsapp xap to your phone, if the app id still stays the same (and im not shure it does! actually i think it doesnt..) you would gain access... again, thats total theory! i havent tryed this, and it has propably the potential to mess up your backup...
maybe GoodDayToDie has some more info about the app-id thing.. i'll also do a quick research
tfBullet said:
why do you think whatsapp isnt useing isolated storage? shure it is, but you still cant access it - unless you have a interopt unlocked device
the reason you can restore, is that the app id stays the same.. you could try to deploy an older (uncrypted) whatsapp xap to your phone, if the app id still stays the same (and im not shure it does! actually i think it doesnt..) you would gain access... again, thats total theory! i havent tryed this, and it has propably the potential to mess up your backup...
maybe GoodDayToDie has some more info about the app-id thing.. i'll also do a quick research
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! I din't know files in the isolated storage keep being there after you uninstall the app..
I tried deploying an old Version (1.4) of Whatsapp and it replaced the current one, so it should use the same app id. I didn't find anything in the isolated storage, but the backup is still there when I reinstall it from the store. I'll try launching the deployed app first now.
have you checked out the IsolatedStorageSettings?
Let me have a quick look where this thing is on my harddrive... when i find it, i'll be able to tell you where / how it saves the backup
tfBullet said:
have you checked out the IsolatedStorageSettings?
Let me have a quick look where this thing is on my harddrive... when i find it, i'll be able to tell you where / how it saves the backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I have no real clue how to do that, the only thing I can is deploying apps and watching their isolated storage thanks!!
they used "messages.sdf" & "contacts.sdf" before, but then at some version they started to migrate this files into a database.. not shure where it gets stored, or if you can access it with simply browsing the IsoStoreage... ill make a quick test project to test out how or if we could access it..
EDIT: actually i was talking **** the .sdf files are already databases, and the data still resides there... and forgot to mention: even if you couldn't see the database files, you should see the user-picture thumbnails that reside in "cphotos/" + some-sha1-hashed-userinfo...
IsoStore is cleared when an app is uninstalled. So far as I know, this is instant, as part of the app removal process, although I suppose I haven't actually checked that. However, apps can (and many do) implement a backup situation to cover this use case by using a unique identifier that survives a re-install. There are several places such IDs can come from. Since the one you have survives app installs but *not* OS reflashing (even though you presumably sign on with the same Live ID afterward), I'm guessing it's a value that uniquely identifies your OS install and is randomly generated the first time the OS boots. Re-flashing counts as a new install, I guess.
I'd have to investigate further to be sure. There could be other mechanics at play, such as the OS keeping the data around for a short time in case you re-install the app, or the app storing its data in some other (off-phone) location. It's not storing it in some special folder within the phone, though; there's nowhere else it could!
Backup history with Whatapp on Android. Then check the backup file on:
/sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases/msgstore.db.crypt
Or
/data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db and wa.db (root)
Coweri said:
Backup history with Whatapp on Android. Then check the backup file on:
/sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases/msgstore.db.crypt
Or
/data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db and wa.db (root)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but this is Windows Phone, not android..
@GoodDayToDie so, there is no simple way like deploying an app with the same ID and trying to access the backup with it?
Since the data would have been deleted when the old app was removed (and since you can't sideload an app with the same Product ID as an existing Store app), no, that won't work (well, it didn't in WP7; I guess you could try again here; some things are somewhat less secure now than before).
th0mas96 said:
GoodDayToDie so, there is no simple way like deploying an app with the same ID and trying to access the backup with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait for a interop-unlock... thats the way to go in this case.
Until then, you can send your conversations to yourself by mail (option form the context menue)
GoodDayToDie said:
IsoStore is cleared when an app is uninstalled. So far as I know, this is instant, as part of the app removal process, although I suppose I haven't actually checked that. However, apps can (and many do) implement a backup situation to cover this use case by using a unique identifier that survives a re-install. There are several places such IDs can come from. Since the one you have survives app installs but *not* OS reflashing (even though you presumably sign on with the same Live ID afterward), I'm guessing it's a value that uniquely identifies your OS install and is randomly generated the first time the OS boots. Re-flashing counts as a new install, I guess.
I'd have to investigate further to be sure. There could be other mechanics at play, such as the OS keeping the data around for a short time in case you re-install the app, or the app storing its data in some other (off-phone) location. It's not storing it in some special folder within the phone, though; there's nowhere else it could!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GoodDayToDie, any news about this Whatsapp backup feature in Windows Phone? Is it possible to utilize this feature as an "ordinary" developer?
I would have to reverse engineer the app to see how its backup feature works. The most likely explanation - that it's storing the backup "in the cloud" using the device ID (which resets when you do a hard reset, I think) - is easily possible for any app so long as you provide the storage space...
GoodDayToDie said:
I would have to reverse engineer the app to see how its backup feature works. The most likely explanation - that it's storing the backup "in the cloud" using the device ID (which resets when you do a hard reset, I think) - is easily possible for any app so long as you provide the storage space...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That could be an explanation. But then the Whatsapp developers could easily offer a full backup, as on other platforms, linked to the phone number or something. Then you could restore the messages even after a phone exchange. But who knows what's in their heads ...
