Root Space saving tips

[Dark One]

I came across a couple of big space wasters in /mnt/sdcard and thought someone else might get some use out of it.

1. If you use the Amazon appstore, for some bizarre reason a copy of all of the apks that you download are stored in /mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.venezia/cache. You can delete them.

2. I poked around in /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure and found a bunch of .asec files from apps that I have uninstalled. I deleted the ones from uninstalled apps and cleared about 100mb. You can't view .android_secure from your phone, you have to use mass storage.

 

[DsyMnapTic]

Wth? So a-sec can just keep building up with crap and there's no way to delete it or see it from the phone? That seems ridiculous.

 

[Artine]

Wth? So a-sec can just keep building up with crap and there's no way to delete it or see it from the phone? That seems ridiculous.

Agreed. Hashtag at one point seemed to think there may be a way to get rid of android-secure entirely, so I wonder if anyone else would be willing to look into that.

 

[DsyMnapTic]

Agreed. Hashtag at one point seemed to think there may be a way to get rid of android-secure entirely, so I wonder if anyone else would be willing to look into that.

Can I just go delete it and it'll be recreated...lol. I don't know if that's advisable, but I have deleted directories before that were just recreated........also would SD maid by chance clear this up?


I've attempted to change the permissions on /sdcard/asec, but wouldn't let me until I went to use script manager to change it, then I just couldn't go through with it, because a pop up comes up and says press BRICK! If you are ready to change RO partitions and potentially brick your device and it gives you three buttons....Brick, safemode, and cancel. Safe mode and cancel are basically the same thing, you have to push brick to go through with it, wth....that's a little discouraging.lol

 

[Dark One]

Can I just go delete it and it'll be recreated...lol. I don't know if that's advisable, but I have deleted directories before that were just recreated........also would SD maid by chance clear this up?

Any app that is saved to your "internal sd card" has been converted to a .asec and is stored in .android_secure, so deleting the folder is a bad idea if you have any apps on your internal sd.

 

[sellers86]

Edit, I take that back.

 

[miediev]

I just deleted over 200mb of previously uninstalled app data I found in .asec, and that's just the files i recognized by name without trying to cross-reference anything. That seems like a pretty bad flaw in android if it can put so much data into that folder and then just leaves it there forever. We're lucky to have a decent amount of built in memory but for other phones I'm sure the problem is even more acute.

Also, pretty much every app-store besides Google Play that you can use on your phone will save the apks somewhere on your phone after you download them, and often self-updating apps do the same. There are a few cleaning apps out there that specifically look for apk file on your phone, it can be surprising how many you accumulate.

 

[Dark One]

I think when you wipe data and don't restore all of your apps, everything that was on your internal sd will remain in .android_secure. That's usually when I do most of my app housecleaning, so it makes sense that I had a bunch of old crap in there.

 

[DsyMnapTic]

I think when you wipe data and don't restore all of your apps, everything that was on your internal sd will remain in .android_secure. That's usually when I do most of my app housecleaning, so it makes sense that I had a bunch of old crap in there.

I think maybe I have a workaround dark......what about moving all the necessary stuff to external sd (everything you want to keep) and then format the internal Sd?
..........probably only useful in the event of reflashing or flashing a new Rom

 

[Dark One]

I think maybe I have a workaround dark......what about moving all the necessary stuff to external sd (everything you want to keep) and then format the internal Sd?
..........probably only useful in the event of reflashing or flashing a new Rom

So you want to clean up .android_secure without using a computer? Sounds like a plan.

The guy in post #3 here has a bunch of thanks and seems to know what he's talking about: http://androidforums.com/esteem-all-things-root/597557-formatting-internal-memory.html