22 replies to this topic

[jdflute]

Hi all I am a complete noob at this so please bear with me.
I have an HTC Desire GSM running cyanogenMod 7.2.0-RC3-bravo.
I have installed a total of less than 60 apps which have mainly been installed on the external sd card (only a couple and the two widgets remain on the internal memory).

Now here's my question, when I look at the internal storage via manage applications I see that I have only 26Mb free and 122Mb used.
Given that almost all of my apps are installed on the SD card why have I sooo little space on the internal storage?

One thing I did notice was that even though I had set the default install location to SD I had to manually transfer the apps and I had to regually reboot in order to free up internal storage space once I had moved the app.

I have explored the forums and cleared out the cache to no avail and I have seen some comments about a factory reset, but as this is a completely fresh install I don't see how this would benefit me as by the time Ihave finished restoring everything I would expect to be in exactly the same position.

The phone works beautifully and I am very happy with it, but this is a niggling problem since it was the original reason that I flashed the phone in the first place.

Any help will be appreciated

Regards

James

[k3lt]

Do you have cm7r2 hboot?

[Vlijmen Fileer]

Hi all,

I can add to this.  I have been using Cyanogenmod for about two years no I think.  A friend installed that for me.

HTC Desire / CyanogemMod-7.1.0-Desire / ClockWorkMod (What is that?)

I use Super Toolbox to move applications to SD.  But there seem to be two problems that I can not overcome, and they force me to keep the number of applications awfully limited (55), and to regularly uninstall some to free up space for updates or others:
1) Some applications refuse to be moved as they are "system applications".  And there are way too many of those, e.g. the Google apps.
2) Some applications apparently store data in memory instead of on SD card.  E.g. Google maps cache, and the stock email.  I regularly reset the stock email app just to free memory to be able to install app updates :s.

Are these two unsurmountable memory limitations for HTC Desire + CyanogenMod, or can I do something to use my SD card to install a more normal number of applications?

Cheers,
Vlijmen

[andrej111svk]

You have to create a new  partition on your sd card using e.g. ROM manager. it has to be a linux partition (ext3,..).
then you can use existing apps/scripts to move data to the new partition sd-ext.
I am using S2E (simple 2 ext), which works for me without any issues. I do not recomend to move app data to sd-ext, because it might cause the FC or slow your android.
You can move app data to sd-ext using titanium backup.

Andrej

[bassmadrigal]

The reason why your internal space is filling up is 3-fold. First, when an app is "moved" to the sdcard, it isn't completely moved. Only portions of it actually go. Second, the dalvik cache of the app is still stored on the internal memory (which takes up a substantial amount of space). Three, the data for apps and all your system settings are stored in the internal memory (yes, some apps use the sdcard for portions of their data, but every app has data stored on the internal memory).

As andrej111svk mentioned, using an ext partition can give you a ton more space. On my N1 (basically the same as the Desire), I have had over 200 apps installed at one point. Back up your sdcard, and then partition it (I usually suggest 1GB) through ROM Manager or recovery, and then reboot into CM and install S2E from the market. Enable all the options except for moving data (as it can cause slow performance), reboot and you are now using the ext partition for all your apps (no need to "move app to sd" as it is all done automagically.

[jdflute]

Thank you very much,  downloaded s2e and freespace, rebooted and all of a sudden I have space!

Jd

[poldie]

jdflute, on 02 June 2012 - 07:59 AM, said:

Thank you very much,  downloaded s2e and freespace, rebooted and all of a sudden I have space!

Jd

bassmadrigal, on 01 June 2012 - 03:05 PM, said:

The reason why your internal space is filling up is 3-fold. First, when an app is "moved" to the sdcard, it isn't completely moved. Only portions of it actually go. Second, the dalvik cache of the app is still stored on the internal memory (which takes up a substantial amount of space). Three, the data for apps and all your system settings are stored in the internal memory (yes, some apps use the sdcard for portions of their data, but every app has data stored on the internal memory).

As andrej111svk mentioned, using an ext partition can give you a ton more space. On my N1 (basically the same as the Desire), I have had over 200 apps installed at one point. Back up your sdcard, and then partition it (I usually suggest 1GB) through ROM Manager or recovery, and then reboot into CM and install S2E from the market. Enable all the options except for moving data (as it can cause slow performance), reboot and you are now using the ext partition for all your apps (no need to "move app to sd" as it is all done automagically.

I went down the route of using a different HBOOT:

http://alpharev.nl/
The Bravo CM7 r2 one.

Any experts here have the pros and cons to using that approach versus S2E? I have this feeling that the former is more 'legit' - you're just allocating more space to the data area, whereas S2E is moving stuff which perhaps shouldn't be moved and this might cause problems?


Update: I just checked out S2E.  It's a lot simpler than following the instructions on the link I gave, although I'm confused about why I still have 'move to sd' as an option against practically all the apps I install. What does it do when I select that option, if S2E is supposed to do the same thing?

Edited by poldie, 04 June 2012 - 10:55 PM.

