How many times we can flash our phone? - Xiaomi Mi 8 Questions & Answers

A question about a degradation of phone ram. I flashed about 300 times.

I have had many different phones and flashed 1000s of times on many. Let look at this in a slightly different perspective. We think of these partitions (system, boot, recovery, storage, etc) as different but they all reside on the same memory module. So flashing is no different then adding apps or any other r/w anywhere else. They all have close to the same lifespan.

Exactly, flashing is some as writing on to memory, nothing different from you using and running apps normally.

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[Q] db_data partition is repeatedly corrupting about every 10-15 days.

I have an issue that I will throw out there. I seem to get an issue about every 10-15 days where my db_data partition will become corrupt which will eventually (and usually immediately) result in FC's for all non system apk's.
After having it happen multiple times on Darky 9.4/9.5 I've just gone back to a stock rom and it still happened (with speedmod kernel - now trying with just the stock kernel with fugumod root).
This time I am trying to install programs in waves starting with those that I think do not do that much with root status (except Ti backup for obvious reasons).
My thought is that maybe JuiceDefender or Cache Cleaner or a Memory killer app is doing some damage every now and again (likely not cache cleaner as that is more recent than the issues).
It also might be a hardware issue though I think it would have gotten unusable by now if it was a failing internal SD.
Any thoughts, similar experiences out there? Or any way to fix it with out formatting it?
No one? Sorry this is just to blantantly move it back to the front page.

[Q] Flash Baseband without losing SD internal Data

Ok too many Custom ROMS out there and too many choices to make. But every ROM is optimized for different BB, other for V20l,other for m,q,o etc.
Everytime you need to change BB using smartflash, your Internal SD gets erased. So, you need to take the looooong backup way of your data (for me 3GB) before u do the flash.
Is there any way to flash BB without erasing anything or just the standard wipe (/system, /cache, /data)?
You may not like this answer.
To flash a baseband without losing your (internal) SD-card contents, you just... flash it.
I've seen many people claim it erases your internal SD, I think that stems from a post over at Modaco which states it. It is not true, unless our devices magically behave differently.
If you flash an entire ROM, using the .bin file, then yes, it overwrites the internal SD. Flashing only the .fls-file, it does not. (It does erase /data however, so you need to backup anyway.)
Yes it's very fast.. Backup in cwm, flash your bb, reboot in recovery and restore: 10 minutes job. And your internal SD is untouched.
But you know, I changed only three times my BB, in 10 months, even if I have flashed many roms, and I'm not sure I should really had to, because each time I had no problem before flashing...
My best advice is to flash the ROM you want, use your phone, and change BB only if you have real problems after a few days.
BB is 'only' a low level driver sets for radio chips, it's not a magical hidden malicious wizard.

