A step-by-step tutorial on this would be most helpful. I would hate to mess something up... AGAIN 
-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Root Amazing Droid performance increase
- Thread starter AndroidsOfTara
- Start date
-
- Tags
- motorola droid
androidlover14
Android Enthusiast
A step-by-step tutorial on this would be most helpful. I would hate to mess something up... AGAIN
I second that motion. Would like some piece of mind.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
The size of the swap file or partition and the swappiness setting are two different things. Here is an explanation of swappiness:
http://goo.gl/Fta7
As for the size of the swap file or partition, I need to do some research regarding the optimum size. I believe I read somewhere that having to much available swap may be detrimental to speed.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
Swapper is an app that automates the process of creating either a swap file or swap partition on your phone's SD card.
Operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS, Windows use swap or virtual memory (the terms mean the same thing) on a hard drive or flash drive as "extra" memory when a system's real RAM becomes full. This allows the operating system to move inactive processes from RAM to swap and back in as needed.
This is useful on low memory phones such as the Droid (with 256MB RAM) when compared to newer phones with 512MB+ RAM. The CPU in the Droid is great in that we can seriously overclock it, but we just can't open up the phone and add another stick of RAM as we can do with our desktops and laptop machines. Using swap helps us get around that limitation.
androidlover14
Android Enthusiast
so basically is the next best thing to help the ram thingy out. as in we are using our memory on the sd card to free the ram of stuff. ok i think i get it now but setting it up is still ehhh for me.
johnlgalt
Antidisestablishmentarian
Our DROIDs *do* have 512 MB Flash - partitioned into two 256 MB stacks, 1 for system (including swap, etc.) and the other for our apps (also 256 MB).
it's not 2 separate pieces of physical Flash, IIRC.
Also, moving the swap to the SDCard will help alleviate the stress of the limited swap availalbe to the system in the puny 256 MB system space. If that is what is going on here. I suspect it is actually *extending* the swap space, so that as soon as the system runs out of space it can shift right over and use the space on the SDCard.
However, I agree with Neal, I am clueless why the swapper app cannot be written so as to recuse the swap partition(s) from being enabled when mounting the SDCard....unless the actual Android OS itself mounts everything under the physical card as opposed to mounting the /SDCard directory....
Should not make a difference, though, b/c I use the SD Split to mount the SDCard *while it is in use by apps that are moved to the SDCard* and it works spectacularly....
maybe the Swapper app dev should be made aware of SD Split....
it's not 2 separate pieces of physical Flash, IIRC.
Also, moving the swap to the SDCard will help alleviate the stress of the limited swap availalbe to the system in the puny 256 MB system space. If that is what is going on here. I suspect it is actually *extending* the swap space, so that as soon as the system runs out of space it can shift right over and use the space on the SDCard.
However, I agree with Neal, I am clueless why the swapper app cannot be written so as to recuse the swap partition(s) from being enabled when mounting the SDCard....unless the actual Android OS itself mounts everything under the physical card as opposed to mounting the /SDCard directory....
Should not make a difference, though, b/c I use the SD Split to mount the SDCard *while it is in use by apps that are moved to the SDCard* and it works spectacularly....
maybe the Swapper app dev should be made aware of SD Split....
PhilosoRaptor
Android Enthusiast
Got a few Qs about this app that I haven't seen addressed in this thread yet.
Does this app require a certain ROM or kernel for it to work properly? The reason I ask is that in the comments on the market, there's a guy that says "Doesn't work with Chevy no1. No swap capabilities." Is this true? I'm running SS 4.8 and Chevy's 1.1 GHz LV kernel. I see on the "about" tab in the market, that he says "Needs root and kernel swap support" too, but I have no idea who's kernels support this feature.
Also, why is it necessary to partition the SD card for the swap file? It doesn't say it's necessary on the app description or in the app itself anywhere. I'm just relating it to other OSs like windows (totally diff OS, I know) that keep the pagefile.sys (swap) file right on the primary OS partition that you can use for anything else.
