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Root dalvik cache

A

andybog

Guest
Question regarding dalvik cache. I have a2sd+ from darktremor and the GUI app, I have dalvik set up on sd-ext and can view it using es file explorer @ /sd-ext/dalvik-cache.

Question is this, in /data folder is a dalvik-cache folder and an app folder, can I delete this dalvik and app folder?
 
No. /data/dalvik-cache is its "true" location. What you have done is Symlink from that directory to /sdext/dalvik-cache. The OS NEEDS /data/dalvik-cache to point it to /sdext/dalvik-cache. Without it, no dalvik-cache

Same for apps
 
No probs. For anyone else reading, to clarify...

Android knows apps are in /data/app (and dalvik is in /data/dalvik-cache) and this is where it ALWAYS looks for apps and dalvik cache.

With a2sd+, you have "moved" the apps and dalvik-cache elsewhere for more space. The Android OS sill looks for the original location. A2sd+ puts a symlink (A re-direct if you like) from the original location to the new location so Android still thinks everything is where it should be.
 
OK, thanks for the replies.

As i said im rooted with Darktremor a2sd+ and it is working correctly but my internal storage space is still reducing (i know it does). If i clear all cache i have about 33MB of space left on the internal memory, does this seem about right? I have 51 user apps.

What still uses internal memory apart from app cache and app data?
 
It does depend on the app, but that sounds low to me.

Some app components remain in internal storage. In particular, if the app contains a library that is not moved. There are a few apps out there with very large libraries, e.g. Google Earth, and in these cases you save space by moving the app from phone to sd (because with Gingerbread the "move to sd" does move the library - but not the dalvik cache, which is where a2sd+ wins). I'd sort your apps by size (in the manage applications menu or using Quick System Info) and see which are the big space users.
 
Is there an easy way to tell which apps are using the most internal storage space?

I listed apps by size and there are 4 over 25mb, 5 @ 15-20,
Just removed 1 app, song POP free, cleared cache and I now have 49mb free.
 
andybog said:
Is there an easy way to tell which apps are using the most internal storage space?

I listed apps by size and there are 4 over 25mb, 5 @ 15-20,
Just removed 1 app, song POP free, cleared cache and I now have 49mb free.
Click to expand...

Did you not just answer your own question?
 
Is the size show when listing apps by size in the settings menu the total size of the app (cache, data & code) or is it just what is stored on the internal memory?
 
Angry birds for example, shows a total size of 26.91MB.
Once selected show Total 26.91MB
Application 26.80MB
Data 112KB
Cache 0.00B

If i removed this app my internal memory wouldnt increase by 26.91MB because some of this is stored on SD (via A2SD+) but i would certainly gain more than 112KB (data). Is that correct?

The Data (112KB) is stored on internal memory but other parts of the application (lib files etc) must be stored in the internal memory. Is there a way to find out what and how much space this is taking up?
 
Moved angry birds to sd. I check free space (a2SD+ and Internal) before and after move, and also what is reported in the manage applications sizes.
Figures where as bellow...

before move..............after move
576MB ......................599MB.........a2sd+
49.05MB....................49.05MB.......internal
26.91MB....................4.14MB.........total app size in manager list
26.80MB....................4.03MB.........application size in manager list
112KB.......................112KB...........data size in manager list
 
Interesting. So that tells me that all of the large components of that app are things that are moved to ext. This wasn't a given, because moving to SD moves different things (try moving Google Earth, if you have it installed, and you should see a noticeable difference).

So I guess look at some of your big apps in more detail and see if any are using a lot of data.
 
you know i would recommend swiching from app2sd to link2sd because then you can select what you would like to move to the sd.
(daviak, cache, lib and app) but that is my favorit to use. let me know what people thing about this. :D
 
Never heard of link2sd.

Ok, i have run another test with my largest app (as reported by settings/app)....opera mobile!


before move..................after move
576MB..........................590MB.........a2sd+
49.64MB.......................49.63MB.......internal
27.78MB.......................13.82MB.......total app size in manager list
24.64MB.......................10.69MB.......app size in manager list
3.12MB.........................3.12MB........data size in app manager list

What is a2sd+ doing? It appears to do the same as the 'move to sd' option. What is the point in having 12SD+ it if i can just move things as i wish, apart from it doing it automatically.
 
It's not doing the same thing. For one, it's moved your dalvik cache, which the standard "move to sd" does not do. And it moves all apps, whereas not all can be moved to sd the built-in way. And you can use widgets from apps moved that way, which you can't with the Google version.

There are some apps where you can save space by moving from ext to sd (fat32), because with gingerbread the latter moves the lib directory which DT (certainly the last version I used) does not. But not all apps have a large lib, and clearly these do not.

Install Quick System Info, and set it to show apps sorted by data size (all apps, not just user apps). That will quickly show you whether any apps are making excessive use of data. It may just be that the particular mix of apps you have do take up this much internal space after a2sd+ is installed - it's a bit more than I'd expect, but not impossible. Remember also that built-in apps' data will also be in the internal storage.
 
Thanks for clearing that up, I prob should have mentioned at the begining that i was on Froyo. I am running DT version 2.7.5.2-1 From the devs facebook page they are creating version 2.8 so hopefully will have more space saving elements.

Listed Apps by DATA size in Quick sys info and the two biggest are...

London 2012........6.91MB
Contacts sorage...4.91MB

London 2012 will soon be deleted, once the olympics are over, so i will gain good chunk of space back then.
 
andybog said:
Never heard of link2sd.
Click to expand...

well you can find it at the market/ google play. it is about the same as apps2sd except that you can select what to move to the sd yourself, such as cache/ davik/ data and the app. also you have an option called autolink which makes it able to automaticly link your new downloaded app right to the sd. which saves you to move it yourself.

let me know what you guys think about this app if you use it. i will keep on using it because it is a great app. :p
 
Ok, so you've nothing with crazy data use.

I've seen cases of Contacts Storage being filled with multiple copies of every contact and swallowing 10s of MB. It's stuff like that I was looking for.
 
I have heard that also, but my contacts have always been around this size.
Is there a way to see what is on the 'user partition' of the memory using es file explorer. It doesnt show 'drives/partions' just folders when you navigate to the top level.
 
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