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Root How do I create more internal memory once and for good?!!

S

SkinJob

Well-Known Member
Getting seriously fed up with the internal memory limitation on my gf's Desire. Going from stock Froyo, I went to great lengths of trouble to install a ROM (MIUI) simply because of the dam "out of internal memory" problem on the Desire. I knew it could not be fixed without rooting. Now that I'm rooted, I'm out of internal memory before even putting back ONE SINGLE FILE from the old system! Didn't even have enough space left to install Links2SD to make more space!!

Sure, got plenty of space on SD card.... Desire doesn't care about that! So I deleted my media cache (God knows what I actually erased by doing that), finally was able to install Links2SD... but there was NO apps it could move to SD card!

I don't know how HTC thinks you're supposed to use this phone?!! They say no problem if you need more internal storage, just magically go to: "

  1. Notifications panel open, and then tap
    howtoimage.aspx
    .
  2. Tap Storage, and under Internal storage tap Make more space. "


Well, there is no "make more space" option in MIUI! In fact, I don't ever recall seeing that. I had a look at the internal storage folders in "MyPhoneExplorer" but God knows what I can safely delete from there, because I certainly don't. Nor do I have any idea how to find out what keeps filling my internal storage and crippling the use of the phone!



And that kind people, is why I am here today before you.....


(because beleive it or not, Googling this yielded nothing useful! I know about Links2SD, Apps2SD, the SD card was partitioned... but they tell me no apps can be transferred to SD, and any bloat that I can delete; ie. wallpapers, is all on the SD card!)
 
I'll move to All Things Root when I'm next on a browser - you'll get better advice there.

You should not need Link2SD if you have partitioned your card. MIUI ROMs contain an a2sd script. You may need to activate it though (I did last time I used one). Open a terminal emulator and type

su
a2sd reinstall

If it's using the DarkTremor a2sd that will result in it rebooting, and when it comes back your apks will be on the ext partition. The phone will still think they are on the phone by the way, so don't expect them to appear to be "moved" to sd, you'll just have more space.

If that works, then open the terminal again and this time type

su
a2sd cachesd

Another reboot will follow and then your dalvik cache will be on the partition.

You do need an ext format second partition for this.

I suggest reading the "root memory faq", which you can find in the All Things Root Guide sticky post in the Desire All Things Root forum. That will give a bit more info and tell you about the other options.
 
Thanks Hadron for the help, and for moving the post to a more appropriate place. So I tried your advice, and ran into a couple of things....

..."a2sd reinstall" (no such command). I did "a2sd install", assuming you might have meant that. I got:
"Found block device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
Removing flag a2sd
Removing flag ad2sd
Removing flag dc2sd
Setting flag a2sd
/system/bin/a2sd: No such file or directory

​
So I'm not sure if this did anything.

Would you also like to move Dalvik cache?
​
(I said yes, though I already moved it with Titanium Backup)
Would you also like to move APPDATA?
​
(Said "yes", natch).

a2sd cachesd gave me:
"Found block device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
Please run 'install' instead
Exiting"
​
So that part didn't work.

I checked in MIUI and it says I now have 43.3mb available on internal (88.4mb taken by apps). That's a bit more than the last time I checked, where it was at about 34.1mb. I don't know if that will last though, or fill up in no time! I guess the only way to find out is to use the phone and see at a later date.

I hope I can fix the internal storage limitation on this MIUI release, cos I really like working with MIUI, and any other ROM (ie. ICS Evolv) would feel like a compromise.
 
SkinJob

A quick question for you, do you have Titanium Backup installed? If yes, take a look at the overview page. Your sd card partition should be shown there if it is working at all.

Which version of MIUI are you using? There are several which have different mods.
 
Hi, I did have it installed, and Titanium says:

"System ROM: 262mb, 47.5mb free
Internal 154mb 12.8mb free
SD card 7.43gb 1.30gb free
External storage: /storage/sdcard0"


It's not perfectly clear to me that any of the above indicates I have the SD card partitioned. Though I would like 100% confirmation on it, my "feeling" is that it is, because terminal emulator told me "app data will be moved to sd-ext on reboot" after I said "yes" to that. But the command to actually check that, "a2sd checkext", says it will force a check on reboot; reboots the phone but then doesn't tell me anything! Just leaves me at a blinking cursor prompt in the shell.