Before I wanted to format my SD card, I installed Swapper 2, then hit menu button > Swap -> Create, then it just sits there forever saying "Please wait...". So I go back to the main window/menu and hit "ON" at the top and it says:
Is this because I didn't partition my SD card or because it's not supported by my kernel? I'm assuming it's my kernel, so I'm going to try one of P3Ddroid's kernel as OP was using to test it out.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Does this app require a certain ROM or kernel for it to work properly? The reason I ask is that in the comments on the market, there's a guy that says "Doesn't work with Chevy no1. No swap capabilities." Is this true? I'm running SS 4.8 and Chevy's 1.1 GHz LV kernel. I see on the "about" tab in the market, that he says "Needs root and kernel swap support" too, but I have no idea who's kernels support this feature.
Also, why is it necessary to partition the SD card for the swap file? It doesn't say it's necessary on the app description or in the app itself anywhere. I'm just relating it to other OSs like windows (totally diff OS, I know) that keep the pagefile.sys (swap) file right on the primary OS partition that you can use for anything else.
Before I wanted to format my SD card, I installed Swapper 2, then hit menu button > Swap -> Create, then it just sits there forever saying "Please wait...". So I go back to the main window/menu and hit "ON" at the top and it says:
Code:
->Setting swappiness OK
->Turning swap off(file) FAIL
->swapoff: /sdcard/swapfile.swp: Function not implemented
->Removing swap file OK
->Creating swap file OK
->Changing permissions OK
->Formatting swap OK
->Enabling swap(file) FAIL
->swapon: /sdcard/swapfile.swp: Function not implemented
->All done!Thanks in advance for any help!
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
That's correct, the Chevy kernel does not support swap. P3Droid's kernels and other do. I switched from Chevy's to P3's on my Droid.
It is not necessary to create a swap partition. I just prefer doing that as that's how I've always done it with my Linux systems.
PhilosoRaptor
Android Enthusiast
Thanks, AOT. Now, I got to this page to DL P3s kernel and I see at the bottom "Froyo - Android 2.2 - Modules". Do I need any of those modules? I ask because I see one of them is called "RAMZSWAP" which sounds like something I would want for this app, but I'm purely speculating.
Thanks again!
Edit: Just installed P3s 1.1 GHz LV kernel and got swapper running without a glitch now. Seems my Droid is pretty smooth right now. Thought it should be right after a fresh reboot. I hope this cuts down on slowness after a couple days of use that I've seen sporadically happen since I've had my Droid. I just left the default size of 32 MBs for the swap size and changed the swappiness from 10 (default) to 20 since you all seem to have good results with it. If I start seeing issues, I'll try playing around with the 2 settings to see what changes.
I really hope this ends a lot of the frustration I've had with my Droid with slow home screen redraws (I've tried everything mentioned in this forum, running autokiller, playing with all the LP settings, even editing the local.prop file to lock it in memory) and application hangs/restarts I see when opening a lot of things at once.
Lock-N-Load
Android Expert
anyone notice this may be a battery hog?
I went to sleep with 50% battery and awoke to it being dead. this is the only new app I have loaded up and I know it must work in the background most all times. I have NEVER run out of battery like that. I might loose 10% overnight, not 50%.
I went to sleep with 50% battery and awoke to it being dead. this is the only new app I have loaded up and I know it must work in the background most all times. I have NEVER run out of battery like that. I might loose 10% overnight, not 50%.
If indeed Android mounts everything under the physical card... it shouldn't. It doesn't have to be that way under linux.
Yes indeed. Again, I still wonder why Android doesn't support this natively as linux does... the ability to simultaneously mount SD both internally and via USB. At least there's an "app for that."