[Q] Partitioning N1 using texasice's ICS w/xdata

Would someone validate my partitioning idea before I spend a bunch of time mucking about trying to make it work?
Some background: I am using a Nexus One with Evervolv/texasice's ICS ROM. The N1 has a small permanent memory, so even with the recommended partitioning, the system partition has only a few MiB free and the data partition is just over 200 MiB. So texasice has a re-written a2sd which has the ability to mount an ext4 partition on the SD card as the data partition (I don't know if this feature is specific to his rewrite or if this is a common thing). It works ok with a Class 10 card, although it's still a little slower than I might like and I get ANRs even for system apps.
With the xdata feature enabled, the >200MB data partition in the memory is wasted space, so I was thinking about re-partitioning to make the system partition most of the 400+ MB of memory and then using Titanium Backup to selectively move apps from the xdata partition to system, with its "Convert to system app" and also integrate the Dalvik cache into the system partition.
Does anyone see a problem with this plan? Will it work? Why have I not seen anyone else talking about doing it?
Thanks!
Wil
My background, in case that helps you gauge your response: I have 15+ years of experience with Linux systems administration & development, including some work with embedded systems, but am still very unfamiliar with the Android userland.
Works fine
So I went ahead and tried it--410 MB for system partition and then I used TitantiumBackup's "Integrate sys Dalvik into ROM" to move the Dalvik cache for system apps into the ROM--it worked fine and things are a bit snappier. I also converted some of my most-used apps to be system apps and get noticeably improved response times. One thing to note is that you should re-run the integration after converting an app to a system app because it doesn't do that automatically.
I am fairly confident that my observation of improvement is accurate, despite the lack of quantitative data and despite the fact that I upgraded the ROM from a2 to a4 at the same time--I ran several of the apps before converting them to system apps and then again afterwards (and after a reboot).
wcooley said:
So I went ahead and tried it--410 MB for system partition and then I used TitantiumBackup's "Integrate sys Dalvik into ROM" to move the Dalvik cache for system apps into the ROM--it worked fine and things are a bit snappier. I also converted some of my most-used apps to be system apps and get noticeably improved response times. One thing to note is that you should re-run the integration after converting an app to a system app because it doesn't do that automatically.
I am fairly confident that my observation of improvement is accurate, despite the lack of quantitative data and despite the fact that I upgraded the ROM from a2 to a4 at the same time--I ran several of the apps before converting them to system apps and then again afterwards (and after a reboot).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your experimental is interesting so, if you don't mind, posting your procedures and steps for other members to review. Have you tried to contact Texasice or any developer of your findings?
It just sucks that with most scripts you can't choose which apps you would like to move to sd-ext. I believe timbit made such script for samuaz' MedroidMod, and he would bring out a standalone version, but haven't heard anything about that since Donationgate..
Yep I requested that from Timbit a while ago and new did indicate that he'd consider it.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA

[Q] What is true dual boot option in cwm for mi3?

Any idea what is true dual boot?
in short: you can install two independent systems.
a bit more detail: by default, mi3 comes with two system partitions (sys1 & sys2) that use the same data partition. it's nice, because if something goes wrong on either partitions, you'll still have the other one "in spare". but in case you install two, totally different roms that are supposed to use the same data partition, there will be plenty of issues.
basically, enabling tdb will create two data partitions (data1 and data2, matching sys1 and sys2), so the 2 systems will not interfere with each other. of course, that will take space from the sd card partition, so there will be less space available on that one. i successfully ran aosp and miui on my phone for weeks. tdb is fun at first, but eventually, you'll use only one of the two systems. i opted to switch it off just to have more space available on the sd card, but on a 64gb phone, that's no biggie.
please note that aosp will only work on system1. if you want an aosp+miui setup, install aosp on sys1 and miui on sys2. flashing aosp on sys2 will result in a bootloop.
see this thread for information on setting up a tdb-enabled phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-mi-3/help/easy-flashing-guide-cm-miui-using-tdb-t2868411

[Q] insufficient space on the device [solved]