I have MIUI 2.10.12 Jelly Bean v2.7, and it has the DarkTremor a2sd fix. I downloaded a couple of MIUI themes, and once again, my phone told me I am running out of storage space, with 1.3gb left on the SD card! :mad:



nicka3200 said:
SkinJob

A quick question for you, do you have Titanium Backup installed? If yes, take a look at the overview page. Your sd card partition should be shown there if it is working at all.

Which version of MIUI are you using? There are several which have different mods.
Click to expand...
 
SkinJob said:
Hi, I did have it installed, and Titanium says:

"System ROM: 262mb, 47.5mb free
Internal 154mb 12.8mb free
SD card 7.43gb 1.30gb free
External storage: /storage/sdcard0"

It's not perfectly clear to me that any of the above indicates I have the SD card partitioned.
Click to expand...
No, that doesn't look right to me. Trouble is, it's been a while since I used a2sd, so not sure exactly what Ti shows when it is working. I wonder whether I can hack it onto my current ROM temporarily to test. Give me a few minutes (especially as my battery is a bit low, and I'll want to take a nandroid first).

Do you have a root-capable file explorer (ES file explorer, Root Explorer)? If so you could just look and see what is on sd-ext.
 
I've decided to just erase and reformat the SD card again. It's an 8gb (likely Class 2) card, so.... 1gb or 2gb extension? Ext2 or Ext3?! Shaken or stirred?

BTW, I've also gone in a bit of a different direction with the ROM. I've dumped the "MIUI 2.10.12 Jelly Bean v2.7" for a "MIUI-XJ 2.3.30 Gingerbread 2.3.7". Hoping the earlier release will be kinder to my Bravo Desire. On top of that, I nearly bricked my phone installing Revolutionary's S-OFF and the CM7r2 HBOOT. But I succeeded in the end. So now I have a few more options to deal with the internal memory mess! :D
 
The custom hboot is a good trick.

I'd suggest 1GB ext3 or ext4 - ext2 is inferior, and frankly you'll not fill 1GB so 2GB is a total waste.
 
MIUI XJ as far as I remember needs a patch to enable you to download large apps from google play. The small cache partition of the CM7r2 hboot means they need to be downloaded to the sd card cache file. Install the zip file via recovery from here (link deleted)
 
nicka3200 said:
MIUI XJ as far as I remember needs a patch to enable you to download large apps from google play. The small cache partition of the CM7r2 hboot means they need to be downloaded to the sd card cache file. Install the zip file via recovery from here
Click to expand...

Hmmm... the dev's page for the ROM didn't mention that. The site you linked to has a warning from Google. Nevertheless, I found the file elsewhere, but its 87mb! That seems more than a patch, its almost the size of the original ROM!
 
Thanks, Nicka. I've downloaded the file, but I'm not sure what it is? It's not the one linked in your earlier message; it appears to be a CM Hboot, not an add-on patch to the ROM. I already have CM7r2 HBoot installed, so I'm not sure whether I need this? I do have a problem though downloading apps from the Store, which I think is *because* of the small cache size in CM7r2. My problem is, the phone now reads "0mb" in my Apps2SD area, whereas a few hours ago, it was around 430mb! Titanium Backup (and some other app) won't download and install due to an out of space error. Links2SD won't change the 0mb figure, even though all apps have been moved to SD. As I write this, I am currently wiping the SD Card and plan to start over with a new ext 3 part. I don't think the A2SD script in my MIUI XJ ROM was mounted.
 
Ok thanks, I just figured it out.... the file you linked is not the CM7 HBoot, but a MIUI fix for the CM7r2 HBoot (which as I guessed, is the reason behind the problem of downloading large files from the market). I saw someone posting the same file on a MIUI forum.


SkinJob said:
Thanks, Nicka. I've downloaded the file, but I'm not sure what it is? It's not the one linked in your earlier message; it appears to be a CM Hboot, not an add-on patch to the ROM. I already have CM7r2 HBoot installed, so I'm not sure whether I need this? I do have a problem though downloading apps from the Store, which I think is *because* of the small cache size in CM7r2. My problem is, the phone now reads "0mb" in my Apps2SD area, whereas a few hours ago, it was around 430mb! Titanium Backup (and some other app) won't download and install due to an out of space error. Links2SD won't change the 0mb figure, even though all apps have been moved to SD. As I write this, I am currently wiping the SD Card and plan to start over with a new ext 3 part. I don't think the A2SD script in my MIUI XJ ROM was mounted.
Click to expand...
 
ok. glad you got the market download issue fixed. Sorry but can't help with apps2sd as I don't use it. the increased data partition size is enough for me combined with froyo style move to SD.
 
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