GoodDayToDie said:
I would have to reverse engineer the app to see how its backup feature works. The most likely explanation - that it's storing the backup "in the cloud" using the device ID (which resets when you do a hard reset, I think) - is easily possible for any app so long as you provide the storage space...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it doesn't seem to be online.. it backups pretty big chats extremely fast with 2 bars of GPRS, so it can't be via internet.. it even backups without connection at all. That's the weird thing.. how are apps even allowed to store files that keep being there after an uninstall?
There are a couple really sneaky ways you could do that; one that comes to mind is creating a fake "image" or "ringtone" or similar, serializing the data to it, and then looking for it the "first" time the app is run after installing. However, I'm definitely more curious now. There are folders which apps can request permissions to write to, but usually that's a trick limited to "second-party" apps (OEMs, etc.) and prohibited for third parties.
I've already looked into the code, as far as i can tell there is no online backup feature. it just stores the conversations in a database.
And to answer yout question schluff: no there is absolutley no way the usual developera to utilize this.
btw: @GoodDayToDie could you provide us the newest WhatsApp XAP (2.11.312.0)?
When I get the chance to extract it of my computer, yeah. It's really hard to get full FS access working these days, so I'm looking into other ways to access the install folders and storage of other Apps.
here you go
edit: I've changed nothing, so it's the whole install folder in this zip file
Thanks for the extraction! Obviously, I can't do anything with it
However, if anyone is interested in this too, in the following versions it seems to backup to the SD card, at least @Nazwzil8 reported so at twitter: https://twitter.com/Nawzil8/status/410486248156172288 he reported a lot about whatsapp, he seems a legit beta tester.
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
greetings community,
i have tried to search it, but being pro newbie, I found nothing. Is it possible to make this folder little bit lighter it takes 22gb of space, and my poor phone has only 64gb
I have rooted devices
thank you in advance
You can delete some apps using root file manager. I've use root explorer and have for years but nowadays there are times where it will not allow me to delete some apps (YouTube, chrome are a few this has happened to me on..) that my phone will NOT allow me to. And yes I have magisk and root explorer pro has root permission when this has happened. One way to get these apps off when this has happened to me is use another root file manager. Amaze file manager did the trick. I was able to delete apps I could not with root explorer. I'm BIG on not having useless bloatware on my phone so disabling apps is NOT my style. I usually save a copy by making backup and throw the backed up apks on my laptop or a USB thumb drive and delete whatever in case I end up deleting something that messes with my phone...Far as what can be deleted and what can't you can just discover for yourself. That's what I've done. I'm currently on a custom rom and I normally don't do much deleting unless I'm using the Google stock rom. If and when I do wipe more off stock I'll return and give you a list of what I did clear out. Just look in /system/app, /system/priv-app, product/app, /vendor/app with a root app and go to town. That's what I've always done. I believe TWRP for Android 11, the test build that bigbiff dropped about a month ago works now to make backups so that would be something to maybe do before hand in case you end up needing to restore your rom. On a few other devices I've owned people would sometimes make a thread on here for apps that can be removed and all and then list what they took off and what not to. I believe this Is what you are talking about.. If so hopefully it helps
Far as making system folder smaller and not meaning apps I believe it's possible but I think maybe you would have to repartition your device to do that and although it's possible it's dangerous. One wrong move and you have a paper weight doing that. I messed up my original Pixel XL because power went out while I was doing it before I was done and it was a goner. If anything I say here isn't right or there is more information about this please someone share who has more knowledge of this sort of thing. I would love to know as well. Good day/night to all. Cheers.
100kaa said:
greetings community,
i have tried to search it, but being pro newbie, I found nothing. Is it possible to make this folder little bit lighter it takes 22gb of space, and my poor phone has only 64gb
I have rooted devices
thank you in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@100kaa
You would be better off deleting excess files, trash, and photos that are already backed up. The system partition can be mounted and some files removed, but for the most part it is a minefield. Google has a fantastic new tool (since changing Photos retention rules) called "Takeout" that allows you to back up the contents of many parts of your phone and allows you do d/l it in compressed format directly to your PC. Check it out. OTHERWISE- If you simply must carry large files like movies, music database, pictures etc. then consider getting a USB-C OTG drive.
https://takeout.google.com/
This is why you get a phone with an SD card slot.
You then use the SD card as your data drive.
Only the apps and temporary folders go on the internal memory.
Next best thing is a flash stick or use cloud based storage which has downsides to it. Even if your internal storage is huge you don't want to store critical data there. I use about 64 of my 500gb of internal vs 340 of 500gb on the data drive.
If a large data base is on a large internal memory a data restore takes... forever. Most times the SD card is spared in OS crash and burns. Plus it can be used to restore the OS drive apps and settings.
Much of the above doesn't help you now but it could with future devices. All my PCs even my laptop are configured as dual drives. I learned a long time ago it works well, saves sweat and data.