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Root partitioning of sd card, do you do it? (+ link to interesting thread about random write on sd cards)

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paully

Well-Known Member
The Mrs. and I get our new sd cards today. We went with Sandisk 32GB Class 4. (SDSDQM-032G-B35N $30 on Newegg. This choice was largely based on the small block random write ability of this card. I couldn't find a faster one that's 32GB. This thread is where I first learned of why one cares about small block random write: SD Strange-results - or - How I learned to love CM7 on SD - Dec-11 results compiled! - xda-developers )

Anyhoo...

I've seen that some folks partition their cards? Although I'm not sure why? If you're running a rom that can handle a2sd,what are the benefits of the partitioning?

(side question: She's running MikGv3.0 w/ Lithid's v09LessFreedom. She had random reboot trouble, with the Aggressive and More Freedom kernels. So I kept ratcheting down now to the Less. But she still has occasional reboots, but at mostly tolerable quantities now.

Gonna bump her to MikGv3.11, unless anyone can suggest a better path. Any kernel reco's for MikGv3.11? Or stick with lithid's freedom series? This is all only until there's some solid ICS goodness, of course. (we've an infant, gotta have solid camera action ;)))

Thanks!
 
Partitioning lets your phone tread a section of the sd card as if it was internal memory. This is nice if you have a ton of apps. I have never done it myself, but it does seem to be something that people often do. I remember reading one post that said that the 8gb card that the evo came with wasn't too good for partitioning because it's class was too low.

:)
 
General recommendation is Class 6 and above, otherwise the apps running off the SD might get a bit sluggish. It's a good feature to have, especially on our Evos since we have so little room and some ROMs can get pretty big. 1GB of partition space seems like enough for most.

I tried MikG 3.11 and just couldn't get it to run smoothly. Every time I turned off my phone, I couldn't boot back into the OS again (this is after many many wipes and reflashes). Doesn't seem to happen with the other ROMs, but I may try again.
 
You might check out that link in the OP. I don't think Class is the whole picture when it comes to running software from the sd card. The ability to quickly write small bits of data seems important. Most of the higher class cards pretty much suck at writing small chunks of data, and are designed to quickly handle large files.
 
The biggest thing for me is being able to move the whole app to the SD card as well as the caches. This leaves me with over 300mb of free space internally on the phone and it just flies.


Also, I recommend the anthrax kernel
 
Rxpert83 said:
The biggest thing for me is being able to move the whole app to the SD card as well as the caches. This leaves me with over 300mb of free space internally on the phone and it just flies.


Also, I recommend the anthrax kernel
Click to expand...
nice. how do you make that happen (entire app as well as caches)? are you using an a2sd manger app (that you'd recommend) or perhaps titanium backup? or perhaps something more clever?
 
paully said:
nice. how do you make that happen (entire app as well as caches)? are you using an a2sd manger app (that you'd recommend) or perhaps titanium backup? or perhaps something more clever?
Click to expand...

the instructions on how to partition your card can be found here:http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all...ooting-dummies-guide-gingerbread-edition.html. go to the partitioning section. it will also have instructions on how to use dark tremors which is not an app but a script that you flash (only if your rom does not have a2sd built in). you will need to use terminal emulator to enter the commands for dark tremors to manually move the apps and even dalvik cache to the sd card. it is also in the guide.
 
As long as the SD card is partitioned the apps get moved over by themselves either if the Rom includes it or after you install dt
 
Can anyone give suggestions on best card to buy for partitioning, IE class and size to get best performance. I want blazing fast if possible.
 
I originally partitioned with a 16gig class 4. It was a Sandisk, i don't know what sort of write speed it has or how it compares to your new card.

I did not have any problems with lag that the higher class cards are supposed to overcome. I only ran run of the mill apps though. Nothing demanding and no games.

Regarding 3.11, as I wrote in another thread, I got to 3.11 with the patch upgrade from the previous version. I haven't had any of the problems that other folk have been talking about. Not sure if it is pertinent or not, just thought I would throw that in there.

I have been using Ca1ne's Underworld-v0.2 SBC kernel and it has been doing well.

I use the "nifty Conniptions tweaks' too. Can't quantify what improvement it provides but I like it.
 
I have used the Class 2 or 4 8gig that came with the phone to partition and store my apps on a class 4 16gig card that was a Sandisk bought from Walmart and I now have a class 10 32gig Patriot card that I got from Amazon for like 20 bucks or so. I have not noticed any major difference in the three as far as my apps go. I do not however have games or anything resource intensive on the phone. I also have my dalvic on the SDCARD. The only thing I have noticed is if I have more space I use it. I do not store music on the card (thats what google play is for) I have a ton of wallpapers I store on it though. Along with other documents and things that apps I use create.

The big thing about partitioning your card is clearing out the internal memory on the phone. This helps the phone become more responsive and causes less problems as far as FC's all the time and reboots.

You need to read and find out if DT's a2sd comes on the ROM you are using or if you need to flash it. If you have Terminal Emulator you can find out by typing:
SU
a2sd
If you get not a valid bash file or program (don't remember exact wording) anyways you get the point its not there. If you see a list of things flashing before your eyes really fast guess what its there. :D
 
anyone know if TB moves the "entire app + data + cache" as well? leaving only the symbolic link? or does it just move the data? TB's technical FAQ just states, "[after establishing/creating symbolic link and directories it]...will then move the app’s data inside it."

gonna do some experiments. gonna compare quadrant scores for:
1. app on phone
2. app on the stock 8GB/class2
3. app on the new 32GB/class4

right now TB is the only means of moving the app to sd; and I'm having difficulty establishing what exactly I'm testing as far as the "app being on the sd card".

this will all be compiled along with the results of the Crystal Disk Mark 3.0.1 (x64)'s analyses of the sd cards. first just through via the phone/usb. I don't know if I should be using a card reader (and not the phone) to test the sd cards. I'll prolly try both and see the difference.
 
ocnbrze said:
tb only uses the apps2sd which only moves part of the app. the rest is still on the phone. to move the entire app you will need to use either dark tremors or have a rom that has a2sd built in.
Click to expand...
i was screwing around, and observed the following:

while AnTuTu was still on the phone the size ("du -s") of:
/data/data was 362652 and
/data/app was 285660
at this point, just for a different test, in both the /data/data and /data/app folders, I ran "ls > datalist_bef.txt" and "ls > applist_bef.txt" respectively, dumping the file list to text files.

after using TB to move AnTuTu to the sd card, "du -s" yielded:
/data/data was 362230 (422 less than before) and
/data/app was 283384 (2276 less than before)
again in both folder I dumped the "ls" outputs to differect files (datalist_aft.txt and applist_aft.txt respectively), then ran (in the correct folders of course):
"diff applist_bef.txt applist_aft.txt"
which had a line (among others, oddly): "-com.antutu.ABenchMark-.apk"
and ran:
"diff datalist_bef datalist_aft.txt"
which had a line (among others, oddly): "com.antutu.ABenchMark"

I'm new to this schizz, but this seems as though TB has removed both the .apk file from the /data/app folder and the data file from the /data/data folder. am I missing something?

I don't know how to check whether app cache was moved. any ideas?


again I'm trying to verify whether the whole benchmark app is running from the sd card (entire app + data + cache). then use the results of the benchmark to compare how different sd cards perform. for the evo, i know Darktremor will move things over properly. but I'm still looking for a verified way to move apps to sd for my 3vo, which is not on the DT list.



thanks!
 
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