I tried to install an app and got the error message "There is insufficient space on the device". I looked at the device memory and it shows that I have used 5.02gb out of 5.51gb, but when I select all files (including hidden files) and display properties, it shows I've only used 772.67 mb of space. I don't have that many apps installed and I totaled the amount of space that the apps use and it is also under 800 mb of space. I can't find where the discrepancy is in the space available. Any ideas on where the missing 4gb of files are?
Moto G 2014, rooted, stock
I looked in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2443267 but it's not just a particular app that is giving me problems, the device itself thinks it's full.
SOLVED! Thanks to @tmittelstaedt
tmittelstaedt said:
Have you done a lot of installing-deinstalling of apps?
The ram in the phone is flash. In order to prolong flash life there's a memory manager that does what it can to prevent the same areas of flash from being repeatedly written and deleted. So flash does not work like a hard disk where when a file is deleted then the space is immediately rewritten. Instead, the flash manager tries to spread new writes across the flash. On occasion a bit will go bad in the flash. The flash manager will also lock that bit out. All of this is done at a hardware level that is below the filesystem's visibility, it's done in the hardware of the flash controller.
It sounds to me like something has gotten messed up in that system. The flash controller is reporting lots of free space then when the OS is trying to use it the controller is reporting space in use. If it was my phone I might try running an app like SD Maid and see if that worked. But if it didn't I'd back it up then factory reset then reload the apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
makinapufterpup said:
I tried to install an app and got the error message "There is insufficient space on the device"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First deinstall one or two apps so you can install this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobile_infographics_tools.mydrive. It will give you details how your sd is occupied.
ES File Explorer has an "SD Card Analyst" under tools that will show you where your storage went.
[ROM][5.0.2][titan][XT1068/69]The Titan Prime ROM[DEC 31](Version 1.0)
Delete
makinapufterpup said:
I tried to install an app and got the error message "There is insufficient space on the device". I looked at the device memory and it shows that I have used 5.02gb out of 5.51gb, but when I select all files (including hidden files) and display properties, it shows I've only used 772.67 mb of space. I don't have that many apps installed and I totaled the amount of space that the apps use and it is also under 800 mb of space. I can't find where the discrepancy is in the space available. Any ideas on where the missing 4gb of files are?
Moto G 2014, rooted, stock
I looked in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2443267 but it's not just a particular app that is giving me problems, the device itself thinks it's full.
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you done a lot of installing-deinstalling of apps?
The ram in the phone is flash. In order to prolong flash life there's a memory manager that does what it can to prevent the same areas of flash from being repeatedly written and deleted. So flash does not work like a hard disk where when a file is deleted then the space is immediately rewritten. Instead, the flash manager tries to spread new writes across the flash. On occasion a bit will go bad in the flash. The flash manager will also lock that bit out. All of this is done at a hardware level that is below the filesystem's visibility, it's done in the hardware of the flash controller.
It sounds to me like something has gotten messed up in that system. The flash controller is reporting lots of free space then when the OS is trying to use it the controller is reporting space in use. If it was my phone I might try running an app like SD Maid and see if that worked. But if it didn't I'd back it up then factory reset then reload the apps.
tmittelstaedt said:
Have you done a lot of installing-deinstalling of apps?
The ram in the phone is flash. In order to prolong flash life there's a memory manager that does what it can to prevent the same areas of flash from being repeatedly written and deleted. So flash does not work like a hard disk where when a file is deleted then the space is immediately rewritten. Instead, the flash manager tries to spread new writes across the flash. On occasion a bit will go bad in the flash. The flash manager will also lock that bit out. All of this is done at a hardware level that is below the filesystem's visibility, it's done in the hardware of the flash controller.
It sounds to me like something has gotten messed up in that system. The flash controller is reporting lots of free space then when the OS is trying to use it the controller is reporting space in use. If it was my phone I might try running an app like SD Maid and see if that worked. But if it didn't I'd back it up then factory reset then reload the apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is probably what is was, I did install and uninstall apps. I ended up doing a factory reset, reinstalled all the apps, and now have 2.7gb free. I'll keep SD Maid in mind if it happens again!
makinapufterpup said:
That is probably what is was, I did install and uninstall apps. I ended up doing a factory reset, reinstalled all the apps, and now have 2.7gb free. I'll keep SD Maid in mind if it happens again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for the follow-up I'm glad it worked. Unfortunately this nonsense about "phone flash defragmenters don't work" has been repeated so often that a lot of sorcerers apprentices that don't understand hardware have misled a lot of people. Phone flash defragmenters don't work because the file system used on flash has no direct mapping to physical areas in the flash, because the flash's on chip hardware manager does that. But just because they don't work does not mean that flash cannot get fragmented and it is good to know that a factory reset that wipes all data does defragment the flash.
This has happened again! I uninstalled an app about 2 weeks ago and noticed that I had 2.01 gb free. I went to do play store updates today and all the free space is gone! I haven't installed or uninstalled anything since about two weeks ago. Frustrating. I'm going to try the SD Maid that someone suggested earlier. I really don't want to have to do a factory reset just to get my free space back. That seems like such a world war III fix...
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