For whatever mysterious reason, it seems that lately, the P3Droid kernels do not support CPU temperature monitoring. Has this changed? So, ChevyNo1 seems to lack external swap support, and P3Droid seems to lack temperature monitoring. Go figure
gotwillk
Android Enthusiast
damn it why is this not working for me? i copied entire sd card to PC then formatted the sdcard with rom manager. 512mb for partition, 32mb for swap file. everything looked good. i can see the swap file. then i copied all sdcard content back in, which took FOREVER. booted up, started swapper, but it says enabling swap fail and swapoff: /dev/block/mmcblk0p3: function not implemented. installed busybox through swapper and still no go. also the swap file is gone on my sdcard. do i have to freakin reformat and do this again? i really dont want to do that cuz copying all the stuff back onto sdcard takes wayyy too long.
how do i check if there was a 512mb partition created? when i plugged the card into my PC, i didn't see another partitioned drive pop up. all i saw was the sdcard.
how do i check if there was a 512mb partition created? when i plugged the card into my PC, i didn't see another partitioned drive pop up. all i saw was the sdcard.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
I'd bet whatever kernel you're running does not support swap.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
No, I haven't noticed any difference in battery life.
I fell asleep last night listening to a 1.5 hour podcast with a 100% charge. Woke up to 90% battery after six hours.
gotwillk
Android Enthusiast
you're right. i just read that chevy's kernel doesn't work with it. doy me.
what kernel are you using? i'm switching to P3 to give it a try right now. prefer not to use P3 because it never worked well for my phone but i'll try it again.
Lock-N-Load
Android Expert
For whatever mysterious reason, it seems that lately, the P3Droid kernels do not support CPU temperature monitoring. Has this changed? So, ChevyNo1 seems to lack external swap support, and P3Droid seems to lack temperature monitoring. Go figure
JDGFL kernels seem to have them both as i have CPU temps and can use swapper 2
jaydotelloh
Android Enthusiast
So, let me get this straight. I havent heard much of swap files in the nearly year i've had my droid.
Am i to understand that creating a swap file is basically adding virtual memory using the sd card? Similar to windows "ready boost" feature or w/e it is that uses a flash drive as extra memory?
My phone often gets down to less than 30MB left (as shown by ATK), and would LOVE to use the free space i have on my sd card. Any guides for this? Do slayher kernels support this?
Also, i have 90% of my apps on my sd card, if i back up the sd card to my pc, then format my sd card and partition it, will simply dragging everything back to my sd card restore all my apps?
Am i to understand that creating a swap file is basically adding virtual memory using the sd card? Similar to windows "ready boost" feature or w/e it is that uses a flash drive as extra memory?
My phone often gets down to less than 30MB left (as shown by ATK), and would LOVE to use the free space i have on my sd card. Any guides for this? Do slayher kernels support this?
Also, i have 90% of my apps on my sd card, if i back up the sd card to my pc, then format my sd card and partition it, will simply dragging everything back to my sd card restore all my apps?
Good to know... thanks!
PhilosoRaptor
Android Enthusiast
I wouldn't even worry about partitioning the SD card. OP just did it as personal preference, but it's not required. I just had to change my kernel to P3s (from Chevys) to support swapper 2 and I didn't have any issues setting it up after that.
So IS there an issue with mounting the SD Card with Swapper 2? I mount the SD Card as a USB drive a LOT and - while I would love to try this - I can't have things crashing every time I mount the card or have trouble mounting it.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
P3 1GHz low voltage. I have SetCPU set to 1GHz max and 250MHz min. Temps (battery) are about the same as Chevy's 1GHz ULV as is battery life.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
Interestingly, I can't get Swapper 2 to work with a swap file on my sdcards FAT32 partition.
Lock-N-Load
Android Expert
nothing will "crash" - but in my tests, you cannot mount the phone to your desktop with Swapper 2 running since it has a swap file in use on it and when you mount your SD card to your computer, your unmounting it from the phone so Swapper 2 cannot run and will not give up control unless you stop Swapper 2. it is kind of a PITA step to stop it, mount to computer, unmount from computer, restart Swapper.
PhilosoRaptor
Android Enthusiast
Did you go into the settings and check "safe Unmount" and "safe Remount"? I did that the first time I ran swapper (jut browsing through the settings) and I had no problem mounting and unmounting the phone. Just do it as you normally do and it's completely transparent.
Not sure what to say about that. I'm not sure if my SD card is FAT32 or NTFS though. I had no problem setting it up on the primary partition after I switched kernels.