[bassmadrigal]

Well, resizing your partitions does give you more space, but you are still limited to how big those partitions can be by your internal memory (with the N1, you had a total of 512MB to work with, and some of it was reserved for radio and recovery - I believe the Desire was very close in that aspect). Resizing your partitions is much more beneficial when you need a larger /system partition. Like if you wanted to install an unofficial version of CM9.

S2E simply makes your phone think that the sdcard is your internal memory (it is a bit more complicated than this, but it is the general idea). You have virtually unlimited space (well, up to the size of your sdcard, but for apps, that is a ton). For just needing more space to install apps, S2E is a much simpler route than customizing your partition layout.

As for the "Move to sd" option. That is because as far as Android knows, your files are on internal memory. If you select that option, you will move the app out of the ext partition and put it on the fat partition using Android's normal app2sd method.

[JanSt]

And if you have a fast sd card - at least class 6 or better class 10, then you can move your data, dalvik cache etc. to sd card as well. I have a class 10 and it works seamlessly.

Sent from my HTC Desire with CM 7,1

[pjuster]

One silly question, before I attempt this, should I move my apps, that I moved to my SDcard, back to my phone and then perform the steps mentioned above ?

second silly question I saw an option to set the default installation location to the SDcard, would this then install the whole app + cache etc to the sd card or is this the same as installing on the internal memory and then moving the app afterwards, i assume this it is the same otherwise why come up with the above steps ?

BTW only just converted to cyanogenmod 7.1.0stable and love it, giving my htc desire a new lease of life, great work

[bassmadrigal]

First question, not necessary. If you don't have enough room to have all apps on internal memory, this won't work anyway. I believe S2E might move them all to internal when you install it, but I am not sure. Either way, you could move them after you install it if you'd like.

Second question, that option forces apps to be installed to the sdcard using Android's built-in method. This can cause issues for some apps that tie into the system settings (like Facebook and Twitter for account sync), apps containing widgets, and live wallpapers. I just leave mine as Automatic which lets the app developer determine how they should be installed. And I am not sure what all is moved over to the sdcard when you use the Move to sd option, but I don't believe it includes the dalvik cache, which can take up a substantial amount of internal space.

[pjuster]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply.

[revdickvenn]

Thank you all for this very helpful set of responses. Particularly bassmadrigal.  I am running CM 7.2 and have a 32Gb class 10 SD card and it'w worked a treat. I was down to 17Mb and have now a very respectable 103MB free, 45MB used.

[nikolauzi]

thanks to every participant of this thread, very useful information in here.

i'm currently running cm7 on my gf's desire and also tried to make a partition. however, for some reason, this does not work. After selecting all the different things in order to start the partitioning process, the desire reboots to recovery and is then stuck there (at least i've the feeling).
the options available then in the revolutionary recovery are

bootloader
reboot
reboot bootloader
power down

which are the same when i'm booting to recovery manually. meaning that i'm also not able to partition manually (if i'd like to)

how can that be and what can i do in order to fix that problem?

thanks!

[Spile]

On my Desire running CM7, the option to create a SD partition failed - there is no option to create a partition in my version of ClockworkRecovery (2.5.0.7)
Instead I downloaded and used Minitool Partition Wizard Home edition and created the partition using that.
Downside was that I needed to remove the SDcard from the Desire
Upside was that I did not loose any data off the SDcard
Very impressed.

Edited by Spile, 03 September 2012 - 05:27 PM.

[Abulkeek]

This topic has been very helpful.  I was getting quite concerned about the limited app space on internal memory and having followed the instructions above and created a partition, I have ample space for all the apps that I like.....and more.

However, I have a few questions and would be grateful for helpful answers:

1.  Everytime I install an app, I lose more space from the internal memory, as explained above (96MB free from 148MB total).  Will there be a time when I lose all space on the internal memory and if that happens does it mean that I have to uninstall some apps to create space or will s2ext manage the situation?

2.  I cannot see the new, created partition in "ES File Explorer" (unless I am not looking in the right place).  Is this partition visible and if so, how can it be inspected for its content,size and free space?

Thanks again for the very helpful posts and replies

Edited by Abulkeek, 01 October 2012 - 11:31 AM.

[Spile]

Freespace by the same author of S2E will show you the space on your SD card including the EXT partition.

[Abulkeek]

Thanks Spile, very useful

[cytherian]

Now, let's say you transferred most of your apps to your micro SD card.  Sometimes there's a need to remove it, such as making a backup or copying files when you don't have a micro USB cable handy.  When you unmount the SD card, how will CM7 handle it if any apps are running that use the SD card?  Will it not permit the SD card to be unmounted?  Is it required to kill all tasks first?  If some tasks won't stay dead (some will auto start after being killed), I guess this means you'll need to power off the phone.  Or will the system be OK without the SD card temporarily?

Edited by cytherian, 10 October 2012 - 07:23 PM.

[Deepakkrishnan]

Why is anyone here not trying Link2sd. I have more than 120 apps installed and still left with 50MB on my phone. I have an 8GB memory card which i have partitioned into 2 & 6 gb's respectively. I install all my apps in the 2gb partiton and even when the phone is connected as mass storage the apps work and so does the widgets